Chapter 7

Seven

Symon didn’t want to go back to work.

But by day three, the calls from Helene and his assistant were getting ever more frantic. They needed him and Adrian to come in, and they needed them now.

There had been another attack on the code.

Adrian was ready, his clothes cleaned and dried. “We need to go, boss. I need to access the servers from the source.”

“I know. And I need to get my brother here.” He needed to call Rian and get the family lawyer in on everything.

“What does he do?”

Walk around in expensive suits and make deals. He grinned. “He’s a lawyer. He’ll know who to apply pressure to.”

“Oh. I don’t know any lawyers.” Of course Adrian didn’t.

“Well, Rian is a damn good one.” He grinned at Adrian. “Just let me tell Stan. I’ll drive.”

“Oh, you drive yourself sometimes?” Adrian teased.

Little shit.

“I even drive other people. Come on, baby. Let’s hit it.” He would just text Stan. They needed to get going.

“I’m ready when you are, boss.” Adrian winked at him. “Lead the way.”

They headed out to the garage, and he took the big black SUV instead of his sports car. It was less noticeable.

Adrian cuddled in with a hum. “Oh, this is a great car. I approve.”

Little hedonist.

“It has heated seats.” He liked the idea of warming Adrian’s ass.

In fact, it gave him a happy.

“Yeah? Too cool. I love it.”

“It gets the job done. Now. My other car takes the curves way better…”

“Yeah? What kind of car is it? I don’t have one. I live close enough to walk.”

That was wild, to not have a car in Denver. It wasn’t a walking town.

“It’s a Jag. I love it. Silly thing.”

“No, that’s cool. I just don’t do anything but home and work.”

“I’m on the road a lot. I want decent rides.” And he had an embarrassing number of cars…

“That’s neat. Where do you go? I mean, do you travel or do you mean Boulder to Denver? Do you ever go up in the mountains?”

“Yes. I like to hike and camp both. What about you?” Adrian didn’t seem outdoorsy, but who knew?

“I haven’t had the opportunity in a while. Little lone omegas in the woods equals stupidity, and I’m not dumb.”

“Ah. Well, we should go together.” No one would bother Adrian with him, even if he wasn’t the tooth-and-claw type.

And he could be to defend Adrian.

“Yeah? You want to?” Oh, that was eager.

“I do. Let’s get this crisis dealt with and we’ll find a cabin with a hot tub.”

“Fair enough. Do you think anyone will notice I have the same clothes on as Friday?”

“Well, if they do, I doubt they’ll say anything.” At least Stan had washed and pressed said clothes. “And they’re clean.”

“They are, and that one seam was fixed too. So sweet.”

“So if anything, people will think you did laundry.” He reached over to squeeze Adrian’s leg.

“No one would think that.” Adrian’s giggle was sweet as hell, erotic.

“No? Are you sure?”

“Nope. I’m a sniff-my-shirt-and-put-it-back-on guy. The fact that my clothes are so clean and pressed will be a sure walk of shame giveaway.”

“Ah.” He winked over. “We’ll say it was for your protection.”

“Oh, I like it. Witness Protection Alpha.” That made Adrian applaud like crazy.

“Thank you.” He bowed a tiny bit from the waist. “I did check in on Isaac, and he’s fine, so it looks like whoever this is has decided the company is a better target than an individual.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

His phone rang, his head of security’s name popping up.

Shit. Maybe he’d spoken too soon.

“Hello?”

“Sir, are you heading into the office?”

“I am. I got the call that there had been a cyberattack.”

“Yes, well, I suggest you turn around. They’ve evacuated the building due to fire.”

“A fire? In the building?” He started looking for the next exit to pull off. “What’s the status?”

“No. In the building next door. 3299 Coal.”

Adrian frowned. “Wait. What did he say? Where?”

“3299 Coal.”

“That’s my building! That’s my building, Symon.”

“One of the employees I was worried about for retaliation lives in that building. We need eyes on the situation.”

“Of course, sir, but the firefighters have the block quarantined. I’ll call you back. There’s no way to get here right this second.”

“I need to get home and check!” The scent of fear poured off his omega.

“They have the whole block quarantined. Call me back when you know something.”

“Yes, sir.”

Adrian sat there, eyes huge, expression shocky. “I have to get home.”

“Adrian, no. There’s no way to get there. I’ll take you when it’s safe.” He found a turnaround, pulling off and crossing the bridge. “Right now, I’m taking you home, and we’ll go from there.”

“What? You can’t! What about the code? What about my clothes?” The wolf was so close—almost brutally so—and Symon needed Adrian to pull it back. Neither of them needed to go fuzzy while driving.

“We’ll set up a work area at my house. We’ll have to go into the code through the back door, but I have that…”

Adrian turned those huge eyes on him. “You do?”

“Yes. I hired someone I trust to get in when I first bought the company. I didn’t know you then.”

“Who? You went out and creeped around in my code? Dude! You are not serious!”

“I am.” He didn’t point out that it was also his code. “Though to be fair, I never even looked at it. And my professional never touched anything. He just found a way in. I was concerned that the former owner might disable certain things when he left.”

“No. That would be my department. I could do that, and I didn’t because I rock like a rocking thing, and I have a moral code!”

“You do.” He bit back a sigh. Adrian was freaking out, and he had every right. So he needed to be calm. Cool. Not furious that if Adrian had been home…

He hit the hands-free. “Call Cyrus.” Time to check on Isaac again.

“Hey, boss. You okay? I’m heading to the office building.”

“Have you heard?”

“I have a scanner. Mr. Kitty is being evacuated now.”

“Okay. Get him somewhere safe. And I want this shit stopped. I’ll have the onsite team account for everyone they can, but I don’t like this one bit.”

“No, neither do I, boss. I got this.”

“And I have Adrian. We’ll call back again as soon as you have Isaac.”

“Got it.” The connection clicked off, and he glanced at Adrian. “You’re angry.”

“Of course I am! You messed with my code. That’s against all sorts of rules!”

“I appreciate that, baby, but I didn’t mess with your code. I just made sure I could recover it if something like this happened. And now I can and you have access.”

“What about my apartment?” That was a tiny question that was so heavy.

“I’m pretty sure it’s a lost cause, baby. But as soon as we can get someone in there, we will.” Jesus, he was furious.

“I should have gone home. Maybe I could have stopped it.”

“Or you could have been asleep when it happened.” His gut churned. No, he wasn’t going to think about that. Not one bit. If he did, his wolf would leap to the surface and he would go find someone and rip their throat out.

“But my stuff.”

“We have your laptop. I know this is horrifying, baby. I would be—” He gritted his teeth. He would be able to replace anything he lost except family and Stan. So he needed to shut up. “You’re not the kind to put your money in a mattress, right?”

“No.” Adrian frowned at him as if that made no sense. “I have a diverse portfolio.”

“Good.” He pulled back on the highway, heading home. “Call Stan.”

Stan answered on the first ring. “What’s wrong?”

Stan always knew.

“Someone set fire to Adrian’s apartment building.”

“Oh my heavens. Is he all right? Wait, there’s no way you were at work yet.”

“Not even halfway. We’re on our way back. Turn on the alarm. Cy has a guy headed our way, but I want you safe.”

“Of course.” He could hear the beep of the keypad as Stan turned on the security system. “I’ll make soup and sandwiches. Poor Adrian has to be in awful shock.”

He glanced sideways at Adrian, who was pale and still. “I would say so, yes. Thanks, Stan. If you hear anything strange, go to the panic room.”

“I will.”

He hung up again, and Adrian blinked at him. “You have a panic room?”

“Mainly for Stan. He had a bad time of life before he met me. I want him to feel as though he has a place to hide.”

“Oh.” Now Adrian scowled deeply. “We won’t let anyone hurt him.”

“My thoughts exactly. I have one more call to make, okay?”

“Sure.” Adrian stared out the window.

“Call Rian.”

“Bro, this is what? Three times in a week?”

“I need you and Quin here.”

Rian’s voice went sharp. “What happened?”

“Another attack on the code. A fire at Adrian’s building, which happens to be next door to the office. This is more than a disgruntled ex-employee.”

“We can be there in four hours.”

“Thank you.” Quin’s bar was in Aspen, so it would take them some time to get to him, but he was grateful.

“How’s your little wolf?”

Adrian made a noise, shoulders hunching.

“Mad. Hurting. Upset as hell.”

“Well, we’ll kick ass and take names, I promise.”

He bared his teeth. “That’s the plan.”

“Love you, bye.”

“Love you.”

“That’s the lawyer?”

“Mmm.”

“And Quin is…”

“The biker bar owner.” He loved saying that, so much.

“Huh.”

“You’ll like him. He plays video games like you do.”

“My consoles!” Adrian yelped. “Oh, my poor babies. I bet they’re melted.”

“Probably.” He started a mental tally of all the things his mate would need replaced. “What all did you have?”

“PlayStation. Xbox. Switch. A classic Atari…”

“Shit, baby. I’m sorry.” He reached over again. “I’ll make it up to you. I swear.”

“How?” Adrian crossed his arms over his chest, not letting him take a hand. “I mean, it’s not like I had a bunch of family heirlooms, but my stuff was mine. And I worked hard for it!”

Symon knew Adrian wasn’t shouting at him. He was just venting, so he let it happen, listening to Adrian’s little howl with a wince. Fuck, this was a shitty situation. At least when he moved Adrian in with him, he knew Adrian liked his shower…

“And I don’t have clean underwear or my shoes or my favorite hoodie! My pillows…”

“I know.” He didn’t, but it wasn’t taking much to learn what Adrian valued. “You can wear one of my hoodies for now.”

Adrian sniffed. “At least it will smell good.”

That honored him, on a deep, abiding level. “Thank you.”

The mate was implied.

Adrian shrugged. “It’s true. And comforting. And I still want to cry.”

“Of course you do. Not only did you potentially lose everything, it’s possible someone was trying to do you harm.” Wait. That wasn’t super comforting, was it? “But you’re going to be safe at the house until I figure this out.”

“What if it was a random thing? Just an electrical thing.”

He glanced sideways to meet Adrian’s gaze. “Do you really think that?”

Adrian hunched back down in his seat. “No, of course not. But I don’t want to think someone has it out for me.”

“I understand.” Symon and his brothers had been the target of corporate espionage-based violence more than once. It happened when someone did business at the level they did. But Adrian was just caught in the middle of a war he had no part in.

Adrian shrugged, then grabbed his phone and started searching.

“What are you looking for, baby?”

“My insurance stuff. I’ll have to file a rental claim.”

“I’ll give you Rian’s number. Text it to him and he’ll take care of all of it.” There was no need for Adrian to wear himself out dealing with all that stuff. Rian would get his replacement value in full.

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to bother your brother.”

“Eh. Quin will drive and he’ll be bored.” In no time, he was pulling back up at the house, and he studied it as he parked, making sure no one was lurking around.

“No one could be here, right? They’re in Denver.”

“Right. But I want to be sure no one went with divide and conquer.” He had a feeling Adrian was right. If someone had been at Symon’s place over the last few days, they would know Adrian was with him, not working from home.

Regardless, he wanted his pack together. All of them. The temptation to call all of them in was huge.

He took a deep breath. Okay, he needed to stop fretting and get them inside. Protected. Safe. Then he would work on the rest.

“It’s fine. Come on. I have work to do.” There was an exhaustion in Adrian’s voice, a deep sorrow.

They headed inside, and he put an arm around Adrian’s shoulders to guide him. Adrian stiffened for a moment, but then leaned into him, shoulders hitching.

He didn’t ask if Adrian was crying, and Adrian never let on, but he felt awful.

“Would you like to use my office, sweet? I can make the rest of my calls in the kitchen.”

“Sure. You have good computers.”

“I do.” And they weren’t connected to the work network unless he logged in through a secure connection his own team had set up for him. Not the Shiftr team.

“Good. I’ll get this dealt with. Is there coffee?”

Stan came right to Adrian, grabbed him and held him tight. “People fucking suck.”

Adrian sniffled, nodding against Stan’s shirtfront. “They do. Especially big male cats who spray and act like it doesn’t stink.”

Stan chuckled, patting Adrian’s back without letting go. “True enough. Big alphas of all kinds suck if they think they have a right to do whatever they want without repercussions.” Stan glanced his way. “Some are more responsible than that.”

“Are you sure?”

“Fairly certain. Would you like a cup of tea and some cookies?”

Adrian made a noise. “Oh. I need to work. But I love your cookies.”

“Why don’t we make the command center here in the kitchen? I can help. That way we can all eat our feelings.”

Stan was a genius.

“Yeah?” Adrian snuffled.

“Absolutely. It’s important to know you’re around people that care.”

“We do, baby. I’m not good at this stuff like Stan, but I want to be with you.” He wanted to stand guard.

“Okay.” Adrian pulled out his laptop to place it on the counter. “These are pretty comfy barstools.” They had cushions and backs and all…

“Good. I’ll make tea.” Stan gave him a stern glance. “Sit down, Symon. Don’t loom.”

“I’m trying. My urge is to get all growly,” he admitted, hoping it helped Adrian understand him.

“Alphas.” Adrian rolled his eyes, but it wasn’t mean. In fact, it was teasing, and it made him smile—almost.

He tugged out his phone to text Cy.

Sitrep

I have Isaac

Bring him here. Rian and Quin are on the way

Got it

Then he texted Rian.

You on the way?

Yep. Making calls to ins reps.

Excellent.

You warning the dads and all?

He shook his head.

The dickhead shouldn’t care about the pack. This is business.

Got it. Be safe. We’re making good time.

Yeah, he would bet they were. Quin could drive like the damn wind. Even in a car and not on a bike.

He put the phone down and put a hand on Adrian’s legs as his omega’s fingers flew on the keyboard. “Are you in?”

“I am. I’m working it.” Adrian’s head was down, lips tight together.

“Okay, baby. I’m right here if you need me.” He knew Adrian well enough now to know he could work like this for hours on end, so he would be right there to make sure his omega drank tea and maybe juice, and ate things like cookies and fruit and turkey sandwiches.

“’Kay.” Adrian lifted those gray eyes to his for a moment, showing he understood, the wolf flashing silver in them for a moment. “Thank you.”

He nodded, then he started ordering clothes—hoodie, jeans, pajamas, shoes. Everything until Adrian could choose his own. He just needed Adrian to be outfitted…

A hoodie. He’d promised one of his, and he thought it would help Adrian settle in and feel comfortable. He moved out to the family room for a moment, grabbing one off the couch.

“Here, baby. I got you a hoodie. It’s a little chilly in here.”

Adrian took it from him and slid it on with hardly a glance his way.

He did hear, Thank you. It’s warm and it smells so good, though.

You’re welcome, baby. He squeezed one tense shoulder, then slid over the tea that Stan set down. You should try it. It’s soothing.

Yeah? Adrian grabbed the cup and took a sip. Oh, yum.

Good. It’s my favorite too. That soothed him, down deep.

A smile curled Adrian’s lips. I can tell. I’m okay. I just need to work, to find out how they got in.

Okay. I’m here. Don’t hide from me too long. You’ll need to rest before you meet my brothers. Rian and Quin could be a lot.

Adrian nodded, then shooed him. “Working.”

He smiled a little, then moved to sit on his own stool and sip the coffee Stan gave him. He would do some work of his own.

Who knew how much time he’d have on his hands once the house was full.