Chapter 16 Nate
NATE
It’s hour forty-five of our forty-eight-hour shift and Sterling and I are beat. Not to mention slightly jealous. Hayes all but bragged that we were wrong, that Hailey liked him coming to the club and agreed to him buying all the VIP dances he wants while she’s working.
Don’t get me wrong, we’re all on the same page about not wanting her to work at the club.
But Sterling and I might be a little more humble about money than Hayes is.
As much as I don’t want her dancing for other Alphas, I know that working at Lavender Moon was the first thing that was hers when she designated.
Having Hayes look after her isn’t the worst thing in the world. I just hope we aren’t called to Lavender Moon to break up a dispute between him and some Alpha who stared a little hard.
Even thinking about it has me shifting in my seat.
Sterling’s large hand squeezes the back of my neck. “We’ll go home and rest and then we’ll see her as soon as possible,” he assures me.
Sterling centers me like no one ever has, and I take a deep breath.
I put thoughts that threaten to send me over the edge about Lavender Moon away. She’s not working today, anyway. Hayes asked her for her weekly schedule so he knew when he needed to be there. I smile when I think about it.
God, I love that fucking psycho.
Our pagers are going off along with the blaring alarm and Sterling and I are on our feet, dressing quickly and getting into the rig as the siren sounds and we head toward the call. It’s a carbon monoxide call with multiple trucks headed that way.
It takes me a minute as I look at the address.
“Isn’t that Hailey’s building?” I ask Sterling, my heart sinking at the realization.
He glances at me with a newfound fear, and I swear he drives faster than I’ve ever seen him.
Both of us are unable to speak throughout the drive.
I knew that the building wasn’t safe, that it was rundown and out of code.
We’re courting her, we’re supposed to make sure she’s taken care of; what if she’s unconscious?
What if she’s terrified right now and we’re not there for her?
I can’t help but feel like I’m failing her again, that I’m not being the Alpha she needs.
I’m a firefighter for fuck’s sake. How did I not make sure she had good detectors in her home? Granted there was a lot going on in the moment, but I should know better than that.
When we approach the building there’s another unit there, the building is already being evacuated.
As I look around at the entrance of the building, I don’t see her telltale burgundy hair and a surge of fear soars through me.
For the first time in my career I break protocol, my personal life completely at the forefront.
I’m running through the building with my gear on, Sterling at my back as I make it toward her apartment.
I knock sternly three times, and she doesn’t answer the door. Fuck, what if she’s passed out in there? What if the leak was overnight? My stomach is churning, my heart rate is elevated, and I just can’t think rationally as I raise my foot and kick near the door handle, breaking the door in.
I’d blame it on pure adrenaline, because I can’t think right now, all I need to know is that my Omega is safe.
The door hangs off its hinges as I look around the space. Her cat is cowering in the corner, probably from me barging in like this, but she’s nowhere to be seen. The radio chatter is giving us updates and we’re being scolded, confirming our safety.
“Thomas and Benson, status report?” I hear over the radio, Sterling checks in for us while I storm into Hailey’s room.
The bathroom door is shut, and I bang on the door twice. There’s a loud scream and I just open the door, finding a very shocked Hailey hiding herself behind a shower curtain.
“What the fuck?” she shouts, and it takes her a minute to recognize me behind the mask. “Nate?” she questions.
Sterling comes behind me, gas detector in hand. He removes his SCBA to speak.
“Nothing detected in here,” he says, and it’s like a huge sense of relief washes over me.
I remove my head gear and SCBA and Hailey just blinks at us. Her cherry scent is nearly injecting itself in my veins with how goddamn strong it is.
I’m standing still for so long that my PASS alarm goes off and I have to do a little wiggle to shut it off.
She turns off the water, still protecting her modesty as she looks between us. I swear her scent gets stronger seeing us in full gear.
“What happened?”
I can see with my own eyes that she’s safe, but this seeping sense of worry won’t go away.
The beautiful woman is right in front of me.
She was showering, had no idea that there was even an emergency in the building.
The thought of her being so unaware unlocks a new fear and I’m not sure what to do.
No, I know what to do. She can’t stay here. This building is owned by some scum bag who does the bare minimum to keep the place operational, not giving a shit what happens to his tenants. She should be at our house, where we can keep her safe, where we don’t have to worry.
“Get dressed, pack you and your cat’s stuff, you’re getting the fuck out of here,” I say
“What?” Hailey questions, looking at me startled. “Is there a fire? Is it safe?”
“It’s not. We’re here on a carbon monoxide call.
Two women are being taken to Summerlin Medical Center.
They were found in the basement doing laundry.
It looks like your landlord didn’t have proper ventilation down there and a generator was being run,” Sterling says calmly, and I’m glad we’re both on the same page.
This place is a death trap. It doesn’t matter how goddamn tired I am from this shift, there’s no way I’ll get a single minute of rest knowing that she’s living here.
“But my apartment is safe?”
“No. You don’t have a front door. You’re coming to stay with us,” I tell her and I swear there’s almost an edge of an Alpha bark to it. I just can’t leave her here. There’s no fucking way.
“I don’t have a front door?” she says with an arch of her brow.
Sterling fills the doorframe next to me, his hand on my shoulder.
“At least come stay with us until we make sure the building is safe, and we get the door fixed.”
Hailey seems more than confused by the recent series of events, but as her cat walks into the bathroom, squeezing between Sterling like we’re irrelevant, I know what I need to do. It’s almost like a little Hayes-shaped devil is on my shoulder telling me what to say.
“If there was carbon monoxide in your apartment, it would only take a matter of minutes to affect a small cat,” I say.
I know, I’m playing fucking dirty bringing up the cat. But as she looks down at the cat and back up at us, she nods.
“Okay. Give me a few minutes to get dressed and grab the essentials. Can you pack all of Smokey’s stuff?” she asks.
“Yes. I’ll go finish the sweep. We’ll have Hayes come and get you. Our shift ends soon,” Sterling says, giving one last lingering glance to where Hailey stands in the shower before leaving the room.
I stand there like a fucking idiot. It’s like my feet are glued to the tiles.
“Nate?” Hailey says softly.
“Yeah?” I say and she curls a finger at me to come closer.
I do, and she sighs softly when I approach. “I’m going to go with you, alright? Everything’s fine.”
“I’ve never…Fuck. I broke protocol running up here,” I say as I look at her.
She grabs my gloved hand with her wet one.
“Hey. I’m okay. Smokey is okay, and I really freaking hope the women who were in the laundry room are okay.
Sterling tested the air in my apartment.
It’s fine. You’re going to go do your job while I get dressed and pack, and Hayes is going to take me to your place until we know it’s safe for me to come back. ”
I give her an incredulous look, cause there’s no fucking way she’s coming back to this shithole. Not after she made me feel true fear for the first time.
She’s ours, and having her in our space will just prove that even more. She might think she’ll be coming back here, but we’re going to make our house so irresistible she’ll never want to leave.
“Nate, sweetie. Seriously, I’m fine.” I grin at the term of endearment, and she smiles back. “Go do your job. I’ll see you in a little bit, okay?”
She tugs on my hand, and I lean down, the shower curtain shifting as I press a peck against her lips. When I pull back, I can’t help but to glance down.
Fuck, her body is perfect.
“No peeking or else you’ll never get back to work,” she says, shielding herself with the curtain again.
“Hayes will be here any minute. You’ll call me immediately if you feel off in any way,” I tell her and she nods.
“I promise,” she says, and it’s with great fucking willpower I’m able to walk out of her apartment and finish my shift.
Luckily, it was restricted to the basement. But it still doesn’t put me at ease. No, I won’t feel a single moment of peace until she’s safely tucked away in our house where nothing can hurt her.
It’s then that I turn to Sterling, who’s been bossing everyone around for the last hour.
“We’ll need to take her Omega shopping,” I tell him.
“Tomorrow. After we’ve gotten much needed rest, and she settles into the house.”
“What if she doesn’t like the nest we have?” I ask, worried that maybe Alphas don’t know how to do that kind of shit. If she hates it, she’ll already have one foot out the door.
“If she hates it, then we will redo it,” he says easily.
“So we’re on the same page?” I ask him.
He raises a dark eyebrow at me and shrugs. “If you mean the page where we speed up this whole courting process by getting her to want to stay at our house and never come here again?”
“Yes, that would be the page I’m on.”
“Then perfect. We’re all reading the same book,” Sterling says as we get back into the rig and head back to the station.
Another hour and we’ll be free. I wonder if the house will be drenched in her cherry scent when we get home.
When Sterling and I walk through the door, the last thing I expected was to find Hailey crying and Hayes doing his best to try and comfort her.
Automatically I’m on high alert.
“What happened? What’s wrong?” Sterling says, beating me to it as he rushes over to Hailey, rubbing her back.
“Uh. Her cat. It got scared when she let it out of its carrier and we haven’t been able to find him,” Hayes says with wide eyes.
“He’s probably so scared,” Hailey says as she wipes her face.
Her scent has a bitterness to it that I need to make go away.
“Let’s find him and then put him and his things in the guest room for now until he gets more comfortable with the house,” I say.
“We’ve looked everywhere,” Hailey says. “What if he slipped out when the door was open when we were moving my stuff in?” she says, her tears starting all over again.
Hayes looks more worried than I’ve ever seen him. Fuck. I’m dead on my feet, but there’s no way I’ll be able to rest if our Omega is in distress.
I can’t stand the sourness of her scent, and it’s like every instinct I didn’t know I had sets in. I open my arms and Hailey nearly leaps into them as I rub my cheek against the top of her head, my chest rumbling with a low purr.
“We’ll find Smokey. We’ll take care of you,” I tell her.
Sterling is rubbing small circles on her back, and she tries to even out her breathing.
“Does he have any treats or toys that he’s really responsive to?” Sterling asks.
“I already tried opening a wet food can. He also really likes the laser. I think it’s in the plastic bag with his toys.” She sniffles, gripping on to my T-shirt for dear life.
Sterling goes to get the laser pointer and we agree to search the house in sections. That way, if maybe he’s changing hiding spots, we’ll be able to grab him.
I hold Hailey’s hand as we head into the office on the first floor. She has a toy that’s a mouse dangling on a string, and she sways it around while she sniffs.
We stand in the center of the room when we hear it. A soft little thud. Hailey’s eyes are hopeful, but we both stand there in silence, waiting for the sound to happen again.
When it does, I get down on my belly, the hardwood against my cheek as I look under the bookshelf.
It’s such a small gap between the floor and the bottom shelf.
I don’t know how the little fucker got in there, but sure enough, yellow eyes are staring wide at me as he pushes his body back into the corner.
“He’s under here.”
“Oh thank fucking god!” Hailey exclaims, her body landing on top of mine as she squeezes me with all her might. “Thank you.”
“How are we going to get him out?” I ask her.
“Well, now that we know where he is, maybe if it’s alright, we could move his stuff in here for now and let him get used to the space. It smells a lot like you and Sterling in here,” she says, her body still on top of mine.
“And that’s a good thing?”
“A very good thing,” she says, placing her face against mine, marking the shit out of me.
A purr unexpectedly rumbles out of my chest, reverberating against the hardwood floor.
Hailey sighs happily, and I don’t fucking move. Me and her cat stare at each other as this Omega rubs herself all over me.
She suddenly pauses, clears her throat, and stands up.
“Um. Well…I’m not sure what that was. You’re probably exhausted. Let me just go get Smokey’s stuff,” she says, her scent is back to normal, but she seems embarrassed, before she darts out of the room.
I stare at the cat a little longer, and I swear he’s glaring at me.
“Don’t worry, I’ll win you over too,” I tell him as I get on my feet.
Hailey is in my home, her cat is safe, and I can finally get some solid sleep.