Chapter 5
Dain
My phone rang, pulling me out of a perfectly good sleep. I would’ve loved to ignore it and stay burrowed under the covers with my mate, whose scent still tickled my nostrils, but with the job I had, ignoring phone calls wasn’t an option.
I hadn’t let anyone know that I would be staying the night away from Cael’s mansion. Though they should be smart enough to realize that I wasn’t going to be coming home.
I picked up the phone after the third or fourth ring, thankful that my mate continued sleeping. Had this call woken my beautiful mate, the caller would have had hell to pay.
“Hello,” I answered, getting out of bed.
I didn’t care about the fact that I was walking around naked. Though I could use a shower, I decided to wait until my mate was up so we could shower together. I would take any opportunity to learn more about him and his body.
“We have a situation,” my coworker and trusted counterpart, Jayson, said.
“What sort of situation?”
“One that requires your attention as soon as possible, and also an in-person conversation. We can’t discuss it over the phone.”
“Right.” That meant it was serious. Fuck. Of all the mornings to have to deal with work, it had to be this one. Why couldn’t I get called away when I had a dentist appointment? I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Listen, man, I wouldn’t normally ask, but does this situation truly require me?”
“It’s about Cael’s brother, Theo.”
Of course it was. One of Cael’s many enemies that we’d been tracking for quite a while now. If it involved Theo, I was absolutely needed. Theo wouldn’t be easy to nail down. It would take finesse.
“Okay. I’ll be there shortly.”
I hung up the phone and tossed it onto the bed. My mate continued sleeping, the covers fully wrapped around him now as if he were burrowing closer to get my scent. I memorized his features for a moment before getting dressed quickly.
I did not have time for a shower. Whoever I encountered today would just have to get over the fact that I still reeked of sex and my omega mate. With any luck, I’d deal with this problem quickly and be back in my mate’s arms by evening. Then maybe I’d spend a few days alone with my mate.
Hell, maybe if I was really lucky, we’d get rid of this Theo problem for good, and I could take a little vacation to enjoy even more time with my mate. Cael should be careful what he wished for. I’d found my mate and now work was going to take a backseat.
Cael’s brother had been a thorn in his side for years and had recently started trying to rally Cael’s allies against him. Thankfully our allies were loyal, and we knew what he was up to. Once we had this situation taken care of, I could enjoy some time to myself.
I hated that I was leaving my mate so soon after meeting. Once I explained my job and what I did, perhaps he would understand. He was a dragon. He had to have heard of Cael before, and he would know the power the man had. With power, came a whole slew of other issues.
“Nym,” I said.
I sat on the bed and brushed my fingers over his cheek, pushing one of his curls behind his ear. He let out a contented sigh, as if my touch soothed him. I hoped that it did. I would never stop touching him.
“Nym, wake up for a minute.”
His eyes fluttered open. “Five more minutes,” he mumbled and closed his eyes again.
I chuckled. “Listen, I have to go to work, but I’ll be back, okay? And if I’m not back, I’ll have one of my people drive you to my boss’s house? That’s where I live, and I’ll meet you there later.”
“Sure, whatever. Just turn the light off.”
He rolled over and pulled the covers over his head.
I chuckled again. “I’ll have a guard outside the door, okay? You can stay as long as you want.”
I pulled the covers back to get another look at his face. His eyes were still closed. I kissed his lips briefly.
“You taste good,” he mumbled.
It seemed my mate was not a morning person. Odd, since he said that he was into baking and wanted his own bakery someday. Perhaps it would be an evening bakery.
“You do too, mate. I’ll be back shortly, all right? And if not, I’ll have you taken to my boss’s house,” I reminded him.
He nodded but still didn’t open his eyes. Definitely not a morning person—or perhaps the late night had gotten to him. I couldn’t wait to find out which it was. We’d be starting our life together soon enough.
I grabbed the rest of my things and exited the room. As I suspected, one of my guards was already placed outside the door. He would likely think that he would go along on this mission to get Theo with me, but I had a more important job for him.
“Soren, I need you to stay here. As soon as Nym is awake and wants to leave, just take him to the manor, okay? Tell him I’ll explain everything when I get there.”
Soren was relatively new to the organization, but he could be trusted with this job. Everyone that was hired went through a rigorous background check and loyalty tests. We didn’t play games with Cael’s safety.
“You need me to babysit?” The words came out as a whine, a trait very unbecoming of one of my team members.
I narrowed my eyes.
He cowered under my stare. “Of course, sir. Absolutely. I’ll stay here, and when your guest is ready to go, I’ll take him to the manor.”
“Thank you.” I clapped him on the shoulder and left.
By the time I arrived at the manor, Jayson was already prepared with what we’d need for this operation.
Apparently, Theo had been found, and we were taking action.
We’d had him on the run for weeks now. Whether he got to live another day would be up to Cael and would entirely depend on the kind of mood he was in.
Cael let out a hearty laugh when he saw me. “We’ve had a breakthrough in this case, all because you took the night off. My worthless brother has been holed up in a dingy warehouse thinking I’d give up the chase.”
“I highly doubt there’s a correlation there,” I said. “We would have found him either way.”
“Maybe, maybe not. But maybe I’ll send you on more nights off if this is the result.”
I grinned. “I might take you up on that, old man.”
“Oh? Did something happen on your night off? Perhaps you met an omega?”
“I’ll fill you in after this mission,” I said. “Let’s work.”