Chapter 35 Tea Break
Tea Break
Locke
“He’s hurting so much,” Kol says with the beta leaning against his chest.
“Where are your meds?” I ask Mads gently as I continue to massage his knees and thigh over his jeans.
He looks guilty.
“You can’t let the pain get this bad, buddy. It doesn’t make you stronger to endure this all the time. It just hurts.”
“You can feel it?”
“Yes.”
I didn’t think we’d be able to feel it, or maybe I didn’t think it was this intense. It’s made it impossible for me to sit idly by anymore, though. He’s going to let us take care of him now. I refuse to stand down.
“The Crimson Lion is a block away from here,” Mads remarks.
“What’s that?”
“We’re in Chinatown. That’s the town center, run by Alpha Man-ho. It’s nice. There’s food.”
Cash City has a large Chinese population, but I haven’t been to Chinatown yet. I look up and notice the street signs are in Hanzi. The gardens beyond this gate are stunning. We will have to come back. When things settle down. And if we are still alive.
“Let’s go eat there, and you can take your meds,” I say.
We hold Mads between us, and by the time we make it to the shopping and food center known as The Crimson Lion, we got a good rhythm going. I set them up on one of the picnic tables and then patronize some vendors in the food stalls they have. I get as much as I can and then some.
I place all the food in front of my pack and then go back out for some drinks. I get us three bobas.
I remember how much Mads had to eat at the café, and assume that will help.
We have sesame balls, dumplings, little burger buns, fried dough, and handmade noodles. The market is starting to get busier for lunch, but it’s pretty sparse.
The streets all felt empty too.
I pull out my phone and sure enough—it’s a full moon tonight.
Cash City is a heavily populated city of Alphas and Omegas.
Higher than most cities. The full moon means people will start acting crazy.
It can even make a beta act funny. An alpha like myself?
I can get into a lot of trouble. Most omegas go into heat on a full moon.
Alphas can go into a rut. Most babies are born on a full moon.
More crime. More deaths. It’s wild time out there.
Things may be empty now, but it’s like a calm before the storm. This evening and into the night, the streets will be crowded.
“It’s a full moon,” I tell Kol, whose mouth is full of noodles. Mads finally takes his meds with a full pull of his boba.
Mads realizes he swallowed boba pearls and his meds at the same time. I chuckle at the expression on his face. Both shocked and confused.
I hear Kol mumble fuck and then look to the sky. He’s most likely to go into a rut.
Gosh, we are fucked. We still don’t have our omega. My scent match. I bite into a candied strawberry on a stick. It’s delicious. It kind of helps.
We sit in silence, enjoying our food. I see the alphas nearby notice the mark on Mads’s throat. They look at us. Look at Mads. See the mark, and then find somewhere else to be.
Kol’s panic eases with Mads’s pain reduction. We will have to be better beta keepers, knowing how closely tied their emotions are together.