Chapter Nine
Oren
Okay…I did what I could. I sat there at the patio table, wearing my lawyer suit, and watched the omega walk away.
He crossed back to the Quickie Mart and went around the back.
I’d wanted to offer him a ride, but he seemed independent and I feared he might think I was pushing myself on him.
Now that we’d spent a little time together, I hoped he’d feel comfortable talking to me the next time we ran into one another.
And that would probably be at Crowned because the last thing he needed was an alpha showing up at his workplace and sniffing around.
This omega was someone special, and I wanted to show him that I was a safe person.
Without the knowledge of what had hurt him so severely, I could not easily navigate here.
Most of the omegas I had scened or spent time with had emotional baggage.
In order to be the dom they needed even for a scene of an hour or two, I preferred to know a little of what they were dealing with.
Not necessarily every bit of their life because we were not in a long-term relationship.
But the agreements between dom and sub could be quite revealing.
Hard limits, soft limits…green lights? People thought the alpha was in charge, but in fact, the omega, the submissive held all the power.
Their safe words could pause or stop anything instantly, and any dom who violated that would find a dungeon monitor at their side in the snap of a finger.
Or a finger and a thumb. It did take two to snap.
But I never delved deeper than they wanted to go.
It was enough that I understood what they needed from me for a little while.
Noble…I wanted to know everything. From the day he was born.
My wolf was sure he was our mate and wanted to find out enough about how he got hurt to go after whoever was responsible.
He had some very gory plans to shred them flesh from bone.
I tried not to encourage him, but it was hard when I kind of felt the same.
After having coffee with Noble, I had to head to the office, but all day, he was on my mind.
More than before when I didn’t even know his name.
I had meetings with clients and other attorneys, online and in person, but thankfully no court because I didn’t think I could be a real asset while so distracted.
I almost forgot the lunch meeting with my financial advisor. Fortunately, my assistant forgot nothing. Ever. He was one of those magical types who could keep a thousand details in order, and if he ever left, I didn’t know what I’d do.
When the long day finally ended, I headed for Crowned.
It was so early that the main doors were not open yet, but Evander had texted, asking me to come by the kitchen when I arrived.
So I entered through the rear door and found the chef busy at work, his cooks buzzing around him like worker bees.
Not wanting to interrupt, I held back, appreciating the controlled chaos until the chef spotted me and waved me over. “Let’s go into my office and talk.”
“All right.” I followed him into a nook off the kitchen, where he could still see his staff from his desk. “What’s up? Does this have something to do with my joining your group?” Maybe they changed their minds?
“No, not at all. I’ve learned some information about someone you were interested in.” One of the cooks came over and set tall glasses of iced tea in front of each of us, but after he left, the chef went on, “That is if you are still looking for him?”
“Actually, I found him.”
“You did?” He smiled at me. “Out on the floor? Did you scene and nobody told me?”
“No, it was a complete coincidence.” I told him about running into Noble on the street, although I didn’t share his job in case he had not.
I didn’t want to violate his privacy in any way.
But if there was information to be had out there, that others already knew, that maybe would allow me to help him, I wanted to know it. “What have you learned about him?”
“It is his story to tell. I was prepared to tell you who he was, but you beat me to it.” So, Evander felt the same. “And I wanted to be sure you knew to go easy on him. He’s been through some things.”
“Thank you. I sensed that, but he hasn’t chosen to share with me yet. I really want to help him, if he needs help, and I feel like he does. He has pain. I can feel it and so can my wolf. I don’t know if it’s all physical either.”
“You’re a kind man, my friend. And I will be proud to be your business partner.”
I left the meeting glowing. It wasn’t as simple as writing a check because I had to pull money out of other investments, but if it all worked out, I’d be proud to be partners with these other alphas as well.