Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
~Raidon~
“Where is Leon?” Thane asks when I sit down and place my plate on the massive hardwood table. He hasn’t calmed down since we left work. Not even giving me a chance to greet him, he’s already up and running a whole interrogation at the dinner table.
I shrug, even though I might know where he is. Alright, I’m pretty sure I know where he is, but I don’t want to rat on him. “Where is Rhen?” I ask, trying to distract Thane from the issue with Leon.
We usually eat dinner together every night. No matter how busy each of us is, dinner together is a must. Dinner time is compulsory, so when I look around and see only the two of us, I frown. It’s surprising to see the table so unusually empty.
Is Leon really that stupid to skip the one thing Thane ensures we do together every night?
I glance at Thane, who sits across from me and drums his fingers on the edge of his whiskey glass.
The muscles in his jaw tense, and if I don’t come up with a way to distract him, the dinner will turn into a disaster before it even begins.
I can feel his anger festering. Though looking at him, he is a picture of calm, besides the tight set of his jaw.
Thane clears his throat and focuses on the glass as he explains. “Rhen should be back soon. He called earlier, while I was cooking dinner. He went to pick up some files for me on the new girl.”
Thane doesn’t move to eat, and I know he won’t; he won’t until Rhen and Leon arrive.
As big and intimidating as Thane is, there are a few things he values and holds close to his heart.
One of them is pack dinner. For outsiders, it might seem silly, but I understand why he’s so adamant about this tradition—it’s the only time of the day we can sit down, talk, and spend quality time together.
He tips the glass to his lips and swallows some caramel-colored liquid. By the looks of it, I’m almost certain that Thane will kill Leon if he arrives late or misses dinner.
Thane chewed him out good in the office earlier today.
He had a reason, though—Leon lied to his face.
Technically, Leon tried to lie, but Thane saw right through his bullshit act.
Leon refused to tell Thane where he had been.
Thane refuses to command us around unless we disobey him outright, which Leon had done, yet Thane wouldn’t embarrass Leon at our place of work like that.
We have to remain a united front at the office, but Leon is so in for it when he gets home. That much I know, without a doubt.
“Where do you think Leon went today?” Thane suddenly asks, pulling me from my tumultuous thoughts.
I turn my attention to see him watching me over the rim of his glass. His eyes nearly burn my skin. His gaze digs deep enough for him to see my soul, pull it out of me, and toss it wherever he wants.
I gulp loudly. Thane may be my mate, but that doesn’t make him any less terrifying in my eyes. Not that he would ever hurt us, but sometimes, his words are enough to inflict more pain than anything he might do to us physically.
It’s the words that bring the most pain and damage to a relationship. We are fortunate; not all mates are as understanding as Thane is, in certain aspects at least. Any other dominant man would have dragged Leon in front of us and humiliated him for lying.
With those thoughts in mind, I open my mouth, glance at Thane, and instantly snap it shut. This doesn’t seem like the best moment for me to speak up, so perhaps it’s better that I avoid the question. At least for now.
However, my hesitation is not missed by Thane. “Choose your words wisely, Raidon. You know I detest liars, and Leon is in enough trouble when he returns. So, unless you want to be punished along with him, I suggest you speak truthfully,” he warns, in a low, threatening tone.
I sure as shit don’t want to be Leon when he gets home.
The thing is, all of us are Alphas. We are destined to clash, but Thane is the most dominant of us. So, he’s the one we chose to lead us, and with that comes a power none of us could withstand once we submitted to Thane.
“May I answer a little later?” I ask as I lean back in my chair. Instead of responding with words, Thane nods—one tense, sharp nod.
But then the silence draws on and he decides to speak.
“You may if you promise the answer will be truthful. I understand that you don’t want to betray Leon, Raidon.
However, it would be best if you keep in mind that I’m asking only because I already know the answer,” Thane states.
I just nod my head in return; there isn’t anything I could say at this point.
“What do you think of Zara? That Omega,” Thane suddenly asks, bringing up a much-needed change in topic.
“She is quiet. Why?” A simple answer, though a truthful one. Or at least it is for now.
I can tell she has a defiant streak and I’m curious—no, eager—to see the moment she snaps.
An angry Omega is so entertaining. Like an angry beaver swinging around a tiny tree it just bit off. I internally chuckle at the mental image of her pitching a fit at our feet. I can picture how Thane would drag her over his lap to put her back in her place.
Blinking, I shake my head to get rid of the mental images built up by my mind.
“Good. So, I can assume you’re not rattled by the Omega, then?” Thane asks and raises an eyebrow. His question, however, makes me wonder if perhaps he is rattled.
We haven’t had an Omega work for us in years. Thane can’t stand to be in their presence, so I know Leila will have some answering to do.
Zara is the only Omega in the building that works for us, and we have our reasons for that, reasons Leila plainly ignored when she hired her.
“Not really,” I answer with a shrug, a little too excited to see where this conversation might bring us.
Thane isn’t a person who discusses anything just for the sake of discussion. He always has a reason for why he brings up specific topics, and the Omega seems so irrelevant to our current conversation that I can’t help but wonder why Thane would mention her in the first place.
“Good. In that case, you can help me get her to quit or find a good reason to fire her,” he announces and brings the glass back to his lips.
“Wait, you want to fire her?” I ask, a little too shocked for my own good. The office really needed an assistant, and none of us are good at keeping up with the place the way she had on her first day.
I know Thane can be cruel to the employees. Shit, I’ve lost track of the number of times we had to cover up their deaths when Thane let his temper get the best of him. But I worry he might go too far this time, simply because she is an Omega.
He wants me to make her quit, or find a reason to fire her, but what if I can’t do that? What if Zara turns out to be more challenging than Thane thinks? What if she can take any humiliation Thane dishes out and still keep working with a straight face, like a true professional?
Or what if she’s so good at what she does that there won’t be any actual reason to fire her? It’s not like I can pull a reason out of my ass. I’m not a magician.
Thane chuckles and shakes his head as if I amuse him. “They always break. She will be no different.”