Chapter 5
Ethan
“Who the hell was that?” Tex snapped, and that tracked. Only he could have sex with a complete stranger on a job site and then get belligerent when called on that. “My mate, that’s who.”
Shit. I blinked, then replayed everything that happened, seeing it in a new light.
A freaking hot one.
I could almost feel those soft lips, that velvety throat as it flexed around my cock, but right as I was about to get lost in the afterglow, Grey stepped up to Tex. I knew how this was going to go. Moving closer was my automatic response, ready to intervene.
“She is…?” It took a lot to throw Grey off balance, but that’s what happened now. Not for long though. He rallied fast, frowning at Tex. “So you found your omega, the other half of your heart, and you decided to celebrate by boning her on a shitty old workbench?” Grey asked.
“She came onto me,” Tex stared, staring into the other man’s eyes. “Strolled into the office and started patting my shirt, then made clear what she wanted.” With a slow shake of his head, his eyes narrowed. “Not sure what you’d do if you had a hot, horny omega approach you… Actually shit, I do.”
That flex of his jaw was all the sign I needed. Both of them squared off, creating a slightly larger space between them.
“You ordered her around, ‘inspected’ her, then told her exactly what to do.” Tex’s grin did nothing to ease the tension inside me. “Helped her take my knot like a champ. And you stood there, too scared to touch her.”
“You—”
“Hey.” I stepped between the two of them, throwing my hands up when Grey bared his fangs at Tex. “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but your fated mate has left the room.”
“Shit…”
Tex looked around wildly, as if this was news to him. Goddess, give me strength.
“What’s her name?” Grey asked, a deadly intensity in his tone. “Do you have her number?”
“What? No.” Tex turned to face us. “I didn’t have time for any of that.”
“Because you were thinking with your dick,” Grey snapped, then his focus shifted to me. “Ethan, head to the lobby and see if she’s still there. I’ll go down to the car park.”
“So you do remember that this isn’t a pack,” I said, gesturing to the three of us. “And that you are not its leader.”
Before I could get much more out, Tex stepped forward. His arms crossed his chest as he looked Grey up and down.
“And what am I supposed to be doing while you both search for my mate?”
“Fate handed her to you on a silver platter.” Grey was always terse in his dealing with others, but there was a strange edge to his voice. “You can stay here, wait and see if she comes back.”
“Fuck that.”
Both Grey and Tex headed to the door, but when they reached for the handle, they stopped, each staring at the other.
Goddess, give me strength. Looks like I needed to step in and sort this situation out, again.
“Find the girl,” I said, shouldering forward and opening the door.
“Get her name, then see if she wants a repeat performance, because damn…” I remembered then why I rarely intervened.
Having Grey and Tex glare at me simultaneously was not a comfortable experience.
“If we head outside, I’ll go left,” I told him.
“You’ll take the right. If we split up, we can cover more ground. ”
“Keep your phones on you,” Grey said with a nod. “And stay in contact.”
Emerging out of the Crowe Corp foyer was a strange experience.
What do you mean I was surrounded by officious looking people in smart business wear, while I was still feeling the warm haze of what just happened?
It felt like a dirty little secret, right up until we started searching.
I walked past men, women, kids, and old people, but as the minutes ticked by, that good feeling started to dissipate.
A glance around me made clear the omega could’ve gone in a million different directions.
Those cafes, that dress shop, that tram line.
There were too many people, too many places, and I didn’t know where to go next.
Putting my nose in the air, I sucked in a few deep breaths, but gave up almost instantly.
I wasn’t like the others. My wolf was a shadowy, insubstantial presence in my life, leading the very nice people at Crowe Corp to suggest I was the closest thing to a latent alpha they’d ever seen.
Not in the carpark. Grey’s terse text confirmed what I already knew. We’d lost the omega, so the next logical step was to return to the work site and get back on the tools, but instead I stared at my phone screen.
Pub?
That was Tex.
The offer should’ve been enough to get me heading back, but instead my feet stayed where they were. Turning, scanning the shops again, my heart stopped, then skipped a beat as a door opened. Instinct, fate, something, was sure that I would be the one to find her.
Only to see an older woman and her daughter walk out of the boutique.
I found myself smiling and shaking my head. Were fated mates even a real thing? I wasn’t so sure. The omega, she was hot, sexy as fuck, and I’d love to go round two, three, maybe four with her, but that was just biology talking. I looked down at my phone and typed out my reply.
Your shout, I replied. Because only you would lose your fated mate.
I expected an argument from Grey when I returned to the work site. His foul mood had to be leading to that. Instead, he unplugged the electrical tools we were using, secured the office and then made straight for the door without a word.
“Anyone would think it was his mate he’d lost, not mine.”
Tex was trying to lighten the mood, but his grim smile made clear it wasn’t helping him, let alone Grey.
We locked up for the day, exited the building and then decamped to the nearest pub.
A beer after a hard day was usually a welcome thing, but Tex wasn’t making any jokes and Grey wasn’t clapping back.
Instead, an uncomfortable silence fell over the table, broken only by the sounds of us sipping our beer.
“Why’d she leave like that?” We all looked up when Tex spoke. “The omega, she seemed to be having a great time minutes before, but then she took off out the door like her arse was on fire.”
Tex was my friend, and he was allowing himself to be vulnerable in front of us. I wish I could say I was a more evolved, sensitive sort, but instead I said the only thing you appropriate to this situation.
“Post-nut clarity,” I replied with a grin. “If I looked over my shoulder and saw you hovering there, I’d run too.”
The way his hands balled into fists, then his eyes glowed silver, made me think he was about to launch himself at me. Instead, a hand shot out, shoving my shoulder. I let out a muffled curse as beer slopped over the rim of my glass.
“Fuck you, prick. Probably never had a dick that tiny in her mouth before, so she ran out to report it to the scientists upstairs.”
Putting shit on each other was a time-honoured way to deal with crap, but right as the banter got good, Grey cut us off.
“Or she was a client.” He sat straighter, like he’d woken up from a stupor.
“If she was on our books, I’d know about it,” I groaned, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.
“Not our client.” His eyes met mine. “Good Vibes.”
When we’d found out what Good Vibes actually did, we’d all had a little chuckle.
Away from the client, of course, because Brendan talked about his job very seriously.
I’d nodded along, taken his advice on what were calming, centering colours and had a palette for him to approve before close of business that day.
But it wasn’t paint colours I was focussed on right now.
“There’s no freaking way a hot little omega like that would be paying someone to have sex with her,” Tex rumbled.
“But it makes sense.” Grey nodded as I started to put two and two together. “She walked into the office, took one look at you, and was down to fuck…”
“Shit,” Tex said.
Shit, indeed.
“What’s his bloody number?” He had his phone in his hand and was scrolling through the contacts. “Brandon? Bronson?”
“Brendan,” Grey and I said at the same time.
We all stared at the screen, no doubt thinking about what we were about to do.
This was unprofessional at best and kinda stalkery at worst, so why did Tex punch the green call button?
Because whatever the fuck just happened in that office space, I knew we wanted, no, needed more of it.
The wolf surprised me, because I felt it pace back and forth inside me as the phone buzzed.
“Good Vibes Sexual Health Services,” a male voice said smoothly when the call went through. “Brendan speaking.”
“Brendan, mate, it’s Tex.” A silence followed that. “I’m one of the blokes working on your new office space?”
“Oh, right, sorry, Tex. I thought you were a client and wasn’t putting a face to a name. What can I do for you?”
“Ahh, this is probably a bit of a dodgy thing to ask…” Tex shot me a sidelong look and I nodded in encouragement. “But we had a girl, sorry, woman, come into the office today.”
“Was it one of our clients?” he asked. “Shit. That’s happened a few times. Our receptionist changed our email signatures to reflect the new address a little too quickly, and it’s causing some issues.”
“She might’ve been.” Tex’s voice grew deeper and as I stared, I saw the wolf push forward. “Little thing. Brown hair, brown eyes, and about 5’9.”
“Right.”
Brendan’s tone changed abruptly.
“Look, you knew that me and my crew were alphas when you hired us, right?”
“I did.”
“Well, I’ve got reason to believe she’s someone important to me.” His throat bobbed and while he reached for his beer with his free hand, he didn’t take it. “Real important. She left before I could get her contact details and—”
“I can’t give them to you. Not only would it be completely inappropriate, it’s against the law for health care professionals to share details without patient authorisation.”
“She’s my fated mate,” Tex growled.
“Then you have to trust that fate will bring you back together. Goodbye.”