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"He's my childhood friend. We have opposing schedules since he works nights at the downtown ER. It works for us. He protects me."
Levi leaned forward, balancing his chin atop steepled fingers and tilting his head to the left, eyes still narrowed. "And he hasn't touched you?"
You can't do this because you love me, idiot.
Shit.
Elias took another bite of his pastry, chewing slowly but refusing to break their searing eye contact. "He hasn't, and if you can't believe that, then you've met few decent alphas."
Levi's jaw muscle bounced, but he didn't rise to the bait. "You're right. In fact, most of them are pigs worthy of slaughter."
Now that surprised him. Elias sat back in his seat with a heavy drop of his body, but tried to cover it up by snatching the chai latte and bringing it along for the ride. Alphas were arrogant and intelligent to a fault. Most were unaware of the difference between emotion and logic, taking what they wanted when they wanted it.
It wasn't a matter of morals or integrity because such things held little importance in Hamton. Progress. Politics. Social standing. Accomplishments. All things which rose above basic human decency. Elias couldn't bear the long silence and had to confess the truth.
"I don't know what to say to that."
Levi smiled. "Yes, I'm sure you don't. There aren't many men out there like me."
Elias raised a brow. "Oh? Is that supposed to be a gold star to yourself?"
"No, of course not." Levi chuckled, picking up the pastry to stare at it every which way, thick fingers impossibly large. "I'm just fairly confident in my secondary gender's ability to put their enormous feet into their mouths. They're rash, hot-headed."
Elias took a sip of his drink, hiding behind the rim. "That's an interesting perspective from an alpha. Why should I believe you?"
Levi shrugged, killing the snack in two more huge bites, a slight twinkle of pleasure in his eye. He liked it. Elias' omega did a happy jig inside his chest at the thought of picking out something the alpha enjoyed. It was dumb and easily ignored, but not until after Elias sensed the genuine joy in answer.
"Believe me or don't, accept my proposal or don't. It's all up to you."
Levi feigned nonchalance, rolling his wrist as he took an experimental sip of the chai, only to flick out his tongue in disgust. It was cute and made a towering alpha into something soft. Something sweet.
"You don't like it?"
Levi's face screwed up in the center, all pinched angles and lowered brows. How did it not take away from his beauty? Even then, the alpha's handsome features seemed to hit Elias in the face like a paddle swung at the wrong end. He shifted in his seat, trying and failing to dissuade his body from reacting. Hot desire pooled at the base of his spine.
"I like black coffee, not this sweet shit."
"Black coffee is only for one of two arc types," Elias started, forgetting all about keeping boundaries as he set his mug aside and leaned in. The alpha matched him, of course, bringing their faces inches apart. Emerald to ebony. Golden skin to pale freckles. "A, you're dead inside, enough to stomach it without gagging. Or B, you hate yourself. Which is it?"
Levi's eyes crinkled at the corners, a smirk crossing his lips. "Fuck off, those aren't the only two options. I'm not dead inside. Well, a little, but every adult is. And I'm an alpha. How could I hate myself beyond all my arrogance?"
Elias laughed, and it was surprisingly genuine. "Pick your angle already! Are you an arrogant son of a bitch like all the rest, or are you a soft, sensitive alpha who knows my struggle?"
"Can't I fall somewhere in between? I won't lie. There's nothing about me that's soft beyond a propensity to take care of whomever I'm with, which I'm sure you're about to argue is nature over nurture."
Elias closed his mouth, a bit miffed. That sly smile didn't leave Levi's face, hiding secrets that Elias might resort to violence to discover. He could sense the pheromones infiltrating his neurons, enticing him and murmuring sweet nothings. Telling him this man was to be trusted, but he'd been wrong before. Many times. Over and over.
This was why he took his own choices away.
Elias lowered his gaze to the mug clasped in his lap.
"Okay, that's enough build up," he muttered. "Tell me about your proposal."
As if unsatisfied without eye contact, Levi's foot slid to run along his beneath the table. It was hardly anything, with all the clothes between them and their dress shoes, but Elias still sensed the electricity rushing across his skin. Climbing from his calf to his heart, ending in his throat.
"You're a single, older omega, correct?" the alpha said.
Elias didn't like that hushed tone—as if that were something to be ashamed of. "Yes, I'm an unclaimed omega male in my late twenties," he replied firmly, finally regaining the courage to look the man in the face.
