Andrew laughed. “Oh my god, man. You’re gonna have to get used to some close proximity if you’re sticking around for her heat. Are you blushing?”
My face was burning, but I shook my head. “What if she doesn’t want us? For her heat?”
Andrew shrugged. “Then we’ll wait outside, obviously. Come on, we deserve a drink. We need to get a canopy over the bed, too, but that’ll have to wait til tomorrow,” he said and I followed him into the living room. Once we both had whiskeys, we sat across from each other. I felt like he was about to interview me for a job.
“Did you ever want to join a pack?” he asked after a neat swallow of his drink.
Did I? If I’d ever really thought about it, the answer would have beenno. The other Alphas I met in college all seemed to know something I didn't know about our designation, and it wasa secret I had no interest in learning. But I had to admit that Andrew was different from what I expected. Perhaps I had been a bit judgemental.
“No,” I said finally. “Did you?”
Andrew rolled his glass between his palms. “I always expected to be part of one. It’s what I’m used to. But then I met Gabriel and none of it seemed important anymore, you know?”
I did know. That paradigm shift is what had happened to me when I met Bridget.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is you’re welcome to stick around if you want,” he continued and it was his turn to look awkward.
I knew what he meant, and the prospect was… not horrible. I liked him and Gabriel, and, more importantly, respected them for how much they valued Bridget. “And if she doesn’t want to stay?”
He shrugged, still trying to look casual. “That would suck. But the offer still stands. If Bridget doesn’t want us after all, I figure having another person to commiserate with would be helpful.”
I couldn’t argue with that. If Bridget was out of my life, I wouldnotwant to be alone. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” I said and tipped my glass at him in a toast.
We lapsed into silence. We were both still tense, still worried about Bridget and Gabriel, still feeling useless, but something about being together helped.
Chapter 35 - Gabriel
The fucking warehouse was empty.
I let out a stream of curses from behind my balaclava and slammed the door shut behind me when we entered the building. Everett had cut through the thick lock with a pair of bolt cutters and a gleeful expression.
We started with the address listed for Axion Biostorage and it had all the markings of being recently cleared out. But we had to check anyway.
“No one’s been here in days,” Jason said. His low voice echoed in the cavernous space as he pulled his balaclava from his mouth. Silas and Everett were using their flashlights to check the corners, but I was sure they wouldn’t find anything.
“Ma che cazzo! I am an idiot. He knew we had this address, of course he is no longer using it. Che coglione che sono…”
“Where to next?” Everett asked.
Jason looked at me and I forced myself to be calm.
“The next address on the list. How close?”
He consulted his phone. “About ten minutes. And the other one is all the way across the river. It’s a vet clinic, but it says ‘permanently closed.’”
“Veternaria?” Why? We didn’t have time to consider the why. “The far one,” I said with a confidence I didn’t quite feel. But it made sense. If the asshole had left this place, he would want to go as far away as possible.
We piled back into the van they’d rented for the job. Silas was driving their battered gold sedan, in case we needed to split up. The whole way there I berated myself. I should have texted Andrew, but I could not face telling him I’d failed yet again by choosing the wrong place to start. It was a Tuesday night, the city was relatively calm, and got even quieter as we crossed the river.
As we got closer to the address, I started to get hopeful again. We drove past the building once and saw two cars in the parking lot and a light shining in the window of the front door.
“Looks more promising than the last place,” Jason said into the quiet of the van as we parked around the corner. Silas had pulled in behind us.
“Hell yeah it does,” Everett said. His knee was jumping with barely restrained energy.
“Take a deep breath,” Jason told him. “You ready?”
I gestured for him to lead the way.
