Sure enough, Tara’s mouth hung open and a quiet snore rasped from her throat.
Aureli laughed. “I’ll put her to bed. I think I can carry her.”
While Aureli hauled their host off to her bedroom, the remaining three gathered their things and tidied the living room. Jaeyong took a large glass of water into Tara’s room with some painkillers, then they slipped out into the cool spring night.
“Night, boys,” Jenna said, hooking her arm through Jaeyong’s and waving at Aureli and Grayson.
“Night,” they called back.
“That was fun,” Aureli said. Their footsteps echoed softly from the surrounding apartment buildings. “I have a feeling we’ll be making a lot of cancellations in the morning.”
Grayson chuckled. “Same.”
The stars shone overhead, unfettered by the light pollution which plagued mainland cities. As the pair of Omegas neared their building, a Mer climbed from his car and strode ahead of them.
“Oh,” Aureli whispered. “I didn’t realize Mer lived in the same buildings.”
“They have the bottom five levels,” Grayson murmured back. “They need the space for the pools. I think there are only two actual floors. That’s why the elevator buttons are weird.”
It had taken them a few days to realize their elevator went from floor two to floor five. Grayson checked the building’s floorplan out of curiosity and discovered Mer pools were built to the depth of three standard stories, so floor five stretched down to floor three, and floor two dipped underground. Only the top two floors were built for human occupants.
“Huh.” Aureli shrugged. “Interesting. Wonder what the Mer units look like inside.”
“I bet if you go ask that Mer to let you in their apartment, they’d do it.” Grayson grinned. “Looks like an Alpha.”
Aureli shoved him, laughing. Ahead, the Mer in question vanished through the apartment entrance. Grayson half hoped the Mer lived on the second floor and had just used the stairs. Unfortunately, when he pulled the door open, the Mer was still in the lobby, waiting for the elevator.
Grayson stopped dead in his tracks, and Aureli crashed into him.
“Hey!” Aureli complained. “What are you—”
Grayson recognized those gold-plated scales. He knew those bronze dapples that gathered at the Mer’s elbows, and apparently ran up his spine. The Alpha turned his head, burning amber gaze meeting Grayson’s.
Fuck.
Chapter 10
Keld
Eyes like shallow ripples on warm sand. Freckles spattering delicate skin. Light, silky hair.
Grayson Miller.
For a moment, they just stared at each other in shock. Another human poked his head over Grayson’s shoulder. “Dude, move.”
His eyes were deep brown and matched his slightly wavy hair. He frowned over at Keld, an expression Keld was not accustomed to seeing from Omegas.
“Gray? That’s not…” The human’s voice dropped to a whisper. “…himis it?”
So Grayson had already told his friends about their disastrous date. What had he said? Did he paint Keld out to be some asshole who insulted perfectly nice Omegas then stormed out on their date?
Because that would have been accurate.
Grayson nodded mutely. His friend’s expression hardened and he pushed his way past the taller man.
“Take the stairs, asshole.” The man glared up at him without even a hint of fear. Keld liked this one. His lips curved andhe raised both palms. He backed away from the two Omegas, toward the stairwell. Grayson’s eyes had fallen to the floor, and he was now staring intently at his shoes.
Some part of Keld thought he ought to apologize, but what would he even say?“Sorry for acting like a dick, I wasn’t properly socialized as a child.”His legs carried him up the stairs without much conscious thought. The odds of him even running into Grayson again had felt astronomical when Keld walked out on their date. And in a cruel twist of fate, Noivux had immediately brought them right back together. The ancient Alpha god was no longer worshipped, per se, but the Mer still liked to blame him and the three other deities of old when things didn’t go their way.
