Page 23 of Warwick

Cecil glanced over at Dr. King before he looked back my way. “I have time now if you’d like to talk. We have a very slow day today.”

Dr. King nodded at me. “Then perhaps you’d like to go for a walk?” I held out my hand, indicating the walkway that would lead us to mated enforcer housing. I had a reason for it beyond the actual walk. My meeting with Master Edison had been quite informative, and he’d already brought up mated enforcer housing and let me know the entire row of houses beside Damien and Ledger were available. Would Cecil be willing to move there with me? Would he want me for his mate, despite the probability that we were fated to be together? I still didn’t quite understand the why of that, but I couldn’t deny the fact that I was drawn to the omega.

“I can go with you for a walk now if you’d like,” Cecil told me.

He was looking up at me expectantly, and since I honestly didn’t know what to do, I simply started walking. He said he’d go with me, so that meant we were having a walk, did it not? It probably took me longer than it should to realize that Cecil wasn’t beside me. When I noticed, I saw that he was several steps behind me, with a scowl on his face. Gone was the smile that had been there not long ago, and my beast was growling at me. I stopped, wondering what I’d done wrong. Cecil caught up and glared up at me.

“You said you wanted to go for a walk. I assumed that meant we’d walk together, not that you’d take off and I’d have to practically run to keep up with you.”

Ah, so that was it. “I apologize. I’m not used to walking at a slower pace.” I held out my arm, indicating the direction I’d been walking. “Would you like to continue on? There are a few things I’d like to talk to you about.” Cecil narrowed his eyes. I held up my hands in surrender. “I’ll walk slow. You can set the pace. Please? We have things to talk about, I think.”

Cecil stared at me for a long moment before he nodded once. I wasn’t sure how I was going to smooth things over. I wasn’t sure what all I’d done wrong. Cecil started walking, and I quickly realized I needed to halve my stride in order to match his pace.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“Do you know what we are to each other?” I asked. I looked down at the omega that for some reason had been chosen to be my mate, according to what everyone was telling me. I would have thought I of all people would have been gifted an alpha for a mate, but I guess not. Cecil was cute. He had brown hair, but it was lighter than mine and was most definitely a lot shorter. It was cut really close on the sides and back but longer on top. His brown eyes looked inviting, whereas I knew mine looked black most of the time.

“What do you mean? You’re an enforcer, and I’m the office manager at the omega clinic.”

I stopped. Did he not recognize our connection? I’d been told that he would because he was a shifter and could scent our connection.

“This is true. Is that all? Nothing more?” I added.

“I’m not sure what you’re getting at, Warwick.”

I thought about it for a moment before nodding. My beast wasn’t happy with Cecil’s words, but there wasn’t much I could do about that.

“I do apologize,” I said finally. “I didn’t mean to bother you. Did you wish for me to walk you back to the omega clinic?” I looked at Cecil, waiting for his response. I was incredibly confused by everything. Everyone had assured me that my beast had been telling me that Cecil was our mate.

“You aren’t bothering me, Warwick.” Cecil sighed. “Not really. I had a really shitty day yesterday, and after what Dr. King said to me and what your friends tried to explain, I shouldn’t be taking things out on you.” Cecil took a few steps away before turning back to me. “You asked me what we are to each other. And that question could be answered so many ways. I do apologize for answering the way I did.”

I shook my head. “You answered truthfully. I’ll walk you back.” I turned to start the short trek back to the council building, where we could go our separate ways.

“No, Warwick.”

I stopped and redirected my attention to Cecil. “No? I do understand you don’t need me to walk you back. The mountain is perfectly safe.”

Cecil rolled his eyes. “They weren’t kidding when they said you could be difficult.”

I tilted my head. “I’m only myself. I don’t know how to be any other way.”

Cecil shook his head. “I understand that. And I’m not asking you to change. But I didn’t need to be an ass when you asked that question. If you were asking if I scented you as my mate, then yes, I did.”

My beast howled in my head. It wasn’t any type of warning howl, which told me that most likely what Cecil had said was what he had been trying to tell me.

“I cannot scent you,” I told him. I furrowed my brow as I thought about what I had just said. “What I mean is, yes, I do scent you, and you smell nice. But for me, there isn’t anything about your scent that magically tells me you are my mate.” Cecil blinked up at me. When he continued to do so, I nodded. “Wrong thing again, I guess.”

“Maybe wrong delivery. I was warned you were going to step on feelings. They were right.” Cecil took a deep breath and sighed. “So now what?”

I was going to step on feelings? Whose? How? It took me a moment to realize that Cecil was meaning his. I frowned. “I did not mean to cause hurt.”

“I’m beginning to understand that. And so much more. I’ve not been around the hellhounds for the most part. It’s going to take a bit to get used to how you see things.”

I was still trying to figure out the feelings thing.

“What do we do now?” Cecil asked.

I tried to move past the feelings thing. And who was “they”? It must have been Atticus and Damien. Did my packmates have so little faith in my ability with partners?

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