Page 85 of Night Call

Giving the alpha a grateful look, Pember nodded and took it. “Thank you.”

He sipped it slowly as Blake started the car and pulled onto the main road. There were university students everywhere, stumbling around and drunkenly singing into the night. It wasn’t until they were almost out of the town centre that Blake spoke again.

“Was the food good, at least?”

Pember shrugged. “Not bad, but I wasn’t hungry.”

“The sushi place, right? Next to the Nock and Ore?”

“Yeah.”

Blake nodded. “I think the chef got done for money laundering a few months ago. Glad to see it’s back up and running.”

Pember cocked an eyebrow and took another sip of coffee. “Do you know everything about every place in town?”

Blake chuckled. “Only the ones I need to know about.”

When Pember reverted to silence, Blake tilted his head and flicked Pember’s knee. “Are you sure you’re alright? You don’t seem like yourself.”

Letting out a long breath, Pember gently placed the coffee cup back in the centre console. “Yeah. But I think I just figuredout that I’m an old person trapped in the body of a twenty-four-year-old.”

Blake’s mouth tipped into a smirk. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

He gently pinched the top of Pember’s thigh, turning his hand over so his palm was facing up. Pember stared at it for a moment, then looked up at Blake. It was impossible to see the alpha’s face in the dark, but the dim glow from the speedometer showed the stillness in his expression.

Pember swallowed before taking his hand and threading their fingers together. After a long moment of silence, he said, “There was a boy, Ru. I’m worried about him,”

Blake shifted in his seat. “How so?”

“Maya and her friends were really unkind about him. He just… I could tell he didn’t want to be there. I tried to get him to leave with me, but it was like… I don’t know. Like they had some kind of hold over him. He seemed really vulnerable, and after everything that happened last year… I’m just worried for him. That’s all.”

Blake hummed, and gently squeezed his hand. “You tried. It’s more than most people would have done.”

Sighing, Pember tipped his head and pressed his cheek against the window. The cool glass was soothing, and it helped slow his jumbled thoughts. “And then there was a guy called Leo. He was pregnant, and drinking and eating sushi, and I know it’s not my place to judge, but…” His words trailed off, but Blake’s fingers twitched.

“Pregnant?”

Pember nodded.

“What did he look like?”

“Why?”

Blake let out a breath and ran his tongue over his bottom lip. “It’s nothing. Just the police officer in me. You were saying?”

Pember frowned, and he nudged Blake with his elbow. “No, why?”

Blake ran his tongue over his bottom lip. “Remember the intel that the second victim met up with a pregnant male omega the night that he died? It’s probably nothing, but you don’t see that many of them around in High Enfield, with it being a university town.”

Pember swallowed. “This guy was about my height, blonde hair, blue eyes, freckles. You wouldn’t have known he was pregnant, to be honest, with the way he was dressed.”

Blake cleared his throat, squeezing Pember’s hand again. “Like I said, probably nothing.”

“We were right next to the Nock and Ore pub, though. Wasn’t that where Zayne Stewart was last seen alive?”

There was a pause, then Blake sucked in a breath. “Yes. Do you know his surname?”

“No. But Maya might. He was her friend; she invited him.”

---