Page 23 of Knot Their Girl
“No, but he did say he wants you down there ASAP.”
All I do is frown, which makes him laugh harder.
“I’ll make sure to whip your team into shape while you’re gone. Hey, by the way, you never told me how the job at the Omega Garden went. You and that omega looked pretty good together.” That earns him a harsh glare from me, but he’s unaffected.
“That was your job you pawned off on me,” I snap. Deep down, of course, I’m glad he pawned it off; I don’t like the thought of Rourke with Raeka.
“Well, I know how much you enjoy bodyguard jobs—” The fucking liar. He knows I hate them more than anything. “—and I figured you could use a breath of fresh air.”
“I should tell Darius you weren’t sick that night, that you were actively looking for an omega for yourself. Speaking of, how’d it go? You put in any offers? I hope so, since you stuck me with the prissy one.”
“Oh, they all looked good and smelled nice, but none of them caught my eye. Maybe next time.”
I give him a strange look. “Next time? You seriously looking for an omega? You never said.” A part of me thought Rourke was like me: a lone wolf, an alpha who didn’t need a pack or an omega. But maybe not.
His shoulders shrug. “After my mom’s health scare, she’s on my ass about settling down. It’s the only thing she wants, the only thing she talks about when I visit her. I figure, might as well try. If I stumble on an omega I like, then that’s aces, and if I don’t, well, least I tried.”
All I do in response is sigh hard and say, “I guess I should get going.”
“Yeah, go.” He slaps me on the shoulder. “I’ll take it from here.”
If there is one man I don’t mind leaving my crew to, it’s Rourke. The man takes his job seriously—usually—and I trust him with my life. I can’t say that about many people in this world, besides my family and my team.
As I leave the warehouse and head downtown, I replay what Rourke said to me. His mom wants to see him settle down before she dies. His mom should have many more years yet before she has to worry about dying, but after a cancer scare, you never know.
My mom, like all moms I think, wants me to settle down, too, but at the same time, she knows I don’t want to—and it’s not because I’m a tool or a playboy or whatever. I don’t go out and hook up with a different woman every weekend. I’m a loner. Idon’t feel the need to surround myself with a pack. I don’t feel the need to have kids.
I’m just… me.
And now that Darius, Nic, and Warren have Mercedes, well, it’s only a matter of time until our mom gets her first grandkid. They might not be trying now, but I bet they will in a few years, once the newness of everything has worn off and they aren’t so busy flipping that Solus Academy into New Omega Academy.
I’m happy for my brothers. I am. I don’t envy them at all. Pack life just isn’t for me. In school, when all the others were pairing off and making packs that would end up following them throughout their lives, I was the odd one out. That instinctual urge to be a part of a brotherhood, to make new familial bonds, was never a part of me.
Soon enough I’m walking into Alabaster Security’s main office. The receptionist gives me a polite smile and nod as I walk by, and I head straight to my brother’s office. The door is open, so I walk right in.
The room has a wall of windows, floor to ceiling, on the far left side of the room, so any extra light is unnecessary. Darius sits behind his desk, facing the potential client, who sits in the leather chair facing the desk, his back to me as I walk in.
Darius spots me, first. “Pax,” he says. “Shut the door, will you?”
I hold back a frown as I go to shut the door, giving us some privacy. By the time I return to the two alphas in the room, the potential client stood up and turned to face me, offering me his hand as he tells me his name: “Gideon Chase.”
Shit. Gideon fucking Chase. About as high-profile of a potential client as a potential client could possibly be.
I take his hand and shake it, saying, “Pax Alabaster, but I’m assuming you knew that.”
“I did,” Gideon says as he sits back down, and Darius gestures for me to take the chair beside Gideon’s.
“He asked for you, specifically,” Darius says. “He has a job for you, and he’s willing to pay top dollar.”
Shit. Why do I have the feeling I’m not going to like whatever this job is? The way my brother is watching me, as if waiting for me to explode, tells me I’m definitely not going to like it.
I study Gideon Chase. Older than me by a few years, the alpha clearly doesn’t have a physically-demanding job—and why would he? He’s a Chase. They deal in designer shit I have no care for. He’s slender for an alpha, though his legs are long. He’s not quite as tall as I am, either.Not an über like me.
“I made an offer on an omega,” Gideon explains. “She… would feel better if there is a professional third-party around to make sure nothing happens that she doesn’t want. I want her to feel comfortable, so I’d like to hire you.”
It hits me that this is another bodyguard job, and I’m seconds away from saying I don’t want another bodyguard job when I fully comprehend everything else he said. An omega who doesn’t trust, who wants backup. Sounds familiar, but it couldn’t be her… could it?
“This omega,” I say slowly, “it’s not Raeka Whittenhall, is it?” As I say her name, my brother’s expression changes somewhat; he’s more interested. Of course he is—Raeka and his omega are friends. That’s how she wound up with an Alabaster employee as a bodyguard to begin with.
