Captive Mate BL-Chapter 620: - - -

"You’re leaving?" Angelo turned to Nikolai in surprise. He had just showered and was getting dressed.

His plans for the morning were breakfast and the dance session with Lake, and he had kind of expected Nikolai to stick around until it was all done.

Unlike him, who had worn a sweater and comfortable pants, Nikolai was fully dressed for a workday, complete with a leather trench coat.

"Yes, for a function. I’ll be back in a few hours." Nikolai said, closing the distance to give him a kiss.

Angelo leaned into the kiss, pulling away first to catch his breath, knees weak. "What function?" He managed to say, sounding bitter.

Lake had let him know that Alphas wouldn’t be allowed in their dance session, so he had been willing to let Nikolai idle away in their room until he was done. But now that the Alpha had other plans that didn’t involve him, he was disgruntled.

"Want to come along?" Nikolai teased, still holding him close.

"Take me to the next function," He demanded, serious.

Nikolai stepped away, "Sure," He agreed easily, heading for the door. "Let me know if there is any change in plans."

Angelo didn’t give a response to that, fiddling with his necklace. He knew that by ’change in plans’, Nikolai was talking about him leaving the mansion. Ironic, considering that the Mafia King would know right away if he left.

He lingered in the room for a bit after Nikolai left, his gaze drifting to the boxes of jewelry he had put to the side. He wasn’t going to need his knives for a couple hours, so wearing the rings Nikolai got him should be fine.

A few minutes later, he was out of the room with a few rings on his thin fingers and the cooling sensation of metal on his waist.

Lake and Caspian were in the kitchen, and they seemed to have been waiting for him, both Omegas brightening up at his presence.

They didn’t get to stay long in the kitchen, Davian shooing them off so he could get started on breakfast.

Angelo let Lake and Caspian lead him away, holding each one of his arms, his expression peaceful. He hadn’t been sure if it was too early to make an appearance, breakfast wasn’t even ready yet.

"We were just debating about coming to get you from your room," Lake mentioned to him, leading the way to a living room not too far from the kitchen.

Back in the kitchen, Asher had tailed Davian because there was little else for him to do, standing awkwardly in the kitchen like a stowaway.

Davian throwing an apron at him was so random that he couldn’t react in time, catching the flowery piece with his face.

"Put that on, you’re helping out." Davian tossed at him as well.

Asher lifted the apron, jaw clenching at the pastel pink design with white bows, it reminded him too much of his mate. If Davian was doing this to tick him off, it was working.

"Where do you want me?" He asked generously after putting it on, there was little else to be done, he might as well keep busy.

Davian pushed forward a heap of vegetables, "Chopping that." He directed flatly.

Asher eyed the pile, having a niggling feeling that Davian didn’t really need that many vegetables. He stepped forward despite that, picking up the knife provided for him and a carrot.

After putting him to work, Davian didn’t pay attention to him again, busying himself.

Asher had never had a reason to cut up veggies before, but he picked up fast. It was just dicing up vegetables after all. It was monotonous but surprisingly relaxing, and soon he got too engrossed in his task to remember to be upset about it.

-+-

It wasn’t often Jael got to go on road trips by himself; he set out early, keeping the windows up. It was a cold morning, and he drove fast, merely out of habit rather than because he was in a hurry.

He hoped to return to Haines by Sunday night or Monday morning, but that was wishful thinking, which was completely dependent on the fact that he could quickly find Gage.

Finding the older Alpha right away was the best possible scenario; the worst was that he would have to comb through Evercliff and the towns surrounding it for a few days or weeks to find him - he didn’t want it to come to that.

It had already been a few days, and although he still couldn’t reach Gage, he hoped that he would find the Alpha back in Layla’s apartment.

Evercliff wasn’t all that far away from Haines, and by mid to late morning, he was already driving into the bubbling town. He drove straight to Layla’s apartment, relieved that she hadn’t been staying in the Pack House because he doubted that her pack members would have been as tolerant as they were currently.

In Haines, Mafia Kings were respected, as expected, they ran the city. But to the average person, they were viewed as dangerous criminals. Even a retired Mafia King like Gage Knight wasn’t treated much better.

Jael had been to the apartment a couple of times already, so he could easily find it, pulling up into the driveway. The house was the same as it had always been, the crabapple trees had vibrant red-gold leaves, clusters of glossy, red fruit adding to the vibrancy.

He stepped out of the car and looked around, his presence attracting the attention of some of the passersby on the street. Evercliff was a small enough town that almost everyone knew about Layla, and a lot of that had to do with her involvement with a Mafia King.

The apartment looked empty from the outside. He did a quick sweep of the house, noting the pile of fallen leaves that remained unswept, the lawn unkempt, spiderwebs between the potted plants on the porch.

He didn’t have a key to the apartment, but that was hardly enough to stop him from getting in. A few minutes later, he was slowly walking around the apartment.

Jael had had to break in, so he knew that there was no one to be found in the empty rooms, but he checked anyway, the apartment was neatly arranged but there was a thin layer of dust over the counters.