Captive Mate BL-Chapter 624: - - -

Angelo continued down the stairs, pretending like he hadn’t just felt panic at the sight of Nikolai. "You’re back early." He noted, his tone measured.

Nikolai openly looked him over, waiting for him to make his way down the stairs. "Finished early." He lied seamlessly, keeping to himself that he had left way before it was polite to.

"Well, we’re not done with the dance classes yet." He said as he got to the foyer, intending to walk right past Nikolai.

The Mafia King’s cold gaze simply trailed after him, walking slowly behind him like he didn’t want to get too close.

Angelo tried to ignore the presence of the Alpha behind him and failed, the journey back to the gym taking far longer than he remembered.

It didn’t help that Davian and Asher were waiting for him to return, their expressions grim.

Angelo walked all the way to the door of the dance studio and then stopped, turning around with his back against the door to confront the three Mafia Kings who had been trailing after him the entire time. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"Do you need something?" He asked directly, he would have crossed his arms if he weren’t holding bottles of water that they had tried to take from him multiple times.

He didn’t let them, knowing that they were all looking for an opportunity to sneak into the dance studio.

Nikolai looked like he was very much about to say something, but he clamped his lips shut, dark eyes lowering to settle on the titanium chain around Angelo’s thin waist.

When neither Asher nor Davian attempted to give him a reply, he sighed in exasperation. "Then get back to your exercise," He shooed them off, slipping dexterously into the studio to prevent the three of them from peeking in.

Well, mostly Davian and Asher, Nikolai hadn’t looked away from him once.

He wore a serene expression as he crossed the distance to hand out the bottles of water. There were extra bottles because he hadn’t given either Mafia King the water he had originally brought for them.

Cora met him halfway, taking some of the bottles from him.

After a brief break, the dance instructor was brimming with energy. She smiled brightly at the sound of Caspian’s groans as she pulled him off the padded floor.

Angelo just carefully helped Lake up with a smile, the pregnant Omega was handling the dance class far better than Caspian. He decided to keep to himself that their mates were probably standing outside the door like patient dogs - surprisingly well behaved because if they wanted to get in, the door wouldn’t stop them.

-+-

While driving around searching for bars, Jael ended up in the more dingy part of the town. He had been following the map to track down bars, but after going to so many and not getting any useful information, he found himself just driving around, absentminded.

It was a surprise then that he caught sight of what looked like a bar stuffed in a quiet corner. There were no signs, and the average person would just walk past without realizing what it was.

He found a spot to park his car by the street, cautiously making his way over. He noticed that there were eyes on him, the middle-aged man rocking on his front porch, the housewife in her little roadside supermarket.

No one approached or stopped him, however, so he didn’t stop either, heading to the building that had caught his eye.

A dangerous Alpha was sitting next to the double doors, with a cigarette between his scarred lips, he eyed Jael up.

Jael didn’t slow down, he wasn’t going to stop until someone stopped him. And to his surprise, no one did.

At first glance, it had just been an odd building stuffed in between relatively normal houses, but the reaction he had gotten from the people around made his hackles rise.

Jael stepped through the doors, surprised to find an old-fashioned bar, complete with the rickety wooden furniture and warm lighting.

There were a surprising number of people seated in the bar. There were people seated around round wooden tables, and the bar was all but filled with patrons.

Jael was trying to be cautious, but that was at odds with all he had done since parking his car. He walked right up to the bar, ignoring all the pairs of eyes that had been fixed on him since he stepped in.

He didn’t ask any questions, simply ordering himself a shot. He sat at the bar and nursed the shot - this hadn’t been in his plans, but he wanted to try blending into the background, ordering soda or a mocktail wouldn’t at all help with that.

And surprisingly, it worked, soon, the quiet hubbub of the bar resumed, conversation picking back up.

Jael pricked his ears listening intently to try to figure out what was going on, his senses sharp. He hadn’t forgotten that he was still being scrutinized, if anything went wrong right then, he would be surrounded.

A trio next to him were whispering a little exaggeratedly, it was such an obvious ruse that Jael would have ignored them if it weren’t for their words.

"Heard that weird old man’s been drinking all night," One of them said, beady eyes drifting in Jael’s direction as if to make sure that he was listening to their lure.

"Would be a perfect time to help him with his prize money," Another chimed in, giving Jael another knowing look.

Jael pretended not to be listening, trying to pay attention to the other conversations happening. The other conversations were too hushed for him to hear, the loudly whispering ground next to him getting in the way.

It was obvious that they were letting him hear only what they wanted him to hear.

Jael was curious about what exactly was going on in the hidden bar, but not curious enough to go out of his way to find out.

He rose to his feet after finishing up his drink, deciding to leave before he ran out of luck and got jumped. In such a shady place like this, making inquires about Gage could come back to bite him in the ass.