Chapter Ten
When he woke again, it was light out, and the pain in his head had turned from a sharp ice pick to a dull throb. He sat up, staring for a long moment down at his hands. They were his hands, weren’t they? He clenched them into fists and released them, turning them over to stare at his palms.
What had happened? The omega had been there, he remembered that much. And he’d said Beast’s name. Not the one they called him. The one from before. It had been a long time since he’d heard that name pass another person’s lips. And it had hurt, reached down deep inside him, twisted and turned until he couldn’t take it anymore.
Now, things looked different. He wasn’t where he was supposed to be. This was no training center or fight club that he’d ever been in. It wasn’t one of those exclusive private clubs where the more dangerous fights were held. This was none of those places. And it wasn’t a place Beau belonged. The only thing familiar was the chain around his ankle, and even that was different to what he’d been trained to expect. It didn’t dig into his skin, it hadn’t left welts. It was just there, keeping him from running.
The omega returned. Beau heard him, long before he reached the house. He knew he was waiting outside for him, but Beau wasn’t going out there. Griffin arrived in the doorway and came inside, talking all the while. His voice was familiar, and Beau could hazily recollect the many days of talking that had come before. This time it was different. This time, when he listened, the words made sense.
“You can be Beau again,” the omega was saying, with tears running down his cheeks. That made no sense to him. Everyone wanted him to be The Beast. They didn’t want the man, they wanted the animal, the fighter, the one who entertained, who won them money and glory.
“Why?” he found himself asking the omega.
“Why what, Beau?” Griffin asked, leaning forward.
It was hard to collect himself enough to get the words straight in his head and even harder to push them from his mouth.
“Why… am I… here?”
The omega struggled to answer. “Do you mean here in the cottage? Or here with me? Or just here here and not where we found you?”
Beau waved that away with one hand, noting how the omega tensed at the quick movement. He was nervous, uncertain. Which was as it should be. Beau was dangerous, that’s why the chains, the name. So no one would underestimate him.
“Am I here to fight? Who?”
Sometimes it helped to know his opponent, but usually, it didn’t matter.
“No,” Griffin answered simply, shaking his head. “You are not here to fight. That’s not why I brought you here.”
The omega had brought him here? No, no, it had to be the alpha Beau had scented on him. Alphas made those decisions, not omegas.
“I fight,” he said. “I am the fight. You ask your alpha.”
That brought a small smile to the omega’s face, just a quirk of his lips.
“I don’t have an alpha. And I didn’t bring you here to fight.”
Beau knew that had to be a lie.
“I am the fight,” he said again. “The blood and the kill.”
Griffin leaned closer, speaking softly. “Maybe that’s true of the Beast, but that’s not true of Beau. And that’s who you are. Beau.”
Beau growled and turned away. “I fight. You tell your alpha.”
“There’s no alpha,” Griffin repeated. He sounded almost angry. “There’s just me. You’re here because of me. And you’re not here to fight.”
Beau rounded on him, getting right up close. The omega didn’t even flinch.
“Then why?” he demanded of Griffin. “Why am I here?”
“You were lost,” the omega said, his voice heavy with sadness. “So very lost. And they, those men holding your chains, they’d given up on you. But this, here, this is a place for lost people. A place where people come to find themselves. It seems like you’d fit right in.”
Growling low under his breath, Beau turned again, putting his back to the omega. It was a lie, it had to be. There was an alpha, he’d scented him. And people only wanted shifters like him for one reason. The omega was trying to trick him, confuse him, so that they’d catch him off guard. Well, Beau wasn’t foolish enough to let that happen. When they came, he’d be ready.
Griffin was happy to escape the tense atmosphere of the cottage. He’d kept trying to get through to Beau, but the alpha had taken to ignoring him. Walking back to Briar House, he struggled to decide where to go from there. The alpha he’d met today was much more Beau and much less the Beast. He wasn’t sure what had brought about the change. If it wasn’t for the alpha’s stubbornness, he would have said it was a positive step. But with Beau so distrustful, so angry, Griffin wasn’t too sure how long this more lucid shifter would be around. It wouldn’t have shocked him to return the next day and find they were back to snarls and miming actions.
When he got back to the house, he went to find Ronan. They were overdue their monthly meeting where they looked over the previous months’ jobs and went through any upcoming ones. It was a task they both enjoyed, but a hard one to do when he was distracted.
He met Ronan in the library, bringing his laptop with him. They locked the doors, so they wouldn’t be disturbed.
“We ran six bounties last month, that’s the highest this year,” Ronan said.
“Three of those were new customers. That’s good going.”
Since they couldn’t exactly advertise, they were reliant on word of mouth and being recommended by their current customers.
“Two missing person contracts,” Ronan continued. “One we didn’t fulfill.”
“Wouldn’t fulfill,” Griffin corrected, remembering clearly the point at which they figured out things weren’t what they seemed. They usually caught that stuff when screening a case, but these guys had been clever. It had been a typical domestic abuse situation; omega had fled with the kid. An aunt asked them to find him because she was worried the alpha he was running from had got his hands on him. By the time they realized the aunt was in league with the alpha, intent on putting the omega and his baby back in the hands of their abuser, they’d already found them. Working quickly, they’d managed to relocate the two somewhere safe and had broken the contract, making it very clear to the pack who had referred them why they did that. The alpha had been told in no uncertain terms to back off with the implication that if he didn’t, he’d very likely disappear too, somewhere no one would ever find him. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d done that and probably not the last.
“Are we putting a hold on contracts and referrals from the Donalds?” Ronan asked, talking about the family who’d referred the aunt to them.
“I’ve put them on notice. They’re very aware that if anything untoward like that happens again, our services will no longer be available to them.”
He liked to be fair when he could. To give second chances.
“We cracked that gang who were stealing from Trail County’s casinos.”
Griffin smiled at the recollection. That had been a fun job. He’d got to play flirty omega to lure in one of the thieves while Ronan had played the part of spurned alpha.
“It’s a pity we can’t have more jobs like that.”
The alpha snorted. “You just like making a scene.”
“This month is looking busy so far,” Griffin said.
“We have three confirmed contracts,” Ronan replied. “And two more potentials coming down the line.”
The nature of their work meant they didn’t get prior warning for a lot of it. Just a phone call and then they scrambled to put a team together.
“I’ll need you to take the lead, with Quinn backing you up if necessary,” Griffin told the alpha.
Ronan did a double take.
“Why? Where will you be?”
“With Beau. I think consistency is vital for him right now. I can’t be disappearing for days on end and a new face or faces might not go down well.”
“Okay. But for how long? At some point, things have to get back to normal. He’s going to have to meet other people. You can’t hide him in the cottage forever.”
“I don’t intend to,” Griffin stressed. “But he’s finally talking, and I don’t want to lose him by sending a stranger to him.”
“I get that,” Ronan said softly. “I do. And I’m behind you one hundred percent on this. It’s just not like you to be so hyperfocused on one thing. Don’t lose sight of the bigger picture, okay?”
Griffin knew this came back to he and Beau being compatible, a fact he couldn’t change or act on. But rather than start that argument up again, he put his trust in Ronan and hoped the alpha would do the same to him.
“I won’t. And I know you’d tell me if you thought I was.”
The pack was bigger than just one person and putting one person above the wellbeing of the pack was the one thing they’d both promised never to do. The closest Ronan had ever come to that was with Noah, his mate, in the weeks before they knew for certain he and Noah could mate. Griffin wasn’t sure what would have happened if it hadn’t worked out the way it did. Would he have capitulated, made an exception so Noah could stay, or would Ronan have cut and run, he and Noah leaving to start a new life together? He was glad it hadn’t come to that. Ronan was his closest friend and, between them, they kept the pack going.
“Like I said. I’ve got your back, always.”