Lucian

“Honey, I am here.” Ryder waltzed into the private restaurant room. He planted a wet kiss on a startled Axel. The poor guy pushed his friend away and wiped his forehead. Ryder pouted and clasped his chest. “Awe, baby, you’re breaking my heart. Didn’t you miss me?”

Axel ignored him. Ryder never lost his beam until he looked at me. He leaned into Axel. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Tyrith visited the office today,” Axel answered, not bothering to whisper.

Ryder’s lips took on an oval shape. The waitress entered the room. Ryder peered up at her with a smile. “Sally, my boyfriend had a terrible day at the office. I want him to feel better. Can you get us the best dessert on the menu?”

Red spread throughout the blonde’s cheek. “Yes, sir.” The female retreated without acknowledging the rest of us. Beta or not, they all groveled at Ryder’s feet. His carefree personality made things worse. People wanted to feel good about themselves and Ryder was the guy to make that happen. I was sure the blonde never realized he said ‘boyfriend’. They heard what they wanted to. Not what was actually said.

Axel rolled his eyes and freed his face of his mask. Ryder rested his head on Axel’s shoulder. Axel never rebutted but got comfortable. I smiled at the two men. Ever since Ryder found out Axel could tolerate his pheromone, he never hesitated to mess with him. Axel fought back on most of those cases. Their bond got thicker with time.

I would be lying if I said Ryder’s fresh ocean breeze scent didn’t affect me as well. Unlike most dominant Alphas, his scent was tranquilizing. It never came as a shock when Axel confessed that he liked Ryder’s scent. Now whenever the two were in the same room, Ryder would release his pheromones. It helped to keep Axel calm and terminate my pheromones.

Born to betas, Axel’s first physical examination stated he was also beta. It was not until his second exam that he manifested into an alpha. A rare case. Like the rest of his family. Never in history has two betas produced three alpha sons. Axel’s two younger brothers were dominants. Despite the historical phenomenon, Axel grew a flaw. He could not tolerate any pheromones at all. Hence, the burden of the mask.

The waitress returned with dessert and exited the room. No one touched their Tiramisu.

Axel was the first to speak. “Lucian pulled out of bidding for the hospital. I am not sure who tipped off the media about the sale of the hospital or why it is being sold in the first place. But Tyrith came to Lucian for help.”

Lucian admired his Tiramisu. “You don’t say. I guess even the best of us can swallow our pride to get what we want.”

“Right. Lucian made a deal with him.”

“Really?”

“Yep. Once Tyrith signs the contract tomorrow, he is bound to Lucian for six months.”

Ryder’s eyes widened. Mischief twinkled his candy red irises. “Oh.”

“It’s nothing sexual,” I defended myself. “I said that to get him off my back, but then he agreed.”

“Right,” Ryder drawled. “So, you’re going to go through it.

I had to. I didn’t want that omega around me, but there was no way I was going back on my word. If anyone should back down, it would be him. Besides, purchasing this hospital would make him in debt to me. I knew my actions were petty, but the sight of that omega pissed me off. Walking with his head in the fucking clouds like he was better than everyone else. I wanted to ruin him. Needed it.

“What Lucian never told Tyrith was he planned to buy the hospital even if he did not ask.” Axel went on as if I wasn’t sitting adjacent to him. “He pulled out his offer to research how the hospital got on the market in the first place. He has been anonymously donating to that hospital for years. There is no way the hospital could be in a budgetary crisis.”

Ryder dug into his dessert. “Is that so?” His pheromones shifted from soothing to agitating.

Axel narrowed his eyes at him. Before I could ask what was going on, the waitress returned with a bottle of champagne and our dinners. The room grew silent until she left.

Ryder’s scent returned to normal. “So, what next? What does this plan entail?”

I had no idea. “We will see.”

Who cared about detailed plan? I had Tyrith in my palms. He would pay for making me feel this way. That smile he often wore should transform into sadness. I wanted to see him broken. It was the only way to get the sensation of devouring him out of my system.

Ryder hummed, paying more attention to his food. “Does this mean we can have celebratory drinks?”

Drinks?

“What about your girlfriend?” Axel sipped his champagne. “She wouldn’t want you to neglect her.”

“We broke up,” he said without taking his eyes from his plate.

“What? Didn’t you just start dating?”

Ryder scoffed. “You sound like my dad.”

I poured more champagne in my glass. I didn’t know why Axel was this shocked. Ryder fell in love easily. He believed in happy-ever-afters, soul mates, and any other crap centered around romance. Despite his beliefs, his relationships never lasted long. He had a knack for falling in love with the wrong people. They liked his spontaneous and jovial spirit. Enjoyed the money he wasted on them. Pretended to care when he showered them with complements. Loved the spotlight he gave them with his position and beauty. At the end of the day, they never cared for the person Ryder was. In the end, they left him heartbroken. Time and time again.

He would drink, get drunk, sleep with the nearest person, and start another hunt for romance. It was sickening. He never learned. Over and over again he fell in love, got his heartbroken, and got back up for another torture. I swore if I could ban him from dating, I would.

“Well, the Attorney General is right,” Axel retorted. “You can’t keep this up. I don’t know how this hasn’t made you bitter. If you keep letting people destroy your heart, then one day, you aren’t going to have any.  It will be in pieces when you do meet your soulmate, as you call it.”

Ryder relaxed in the seat. “I can’t give up. Even if I fall, I can’t let because of the pain, I stay down. I have to get back up. After I have my mate, then I will look back and say it was all worth it.”

Axel looked to me for help. I gulped down my drink. It was no use. Ryder made up his mind years ago. Nothing I say could change him. His parents already broke him. There was no fixing something that was unrepairable. Glasses shattered. Board broke. No matter how much we tried to fix them, the cracks remained. Scars lingered. There was nothing we could do but live with it.

I settled my glass down. “I can call someone who might be available to help you get rid of the pain from the breakup.”

Axel’s eyes bulged.

Ryder nodded. “I guess, I’ll be skipping drinks, then.”

Axel back from his chair. The legs cried as he raked them against the floor. “I’m going to the restroom.”

“Someone is pissed.” Ryder watched his friend disappear out of the room. “You are going to pay for it later.”

I could handle Axel. His rage never lasted long. It was not like he could ever win against me. He didn’t even have pheromones. An alpha who has never experienced rut. He was typically still a beta who can smell pheromones. He knew better than to try something he could not handle.

“Axel is right, you know.” I pushed my plate to the side of the table. “You can’t keep this up. I will be on your side now, but things can change next time. Don’t be so careless. It’s annoying.”

“I know. It’s even more frustrating for me. I can’t give up. If I do, it would be like spitting in my mother’s face. I can’t…”

I blew out a long breath. “I know. Still, she wouldn’t want to see you like this. Remember that the next time you think you are in love.”

She thought she was in love with his dad and looked where it got her. Six feet under with no one by her side. No one loved her but her son. I was not going to let Ryder follow in her footsteps. Not over my living body.

Axel returned with Jaxon on his heels. Ryder brightened. The brothers nestled at the table.

Ryder jumped into teasing the young alpha. “So, Jaxon, you still single?”