“Give me a minute,” he said, breathlessly. “I think I just had a heart attack.”
“You wouldn’t be able to speak if you had a heart attack. Please hurry up. He might decide to go out again.” And he wasn’t fit to fight him. Calla would have him flat on his back in seconds – something that had never happened before.
Adew harrumphed, hating how weak he’d become.
“Where am I going to find a door at this hour?”
Shit… what was he going to do? He looked around him, and his eyes landed on his bedroom door. It looked about the same size as the broken one. “Do I have tools I can use to remove a door?” he asked.
“If you have to ask me…”
Fuck.
“We are fucked.”
“We? You wanted to stay there alone, remember?” Lars laughed. He actually laughed. Adew growled at him. He laughed harder. “Hang tight. I’ll be there soon. Just make sure he doesn’t go out again.” The connector went silent. Adew stared at it, feeling like screaming. He’d had a trying day. He didn’t need this shit tonight. He walked to the exercise room and stared at his okie lying on his favourite spot. The animal opened one eye and stared at him.
“You didn’t do anything I’m going to have to pay for, right?”
***
Four days later, they found out the extent of Calla’s escapades from an officer of the council. The beta arrived bright and early to present him with a complaint lodged by one of his neighbours and inform him of the council’s decision to investigate the case. He was advised to prepare for the worst.
Which meant they were going to kick him out. Adew growled and hit the chilling compartment.
“Getting angry won’t solve anything,” Lars said calmly. His calmness irritated Adew to no end. Didn’t he understand how serious this was?
“This is ridiculous. They can’t kick me out. Calla didn’t hurt anyone,” Adew said, pacing in front of the counter. He rubbed the back of his neck and stretched his arms over his head. He moaned as something popped. His muscles felt tighter than usual, his body a little warm. Maybe he was coming down with something. “I acknowledge that he dug a hole under the wall and went into the yard, which I’m willing to pay for, but he didn’t hurt the omega.”
“Apparently, he did more than that. Did you even read the complaint?” Lars asked, holding up the data reader.
He read it. All he got from it was that some omega wanted to kick him and Calla out of a house they liked.
“He might not have hurt the omega, but he did go up to him, and he hurt his arm trying to protect himself. He must have been terrified to see Calla in his yard. And don’t forget we kind of lied to the whole neighbourhood about the animal moving in a month later.”
Shit, that was the problem, wasn’t it?
“What do you think we should do?” he asked.
“Paying for the damage is a given. What we need is a way to assure the omega’s safety. And beg for his forgiveness,” Lars continued to talk, outlining their plan, which involved a lot of grovelling and putting Calla in a cage.
“I’m not putting Calla in a cage. That’s not going to happen. Think of another plan,” Adew snarled. Lars shook his head and moved to the chilling compartment. He took out a bottle of water and drank it down. “I’ll fall to my knees and grovel in front of the omega, but I’m not putting Calla in a damn cage.”
“I know,” Lars sighed. “We have to look at all our options. Moving is one of those options.”
“No.”
“Fuck. Be reasonable.”
Adew turned to the door and walked out of the cooking station, down the hallway to the front door.
“Where are you going?” Lars asked behind him.
“To talk to the omega. I’ll beg him to reconsider,” he said, opening the door.
“You can’t speak to him directly. We must go through the council office.” Lars gripped his arm and pulled him back into the house. “Don’t go there and make things worse. I have a friend in the council. I’ll talk to him. In the meantime, keep Calla in the house.”
“I miss the days when all I had to think about was training and winning,” Adew said, staring at the neighbourhood. It was quiet and peaceful. A nice place to live. If he hadn’t gotten hurt, he wouldn’t have known such a place existed. He didn’t want to move. He liked it here.