“When you asked him what was wrong. He made an excuse about urgent work coming up. That wasn’t why he was upset, though.”
“Damn it.” Duke rubbed his temples. He had thought everything was going so well, too. “Was that the only lie?”
“Yeah.”
“So...” Duke went over his conversation with Nat, trying to pick things apart. “I asked if I’d hurt him. He said no. If that’s the truth, then... I don’t know what I did wrong.”
“You might’ve been too nice to him.” Hubrie rubbed his chin. “Maybe he isn’t used to such niceness.”
Duke stared. “Really?”
Hubrie nodded. “Like you said, he’s had a hard life.”
Duke thought about Nat’s hands, the way his remaining fingers didn’t quite curl up right. Hot anger gnawed at his insides. “I’m not going to treat him terribly, even if he’s used to getting that from an alpha.”
His butler grinned. “Well, good. It sounded like you’ve been treating him spectacularly.”
Duke rolled his eyes. “Get back out there and stop slacking off.”
“It’s not my job to do the scheduling anymore.” Hubrie whistled and cocked his head. “Sounds like he’s back from HR.”
“Hey,” Duke said when Hubrie had one hand on the door handle. “Have you found out anything else about his ex?”
Hubrie’s eyes turned cold. “I’ve been hearing things.”
“Yeah, same here. Forward what you have to me. The sooner I can do something about this, the better.”
Hubrie nodded. Then his icy anger melted into a warm smile, and he waved. “Well, time to see if your omega can sit properly in his chair. Last I looked, he had a wet spot on his pants.”
Duke’s instincts roared triumphantly. “Shut the Hell up, Hubrie.”
From the look on his butler’s face, Duke wasn’t all that successful in hiding his feelings, either. Hubrie saluted and left the office.
17
A STRANGE LEAF CIRCLE
“Duke saidyou weren’t coming today,” Mallie said, staring wide-eyed at Nat.
“I thought I wasn’t either,” Nat admitted. “But the wildfires are still going, and Duke has to go help out again tonight.”
From the way Teddy and Mallie didn’t look surprised, Duke had already told them. Nat felt bad for the kids, though.
“Sorry about that,” he said. “I know you were looking forward to spending time with him.”
Teddy sighed heavily, his little shoulders slumping. “It’s better when he helps because the fire won’t kill him. It’s a lot more risky for other firefighters.”
“Maybe he won’t be gone as long today,” Nat said.
Teddy and Mallie leaned despondently into each other.
Duke jogged down the stairs, looking a lot more harried today. “Gotta run,” he said, striding over. “A fire truck got stuck out there and they need backup getting the firefighters out. Telos is giving me an air lift.”
“Pterodactyl helicopter!” Teddy cried, perking up.
Duke cracked a smile and crouched in front of him. “Yeah, kind of like a helicopter. Want to watch him pick me up?”
“Yeah!”
