“Good Morning, Mr Coletta,” Lucas replied, tone brusque and business-like. Patrick’s eyes narrowed as they slid to Oliver, lip twitching as the other alpha loomed possessively next to him.
“Morning,” Oliver said, attempting to mirror Lucas’ confident tone. Looking over Patrick’s shoulder, he saw Alfie running up and down the stairs in his wolf form. Sarah gave him an apologetic look before ushering the boy upstairs.
“Sorry, and you are?” Patrick said, attention snapping back to Lucas.
“DS White. We spoke on the phone.”
“Oh! Yes, yes, DS White I remember. You tried to veto our little diffusion day.”
“Yes,” Lucas replied, lip peeling back ever so slightly. Had Oliver not been caught in the cross-fire, he would have loved abag of popcorn while watching the alphas posture. Instead, his throat went dry when Patrick’s mouth curled into its signature shit-eating grin. He leant forward to grasp Lucas’ hand. They shook, and their knuckles popped as they glared at one another. Without releasing the hand shake, Patrick covered his mouth in a conspiratory fashion.
“Sorry to have out-ranked you, DS White. I hope you’re not too upset about it.”
Lucas sucked his teeth, eyes dragging up and down the other alpha. “You’d have to be a police officer to out-rank me, Mr Coletta. Correct me if I’m wrong, but social workers are civilians.” Oliver’s eyes flicked between them, as though he were watching a tennis match.
Patrick chuckled. “True, but isn’t itamazinghow one so lowly as myself can get what they want when they know the right people?”
Then it was Lucas who chuckled, his top lip curling back for all three of them to see. “I wouldn’t know,” he said, leaning forward. “I’ve never stooped lower than a snake’s belly.”
Oliver was hard. So fucking hard he could have broken down the door with his erection.
Patrick huffed and drew back. “Is that so? Well, little Ollie here was more than happy to tag along.” The corner of Lucas’ eye twitched.
“For Alfie,” Oliver said. “Let’s just remember, this is all for Alfie.” With that, he pushed past the two posturing alphas and entered the foster home. He found Alfie and Sarah sitting at the dining room table, crayons in hand, as they coloured what looked like a T-Rex.
“Morning DC Reed,” Sarah said with an exhausted sigh. “Sorry about that, Alfie has…” She glanced at the boy with a tender expression. “Well, Alfie has been struggling to stay in hishuman form just recently. I think he feels safer as a wolf, you know?” Oliver did know. He knew very fucking well.
“Hey Alfie,” he said, sliding into a chair opposite him. The boy looked up under the tendrils of his curly blonde hair.
“Hi,” he replied, turning the page of his colouring book. Sarah nodded, patted his leg and said she’d leave them to it.
“Remember me?”
Alfie nodded, his eyes drifting to the front door. “Who’s that?” He said, pointing at Lucas.
“Oh, that’s Lucas. He’s my…er…friend. He’s a police officer, like me. Want to meet him?”
Alfie shrugged and turned back to his colouring, though he kept glancing up at the two men in the doorway. Catching Lucas’ eye, Oliver tipped his chin, indicating that he should join them. Patrick scoffed as Lucas shoved past him, drawing Alfie’s wary gaze once more.
“Sit down,” Oliver said, and Lucas did.
“You must be Alfie,” the alpha said, all the malice draining from his voice. “It’s nice to meet you at last.” Alfie looked absolutely tiny sitting next to Lucas, his little blonde head like a handful of straw.
“Nice to meet you,” he replied, without looking up. Lucas glanced at Oliver, eyes pleading for some kind of direction.
“Hey, Alfie. Guess where Lucas is from?”
The boy finally looked up, his brown eyes studying Lucas’ face. “Africa,” he said, without hesitation. A loud laugh slipped between Oliver’s lips, and he threw a hand over his mouth to stop it from getting any louder.
“Not quite,” Lucas said around a chuckle of his own. “Try again.”
Alfie pouted. “Spain?”
“Look,” Oliver said, tapping Lucas’ forearm. “There’s a clue, right here.”
Lucas nodded as he drew back his sleeve, revealing the jaguar tattoo. Alfie frowned, studying the picture. “Australia?”
“Brazil,” Lucas said, finally putting them out of their misery.
