When No Doesn't Cut It (13 page)

“What you are forgetting though
Damien” Shawn continued in his melodious deep voice, “is that if he leaves, it will kill you too and now that you are fully bonded, you will get sick and die a lot quicker than the slow death you were going through the week you were away from him.  You are true mates and you are going to have to find a way to live together happily, otherwise those feelings in your heart and in your gut, and the loneliness you feel in your mind, are just going to get worse.  A lot worse.  On a lighter note, tell me why you think Scott cleared your schedule for you last night?”

Damien had heard every word that Shawn had said and he was deep in thought.  But Shawn’s question startled him and he had to
focus on that for a minute.  “I suppose it was because he could see I was tired and he thought I needed to rest.  But I woke up this morning feeling fine, so it wasn’t necessary.”

“Damien, Damien, Damien.  The biggest and oldest Alpha there is.  An intelligent, fair
, and supposedly good man.  Strong, good looking and from all accounts good in the sack…”

“Well thank you,” Damien said, interrupting him, “but hey you are mated now
, you had your chance with me.”

“Who is also the most clueless idiot I have ever known,” Shawn finished.  “Scott didn’t clear your schedule because he was worried about you being tired.  He
wanted to spend time with you, alone.  So you can get to know each other both in bed and out.  To spend special time together, so you two can fall in love like mates are supposed to do.  How could you be such an idiot about this Damien? Didn’t you want to spend time with Scott?”

“Of course I did,” Damien roared, “But there
’s the club and the pack…and Scott was asleep.”

“One of the things I love most about being mated is when I wake up before Kane and I can watch him sleep.  When he’s asleep
, I can take all the time I like to re-learn the planes of his face, the way the light hits his hair and memorize every single muscle in that man’s body,” Shawn said softly.  “It is a rare treat and one I wouldn’t give up for anything.”

“I don’t do relationships,” Damien said
. “I’ve never had one before.  I don’t know how to do this mushy stuff.”

“Well you’d better learn, Damien and fast.  Otherwise you won’t only lose Scott, but your club, your pack and your life as well.  You took on the responsibility of a relationship the moment you bit Scott.  Now he’s bitten you and bonded with you
, the pair of you can’t be apart.  You hurt him this morning, Damien, and it is up to you to fix it.”

“I’ll sort something out,” Damien said slowly.

“Ring me again if you need to talk,” Shawn said.  “You both mean the world to me and I don’t want to see either of you dead, simply because you can’t learn how to be in a relationship. But that is the nature of our wolf spirits. They can’t live without each other, even if our human sides mess up. All you need to remember in a relationship is that you need time together, honest communication and lots of love.  That’s what makes a relationship work.”

“Yeah, Shawn, I’ll try and thanks.”  Damien hung up the phone and stared at the clock.  It was almost eleven
, so Scott should be back in the office soon.  He wouldn’t want to miss his appointment with Phillip.  After Phillip was sorted, then Damien would take some time off for lunch before his afternoon meetings and hopefully put his mate in a better mood.  Because God knows the aches Damien were feeling were getting a bit beyond a joke, and all Damien wanted to do was recapture the feeling of contentment he had felt when he held Scott in his arms the night before. 

Knowing that all he would do is watch the clock if he didn’t focus on his work, Damien forced himself to pay attention to the papers on his desk.  He knew most of it was petty stuff that just about anyone on his staff could deal with personally.  But when Damien first opened the club he was very hands-on about everything
, and now it had become a habit that was hard to break. Maybe he would need to learn some delegation skills if he was going to take Shawn’s advice. 

Deciding to think about that later, Damien lost himself to the world of invoices, orders, complaints and business correspondence.  He was startled when he heard a knock at the door and as he called out, “come in” a glance at the clock told him it was after twelve.
Damn, where was Scott and Phillip? Malacai came into the office carrying a tray.

“I bought yo
ur lunch Alpha,” Malacai said, putting the tray on the desk.  “Madison is busy working out some things with the Alpha Mate.  He will be up shortly to report.”

“Scott?”
Damien said hopefully.

“No, Madison,” Malacai said.  “I offered to bring lunch up for the Alpha Mate too, so that you could have it together, but he said that you were probably busy and he was going to keep working. 
The bar is quite busy with the lunch rush.  But he has had his meeting with Phillip and that all went smoothly.  I had Ralph and Gordon supervising them in case Phillip got out of hand,” Malacai added in case the Alpha got upset about the thought of his mate with another man and no protection.

“How could
Scott have a meeting if he wasn’t here in the office,” Damien said and then felt really stupid.  You didn’t need an office to have a meeting.

“John let him use his,” Malacai said.  “Alpha Mate said
he didn’t want to disturb you.  He’s allowed the protection detail for while he is working at the bar and when he was meeting Phillip.  So he is fully protected.”

“Well I want the Alpha Mate to have lunch with me so he can report on his meeting with Phillip.  Go and tell him to come up here, Malacai.”

“No need,” Madison said as he came bustling through the door.  “I’ve got the notes of the Alpha Mate’s meeting right here along with the resolution sorted, all ready for you to approve.  And the Alpha Mate won’t be able to take lunch because he has let Seth go for an extra long lunch break instead - apparently Seth’s mother is sick.”

Fuming
, Damien snapped his mouth shut and looked over the report Madison had given him.  Apparently Phillip was driven to ask for retribution because Drake’s money was the only money supporting their mother.  Phillip had been trying to get a job for the past two weeks but hadn’t had any luck.  As Drake had been an enforcer, there was no way Phillip could have taken over his job, as Phillip just didn’t have the skills.

Somehow though, Scott had found out that Phillip could cook
, and after consultation with Madison, had put Phillip on the roster as a bakery chef.  Another roster problem solved.  Shit, his mate was good at that side of things.  Then he frowned at something Madison had written.

“What’s this?” He said, pointing to where Madison had written,
Payment, one time, responsibility of the Alpha Mate, to help with overdue accounts.

“Oh yes.  Gosh that was so generous of Alpha Mate,” Madison gushed.  It seemed he had become a fan of Scott’s within the last hour.  “
Apparently Drake’s death has left the family in some difficulties with utilities and a shortage of food and what not.  Alpha Mate gave Phillip cash so that he could buy food and promised him that when his cars arrive, Phillip could have one to sell to make up the money needed to clear the overdue bills.  Wasn’t that wonderful of him?”  Madison beamed.

“Why didn’t you tell him to use pack funds if he thought the need was urgent enough?” Damien snarled.  He knew how much those cars meant to Scott because his mate had told him that he hated to sell them.

“I did mention it, Alpha, but Scott, sorry Alpha Mate, was quite adamant that the killing occurred while he was not a member of your pack, but his one in Cloverleah.  So the responsibility to ‘fix the mess’, I think is how he put it, was his.  You’ve got to admire a man with morals,” Madison concluded.

“Yes,” Damien grumbled as he looked at the report.  His mate was smart.  Had taken the time to talk to a pack member, work out what he needed and the best way to get it, all without consulting Damien.  Damien expected to feel angry about being left out of the whole thing, but instead he just felt sad that his mate didn’t want to share things with him.  Including lunch it seemed.  Sadness was not an emotion that Damien had felt for a long time and it usually
only came when one of his pack members died.  The fact that the cause of this sadness was working in his bar, just fifty meters away seemed to make the feeling stronger.

Damien
had wanted to see Scott earlier, basically because he was hoping to fuck the bad mood out of him.  But Scott had wrangled the situation so that if Damien insisted that Scott attend to him, then the bar would suffer, because John would be left to manage a job that usually took at least two and preferably three people to do.  Effectively Damien couldn’t see Scott, until Seth came back from his lunch break.

Looking up, Damien saw that both Malacai and Madison were looking at him.  He signed the report confirming the deal that Scott had struck with Phillip.  Then he said, “Malacai, you can go back down to the bar and keep an eye on things there.  As soon as Seth returns from lunch, can you ask the Alpha Mate if he can spare me five minutes.”

Trying to hide a smirk and not doing it very well, Malacai simply responded, “Yes Alpha,” and left the room.

“Madison, I want you to get in touch with the car transport trailer that is bringing the Alpha Mate’s cars here.  I want a list of what vehicles they are, types, year and all of that type of information. 
Then I want you to go online or call one of our vehicle brokers and find out how much each of these cars are worth in pristine condition.  Bring that information to me when you are done.”

“Yes, Alpha,” Madison said.  Then he bounced on his feet.  “Oh I know what you are going to do.  You are going to give the money to Phillip so that Alpha Mate doesn’t lose one of his cars.  Oh that is so sweet of you Alpha.”

“Maybe,” Damien grumbled even as he thought, I just hope Scott thinks so too.

“
Okay, I’m on to it.  Your first meeting is in five minutes,” and with that Madison bounced out of the room.

Leaving the tray of food on the desk, Damien stood up and pulled aside the curtain to an internal window that was mounted in the wall.  From here Damien could see the whole floor of the club, the stage and the bar area.  He stifled a groan at the sight of his mate, who was smiling at a customer as he took a drink order.  The man looked positively edible in those tight jeans with his muscle shirt showing all of the man’s well defined body.

Then Damien growled as the customer
, who wasn’t a pack member and was probably human, leant across the bar towards Scott, looking like he was trying to steal a kiss.  Scott moved away quickly and said something to the man and whatever it was must have been effective, because the customer grabbed his drink and hurried away.  Damien watched as Scott just shook his head and then went on to serving the next customer.  From Scott’s expression, this was obviously not the first time something like this had happened.

Damien felt this overwhelming urge to just go and see his mate.  He wanted to kiss him and cover him in marks right there in the bar
, so every single one of those slimy customers in the club would keep their hands off what belonged to Damien alone.  There was no way he could get Scott to wear a collar - if Damien was honest with himself it would be what he preferred, at least while the two of them were in the club, but there was no way he was going to even mention it to his decidedly non-sub mate. Even he wasn’t that stupid.

But actually no.  A collar wouldn’t do it anyway. This feeling was more than that.  He wanted Scott to be by his side while he worked.  He wanted to introduce Scott to the men he had meetings with.  He wanted Scott to be with him.  Damien wanted to share his life with this man.  Fuck
, was this what Shawn was talking about?

He didn’t have time to work it out.  A knock at the door signified his first meeting of the afternoon and returning to his desk
, Damien put his business face on, while trying really hard to forget the memory of his mate smiling and happy and looking so damn hot, while working in his bar.

/~/~/~/~/

Two hours later, Damien took the time between appointments to snarl at Madison, wanting to know why Scott had not been bought up to his office.  He had spent the whole time distracted, irritable and unable to focus.  His dick just wouldn’t go down and his raging horniness was not improving his mood.

“I did give Alpha Mate your message, but you were in a meeting when Seth got back
, so he said not to disturb you,” Madison said.

“Go and get him now,” Damien growled.

“There’s not a lot of point, Alpha,” Madison said trying to be helpful.  “Your next appointment is already here.”

“Tell me this Madison, how come I got laid so regularly before I met Scott?  I had just as many appointments
, but I still managed to fill a hole at least three times a day.  So why can’t I see my mate now for ten minutes.”

Madison blushed.  “I’m sorry Alpha
. I didn’t realize you wanted a booty call.  I will advise your mate immediately,” he said as he hurried out of the room.

“No…” Damien groaned.  But it was too late.  Madison had already gone.  Okay yes
, he wanted sex, but if Scott thought that was all he wanted him for then he would be in more trouble than he already was.  Just how much trouble he was in was clear, when just five minutes later there was another knock at the door and Madison and some young blond sub walked in.  Damien had had enough.  He roared his displeasure so that the whole club could hear, and then he took off after Madison determined to strangle him.