Jael pulled up into the parking lot of Mafia King Nikolai’s casino, his expression turning grim when he was immediately surrounded.
He cursed under his breath as he stared at the men surrounding the car through the windshield, their guns cocked right at him.
Asher was definitely behind this.
He had to make sure his boss was okay, so although it was probably a dumb idea, he slowly took off his gun holsters, sure that the men could see him.
He opened the door and slowly stepped out after dropping his weapons, his hands up in a gesture of surrender.
"I’m just here to pick up my boss," He said casually, sunglasses obscuring the look of resignation in his dark eyes.
The men all shared tense looks with each other, this was a situation they had absolutely no idea what to do in.
So just like when Mafia King Asher showed up, they parted for Jael to go through, a couple of them tailing behind him with their guns cocked.
Jael didn’t bother taking his sunglasses off inside the casino, addressing one of the men who looked to be a couple of wrong sentences from Jael away for them to shoot.
"Where’s Mafia King Asher?" He asked casually.
The henchman cleared his throat nervously. "Uh, with Mafia King Nikolai."
"Take me to him," He requested.
The henchman seemed to relax a bit at that, relieved that this complication would be taken off his hands.
Jael was led to a room on the third floor, one of the armed men that had accompanied him knocking briefly.
The door was opened from within, a row of guns getting cocked at him before he could even process the interior of the office.
He didn’t expect to find Asher and Nikolai holding a harmless conversation.
"Here to pick up your boss?" Nikolai broke the brief silence.
"Right," Jael agreed.
He actually didn’t want to know what was going on, he was just relieved to see that Asher was in one piece, and there wasn’t even a single dead body around.
"Good, get him off my hands, he’s drinking my wet bar dry." Nikolai said impatiently.
He had begun to get irritated with the other Mafia King’s presence.
Asher held tightly onto the secret of whatever was bothering him, and he also refused to leave.
So Nikolai was forced to have him for company. Ordering men to drag him out wasn’t an option, so he was forced to put up with his aggravating presence.
Violence was the only other option, and it was looking more and more enticing the longer Asher kept his ass planted on his couch.
Jael looked at Asher in surprise, not because of the drinking bit - because the Alpha could indeed empty a wet bar and be mostly fine.
But because of everything else.
"Come take a seat, Jael." Asher invited him, ignoring Nikolai’s words. "They’ve got great quality liquor."
Jael preferred the sweet iced tea Caspian liked but he walked past the gun barrels to get comfortable as well.
He had hurried here because he had been worried that Asher was on a rampage, but the Alpha looked content to sit and slowly sip on burning liquor.
That was harmless enough so he would allow it.
"Why the fuck are you sitting too?" Nikolai bit out, his brows furrowed in anger.
"Can’t order my boss around." Jael lied smoothly, "I can’t take him with me if he’s not ready to leave."
Asher would have pointed out that Jael definitely could and did order him around but the Beta’s presence was doing a great job of pissing Nikolai off so he would let it slide.
Nikolai immediately refocused on Asher, veins popping up on the sides of his head.
"Don’t you have a Mafia House to run?" He asked bluntly, starting to give in to the frustration.
Jael’s phone rang then, the Beta glibly excusing himself to pick up the call.
Nikolai watched Asher’s second-in-command stroll to the other far end of the room, disbelief painted across his features.
This was far more annoying than if Asher had shown up with his men and started shooting down his casino.
"Jael, I’ve got a report to make." Peter’s voice came through the phone.
Jael straightened up at that, "Did something happen on the walk?"
"Yes, we failed at our duty to protect Caspian." He gravely recited.
’Gimme that,’ A faint voice in the background said.
"Jael, I just tripped and bruised my knees," Caspian snatched the phone from his bodyguard to speak directly to the Beta.
"What?" Jael asked in confusion.
"So tell these men to turn the cars around, I’m not going to the hospital for a minor scrape..."
"You’re hurt?" Jael cut him off, the only thing he seemed to pick up.
Caspian cursed at that and just handed the phone back to Peter, worried that if he kept on talking to Jael, Asher would find out and they would both show up.
It was already too late because Asher’s sharp ear had picked up on the conversation.
"Who’s hurt?" He asked with narrowed eyes.
For the first time since he sat down, he shot to his feet, not even letting Jael complete his sentence.
Nikolai was curious but even more than that, he was just happy to have them finally leave...
"I’m sorry to take you away from patients that actually need help." Caspian apologized to Doctor Brianna as she wiped down his scrapes with antibacterial wipes.
"They can manage without me for a few minutes," She adjusted her pink glasses, giving him a kind smile.
In a private waiting room joined to the hospital room he was in, Keith and Peter were waiting like he was undergoing a risky surgery.
And just as the doctor was putting a band-aid on his knees, there was a loud ruckus coming from the hospital, making them both look up.
The door getting kicked in, made Caspian rub the side of his head with two fingers, only to wince because they hurt when he did that.
Brianna was quick to take his hand so she could gently wrap gauze around it, unfazed that her hospital door was now hanging off its hinges.