"Lake, listen," Caspian said with a hint of desperation. "Asher wants me, if I leave people are going to get hurt."
Lake gaped at that, his eyes never leaving Asher who had slowly started in their direction. "Oh for fuck’s sake. If you get hurt, I’m using my bejeweled gun on him." He threatened through gritted teeth, darting down the hallway.
He didn’t go too far, just enough to be out of sight before dialing up Jael.
The Beta picked up on a dime, "Lake? Need something?"
Lake was breathless from all the adrenaline as he spoke. "Asher is here-"
"Right," Jael winced audibly, "I sent him back because he seemed out of it like he was coming down with something-"
"Rabies maybe," Lake said angrily, "Why is he going on a rampage and breaking down doors? I’m telling you right now Jael, if Caspian gets hurt, I’ll be breaking bones..."
Jael was already on his feet at the first word Lake said, cursing under his breath as he jumped into a car. He waited for Lake to run out of steam before speaking, "Caspian will be fine," He said without confidence, "Mostly."
"Jael," Lake said threateningly.
"Stay away from Asher. I’m already on my way back."
"Caspian would be hurt or worse before then," Lake reminded stubbornly. "Tell one of the men to give me a gun, he’ll sit still with two bullets in his legs."
Jael went quiet for a bit, an alarmed expression on his face. Now he was more worried for Asher’s safety, he would make sure to tell the men to keep all the guns far away from Lake.
"This has happened before," He tried to say calmly, "Caspian knows how to handle himself... I’ve got to go."
Lake fumed at his phone when the call dropped, pacing in a tight arc in the hallway. There were no loud noises coming from the bedroom so he was a little bit soothed, but only a little bit.
Apparently, this wasn’t a first-time occurrence but Caspian had never told him about it before... Lake stopped pacing abruptly, reminded of the conversation he had with Caspian about babies.
Was this the genetic condition? He didn’t know if it was worse or better than he pictured, it was such a strange condition.
With that thought, he calmed sufficiently. Caspian had also known who it was when the doors were broken, it sounded really wasn’t the first time.
Lake put a hand up to his head, it wasn’t noon yet and he was already put through the wringer. Asher had better make up for this.
Back in the bedroom, Caspian whipped around to face Asher as the Alpha approached. His flipouts were so few and far between that it was hard to predict when a next fit would happen.
There didn’t seem to be a trigger for this one either, which was concerning. Because he had been gathering information with Jael’s help to figure out a pattern for the triggers so they could better predict when he would be having a fit.
If Asher was getting stressed out at work, Jael would have mentioned it, and it couldn’t be the Alpha’s rut.
"Hey," He said breathlessly, a harmless smile on his face. "Ash-" Asher?
The Alpha closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, a brief flash of fear in Caspian’s eyes as he swooped down on him.
The scar on his shoulder tingled but Asher didn’t try to eat him, instead, the Alpha sank his sharp teeth into his mating mark. It was a little rougher than Asher normally was but he wasn’t bleeding so he would be fine... Huh?
The pleasure was familiar but what was strange was the burning heat slowly enveloping his body. Asher hadn’t become contagious had he?
He went limp and fell forward into Asher’s arms, the heat amping up. It made him feel feverish, his thoughts slowing down.
If he was a little lucid, he might have noticed his scent also blooming, the sugary sweet scent cloying on the tongue as it filled up the room.
Caspian felt dizzy, and it felt like too much to keep his eyes open. His last coherent thought was that he should have stayed with Lake instead of trying to deal with this by himself.
Lake had almost completely run out of patience by the time Jael showed up. He only gave the slew of men the Beta brought along a once-over, choosing to turn a blind eye to the heavy chains they dragged with them.
"Stay right here, we’ll handle things." Jael was saying to him.
Lake snorted, his heart in his throat from all the time he had spent waiting for backup to arrive. "Keep it moving." He jabbed at the second-in-command, marching forward.
Jael had no choice but to do as he was told, picking up the pace to put himself in front of Lake.
When they got to the Mafia King’s bedroom, there was a whistle from one of the men. Jael couldn’t blame them, there was a massive hole in the wall.
He held out a hand to stop the rest, taking a step into the room first to gauge the danger. The room was in less of a mess than he had been expecting, only the closet door was torn down, and in the middle of the room were Asher and Caspian.
They both also looked mostly unharmed, the rips in Asher’s clothes came from mowing down the door no doubt, and in his arms Caspian was...
Jael’s blood ran cold, Caspian was limp. Asher was holding up the Omega, his head hanging down loosely.
Asher had noticed his presence the moment he stepped in, those fiery gold eyes pinned on him to see if he would make a move.
Jael didn’t hesitate, yelling out orders he took the lead. Subduing Asher was the most important thing or he would not be able to get his hands on Caspian.
He tried not to think about it but his heart rate was unsteady. Asher couldn’t have... he wouldn’t...