Chapter 4
Ryon
The attacker had been bold, coming into my apartment. I didn’t want to startle Natasha but no one should have been able to get through the lock on the door so easily. Tomorrow morning, I would change it.
Ever since she’d climbed into the car after the ship, her scent had swirled around in my nostrils. It probably didn’t bother Urgoth. He was gay. I, on the other hand, was not. And that omega’s scent was eating at me.
Larla had given Natasha body wash, deodorant and perfume to disguise her scent, but she hadn’t used them yet. If she had, I would know. I presumed it was because of the powercut and associated water problems. Thankfully, betas had less developed senses of smell than alphas. As long as she wasn’t around any other alphas, she would be safe enough. There were few alphas around here.
I hunched up on the couch to get some rest. The couch was uncomfortable. I was about two feet too long for it. My knees hung over the edge into thin air. Alphas required larger furniture than betas. In predominantly beta areas, like here, the buildings weren’t designed for alpha-sized furniture. A seven-foot-long couch literally would not get up the stairs in this apartment block.
This was just part of the job. Spying on criminals wasn’t as glamorous as people thought. Most of the time, the bastards were the dregs of society who had no skills or redeeming features. That meant they didn’t live in palaces or dress well. Anyone in a suit would stand out a mile in sector 7.
I wondered who the attacker had been looking for. Could anyone have known about Natasha? The whole retrieval mission had been kept very secret. No betas had even been allowed on board the ship.
Maybe I should have talked to him, but mother had always told me to kill first, ask questions later.
My cock ached for Natasha. This mission was going to be hard. I’d read her background. She was a tortured soul. Like me. And I didn’t want her to get hurt chasing terrorists.
Sleep was broken. Tomorrow would be different. I’d get the water fixed so she could wash. She would disguise her scent and I’d lose the constant urge to knot with her.
***
Natasha
In the morning, the room was filled with a gray daylight and I saw where I’d spent the night. The floor was bare concrete, or whatever the space equivalent was. Walls were the same. A single light was embedded into the ceiling. There was nothing here to imply anyone actually lived here. Where was his stuff? Photos of family? Books he’d enjoyed? A clock? The little pile of coins that every man seemed to abandon beside the bed in every room I’d ever been in? Where was it all?
It was as if he’d never even been here. Except, the bed had smelled of him. All night, I’d kept waking and inhaling that scent. Nice. Masculine. I didn’t have better words to describe it, except it was comforting and spoke to a part of me I’d never listened to before.
I liked it.
Hungry, I went into the living room. The couch was brown and not very old. No bobbles in the fabric cover. No slashes from people sitting on it with knives in their pockets. No stains or fag burns.
Interesting.
It was pristine, like it had fallen straight off the back of a lorry on its way to a DFS showroom.
Ryon wasn’t anywhere in the apartment, so after washing my face in tepid water and drinking some of it, I headed out. I didn’t currently have any way of getting back in, or any way to pay for stuff, but I’d work something out. After all, I had some picks in my pocket and when you had a decent set of picks, you didn’t really need to carry keys. Or a purse. It wasn’t a question of how to get money, it was a question ofwhere.
It was time to start work on my mission. Urgoth had told me to find Ghil. He was the leader of the local gang of betas.
His crew was often found hanging out near a shop that sold dubious electricals. Law enforcement had never been able to prove they were stolen. I thought that was pretty weird, since I would have expected them to have better tech than the serial numbers we filed off lifted goods in Glasgow.
I found the shop, and the group of males hanging around on a set of steps next to it.
“I’m looking for Ghil,” I said to one of them. He stood up and his eyes roved over my body. He didn’t speak until he’d licked his lips while staring at my tits. Now Ireallywished my top didn’t show any sideboob.
“I could be Ghil, what are you looking for?”
The rest of the men burst out laughing. It was obvious this wasn’t their leader. I raised a brow. Guys like this needed a swift dose of attitude.
“I heard he’s hiring.”
“Hiring for what? He got titties coming out of his ears. What would he need you for?”
“I’m a breaker. There’s no lock made that I can’t open.” It was a stretch. Urgoth had furnished me with picks that would work on the locks here, but I hadn’t practiced with them at all yet. Most people thought lock picking was as easy as getting the right set of picks, but it was actually an art form. It was my only skill.
Maybe I should have practiced a bit on the door of the flat before I’d set out. That was me all over. Half-cocked. Hurrying to the next thing. Missing the fine details on the last thing. Fucking it up all the time.