Not that she was gentle and sweet with him. He saw the security footage though. Watched her interact with Mrs. Jacobs and Helen when she thought he was nowhere to be found. For a woman of her station, she was remarkably gracious with the hired help.
Perhaps as the pregnancy went on, she’d lose that lost, haunted look in her eyes. Stop flinching every time he came near. She’d learn he wanted nothing so much as her to want him, need him.
To love him.
It would help if he could unmask whoever it was that hurt her that night, but Silas had yet to come through for him. Both of their connections failed to find anything of note other than Anthony’s dinner with her and Leon’s subsequent scuffle with them both. The hotel security was abysmal with only cameras on the lobby floor and those were sparse. The halls and elevators had no working cameras so that anyone could come and go as they pleased.
Elena Costanzo had no business being there in the first place, and it was a wonder worse hadn’t happened.
He wasn’t the only man in the world whose scent was evergreens. His brother Anthony smelled similar enough, and while the two of them weren’t carbon copies, they were close enough to often be mistaken as one another when they were younger. His aftershave was expensive and far harder to duplicate, but it was feasible.
Leon would have liked to lay it all at Anthony’s door, theonly man he knew right off who would stoop to such insidious methods, but he wasn’t so certain. Work was Anthony’s enemy and plotting such a thing would have taken at least some effort. Leon was certain the hotel staff would have noted his leaving only to return later, too.
Until Silas could make some headway, there was nothing Leon could do but show Elena through his actions that he would never harm her.
Too bad she felt everything he did to her was just that.
The way she cried when she realized she was pregnant had twisted through his heart, catching him off guard. He’d thought she’d be happy. Every Omega wanted children. Elena had acted as if her life was over and wouldn’t be quieted until he’d purred for her for hours.
Leon grunted and raked his hand through his tousled hair as he sat at his desk. Tapping the keyboard, he brought the monitors to life, numbers scrolling across them as programs automatically opened for his perusal. He’d lost a week with her heat, unable to leave her even to feed himself from the trays Mrs. Jacobs left outside the door. She’d run so hot, he’d had to pin her down to scent her properly. He wondered if it would always be like that, or if it was because it was her first true heat with an Alpha. He hoped it wasn’t a one off thing. He looked forward to her being so vicious, so feral, with every one of them to come.
Dragging his thoughts back to center, Leon’s fingers flew over the keyboard as he typed up an email to check in with Silas again.
Hours later, he could hear Mrs. Jacobs moving around in the kitchen in the early morning quiet. The world was coming awake, and so would Elena. He’d eat with her, he decided. Leon had caught up with work as much as he could, responding to the multitude of emails that needed his immediate attention. Also to his father, agreeing to a dinner with his new mate.
Leon didn’t want to take her over to his father’s home. Hedidn’t want to have her anywhere but in his bed, open and naked to him, but perhaps if she interacted with those that knew him well, she’d see he wasn’t half as evil as she thought.
Perhaps his mother would put in a good word for him.
Leon chuckled at the idea, sending the computer to sleep as he rose to stretch and yawn. It’d been a long night and it’d be an even longer day. He would have to start keeping regular hours so that he could tend to his Omega.
“Is she awake,” Leon asked Mrs. Jacobs as he emerged from his office to take in the smells of coffee and bacon.
“Yes, sir, just came down,” she replied as she tsked at him for stealing a strip from the hot tray.
“Have my car ready at six. We’ll be dining at my father’s tonight.”
“Your father’s, sir?”
“She’ll be fine.”
“As you say, sir,” Mrs. Jacobs said with a dip of her head before she went back to arranging everything on a tray to take out to the dining room.
“You think it’s a bad idea,” Leon said as he leaned a hip against the counter, more statement than question.
“It’s just that she’s fresh from her heat, sir,” Mrs. Jacobs started, twisting her hands in her linen apron as she sent surreptitious glances in Leon’s direction. “I don’t imagine I know anything of it, but in all the years I worked for the Tedesco’s, he made sure to give them time after.”
“She’s a resilient thing. Elena will be fine.” Leon gave her shoulder a pat, letting her know she hadn’t overstepped with the gentle connection before he ambled out to meet his mate in the dining room.
He was still sure of her resilience as he entered, despite the pinched set of her lips and eyes, the paleness of her face as she waited at the table with hands clenched tightly in her lap.Whether she was waiting for a battle or breakfast seemed up for debate.
“Did you not sleep well,” Leon asked as he took his chair.
“I slept fine.” Distracted and terse, her reply riled his temper.
He’d let her sleep instead of waking her to see to his needs, and this was the thanks he got.
“Perhaps you need more rest to improve your behavior this morning,” Leon said as he snapped out his napkin and laid it across his lap.
