Angelo obediently let himself be taken back to the mansion, spacing out on the car ride. If he wasn’t walking behind Nikolai’s men, he would have walked right to the stairs. In the elevator, he stared at the metal walls, not on guard despite being in an elevator full of men.
He got on the bed when he was ushered into his usual room by a familiar face, his body felt boneless, it felt like too much work to keep his eyes open. For the first time in a long time, he felt what it was like to be sleepy.
Angelo didn’t remember falling asleep, waking up hours later from a dreamless sleep when the sun was going down. There was a knock on the door as he groggily opened his eyes, Angelo forced himself to get off the bed— Nikolai wouldn’t knock.
And he was right, a different Alpha was standing on the other side of the door, he was a familiar face, one of Nikolai’s men who always stood guard right outside his room.
The Alpha opened his mouth to speak and then gave up halfway, giving him a strange look.
That sobered Angelo up somewhat, wondering what could be on his face to rob one of Nikolai’s men of speech. "Can I help you?" He asked flatly, unamused. It wasn’t often he got to sleep dreamlessly, he wasn’t happy to have been interrupted.
The Alpha seemed to snap out of it, gesturing at the mobile tray in between them. "For you. The boss said to eat it all."
Angelo narrowed his eyes at the covered dishes on the tray, even without seeing the contents, he could already tell that there was far too much food for a single person to eat all alone.
He took the tray and then closed the door in the Alpha’s face, it was probably his fluffy hair... Angelo trailed off, all the blood leaving his face. He forgot the tray close to the door, stumbling a few steps.
Even the savory aroma of food couldn’t cover up the dark scent spilling from him, no wonder Nikolai’s bodyguard had given him strange looks. It was faint but it was there and it made his throat close up from fear.
Angelo ditched the food and rushed to the bathroom, tearing his clothes off and shoving them in the sink to wash them. While he soaked it to get that scent out, he jumped in the bathroom and scrubbed his skin hard enough to peel.
The area around his neck was especially red as he stepped out an hour later. He nervously sniffed around and found that he was back to being scentless, sufficiently calm now, he washed his outfit and hung it up in the bathroom.
Angelo walked out with an expressionless mask, walking to the discarded tray to move it over to the sitting area. His back was ramrod straight as he sat down, dread in his pale green eyes.
He had already begun to settle into his imprisonment, Nikolai wouldn’t kill him, and save for the safe room, the Mafia King treated him fairly well. Angelo didn’t want to be treated well, but he knew that he could have it so much worse.
Mafia King Nikolai found people’s weaknesses with ease, it didn’t have to be physical torture. The Mafia King could make him long for death and keep him perfectly healthy physically the entire time.
But now Angelo was running out of time, he didn’t taste the food as he ate, emptying out the tray. He needed to make a move, even if it meant bargaining with the devil.
He walked over to the door with the empty tray when he was done eating, opening it up. The Alpha that had eyed him up earlier pushed up away from the wall, approaching.
Angelo stiffened instinctively even though he knew he smelled like nothing right then, forcing himself to speak. "Is Mafia King Nikolai back?"
Dan had been about to take the tray from him when he asked the question, the Alpha looked up at him with dark eyes. He took the tray and put some distance between them.
"Not yet." He answered shortly, about to walk off.
Angelo didn’t let this chance slip by, "Could you let me know when he is? Please?" He added, a faint tremble accompanying the plea.
Dan cocked a brow and then decided that this had nothing to do with him. He would inform the boss before giving the prisoner any information. "Sure." He agreed, his voice dry.
Angelo watched him push the tray to another of the men situated further down the hallway and then resume his position leaning against the wall, reluctantly returning to the room.
When he got in, he paced from one corner of the room to the other and then stopped abruptly, forcing himself to take a seat despite being agitated. It wouldn’t do for him to sweat and trigger the dark scent, so he sat stiffly, staring impatiently at the door.
Outside, Dan took out his phone and made a call...
"What?" Nikolai asked casually after he picked, "Did he finally jump out the window?"
"No, boss," Dan answered candidly despite the question asked, "Looks like he fell asleep, now he’s asking for you."
Nikolai went quiet on the other side for a short while, "Asking for me?" He repeated, his tone odd.
"Asked me to let him know when you were back." Dan reported word for word.
"No need." Nikolai ordered, faint rustling coming through the phone.
"Sure thing, boss." He muttered out of habit, putting his phone in his jacket as the call dropped.
It sounded like the boss was already on his way. Dan didn’t mind his new assignment, all he did prior was keep an eye on the apartment complex for the boss, and because it belonged to Mafia King Nikolai, no one dared act up in it.
So it was pretty boring, keeping an eye on a suicidal assassin that tried to kill the boss was far more interesting.
Davian woke up first, sleeping lightly in the light of the afternoon sun. He contentedly watched Lake sleep peacefully, the Omega rousing as the sky started to turn red and the sun slowly sank.
He leaned over to press a gentle kiss to Lake’s slightly puffy lips, seeking out his hand to intertwine their fingers. "How did you sleep?"
Lake smiled against his lips and then tried to stretch under the bracket of his arms, "Great. I’m starving."
Davian expected that, he had to fight a battle to keep from waking his mate up so he could feed him. "I’ll go heat up lunch, or make something else?" He asked for approval already halfway off the bed.
Lake clung to him, the oversized dress shirt he wore slipping down a shoulder. "I want something spicy."
Davian felt his entire body grow cold, "You what?" He asked stiffly.
Lake didn’t seem to notice, too focused on his plans. "We’re on vacation, you don’t need to cook for me all the time. Let’s go down to the village for dinner, I really want something spicy."
Davian’s gray eyes clouded over, sulking. "I can make something spicy."
Lake placed a kiss on his lips with a happy smile, "I know you can, but I want the island’s food." He said seriously, getting off the bed to get dressed up.
His cravings were usually sweets, and mostly chocolate but after trying something spicy, he couldn’t get enough. Added to the fact that he was starving, it made him nearly put his clothes on wrong in his haste.
Davian helped him adjust his clothes with a scowl, "It’ll take a while to drive down to the village," He pointed out, worry in his sulky tone.
Lake’s round tummy rumbled then like it was listening in on the conversation, it made the Omega’s face color up.
"...won’t it be better to stay here and eat my cooking?" Davian made sure to strike while the iron was hot, an imploring look in his soft gray eyes.
Lake was torn, he knew Davian took cooking so seriously because he liked to cook for him, but this decision wasn’t up to him, the baby wanted to eat something spicy so here they were.
"B-But..." He hesitated, his lips turned down. He was torn between making his mate sad and satisfying his cravings.
Davian gave in first, Lake always heartily ate his cooking so he knew this had nothing to do with preference. "You really want something spicy?" He completed for him, his expression easing into a smile.
Lake watched Davian walk off with a worried expression, they didn’t often have disagreements because Davian usually went with what he wanted. It was why he really wanted to stay home like Davian wanted. "Yes," He said in a small voice.
His Alpha walked back with a brush and gold hairpins in his hand, gently brushing out the tangles in his dark hair. "Then let’s get you something spicy."