The Beta Who Bought Me

Chapter 18 - Good Morning

Early in the morning, the ringtone from the cell phone on his nightstand woke Owen up from his deep sleep. He rolled over with a huff and clicked the green button on the screen to answer it without looking at the caller ID. Only one person would have the balls to call him this early in the morning anyway.

“Yessss?” The sleep was heavy in his voice, but it was definitely laced with irritation.

“Good morning, Beta,” a familiar bright male voice came through the phone. Owen looked over at his alarm clock. It was barely after 5AM, and it was still dark outside.

“Chuck, why are you calling me this early? This better be important,” he grumbled through the phone line at the delta of the pack, Charles Upton. Owen was the only one who could get away with calling him by his nickname. Their friendship went back a long way, from the time that they were just kids in their previous pack.

When Owen had made his move to become Beta of High Moon, Charles had supported him wholeheartedly. High Moon tradition allowed the Alpha to choose his Beta and Gamma, but the Beta was allowed to choose the Delta. Appointing Charles was a no-brainer for him.

“Sorry to bother you so early, but it is indeed important,” Charles spoke urgently. Owen’s ears pricked at that point. Charles was almost always calm and smooth, and hearing such gravity in his voice was setting off alarm bells in Owen’s head. He sat up in bed now and rubbed between his eyes with his palm.

“Unfortunately, it’s not something we can discuss over the phone. Meet me at my place in ten minutes?” He asked his friend.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll meet you there.”

Owen hung up the phone without waiting for a response. He jumped out of bed and hurried over to his dresser to grab some clothes. Filing through the clothes folded messily in the drawers, he found an acceptable outfit. A quick trip to his Delta's house would not require him to be overly formal. Just as he was pulling out a black button-down shirt, he paused. In his haste, he had briefly forgotten about the woman in the room across the hall. He could not risk going out with Laurel alone in the house this time. Whether or not her snooping was going to be an ongoing thing, he knew at this moment that he could not trust her not to go through his files again. He honestly doubted that even locking the door would stop her if she was determined to find her file again. He cursed softly under his breath and walked out his door to the one across the hall.

He knocked gently. “Laurel?” He called through the door. He heard some scrambling and cussing as she fumbled her way to answer. She turned the knob roughly in irritation at being awoken abruptly but froze in place as she opened the door to see a half-naked man in front of her. Owen was still in his bedclothes, which was only a pair of shorts that were sitting so low on his hips that the V of muscles there was peeking over his waistband.

It was impossible not to admire the sight of the sexy man standing there. The definition of his muscled torso and arms was a testament to his daily workouts as the pack warriors' trainer. It was so tempting for her to just reach out and run her fingers over his perfect chest and abs...

“I’m up here,” he joked as he lifted her chin, effectively closing her gaping mouth and directing her vision back to his turquoise eyes.

“If you’re done gawking,” he continued with a glint of mischief in his eye, “I need you to get dressed. I need to go to an important meeting, and you need to come along.”

“Why so early though?” She asked as she pulled a big yawn and stretched, her silky nightgown being raised nearly high enough to expose the waistband of her panties. She opened one eye before the other and smirked when she saw his jaw drop. Two can play this game, she giggled internally.

He cleared his throat and pulled his jaw back up. Laurel could have sworn she saw his ears go red. “I’m not sure what it’s about, but I’m not leaving you alone here right now.” Her smirk dropped then. The firm tone in his voice let her know that he did not trust her not to go snooping around in the apartment again today. To be fair, she knew she had kind of earned that. With a shrug, she turned around and called over her shoulder, “Just give me 5 minutes then.”