Chapter 110: Shame and Croissant

Noah’s POV

My strides come to a stop when I don’t hear Elias behind me.

That permanently frowning jerk!

"Goddess, forgive me. He’s a grade A asshole" I mutter and fold my arms.

Hoping he’s not listening in on me, I turn around to look for him, but he’s still not here. That man can’t possibly be mad at me when I’m the one who should be mad at him.

He’s giving me attitude for no reason, he’s acting all macho man, and he dared to give me a handjob when what I wanted was to be taken against the wall.

My insides are heated now because of him.

"Elias" I snap his name and he comes out of the corner like every problem in his life originated from me.

Without saying a word, he walks ahead of me and leads the way to the double door of his family’s dining room.

I can already hear the clinking of silverware and smell the delicious breakfast.

The guard at the door opens it for us and Elias waits for me to go in first. What a gentleman. A very annoying gentleman.

The Deus family is sitting nicely like they didn’t send me to see an enemy of theirs last night.

Siren is focused on buttering a bagel and when I take a step further in, the older omega’s nose twitches. He looks up and passes the bagel to Darius who starts to munch on it.

"Noah, are you having an irregular heat circle?" Siren asks and I frown in confusion.

What?

"No..." I say, looking down at myself and wondering why he’d think I’m having an irregular heat circle.

"You smell..." his voice trails off when Elias shows up behind me, "...oh" he says.

Oh?

Oh, what?

"Holy shit, these corn-stars" Damien snorts, and I get even more confused. What’s a corn-star and what’s wrong with how I smell? I smell fine and I smell like Elias’s shower products.

"You smell like you’re on the edge of another heat" Elias says in my ear and my jaw drops.

Of course I smell like I’m on the verge of another heat. I’m cock-starved!

"Now you smell mad" Elias mutters.

"Why didn’t you warn me?" I hiss and he places his hand on my lower back, steering me towards the table.

I feel so embarrassed to announce my business to everyone. Why didn’t I pay attention to mastering scent control when I was being taught on seduction?

If only the floor can open up and swallow me.

Goddess, this sucks.

"Don’t be embarrassed, Goldilocks" Darius says, taking a bite of his bagel and I feel even more embarrassed.

"His name is Noah" Siren corrects his husband.

"That’s what I said. Don’t be embarrassed, Noah" the head of the Deus family says.

"Not everyone can be as shameless as you and mom, dad" Kai drawls and Lucas hides his laughter by taking a loud sip of his hot chocolate.

Why is he even drinking hot chocolate?

"You’re grounded" Darius points at his youngest son and I slide into the chair next to Lucas.

I really hope they’ve forgotten about me.

"We need to talk, dear. We have to map out your heat circle before your next heat hits" Siren says and I beg the ground to open up in my head.

"Mom, we’re at the breakfast table" Kai groans.

"I am not raising any of my boys to be ignorant to omegas’ needs" Siren says sharply and Kai sighs.

"His house, his rules" Lucas says with a grin and I duck my head. They are so weird, no wonder all three of their sons are like this.

"Croissant?" Darius asks and I nod, accepting my breakfast of croissants, jam, and coffee.

"Thank you" I mutter, taking a bite of the food nervously.

I’ve gone from horny to confused to embarrassed in less than five minutes.

While I eat, I keep my eyes open. Who knows when a knife throwing contest would start or when a gun would be shot in my direction.

But to my surprise, the Gods eat breakfast without violence, yet I remain nervous.

"You’ll give yourself anxiety if you keep stressing like that" Elias says to me quietly and I take a breath of his rich pheromones to calm myself.

Stockholm syndrome or not, this man has an undeniable effect on me.

"I already sent out an announcement for a general meeting with our higher-level clan members" Darius says as he accepts another buttered bagel from his husband.

"Once breakfast is over, we’ll meet with them and talk about the Winslow situation" the man adds and my shoulders drop.

They won’t let me join them in the meeting.

They’re going to decide the fate of my city without me. I already know an omega has no place in the meeting room, but I just needed to see a bit into their plans and prepare my heart.

"So far, we know Noah is in touch with Julian, that makes him a problem" Darius says and I blink.

"Are you allowed to say that in front of me?" I ask, mouth full of croissant and Deus lifts his butter knife to point at me.

"You’ll be carried along in our plans. That way killing you when you turn out to be a snake won’t be hard" he says casually and I gulp.

"I’m not a snake" I say quietly.

"Elias said you called Julian Uncle--" Damien says and I interrupt him by blurting, "Julian brought me a claiming collar last night."

"What?" half of the people in the room ask and I swallow, forcing myself to speak and ignore Elias’s eyes on me.

"He said I belong to him and that my dad signed a contract to give me to him when I was...twelve" I say, smelling the raw anger in Elias’s pheromones.

"Fuck" Damien whispers and Siren gives him a glare.

"Apparently it all happened during the same time I was here in Gottingen" I say and Darius squeezes his eyes shut like he’s having a headache.

"If that’s the case. Then it means Elias can’t keep Noah" Kai says.

"Noah is mine" Elias states flatly.

"Shut up and listen" Kai says, leaning forward and keeping his hands on the table to share his thoughts as calmly as possible.

"I don’t think Julian planned this. He must have been two-timing Winslow and Gottingen without knowing that Gottingen would invade Winslow in the future" the youngest Deus says.

"What do you mean?" I ask in a small voice.

"Winslow is irrelevant and small" Kai starts.

"Winslow is not small" I interrupt him to defend Winslow. "Shut up" the young and ruder version of Elias says.

"As I was saying, Julian is smart. He got himself friends in the mafia and in the government at the same time. And when we, the mafia, found out about his schemes, he moved to the next place he’s accepted" Kai presents his theory and his family members nod.

I’m lost and I’m confused.

"Julian used to show up in Winslow a lot when I was little...Goddess I’m so confused" I say and Siren gets up abruptly.

"All talk about this will be postponed till evening. Noah and I are going omega shopping" the man with long silver hair says and I stare at him helplessly.

"Mom" Elias says as if he wants to interrupt his mother, but Siren doesn’t give him an opening.

"By then, I need all your facts set. Any questions or objections regarding my omega shopping date with Noah?" the older omega man asks while looking directly at his middle son.

I can feel the anger radiating off Elias and the alpha isn’t looking at me.

"None? Good. Come on Noah" Siren says and I get up to follow him, entranced by his graceful, gentle but commanding presence.

One day I’ll understand the Deus family, but that day is not today.