Page 15 of Vallaverse: Twist
I take a moment before I answer. There's no chance that she doesn't know that Laz and I have a past after what happened tonight.
“No,” I tell her firmly. “I'm here on business.”
“And what business is that?” She runs her finger along Laz's sharp jaw.
“None of yours.”
“Ah,” she smiles. “That must be the Valla temperament.” She lowers her voice to an exaggerated whisper. “Valla have a bit of a reputation for their surly dispositions, if you haven't heard.”
“I have heard that mentioned a time or two. Ms. Miller, is it?”
“It is. And you must be the infamous Brooks Lockwood. Lazarus has told me so much about you.”
Laz doesn't look at me, but his eyes shift to her for a brief moment.
“All good things, I'm sure.”
She smiles again and sits up, unraveling herself from Laz and propping her elbows on the table to rest her chin on her steepled fingers. “Mostly. You like watching the fights?”
She's fishing, and I don't know why. “I haven't decided. What about you? Do you enjoy the fights?”
“I enjoy the people who enjoy the fights.”
I don't have a response to that. It's such an odd thing to say that I don't know what the best response would even be. But I know for a fact that she wants me to feed into whatever it is.
I just have no intention of feeding into anything, and I'm starting to suspect that she has a specific goal for this meeting.
“I'm sorry you had to wait at the bar,” she continues. “This place is always busy on fight nights. This is my table. I have a standing reservation. Perks of having a close relationship with the owner.”
“Perks are nice.”
She turns to smirk at Laz. “You weren't kidding. He's a hard nut.”
He looks at me then. Just for a moment. But that moment is enough for me to take in the full-faced spectrum of his situation. No one on this Earth knows Laz better than I do. No one. He isn't well.
If he's her Omega, why has she allowed him to fall into such a stressed state?
Anger begins to tighten the muscles in my neck, and I have to fight to stop myself from rolling my head from side to side to loosen them. I am well aware that could be seen as a signof aggression, and myValla temperamenthas already been mentioned, so I'm not trying to give her anything to react to.
“How have you been, Laz?” I ask, not looking away from his pallid face and the dark smudges underneath his eyes.
“Fine,” he mumbles and slouches further against the back of his seat.
I give a flat look to his Alpha. “He isn't—“
“How do you and my Lazarus know each other?” she interrupts.
I run my tongue over my teeth. I'm so close to not caring what anyone thinks of my temperament. “We used to be close.”
“Would you like to be close again?”
I blink at her. Then I blink again. “Pardon?”
“It's a simple question, Mr. Lockwood. Would you like to be close to Lazarus again?”
“Why?”
“I can't imagine why you wouldn't want to rekindle your... friendshi—“
