"Right!" I shouted at the young pups who were being trained. They all skipped to the right. "Kick your legs as high as possible and hold it there for three minutes. Go!"

"Don't you think you're going a little hard on them?" Gina asked. "They are only twelve to fifteen."

"So?" I asked looking at the stopwatch and then at her. "They need to prepare for what's to come. I don't want any of them in danger."

"Awww, such a soft-hearted Alpha." Gina teases but I ignored and blew on my whistle.

"Stop!" I yelled as they all went crashing down. "That's all for today. Tomorrow we will do the same thing with a little extra."

"Yes, Alpha!" They all bowed and left.

"What happened to your mate?" Gina asked as we walked to the shed to get some water.

I looked at her and shook my head. "He's at work. And before you ask, yes I did bring him to my house but we didn't do anything." Even if we did, I would never tell you. I gulped down the water.

Gina loved knowing about people's lives. She loved to gossip, with my beta Luke and they wouldn't stop teasing me about if they heard anything. I was sure they would even tease Lionel about it because they were just evil. Once, they found out that this girl confessed to me, she was human, and everything they would see her in the hallways, they would pretend to be confessing.

The girl was furious and thought that I had told them and everyone. She called me after school and threaded me, which was cute so I just laughed and walked away. The next day, someone had spray-painted my locker with some rude words. Needless to say, the girl was suspended, the friends who helped her were also suspended and form then on, I was careful to say anything around Luke and Gina.

Gina nodded and looked at the cup. "Fine, don't tell me. I'll just find out myself." She grinned and walked away.

This is going to be hell.

I shrugged and walked to my car to go home and freshen up. I had to find some man who stole five million from business and scammed many people. I hated cases like these. It was fine I guess, but the humans involved are just dumbasses.

Like if you're going to steal, do it smartly, or don't do it at all. But if they are, the least they can do is have a plan, "like this month I'll five thousand and the next the same amount" and save that up. That's way, the big business won't notice the loss and they can get away with it. Or they can marry the company's CEO if they really want the money.

Whatever, the more stupid things they do, the more money I earn so it's fine.

I drove to my office and directed a team to take the case. I was going to get paid handsomely for this, and that's why I put my best team on it. I needed it done quickly and easily, then I can go home and rest or go on a date with my mate. The second option sounded better. "Get this done in four days or less," I demanded and they all nodded before exiting my office.

While everyone was working, I took out my phone and called Lionel since I knew he was on break. "Hello?" He spoke.

"Hey," I smiled instantly hearing his voice.

"Zeck, what's up?" He asked as I heard him bite into something.

"Nothing really." I leaned back with a smile. "Just wanted to pass some time."

"And that's why you called me?" I could feel him rolling his eyes or shaking his head. "You need to find something to do, or you'll be bored forever. Also, aren't you at work? Wouldn't your boss be mad?"

Fuck, he was so adorable. I want to eat him up.

"No, he wouldn't." I went along with it. It was cute that he thought I was working for someone.

"How would you know?" He asked. I heard some shuffling on his end.

Lionel didn't know what my profession was, and I wasn't exactly hiding it from him. It's just we never got to talk about, and really get to know each other. "I know because you're talking to him right now," I answered and he gasped, making me laugh a bit. "He will see you at dinner tonight if you're up for it." I kept going when he didn't say anything.

"Well, tell him that he better finish work by nine PM, and pick me up by nine-thirty. Then, we shall see." He replied.

"He will be there before that." It was a bit weird talking about myself in the third person. "See you soon."

"Okay, bye." He hung up making me surprised but I knew it was because he was shy.

"You really are something else," I mumbled to myself and got to work because I wanted to be there on time.

~••••~

The moment I finished my work, I ran to my car and drove toward his house. I was running a bit late because another client showed up without an appointment. But since I was a nice person, I discussed his case and then left, telling him I'll get working on it later, since his visit was not scheduled. The man teased me about leaving in a hurry, saying that I might have someone waiting for me, which was true and I had a dinner date with Lionel.

I rang his doorbell and waited for someone to come and open the door. The one who came was his friend. "Oh ho," she smirked. "He actually gave you a chance. Come in." She moved away from the door

"Thank you," I smiled awkwardly as I walked in.

"You can sit down, I'll go get him." His friend smiled as she walked down the hallway with a smirk on her face. It was like she knew something I didn't. Ahh! Stop thinking about it. I went to sit down on the couch as I waited for Lionel.

It took about fifteen minutes because I heard hurried footsteps from the hallway. "Thank for waiting." He smiled as he stood in front of me with a smile.

"No problem." I smiled as I looked over his outfit.

"Okay, let's go." He grabbed my arm and quickly walked out the front door.

"What's wrong?" I asked once we were near my car. "You seem a bit stressed."

"The two devils would chew me out tomorrow. I just saved you from them." Lionel replied as he opened the door and got in the passenger seat. "As a thank you, I would like to eat something good."

"As you wish," I bowed a little and then got in the car. We drove around the town until Lionel finally picked a fancy diner. I parked my car in the diner parking lot and we both got out to get to the entrance.

We walked up to the hostess and she brought us to our table. The mood of the restaurant was elegant but cozy. It smelled of warm vanilla and cinnamon, the smell was a bit overwhelming for me but in all it nice. "Your waiter will be with you in just a minute." The hostess smiled as she handed our menus, we thanked her as she left.

"This is nice," Lionel commented, not looking up.

"Yes, just like a date." I joked bout I was very serious. This could be counted as a second date or first since we did have a sort of a home date. When I looked up, I saw Lionel quickly looking down blushing. "What you thought it wasn't?"

"No," he mumbled as he tried to hide his face. "Just didn't expect you to say it."

"You're just adorable." I smiled.

Lionel blushed even redder but didn't say anything, instead, he went back to looking over the menu. I had already chosen what I was going to get. Smoked Paprika Steak and Lentils with Spinach sounded really delicious. "Good evening gentlemen, I'm Yuki and I'm you're waitress today. Can I get you some refreshment?" A nice woman came up to the table. I looked at her and smiled.

"I woulda bottle of Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs, and water. Also, I would like to Smoked Paprika Steak and Lentils with Spinach and smoked salmon roll." I smiled and she wrote it down then turned to Lionel.

"Umm, I'll have Roasted Salmon With Potatoes and Green Beans, and for appetizers crab and corn peppers. Thank you." He looked at her and smiled and she wrote it down.

"Your orders will be done shortly. Thank you." She smiled.

"Thank you," Lionel and I said at the same time as she left.

"Why are we having wine?" He turned to me as soon as she was gone.

"Why not?" I shrugged. "Also, it's not a date without a little alcohol."

"But you have to drive." He pointed out.

"Yes, and I would like to say I have high alcohol tolerance." I grinned. "It's not like I can't get drunk easily."

"Good, because I value my life." Lionel hugged as he sat back.

I value your life too.

As we waited, more and more couples start to come into the restaurant. The noise level rose a bit but it wasn't all that bad. There were old couples to young couples since it was a weekday, there were no teenagers, thankfully. A few minutes later Yuki came back with our drinks and then about twenty minutes later our food arrived.

Lionel licked his lips as his order was set in front of him. He was really cute. "This is good." He smiled as he picked up a knife and fork and began to eat.

I nodded as I was eating mine. "So, how was work today?" I asked trying to break the ice a bit.

"It was okay, tiring and annoying but that's work." He answered after he was done chewing. "What do you work as?"

I looked up at him and wiped my mouth with a napkin before speaking. "I run a business where I help find people who cannot be found," I answered in the nicest exhaling way possible.

"Is it legal?" He asked after a while.

"Yes, of course, bad people do come and seek help but I don't always help them without a valid reason and some investigation of my own." I didn't want to seem like a bad guy in his eyes.

"Good." He mumbled and continued eating.

When we were done and were sipping the sparkling wine, I asked, "how is your family?" Which was the greatest mistake that night? After that, Lionel's mood became dark and quiet.

"I don't know, I'm not in contact with them." He answered swiftly as he sipped more wine.

"Oh," I mumbled. I felt like I had ruined the mood and everything was going to fall downhill from then on. "Ummm." I didn't know what to say.

"I think it time to leave." He sat up and raised his hand to call back out the waitress.

"What can I help you with, sir?" Yuki came and asked nicely.

"We would like the check please," Lionel spoke and she nodded before leaving and then returning with the check. I put my card in the small folder and handed it back to her. "You didn't have to pay for me."

"I didn't have to, but wanted to." I smiled as we got up and went to the counter. The hostess handed me back my credit card and I thanked her as we left the restaurant.

While we were sitting in the car, Lionel spoke up. "Can I stay at your house for a couple of days?" He asked and nodded eagerly.

"Of course you can. You don't have to ask." I smiled as I started the car.

"Okay then, can we drop by my house to get some clothes?" He asked as he strapped in.

"Oh, you mean starting today?" I was a bit surprised by the sudden change of attitude. Lionel looked at me and I smiled. "Okay, we can do that."

"Great." He smiled.

Oh dear god, my heart just jumped out of my chest.

I knew these few days are going to be great.

___________________________________________________________________

😘.