Page 11 of A Home for Tyler (Omegas of Animals #14)

Tyler

Today had been intense on the work front, but it had also been one of the best days since my arrival.

Having my mate by my side for most of the time had been wonderful.

We hadn’t made any decisions as to what was coming next, but that had been because of me.

He offered a suggestion, a solution really, and I ignored it.

Not intentionally, at first. That had been the water’s fault.

But there had been plenty of opportunities to bring it up again later, and I didn’t.

And before I knew it, our time together was over. I was sad when he had to leave, but I understood. I wasn’t the only person in his life. He had his cousin and mate. Abandoning them because he found me…yeah no. They were important to him and, by default, to me.

The timing was for the best, anyway. I had to get the paperwork done, and that was not a two-man job. There was no way I’d be able to keep everything straight with my sexy mate in the room.

Every time I thought I finally figure it out, I found a mistake, and one led to another and another. When my boss came in later that night, it was a hot ass mess. Not only was it not done, it was completely fucked up.

“I need the papers,” he barked at me as he gathered the cash from the drop box.

That was the only time I saw him, really, was when he needed the money, which was good, because he wasn’t what you’d call a pleasant person to be around on the best of days.

“It was not as simple to do as I hoped it would be, and, honestly, between the exterminator and some plumbing issues and a thousand other things, I just didn’t have the time to fix it. I’m sorry. If I can get it to you in the morning—”

He cut me off with a growl—fucking growl.

If he was a lion or a wolf or bear, maybe I might have excused it, but he was a human. It wasn’t his beast shining through. It was his assholedom, and I wasn’t there for it.

“This is because you left last night.”

That caught me off guard. I thought I’d been pretty tricky about it, but apparently he knew I left the note out and called it good.

“Before you deny it, I know you went out. My brother told me.” Brother? Who the fuck was his brother, and why was he here?

“Who?” Talking back wasn’t the best choice, but it came across that way and I flinched.

“Bob.”

Well that explain why Bob was…Bob. He wasn’t a renter, he was the owner’s brother and possibly one of the owners. I wasn’t positive how that all worked, and it didn’t matter.

“From now on, you can’t leave the motel. It gets in the way of you doing your job.”

“You want me to stay here twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week?” I had to be misunderstanding.

“No, of course not. You can go to the grocery store and post office, but this going out at night? Yeah, that has to end.”

“I’m sorry, sir.” Which wasn’t the same as agreeing, but it was as close as I could come at the moment. What else was there to say on that one? Nothing, really. It was apologize or get fired.

He took the paperwork from me, grumbling something about maybe next month I’d get it right, and then left.

Good riddance. I went back to my room because I was put a fork in me done.

The night had been stressful enough before all of that.

My mate was at Animals, the paperwork was a disaster, and I was exhausted. It wasn’t a good mix.

I wasn’t past the door when I was already resolved to leave.

My mate’s cousin had offered me a job, sight unseen. There was no reason why I shouldn’t take it, sight unseen.

I grabbed my clothes and shoved them in my backpack. That was pretty much all I had, aside from the few toiletries and the hot pot.

I hadn’t even zipped my pack up when I called Dimitri. My plan was to have a nice conversation about accepting his cousin’s offer and asking him to put me up.

Instead, I broke down into tears, sobbing through the story about my asshole boss. “I should have just accepted the offer when you gave it.”

I sniffle-snorted. How disgusting.

“But I-I don’t know. That’s a lie, I do know. I was worried, maybe you weren’t even wanting the job either.” And having him take it for me when he didn’t want it wasn’t the kind of mate I aspired to be.

“I’m already halfway to you.,” His voice cut through my sobs. “And I honestly am not understanding half the words you’re saying, but I know you’re in distress, so put me on speakerphone and then just listen to my voice while I get to you.”

I did as he said, and we didn’t talk about any of the situation for the rest of his trip. I didn’t talk at all.

Instead, I listened as he told me about the first week his beast was in the city and how his bear adjusted to all the concrete and the lack of space.

It was filled with silly anecdotes of growls at the coffee shop and cravings for salmon.

And he finally had me smiling when he described the events that led him to shifting in his bathroom.

There were no real points to his stories other than to distract me from the asshole who was my boss, and it distracted me enough that when he came through the door, I was no longer crying. Although there was no hiding I had been. My eyes were bloodshot, my face tearstained.

He squatted, his arms open, and I collapsed into them, letting him hold me, letting him tell me we were okay.

“Let’s get you out of here.” He kissed the top of my head.

“Yeah. Okay.”

He took my backpack and my hot pot to the car while I went to drop off my keys at the office, put up the note about ringing the bell, and leave a separate note for my boss, with two words. I quit .

It was far from the most professional thing I had ever done, but then again, the way he treated me was far from professional.

I still couldn’t be mad at having taken the job. This motel led me to Gary, which led me to Animals, which led me to my mate. I’d be forever grateful to this rundown motel, my asshole boss, and even to Bob. But I didn’t belong here anymore, if I ever truly did. Time to move on.

I belonged with Dimitri, and maybe at Animals…that part I wasn’t sure of, but as long as we were together, location didn’t matter.

He was my mate.

He was my home.

He was my everything.