Page 17 of Billy and Cord (Omega Hearts #1)

Cord didn’t realize just how tense he’d been until Billy’s small house came into view. Paying off the taxi driver, Cord got out, breathing in the quiet of the night air. He smiled as he noticed Billy had left the porch light on. Welcoming me home.

It had been a rough trip. Cord wasn’t the only one unhappy with what their HQ had done.

If an alpha found their mate, that was meant to be celebrated, but it seemed the rescue team management hadn’t factored that ever happening with the men under their command.

Cord’s was considered a “test case” – Brandon hadn’t lied about that.

They were genuinely measuring the amount of time Cord could be away from his omega before he started getting edgy, and therefore, in management’s eyes, unreliable.

Management was furious that Rapid had inadvertently ruined their experiment.

Cord pushed all thoughts of Rapid away. There would be charges laid, Cord would probably have to give a lengthy statement at some point, and Billy, too, most likely.

Razor had asked, as he’d left the plane, if Cord was going to stay on the team, and Cord had said, “Yes, but there’d better be changes,” and left it at that.

For now, all he wanted was to be with Billy.

Walking slowly up the pathway, Cord tried to be as quiet as he could. There were a few lights on in the house, but at two in the morning, he was hopeful Billy was asleep. My poor mate has had such a rough time of it. Cord’s heart ached just thinking about it.

His parting words to Brandon had been that if he ever had to see Rapid again, he would not be responsible for his actions.

His commander could take that any way he liked, but Cord was determined.

I’m going to have to tell Billy about it, and that wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have, but his mate deserved to know the truth.

The door opened just as he reached the porch steps. Billy poked his head out. “Were you going to just sleep on the porch until I got up? You don’t have a key yet.”

“Oh, Billy. You have no idea how pleased I am to see you.” Cord crossed the distance between them in seconds, scooping his mate into his arms and slamming the front door with his foot as he got them both inside.

“Billy. Gods, Billy. I’ve missed you so much,” he said, burying his nose in the crook of his mate’s neck.

“Please, please tell me we’ll be all right. ”

“We will be mate. We will be.” Billy sounded tearful again, but this time they were happy tears – Cord’s wolf could tell. “But I noticed you didn’t bring me my chocolate. I stayed up for that, hoping you’d come.”

Keeping hold of Billy with one arm, Cord dug into his pocket with his other hand, pulling out a chocolate drink sachet. “Everywhere was closed, but I got you this,” he said, holding it up, chuckling at Billy’s bright eyed stare. “I’ll get you another one in the morning – a proper one this time.”

“I guess you’ll have to kiss me instead, then.” Billy tilted up his sweet face. “I missed you, too, my mate. I truly did.”