Just This Once

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Arriving at the hospital where Elder Sullen was admitted this morning, the rest of the group trailed the way to the Elder's room. Not one had spoken due to the situation but the moment they arrived; a few members suddenly halted their walk resulting in the rest to follow. The first one was Mo Laotian before Daniel as well stopped and looked in the direction where his husband was looking. When he saw a familiar face talking to a couple of police, his eyes widened a little.

"Paul!?" Daniel called in surprise. He did hear that the Alpha had come back from Europe to fully inherit his family's business, but he did not expect to see him here and to look so disheveled at that. Of course, this was because it hasn't been a couple of months since Paul had come back and hasn't really met a lot of people yet except Fyre, and Maverick who he spent a lot of time with. Furthermore, the news about Maverick and Paul becoming a couple hasn't yet come out in public mainly because both families were against it and the individuals involved wanted to stay low profile to just enjoy each other's company.

"Daniel," Paul replied after halting his talk with the police officers. He looked at the people who were with the Omega and Paul nodded at them briefly as a sign of respect before he brought back his attention to the Omega. The last time he saw him was more than five years ago and it wasn't even a good memory to remember.

"What are you doing here and what happened to you?" Daniel asked in curiosity, seeing the bandage on the Alpha's head. Paul is still good-looking as he remembered even more so now that he had matured but he couldn't really appreciate that now seeing the Alpha's condition. Meanwhile, watching this conversation and sudden reunion, Mo Laotian was obviously not happy at all. He did not like that his wife was talking to the man he had loved for many years before him. Subconsciously, Laotian grabbed his wife's waist as if he was showing off that the Omega is pregnant with his child. Of course, Daniel did not notice his intent as he briefly looked at Laotian.

"Ah, by the way, you know already but this is Laotian, my husband, and the rest of the Mo Family, oh and I heard you are friends with Fyre. We're here to visit grandfather, how about you? How did you get hurt?" Daniel introduced everyone briefly before he asked the Alpha. By this time, Mo Chendong and Laura together with Tian Zi and Fyre excused the conversation after the short greeting and went ahead inside the room because they feel like they needed to give them some privacy to talk even though Fyre too wanted to greet Paul properly and ask him what had happened to him as well the reason why he called last night.

At the same time, the police officers also excused themselves and finally left the area. And when there were only the three of them left, Paul politely smiled making sure that his stance wasn't in the slightest bit threatening to Mo Laotian who seemed vigilant towards him. He does understand since Laotian is a dominant which is more possessive in nature than Submissive Alphas.

"I feel ashamed to say this but, I-I was there when Maverick was kidnapped last night, and I was beaten trying to save him. I was just talking to the police to give them more information that they might need to help us find Maverick," Paul replied, looking down. He still blamed himself for letting this happen to Maverick that's why he's trying his best to help even if it was just a little.

"W-What? Well, I'm glad you're okay but how come you're together?"

"Ahh, Mave and I haven't announced it to the public yet but we're dating, that's why I feel even more ashamed to have let him be taken while I was with him. I should've protected him better," Paul replied with a serious expression at first but later he looked down feeling dejected. Meanwhile, when Daniel heard Paul's reply, his eyes widened a little very briefly before he nodded. He honestly finds it weird that after him and Daniella, the Alpha was now dating Maverick so he could only imagine how both Joaquinn and Ashton reacted when they both learn about this but in the end, he didn't really have any right to say anything about it.

If Paul and Maverick are happy together, then he guessed there's nothing wrong with that. Furthermore, looking at Paul now, he could see that the Alpha cared for his cousin. If anything, that's all that matters.

"Ohh, it's a surprise for me to learn this but Paul, none of this is your fault. None of us wanted this to happen so if you're blaming yourself then please don't, okay? I know I can't say that everything will be okay, and I won't say it, but rest assured we are all doing our best to find Mave as soon as possible," Daniel comforted that Laotian on the side found it a little bit funny that his wife was acting so composed when he himself was barely able to hold it in earlier during their call. He wondered why he was acting this way to his ex-lover, but Laotian didn't mention anything and instead continued to silently wait for their conversation to end.

"Thank you," Paul expressed which Daniel replied with his most charming smile.

"You're welcome. Let's pray that until then, he'll be fine."

"I do hope so," Paul responded before silence evaded the space between them which Laotian took as a chance to finally find a way to end their conversation as he softly squeezed the Omega's side and whispered to him about them going inside already.

"Anyway, we'll go inside now. Would you like to come in?" Daniel, understanding Laotian's words then proceeded to invite Paul. And obviously Laotian didn't find that pleasing at all so he unintentionally threw a glare at the fellow Alpha that Paul took as a signal to decline the offer. Of course, even if Mo Laotian didn't glare at him, he'd choose not to go in since his current relationship with Joaquinn and Ashton was not good because just like him, they also blame him for not being able to protect their brother.

Obviously, Paul knew that none of this was his fault, and the two brothers should know that as well but at the end of the day, things don't hurt as much if they have someone they can blame. All of them are currently in an emotional turmoil so it's probably easier to handle the situation if there was someone they could blame, and Paul was willing to be that person.

"It's okay. I think I should pass for now. I have something I still need to do, thank you though and please send my best wishes to the Elder," Paul said with a soft smile that Daniel no longer insisted.

"Okay, I understand, and I will relay the message but please do visit anytime you want. I'm sure Maverick would be happy to see you get along with grandfather and his brothers once he comes back safe and sound," Daniel conveyed, filled with hope which Paul found rather pleasing to know that even after all this Daniel was still the same old Omega that he knew. The sweet and kind personality that he initially fell in love with but later took for granted remained that he could help but reminisce about the old days. But then again, that's all the past now, he does not have the right to reminisce about those times, especially in front of Mo Laotian who is now the Omega's husband. Paul's eyes landed on Daniel's protruding belly and a genuine smile flashed this time.

"Thank you, Daniel. It's really great to see you again despite the situation and I congratulate you and Mr. Mo on your soon incoming child."

"Thank you, this will be our fifth child already… Anyway, I'd really like to have a chat with you sometime to catch up after we address the situation. A delicious lunch date with Laotian and Maverick would be great, I'd like to know how you two come to be," Daniel said positively, forcing himself to imagine that they'll surely find Maverick and that things would go back to normal in a couple of days. At the same time, knowing Daniel's intent to lighten the mood, Paul nodded in agreement since this always had been Daniel's personality. Always finding the positive side of a situation despite the odds. Sometimes it helps but sometimes it gives false hope and thus would hurt one even more when things don't happen as expected.

"Yeah sure, I'm sure when things get better, Mave would love that," Paul conveyed softly. After the short talk, he finally excused himself and left to his room which Daniel and Laotian found out to be just the room directly in front of Elder Sullen's. No wonder he was there talking to the police, he must have talked to them after the police officers talked to Joaquinn.

Opening the door for him, Laotian didn't realize that he was still feeling a little upset about the sudden reunion, even a possible lunch date to which Daniel quickly noticed because of the unusual knot on his husband's forehead but he was not able to voice out his concern when he once again noticed a heavy atmosphere inside the room. Everyone was especially silent to the point that it was ear-shattering. The only sound that kept on ringing across the room was the heartbeat monitoring machine that was connected to his grandfather. Even his mother-in-law and father-in-law were silent as if something really bad had happened.

"W-what happened? Is grandfather, okay?" Daniel asked worriedly as his expression shifted. Meanwhile, hearing the question, Laura was the first to reply since there was actually nothing wrong at all.

"Nothing Darling, Gabriel is already stable, and he just needed a little bit of rest," Laura replied.

"Again, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that," Joaquin suddenly interrupted, facing Fyre who just smiled brushing off the situation.

"It's fine and I do understand, Quinn. I'll be here to help you for as long as I am able," Fyre gently replied but Tian Zi in the background was not happy at all considering how much he was glaring at Joaquinn. Well, who wouldn't be mad if another man suddenly grabs his fiancé and hugged him as if they were lovers who had not seen each other for a long time? Everyone was taken aback at the sudden action, but no one was able to complain about it.

"But please refrain from doing that again, I understand that both of you are friends and had a strong bond all throughout the years, but Fyre's my mate and you can't just touch him like that," Tian Zi said in displease as he added. There is always a silent rule among Alphas and that is to never touch someone else's Omega especially if they're bonded. Of course, this wasn't always true for all Alphas, but this was always the norm. And if you have good morals and values then you should keep your distance even if you are friends or blood related. For now, he would tolerate it just this once but never next time. Next time, he might not be able to hold back and punch Joaquinn without a second thought.

"I understand and I'm sorry, I was not in my right mind and just did that without much thought," Joaquinn replied. He had no excuse because he did not regret suddenly hugging Fyre because it made him feel a little bit better despite the things that's been in his head. Even just a little, he got the comfort that he needed.

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To be Continued…