Chapter 20: Into The Fire, Give you all I Got
[SERGEI]
The silence that followed was unnerving.
The mighty cold CEO was staring at the omega, his face unreadable to anyone save for Anya, who could see the turmoil behind those eyes.
The woman was tempted to snap Sergei out of his trance, but this was a public space. This was not where she would scold Sergei for looking at his son’s husband like he was food while masking it with a blank face.
So Anya took her seat, only screeching her chair loud enough to snap straight out of whatever trance he was in.
Gods, the man was doomed for the omega.
And now more than anything, Anya knew this was going to be a real problem.
Not just for her.
But for the omega in the room.
"The meeting hasn’t started yet. Sit with me, love," Yaroslav said.
Sergei’s fists clenched.
Today was Wednesday.
Yesterday was Tuesday.
Yaroslav had spent the better part of the night with Milan in his penthouse, while his omega had been waiting for him at home.
Curled in the cold, waiting for his husband, yet Yaroslav was busy sinking himself into someone else.
That very idea pissed Sergei off so much so that if this wasn’t a meeting he had called, he would have slapped his son’s head off his shoulders.
Gods, he was pissed.
"Thank you," Katya said, his voice quiet.
Sergei almost tripped on air as he walked back to his seat.
The citrus scent was messing with his mind, and the fact that it smelled so practiced and controlled made the barbarians want to yank Katya from beside Yaroslav and give him the peace he deserved.
The affection that he needed.
Sergei would give the world this beautiful omega.
"Glad to have you here, Mr. Katya," Sergei said once he took his seat.
Anya choked on air.
"You alright, Anya?" Sergei asked casually, and Anya could only think that this bastard barbarian was going to make all her hair fall before the dark meeting even started.
"Yeah," Anya grumbled.
"I called this meeting to discuss Knox technologies," Sergei said.
Anya stared at him.
More like glared, but then, since she wasn’t the one heading the meeting, the attention wasn’t on her.
But Katya noticed.
And sweet, gentle Katya, handed Anya a bottle of water and his handkerchief.
It was a simple gesture, one that was only Katya being kind, but what followed was not sane in the least bit.
Sergei growled.
The bastard alpha growled when he noticed Anya and Katya’s hands touching.
He knew it was unintentional.
He knew it meant nothing.
He knew that it would be useless to start a fight over that.
But he hated it.
He only wanted Katya to touch him.
To look at him with those soft, caring eyes, to smile at him.
Hell, he just wanted Katya to breathe, even if just beside him.
Anya smirked at that.
"Looks like someone is thirsty too, Katya darling," Anya said with a smile, but her words were not for Katya’s ears, or anyone who was wondering what the duke was going on.
They were for the best dressed in a tux, fighting his self-control, and growling in the boardroom like the barbarian he was.
"Oh, are you thirsty too, Mr. Moskowsky?" Katya asked, his question catching Sergei so off guard that the alpha stared like a lost puppy.
He looked like he wasn’t sure what to say.
Like he was scared of saying that word.
Of course, to everyone, he was being cold and unpredictable, but Anya was having the time of her life.
She could see the veins on Sergri’s neck as the Alpha’s mouth struggled to open and form words.
None came out.
"Hngh," Sergei growled slowly.
But Katya wasn’t scared of him.
Everyone else seemed so tense, yet Katya just simply stepped out of the meeting that should have started ages ago, came back with a bottle of water and a tumbler, stood beside Sergei, and poured water for the man.
It was such a simple act that held so much innocence.
But Sergei was so close to exploding.
"Thank you," the alpa finally forced out, and Anya snickered slowly.
Ohz Sergei was down bad for Katya.
Goodness, he was pathetic.
"Are you sure you’re okay to run the meeting? Perhaps Katya could give us insights, seeing as he works in the same company too?" Anya suggested smugly.
However, when she smiled at Katya, it was genuine, almost like a plea for help and a chance to save the alphas and betas in the t who were not even sure what they were here to do again.
"Me? I... I work in the R&D department. I wouldn’t know how to handle this," Katya said.
Sergei turned to look at him, tumbler still on his lips, hands holding the darn thing like it was the only thing that was keeping him sane.
Maybe because Katya had touched it.
Maybe because it was the first time Katya had really been close to him, and he didn’t know what to say or do, and he still had to chair a damn meeting.
Maybe because Katya’s citrus scent was unraveling him from the inside out.
Oh, he was doomed.
The great Sergei Moskowsky was slowly unravelling, and the omega hadn’t even done anything.
Hell, all Katya had to do was simply exist, and Sergei would be fucked.
"If you have the skills to be in R&D, you have a right to speak at the table, Mr. Katya," Sergei spoke, his voice reverberating through the room.
He refused to use Katya’s last name.
He refused to accept that Katya was Katya Gamov.
Yaroslav, on the other hand, was oblivious to the brewing tension in the room.
He stared at Katya with so much pride and love in his eyes that Sergei felt like he was about to empty his guts out in the tumbler he was holding.
This couldn’t be the same man who had been out with someone else, just yesterday, instead of his husband.
This couldn’t be the man who had left his Solnyshka waiting for so long.
"Go on, honey. Show them what you got," Yaroslav encouraged.
Katya looked at Sergei, not sure if he was going to do this.
But who was to tell this pretty omega that he could sneeze and Sergei would bow to him for eternity?
That Sergei may have appeared to be the most powerful man in the room, but all the power belonged to the prettiest omega Sergei had laid his eyes on?
"Okay," Katya breathed gently, and Sergei began malfunctioning.
"I went through the meeting files and..." Katya spoke.
Sergei looked at Anya, wondering what the heck the empty files were. Anya, on the other hand, just gestured to Alpha to focus.
And focus, Sergei did.
On the way, Katya was so achingly beautiful and intelligent at the same time.
On the way, Katya didn’t even need to announce his presence for everyone to feel his power.
On the way, Katya, sweet R&D Katya, his Solnyshka was talking about his projects.
But Sergei was not listening.
Well, he was listening to something else.
To Katya’s steady heartbeats.
To the sound that came from Katya’s lips.
In the way that Katya knew what he was doing.
To the way that he could make Katya happy was by killing his own son and freeing the omega from his useless son.
Sergei was focused, and he found himself trapped in a fantasy Anya had tried to steer him clear of.
The fantasy or a life that he shouldn’t have yearned for.
A life with Katya.
One that he could spend watching Katya, even if just from a distance.
A life where he would be useful to the omega.
Sergei would run a thousand errands for Katya if it would make the omega happy.
He would take him to the moon if that was what Katya wished for.
He would make the people here bow to Katya if that was what it took.
Anything Katya wanted, would be law.
Hell, even now in this boardroom that he was zoning out of, Sergei knew.
He knew Katya could ask anything of him and would give it.
"That is all from me, Mr. Moskowsky," Katya’s voice snapped the barbarian out of his trance.
"Whatever you need for your department, run it by my accountant. He will give you the funds uncontested," Sergei said earnestly, before he rushed out of the room, the tumbler still held close to his lips and the water still untouched.
The boardroom stayed silent moments after he left.
Because for the first time in so long, Sergei Moskwowsky had left the meeting before it ended.
