Jake was running late to his lunch appointment with Alex Anderson and the fellowship candidate. Well, technically, he was on time, but only just on time. Which meant twenty minutes late, Navy time. The driver that his assistant, Janie, had arranged for the trip had been caught in traffic that morning, and the traffic had not yet resolved by the time he got to Jake’s hotel, so Jake had gotten caught in it, too. Minor annoyances, but he did not like to keep people waiting for him.

Jake had taken a shine to Alex Anderson yesterday, and he found that he was looking forward to meeting Anders Freeman, too. He sounded like a go-getter, and his research, as Alex had described it, was very promising. Something about a mechanism for scent transference in Beta-Alpha pairings involving claims. If they tracked it down, Alex had explained, it would help science better understand how claims progressed beyond the primary scent gland system and into the tiny glands that were part of the skin because skin glands were the only scent-producing glands Betas had. They were hoping to find new methods for neutralizing established claims, which was a very worthy endeavor. It certainly sounded like a good project for Avila to fund.

Jake walked into the restaurant and spotted Alex in the distance, sitting at the table with a person with a long, curled, vividly pink ponytail whose back was to Jake. Jake smiled. Huh. Well, ok, Dr. Freeman. I was picturing something a little more… tweed, but this probably means a real lunch conversation instead of an academic lecture, so that’s cool. He hurried over to the table with the smile still on his face and his hand already reaching out, looking first at Alex, who was standing with an outstretched hand, and then turning to be introduced to Anders Freeman, who was also standing as he looked up at Jake. Instead of smiling back, Dr. Freeman froze, his features a rictus of shock and fear.

Jake inhaled sharply in surprise, pulling in a great big breath of a scent he hadn’t smelled in twelve years. Andie. Andie! Fireworks exploded in his brain, and his body jerked forward, knocking an unoccupied chair over as Andie Dahl slapped a hand over his mouth and nose and leaped backward, crying out in a choked voice, “Alex! Don’t let him follow me!” Andie turned and ran, literally ran, for the exit, heels clicking on the polished floor as he went. Jake pivoted and surged after him wordlessly, his hands instinctively reaching for his mate, but other hands grabbed his shoulder and upper arm and pulled him back. Very strong hands. Jake pulled against those hands with a strength born of desperation for a moment, but his efforts were fruitless. Jake turned, mindless, golden-eyed, ready to fight whatever was keeping him from pursuing his mate.

The sight of Alex Anderson reaching across the table to hold him, eyes equally gold and scent transmitting increasing amounts of aggression, snapped Jake out of his frenzy to get to Andie.

“Hold on, Mr. Rivera. You need to stop right there,” Alex said, fairly levelly but with a warning hint of snarl. “I don’t know what’s going on, but do not try to follow him. Sit down. Now.”

There was no “or else” tacked on, but it hung in the air between them.

Right. Right. Jake, stop. Jake made a conscious effort to relax his body.

When Alex seemed satisfied that Jake wasn’t going to take off through the door, Alex released him. Andie vanished seconds after going through the door; there was no reason to keep looking that way anyway. Twelve years. Twelve years since he’d seen Andie, his mate, his fated mate, and all he’d gotten was that one brief glimpse before the terror hit and the hand flew up. Before Andie turned and ran from him. Blindly, Jake reached down, righted the fallen chair, and sat in it, shaking all over. He reached for a glass of water and took a deep breath to calm himself, but the breath was laced with the last precious traces of Andie’s pink peppercorn scent, and he closed his eyes to savor it, not caring what Alex Anderson thought.

“What in the hell just happened?” Alex demanded. “Why was my colleague terrified of you?”

“Andie is… was… my mate," said Jake, briefly. There was no way to smooth over the situation, so Jake told the bald truth. He wondered whether he needed to say it louder so all the people staring at him from other tables could hear, too.

In the past minute, Alex Anderson’s expression had gone from friendly to nonplussed to angry, but now it was outright dangerous. “Your mate? Well, you know the look on his face just then? I see that look way too much in my exam rooms on the faces of forced-claim and intimate partner violence patients. He was your mate? How does that work? What in the fuck did you do to him? Why did he just run away? I’ve never seen him turn a hair, and I’ve seen him under serious pressure. Andie has calm and self-control for days. He’s fearless, too. So, why did he look terrified? Why did he tell me to stop you, and why did I even need to stop you when he clearly did not want you to follow him? Have you been donating because you plan to make frequent use of our services or something?”

Jake shook his head. “I know it looks bad, but it’s not like that. I would never hurt a hair on Andie’s head. I’ve known him since I was in first grade, and he was in kindergarten. I’ve never hurt him, not physically, anyway, and I’ve never let anyone else hurt him either. I haven’t seen him for twelve years. I… had no idea he’d be here today.” Jake turned again and looked out the front windows of the restaurant, praying that Andie would reappear.

“Some Alphas have a loose definition of hurt. Why is your mate running from you like that, then? Why haven’t you seen him in twelve years? Why have I never heard a word about you from him? Hey. Turn around and look at me,” Alex snapped at him angrily.

Jake turned. Well, this guy isn’t an ass-kisser. We’ll add that to his list of good qualities and ignore the general disdain.

Alex wasn’t done letting Jake know where he stood. “I’ve got my friend Will Adams, an SVU detective, on speed dial. He owes me a favor, so you can keep sitting there and thinking about how you can get away from me and go after Andie, but that's not going to happen. We’re going to let Dr. Freeman get a nice, long head start, and then we’re going to text him and see whether he wants me to call Will. If he does, that’s that. I don’t care how much money you have, and no one on the board will, either. Screw the fellowship. Andie is one of ours,” said Alex unnecessarily.

Jake closed his eyes and rubbed his eyelids until he saw spots. Of course they’d taken a liking to Andie. Everybody took a liking to Andie. In high school, he’d been like the school Rosetta Stone, moving from clique to clique with zero friction, translating Geek into Jock and Goth into Cheerleader. Anyone who knew him was so pleased that Andie wanted to sit and talk to them, that it would never have occurred to anyone to snub him. He swept the homecoming royalty election without lifting a finger to campaign. When he won, he had accepted his title grudgingly because he hadn’t asked to be nominated and hadn’t wanted to deal with the hassle. Everybody everywhere had always loved Andie Dahl. Andie Freeman?

Jake was tempted to ask Alex whether Andie was married, but he could see that would be pointless. Instead, he just said, again, “I did not force claim Andie or assault him in any other way. I imagine that he will tell you that himself. He has plenty of reasons not to want to see me, but assault is not one of them.”

With a visible effort at calm, Alex said in a more moderated voice, “Listen, you seemed like a nice guy, and we appreciated the offer of funding, but if you try to leave before Andie confirms that you haven't hurt him, I’m not going to leave much of you for Will to arrest." There was no smile to soften the threat. Then he added, rather opaquely, "And I’m not going to get a single hive over it.”

That comment, whatever it meant, went over Jake’s head, but the unfriendly smile that Alex paired with it got the point across. Jake felt the hair on the back of his neck lift. Why was this married, mated Alpha defending Andie so ferociously? Jake’s…former…mate. His knuckles itched briefly, yearning for contact with Alex's jaw, but he ignored them. He had long since learned to control his emotions. Some lessons were so costly to learn that you never forgot them.

With a resigned sigh, Jake leaned back in his chair. Very calmly, he spoke, making eye contact with Alex to show his seriousness. Easy, Dr. McDreamy. Let’s keep this civilized. “I am not trying to leave. If Andie says I should be arrested, I’ll be very surprised, but I will patiently wait for your friend to come and get me. Don’t break your hand on my face for no reason. You’ll probably need it for surgeries this week.”