The Beta and His Angel (The Belesone Pack #3)

Chapter 6

Leo headed down to the main pub after his chat with Katarina. He felt great about her pregnancy, so he ordered himself a bottle of water and a plate of dinner to celebrate. It was some sort of stew on offer and it tasted good, particularly since he hadn't had anything to eat for around twelve hours.

He ate slowly, knowing fine well that if he just shoved it in his mouth in hunger, he'd regret it later. He washed down every third or fourth mouthful with a drink of spring water to give himself a moment to look around and see if he could spot anyone who might look like a good storyteller.

There was an old man in the corner, with a pipe hanging out his mouth, sitting by the fire. But he looked stern and, although he talked with two young boys who were eagerly listening to his story, he didn't look like the sort of person Leo wanted to deal with. His mission was already risky enough without trusting the wrong person.

By the time he was finished eating, he was more than pleased to see a man entering the pub and the barman beaming at him. It was the most expressive he had been with a customer all night; Leo hoped he was in luck.

He sat, mulling over his bottled water and a notepad, that he planned on using to take notes as a real writer or journalist would. And he waited.

The man spoke briefly with the barman and ordered his meal.

Leo waited for him to approach; he wasn't going to make the first move. He pretended to scribble something into his notebook.

A pint of beer clunked onto the table and the man slid into the seat opposite him. "I hear you're looking for me?" he asked, smiling pleasantly, as if he was willingly to help anyone.

Leo returned the smile. "That depends. Are you the man the barman says worked on the traveling show?" he wondered hopefully. Everything rested on this meeting going well, because if it didn't, if anyone found out he wasn't writing a book, he would be slung out of his only place of shelter and no one would trust him again.

The man nodded proudly, in the affirmative, and Leo let hope rise in his chest.

"Then you're the chap I'm looking for. I'm Leo," He held out his hand and introduced himself, as the waitress brought over the man's meal. He shook hands and tucked into his food.

"Donkor," he explained.

"Nice to meet you,"

Leo found Donkor to be quite an open, honest man, like the barman. He was hoping they would become good friends for however long it took him to find Angel's location. A man so closely connected to the traveling show was bound to know something useful.

"I'm writing a book about all the different carnivals of the world. I heard an interesting tale about your traveling show, having a young man who turned into a wolf?" he queried politely. He let his dinner guest know his cover story and just why he was asking questions about a show that no longer ran.

"That's right. Little Angel. I was dead sorry for him," Donkor lamented, before cutting into his stew.

Leo raised an eyebrow. He called him Little Angel; surely that suggested sympathy, possibly even a friendship that might have existed between the two. And if not, then it at least told him that his mate was cared for by at least one person.

"Chained up day and night, unless he was being put on show," Donkor sighed. "Don't know where they found him. Handsome kid when he started. Then...of course...his looks went a little downhill with all the traveling and the treatment," he claimed, as if it should have been obvious. But Leo didn't see anything wrong with how his mate looked now. If he was any more attractive, he wasn't sure his heart could handle it.