Noah remained silent in the front seat, his profile sharp against the passing city lights. Levi studied the tension in his shoulders, the way his hands rested too carefully on his thighs, as if he were consciously preventing them from clenching into fists.
"So. This friend of yours." Levi's voice was light, but his eyes stayed sharp. "The one with the hospital. Let me guess, he is discreet, loyal, conveniently indebted?"
"No," Noah answered. A pause, then " Elais. Childhood friend. His hospital is the best private facility in the city."
The junior snorted softly. "Discrete because half their patients are paranoid alphas who think regular hospitals are trying to poison them."
"Or," Noah said quietly, "because some situations require privacy." His voice carried a weight that effectively ended the junior's commentary.
Levi caught the way Ethan's knuckles whitened slightly as he gripped the steering wheel, the only sign of his tension. The car felt smaller with Noah's presence filling it, his pheromones carefully controlled but still noticeable enough to make Levi's borrowed body respond with unwanted awareness.
"Why Elias?" Levi asked.
Noah turned slightly in his seat, enough that Levi could see his profile. "He's the only doctor who's seen other Type B alpha compatibility issues before. He's also..." Then he paused.
"He's a friend."
The simple admission carried more weight than it should have. In Noah's world, Levi was beginning to understand. Genuine friendship was apparently rare enough to be noteworthy.
"He knows about your previous..." Levi let the question trail off, not wanting to voice the word 'deaths' in the confined space of the car.
"He knows everything," Noah confirmed. "It's not for show, Levi. These tests... they might be the only way to understand why you're different."
The junior had gone quiet in his seat beside Levi, his earlier nervous humming replaced by an almost meditative stillness. Levi glanced at him and caught something unexpected in the younger man's expression, a depth of understanding that suggested he knew more about survival than his dramatic complaints indicated.
As the car rolled past the guardhouse, the hum of the city seemed to get sucked away, replaced by a strange, sterile quiet.
Ethan parked with the efficiency of someone who'd done this before, while the junior finally stopped fidgeting, his playful energy subdued by the clinical atmosphere surrounding them.
The lobby was all marble and muted lighting, designed to soothe rather than intimidate. But Levi felt the weight of the place anyway , the careful hush of voices, the smell of expensive antiseptic.
A nurse at the reception desk looked up as they approached, her professional smile brightening with recognition. "Mr. Sterling," she said warmly.
"Dr. Elais is expecting you."
Before Noah could respond, footsteps echoed across the polished floor. A tall man in a white coat approached them, his face breaking into a genuine smile that transformed his otherwise serious features.
"Noah," the doctor said, and there was real affection in his voice.
Dr. Elias looked nothing like what Levi had expected. Where he'd anticipated some slick, morally flexible physician who specialized in cleaning up alpha messes, he found instead a man in his early thirties with kind eyes and the sort of genuine warmth that couldn't be faked.
He was a man whose tall frame was neatly contained within a pristine white lab coat, extended a hand to Noah. "Noah," he said, his voice carrying genuine warmth that seemed out of place in the sterile, hushed lobby of the private hospital.
His handshake with Noah lasted a beat longer than professional courtesy required, and when he stepped back, His smile transformed his otherwise serious features, revealing an intimacy that went beyond mere professional acquaintance.
"Elias," Noah's voice carried a rare note of something approaching relief. His rigid shoulders seemed to relax a fraction, a subtle shift that Levi, with his eye looking for detail, immediately registered.
Even the faint, controlled scent of Noah's pheromones, which had subtly filled the car, seemed to soften for a fleeting moment.
Elias wasn't just a doctor, he was a trusted confidant, a pillar in Noah's world, Levi noted.
"Thank you for taking this on short notice."
"When have I ever said no to you?" The doctor's smile was tinged with something that might have been fond exasperation. His gaze moved to encompass the small group, linegering thoughtfully on Levi.
Just a professional assessment that nonetheless held a curious glint. It was respectful, yet penetrating, as if he were looking for something specific.
"Though I have to admit, when you called about compatibility testing, I wasn't expecting..."
Levi met his eyes without flinching, his own features carefully neutral.
Elias observed, his smile widening slightly, "It's... remarkable to meet you." His tone was polite, but Levi's sharp features picked up an undercurrent of genuine wonder.
This man, Elias, wasn't afraid of Noah. He wasn't cowering or fawning. He addressed Noah with the ease of a childhood friend and looked at Levi as an unsolved medical mystery rather than an unlucky Omega.
This, Levi mentally noted, made him far more dangerous in a different way. A man of science, untainted by fear, could be relentlessly curious.
"Levi"
He watched the subtle exchange of glances between the two men, noting the way the Doctor's expression shifted.
"Elias is the only doctor I trust for this," Noah had stated earlier, adding that his friend was the only one who had seen Type B Alpha compatibility issues before. And he knew everything about Noah's previous failed matings. This was the expert, the one tasked with understanding why Levi hadn't ended up as "another one for Sterling"
"Let's discuss this upstairs" the doctor said, gesturing toward a bank of elevators. "My office will be more private."
As they rode up in silence, Levi found himself studying the dynamic between Noah and his friend. Ethan, ever the efficient right-hand man, walked with his usual stone-faced composure, while the junior, still rubbing his leg, shuffled along.