They sat and worked non-stop till 2 in the afternoon. Work only ended when Sanada received a call. The meeting he sat for tomorrow was no longer possible, and today was the only available time. Gideon could hear the conversation and smiled at him. "I'm fine with going out."

Sanada wasn't sure about that, but she knew herself better than anyone and agreed to the meeting. They had 2 hours to get ready and meet at the location.

"Are you sure you're ok with going out in public Gideon? I had planned on keeping you inside the room for the day."

"I'm sure Toru, I'm masked and I have sprayed my clothes. I just need you to stay close to me."

"Okay, let's get ready then. After this we have the rest of the trip to ourselves."

Gideon smiled, she got up and sat in his lap, surprising him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, he felt her relax as his arms went around her waist.

"Thank you Toru, for doing this for me, for us." She pulled back to look at him, their eyes locking onto each other.

"Of course. My mom always told me that if I ever found my Mate, to treat them like they were everything. Because you are." Gideon didn't know what to say as she stared into his eyes. After a few seconds, she returned to the hug.

"I better change." She gave him a quick peck on the lips and went to the other room, she didn't feel comfortable exposing herself to him yet. She dressed in a nice solid grey form fitting dress with a long matching jacket, not wanting to redo her hair, she wrapped the ends into a bun. Both were ready with an hour to spare for travel time. On the way to the car, the two received stares while walking through the crowded hotel lobby, Gideon once again ignored them as one woman got uncomfortably close to her.  Sanada pulled his Mate closer and glared at the woman. Gideon noticed, but said nothing.

Once in the car, she turned to him. "Thank you Toru, but you can't go around glaring at people."

"Yes I can."

She laughed and fastened her seat belt as he drove off. The two made it to the building which was in an older part of the city. It was a single story U-shaped office building with an overgrown courtyard in the middle. The access from the sidewalk had been fenced off, the only entries for it were from opposite sides of the building. Walking inside, Gideon's eyes immediately started scanning the place. She wanted to explore on her own, but didn't want to move too far from her Mate. Even though she was fine with being out, she was still a little skittish; she was not back to being 100% and instinctively needed her Alpha close.

Gideon didn't need to translate anything as Sanada spoke Korean. While the two men spoke she continued to examine the place, making mental notes of what she saw. 

The windows would need replaced and she could smell mold, so there was water damage somewhere. The floors were solid and the foundation was good; that was a plus. The building would need a complete overhaul to attract tenants. As they neared one of the exits to the courtyard, Gideon immediately felt sick. Her eyes quickly scanned the outside area when she noticed the lush green plant in a far corner. She turned and rushed back to the front entrance.

"Gideon!"  Sanada and the realtor hurried after her. She was outside leaning against the adjacent building, gasping for air.

"Gideon what is it?"

She waved her hand, asking them to give her a minute. After a few seconds, she straightened up and turned to them.

"I'm sorry. They have a lockbane planted outside, in the back of the courtyard."   Wolves were highly allergic to lockbane, it was similar to Moonflower and was banned because of the adverse effects it has on them. Gideon could detect it due to her heightened senses as a Prime.

"I'm sorry Mr. Seong, but we can't continue the tour. Thank you for your time and I would have the Lockbane taken care of immediately. You never know who your potential investor might be." Gideon had regained her composure, Sanada was too worried about her to pay attention that they were not alone.

"I'm terribly sorry." Mr. Seong was very apologetic and the two assured him it wasn't his fault, the building was old and it had probably been planted before the ban. They bid him goodbye and walked back to the car.  Sanada had his hand on her waist as he felt the need to protect her. She felt his tension, but said nothing as she knew it was pointless. Once an Alpha was in their protective state, nothing would change that. 

"How were you able to smell that? I didn't smell anything."

"My senses are better than yours. They have to be." She smiled at him and rubbed her nose on his cheek to help him relax. "Where to now!"

"Are you going to be ok after that?"

"Yeah, I'll sleep it off later. Can we get something to eat?"

"Again?"

Gideon just looked at him with her big brown eyes.  Sanada leaned in and kissed her on the nose.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Surprise me!"

Making it back to the car, Sanada smirked and drove off.  After a ten-minute drive they had arrived to a nice Korean BBQ place. The owner was an old friend and the food was excellent. Just then Gideon's stomach growled causing Sanada to laugh at her.

"Come on you! Let's get you fed again."

Gideon didn't wait for him to open her door and was already standing there for him when he exited the vehicle. As he approached her, she immediately grabbed onto his arm and leaned into him.

"Please stay close to me, Toru. People will stare since I'm latched onto you."

"Don't worry babe. You know for an Omega, you're stinkin' adorable!"

"Hey! Don't tease me. I'm not used to being so 'needy' like this."

"Well, I love it!"

Entering the restaurant, there was a small wait to be seated. Gideon clung to the Alpha as she stood slightly behind him, allowing him to shield her from those passing by.

"You doing ok babe?"

"Mn."

A man in a business suit approached the couple.

"Toru!"

"Lee!"  Sanada had a death grip on his Mate's hand and wasn't about to let her go as he side hugged the man. Lee quickly picked up on the woman attached to his friend.

"And who is this beautiful creature behind you?"   Sanada pulled her closer to him.

"This is Gideon Okada, she's my Mate."

"Mate? You finally found her? You old dog!" The man was overly excited as he lunged toward the Omega. She quickly moved behind Sanada as he blocked him from getting close to her.

"I see, you are very protective of her. She's beautiful."

"Thank You." Gideon replied to him in Korean, shocking him.

"Ohh! You speak Korean?"

"Yes."

"An excellent find my friend! Toru is a good man my dear. He will take great care of you."

"I know, I'm glad I found him." Gideon gave him her charming smile as he led them to a booth.  Sanada was going to sit on the other side when she grabbed him. He took the hint and sat next to her. Lee went to get them drinks.

"What's wrong Gigi?"

"Nothing, I just want you to block me from people, plus men are staring at me." Gideon had forgot and left the jacket portion of her outfit in the car exposing how form fitting the dress really was.

"That's because you're hot, that dress is making you even hotter Gi. You're pretty curvy."

"I know but they don't have to stare like I'm a piece of meat."

Sanada laughed as Lee returned, Lee asked if it was fine for him to join them and they both nodded. Gideon knew Toru wanted to talk to his friend and her scent had been masked so it was fine.

"So my dear, where are you from?"

"Japan."

"Oh, I think you misunderstood me, I mean where were you born."

"Japan."

"Really? On purpose?"

Gideon couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, on purpose."

"Ahhh Okada, Okada...Ah! Like Jun Okada, the businessman?"

"Yes, he's my dad."

The man choked on what he was drinking,  Sanada laughed at him as the guy looked at him.

"Is she serious?"

"You know I can understand you, right?"

The guy looked at her.  "She is something else Toru."

"I know, you should see her in a meeting, she's ruthless!"

"So how did you meet this 'ruthless' beautiful Alpha?"

Sanada cleared his throat at the word Alpha. "She's actually my assistant, she joined the firm on Monday."

"Oh Wow! Good luck working with him, my dear. He can be a bit of an ass!"

"I'll keep that in mind!" Gideon and Lee were laughing uncontrollably, Sanada was not. But he had a smirk on his face. Gideon rubbed his leg under the table briefly and smiled at him.

Their food arrived and the three enjoyed the meal which ended up being on the house. After they finished eating, the two men wanted a picture together. As they stood together, Gideon stood by the booth and with Lee's phone she took a series of pictures as a group of young Alphas walked by. One of them slapped her on the ass, hard, causing others in the restaurant to look. Before the two older males could respond, Gideon whipped around and punched the Alpha in the face with a solid right hook, breaking his nose and knocking him to the floor.

"Don't you ever do that to a woman again, you little shit!"

The young Alpha reared up to her, but Sanada and Lee were quick to protect her by moving in front of her. Lee and Sanada forcefully pushed the group of males out of the restaurant and returned to check on Gideon, who was sitting in the booth.  An older woman was making sure she was ok.

"Gideon are you all right?" Sanada was at her side again.

"I'm fine. Thanks guys." Gideon smiled and thanked the lady for her help and bowed to her. She smiled and walked back to her table.

"Ruthless Alpha indeed. Nice right hook my dear. Where did you learn that from?"

"Martial arts."

"Ruthless..." Lee was impressed with her.

Sanada was done with the day and wanted to get her back to the safety of the hotel room.

"Thanks for everything Lee, I need to get her back before someone else tries to put hands on her."

"Good idea. Nice to meet you dear! I hope to see you again."

Gideon smiled and gave him a quick hug. She was glad to be leaving, the heavy meal was making her tired, plus she wanted to just snuggle against her Mate. Making it back to the car, the ride to the hotel was a quick one.  Sanada stayed close to her as they walked through the lobby, glaring at men that wouldn't stop staring at her. Luckily for everyone else the elevator they got in was empty. Gideon surprised her Mate by wrapping him in a hug, her arms around his waist she rested her head on his shoulder. 

"You're getting tired, huh?"

"Mn. I think I ate too much." She gave a cute giggle.

Sanada rubbed her back. She relaxed into the Alpha, shutting out the outside world for a few seconds. The door opened and he patted her on the back to get her to move. There was a group of foreigners waiting to get on. As she stepped out of the elevator, one of the men whistled at her.  Sanada turned and growled at him, causing him to cower. Gideon grabbed his arm and led him to the room as the elevator door shut.

"I need to get out of this dress."

"I completely agree."  Sanada had a smirk on his face.

"That's not happening, I already told you that lover boy."

"I know, but I can still fantasize."