“Gabrielle,” I coax. “Sweetheart. What’s the matter?”
Sniffling, she opens her hands. A cascade of colored cards scatter to the floor, one landing near me with a familiar unpleasant scent.
Coconut.
The scent cards sent to us by the Center lie around us like an omission of guilt. Gabrielle turns her face away from me.
“Is this why you asked me to stay?” she asks numbly. “Any omega will do, right? Pick one out of a catalog, pick one out of a dumpster. What’s the difference?”
Her shaky words hit me straight in the chest.
“No, baby, no.” I reach for her but she recoils, her blue eyes darker than I’ve ever seen them.
“I was so stupid,” she whispers. “Nothing this good can be real.”
I swear my heart cracks in two. Panic trails up my throat in a blaze as she starts to climb to her feet.
“Gabrielle.” I grab for her hand, and when she tugs it away, I refuse to let go.
“Listen to me,” I beg. She shakes her head.
“I need to go. I need to get my things.”
“This is not what you think. We did contact the Center a while back – but it wasn’t right for us.”
She’s not listening to me, her shoulders tight as she withdraws into herself, her eyes closing off to me like blinds over a window.
“Stop it,” she says, louder now. “I don’t need to hear it!”
“You do!” My temper snapping, I get in her way as she makes for the door.
“None of them were you!” My voice rises in a shout, and she stops.
“None of them held a candle to you,” I say, more softly now that she’s actually looking at me.
“We didn’t expect to find you, Gabrielle. You are not a substitute.”
Her eyes search my face, so fucking vulnerable that my fists clench at my side with the desperate need to draw her closer.
“So what am I?” she asks quietly. “What am I to you, Hudson?”
“Everything,” I say hoarsely. “You’re everything.”
Her hand reaches up to rub at her chest, the uncertainty in her eyes gutting me. I don’t ever want her to feel uncertain about us. I risk taking a step closer.
“I am in love with you, Gabrielle.”
The words slip out so easily. Her mouth opens, and I hold up a hand.
“Let me get this out,” I beg. “You’re ours. But we’re yours, too. All of us.”
She looks at the floor. “But you haven’t…”
The vulnerability in her words hits me hard.
“I didn’t want you to feel pressured,” I explain, feeling like an absolute moron. “I’m yourboss, Gabrielle. That gives us a dimension that the others don’t have. I never wanted you to feel that your job here was at risk.”
Relief burns through my chest as realization lights up her face. She chews on her lip, her eyes falling on the cards.
