“Dad,” I said, going to give him a hug. His strong arms were firm butgentle.
“Hello, Dante,” he said. When we pulled away, he glanced over to Gabriel and said, “And who is this handsome youngomega?”
The huge blush that spread across Gabe’s face almost made me laugh but I held it back for his sake. I went back to my mate’s side and affectionately put my armaroundhim.
“Dad, this is Gabriel,” I told himproudly.
Gabriel held out a shaky hand. “Nice to meetyou,sir.”
Instantly, Lorenzo and my dad started laughing. Gabe’s blush spread tohisears.
“Oh,” Dad said with a grin, “please call meAnton.”
* * *
When the clock hit seven,we were escorted to our reserved table. It was an outdoor spot right by the reinforced wooden guardrail with a beautiful view of Cinderhollow in between themountains.
Gabriel was a bit spooked by the height at first, but relaxed when he tested the hardwood floors a few times - and hopefully, when he realized he was surrounded by three adult alpha dragons who would never lethimfall.
We took our seats in the black leather chairs, which contrasted sharply with the pure white tablecloth.
“This is the fanciest restaurant I’ve ever seen in my life,” Gabrielmurmured.
“There was a fancier one, but I like the view here better,” Itoldhim.
The waitress took our drink orders. Lorenzo, Ruby and my dad had a bit of wine. Gabe got a non-alcoholic daiquiri, and I joined him in no-alcohol solidarity with a blackcoffee.
“So, Dante,” Dad began, folding his hands over the table. “Tell me how the two ofyoumet.”
“It was kind of a lucky accident.” I put my hand on Gabriel’s. “So, Ruby was assigned on an omega scouting mission recently. I went with her as an escort just in case she ran intotrouble.”
Dad nodded. “Goodlad.”
Lorenzo raised a brow. “If I recall when you two left the barrier, Dante wasn’t so enthused about the situation, since the sequel of his favorite book came out and he would have ratherstayedhome.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, I went anyway and that’s what matters. So, it’s all fine and dandy until Ruby starts telling me about this place we were flying over calledStoneheartpack.”
My dad’s eyes widened at the mention ofStoneheart.
“Which Dante had no prior knowledge of,” Ruby added with a fun little wink in mydirection.
“Anyways,” I stressed, “that’s when I saw Gabe being attacked byhumans.”
Gabriel shifted in his seat beside me. “It was a good thing Dante found me when he did. I probably wouldn’t have made it withouthishelp.”
“That is quite serious,” Dadagreed.
“I’ve never heard of a Stoneheart wolf leaving the walls alive,” Lorenzo addedgravely.
Gabe squeezedmyhand.
“Did you leave on your own?” Dadasked.
We all knew what he was really asking - if he had been thrown out for refusing to mateornot.
“Um, I did,” Gabriel said, “but it wasn’t like I had much of a choice. At the time, I didn’t want to mate with any of the alphas inmypack.”
“So they forced you to leave,” Lorenzo murmured, shakinghishead.
