“You need to go back to your bedroom, Gabriel,” Sir whispered back, voice so deep, it rolled like tires over gravel. “You’re in heat and you don’t know what you’re saying. You need to go back to bed, and we’ll handle things fromthere.”
“Only if you come to bed with me.” It was all Gabriel wanted. He tucked his head against Sir’s shoulder and kissed his neck, ready to be taken. This wasn’t like any of the times he’d gone into heat at The White Lotus—in Sir’s arms, he was happy. If Sir wanted his body and mind, Gabriel would give them to him—and he’d give him his future,aswell.
They stumbled through the kitchen. Gabriel knew they were moving, but he struggled to cling to his conscious, rational mind. Soon enough, the heat would overtake him and he’d know nothing more, but he wanted to make sure that Sir was with him in bed before that happened. He wanted to remember the best moment ofhislife.
The bedroom door swung open. It took a second to realize it washisown.
“Sir?” Gabriel lifted his head to look Sir in the eyes, but Sir was already setting him down. Gabriel’s feet met the floor, and he took a few staggering steps backward as he tried to findbalance.
Sir’s expression was painted with struggle, his lust-softened eyes plagued withindecision.
Then the dream turned into a nightmare, and it happened too fast for Gabriel to stop it—Sir left the room and closed the door, leaving Gabrielalone.
“N-no!” Gabriel whimpered. He couldn’t find the strength to scream. “Sir!Please!No!”
The heat set in. He swayed on the spot and caught himself on the foot of the bed before he fell. Slick soaked his panties. There would be no morerelief.
Gabriel couldn’t walk. Getting to the door would be an impossibility. He crawled onto the bed and fell onto his side, then let loose with a shuddering sob that snagged in his throat and rattled hisbones.
Why wasn’t he ever good enough? Why couldn’t he have any of the things in life he wanted? A family wasn’t so much to ask for, was it? All he wanted was someone to love, and who would lovehimback.
Another ugly sob escaped Gabriel’s lips, and he curled up on the bed as his body betrayed him. Slick flowing liberally, cock throbbing, he let go of his mind and let himself gointoheat.
30
Cedric
All he neededto do was push the button. One touch of his finger to the screen would solve all his problems. The call would go through, Sterling would answer, and they’d figure out a way to get Gabriel out of the house together. Cedric wouldn’t give in to Gabriel’s advances, they’d part ways forever, and he’d never see the little omega who meant so much to himagain.
But Cedric couldn’t bring himselftocall.
He stared at the contact information on his phone, tracing the numbers with his eyes until the screen dimmed, then went out. There was no way that Gabriel could stay, but Cedric didn’t want him to go, either. His heart hurt too much at thethought.
Business was business—at least, it had been, until he’d met his match in Gabriel. In Brittany, he’d found someone whose lust for life exceeded his own—in weeks, she’d brought him to his knees and collared him as her submissive. He’d been paraded around The Shepherd like the trophy he was, and they’d been the envy of every soul in the building. A beta Domme with free rein over an alpha male? Cedric had lived for the looks he got—the greed of men who wanted him, but who would never get to touch him. And now here he was with his own perfect, exceedingly desirable submissive, unable to touch him even though Cedric wanted him mostofall.
It wasn’t just the power trip. Itwasn’t.
Gabriel meant more to himthanthat.
Gabriel, with his gentle eyes and his sugar-sweet innocence, reignited the part of his soul that Brittany’s death had extinguished. He’d stitched him back together and reminded Cedric that it was okay to be vulnerable—being broken didn’t mean that he was weak. The strength it took to look down at all the broken pieces of his psyche and pick them back up one by one was a testament to his perseverance and his endurance. Gabriel wasn’t weak because he’d been tricked down the wrong path in life, just like Cedric wasn’t worthless because his grief was long-lived. In Gabriel, he saw that there was more than one waytoheal.
And one day, in retrospect, he hoped Gabriel saw the samefromhim.
Cedric woke the screen. Sterling’s contact information was still there, the call one tap of his finger away fromconnecting.
He closed his eyes, said his goodbyes, andcalled.
“Hello, Cedric.” Sterling was already awake, by the sounds of it. It didn’t make what Cedric had to say anyeasier.
“Good morning.” Neither man spoke, but this time, Cedric didn’t have the stamina to hold out. He crumbled. “There’s been an incident, and Adrian needs to come forGabriel.”
“Iseverythingokay?”
“He’s fine. We’re fine. I…” It was his last chance to lie and explain away the truth, but Cedric couldn’t do that. The only way he could hope to apologize was to make sure that Gabriel was removed from his care and given a fair chance at normalcy. “I kissed him last night, and he went into heat this morning. I managed to get out of the house before anything could happen, but I can’t go back inside. Right now, he needs Adrian. He can stay in my house for the duration of his heat, but once it’s over, I think we should end the contract. After what I did, I don’t think it’s right to see it through tocompletion.”
There it was, all of the unembellished details laid out for Sterling to see. Cedric would not hide the truth, and he would not pretend he was innocent—but more than that, he refused to muddy Gabriel’s name. The trauma he’d been through meant Gabriel didn’t understand what he was doing by coming onto Cedric, or how wrong it was. If Sterling was going to be disappointed in anyone, it would be Cedric. The blame was his, and hisalone.
“A kiss?” It was hard to get a read on Sterling’svoice.
