Cedric squared his shoulders and returned Sterling’s gaze. “Iwill.”
Nothing more was said between them. Sometimes, silence didn’t need to end. Cedric turned and headed down the steps to the alley a little more quickly than he would have liked, a chilly autumn wind biting at his cheeks. He hadn’t had the presence of mind to grab a hoodie before he’d left the house. Everything was in disarray, and it would remain that way until he pulled himself backtogether.
Another atmospheric high met with a meteoric fall. He should have listened to his common sense when he’d met Gabriel for the first time and felt the sparks between them—if he’d refused the job outright, he never would have had to feel this way. Now, a part of his heart was missing all over again. Cedric didn’t know how many more pieces it could break into before it crumbledintodust.
32
Gabriel
Adamp clothdabbed the sweat from Gabriel’s forehead, and for the first time in what felt like ten years, Gabriel opened his eyes. It wasn’t Sir who sat at his bedside, like he thought it might be, but Adrian. In some ways, the sight of him took a load off Gabriel’s mind—he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed his brother until he saw him in person. But mostly, it made Gabriel feel miserable. He closed his eyes and tried to hide the fact that he’dwokenup.
“You can’t fool me, you know.” Adrian took the cloth away, and Gabriel heard saturated fabric splat as it landed on water. “It’s been two days. Are you finallycomingdown?”
“No.” Gabriel wasn’t lying. He knew that he was far from finished with his heat—snapping back to lucidity partway through estrus wasn’t uncommon for an omega. “My body’s just letting me get something to drink, and maybe something to eat, if I’mlucky.”
“You’ve been eating and drinking just fine. I’ve been making sure of it.” Adrian’s voice was stiff, like he was angry. He had every right to be. Gabriel had pushed Sir away, and now once again, he was going to be his brother’s problem. “What the hell were you thinking, not telling anyone you were going into heat? You’re not even on birth control, forChrist’ssake.”
“I’msorry.”
“You’d better be. You were living with analpha. Do you know what thatmeans?”
Silence. Gabriel didn’t open his eyes. His mouth was dry, and every inhaled breath he took tracked that dryness farther down his throat. It felt like if he breathed in anymore, he’d start to strip his vocalcords.
The bed creaked. Sopping fabric twisted, and beads of water trickled downward. The cloth met his head again, cold, like frost seizing a desert at midday. Gabriel exhaled and held his lungs empty for as long as he could. Maybe if he didn’t breathe, his body would be so worried about air that it would forget about making a baby with an alpha who didn’t think he was goodenough.
“You do know what that means. Of course you do.” Adrian spoke so quietly, Gabriel wasn’t sure he was meant to hear. “Why would you do something like that, Gabriel? Cedric was taking care of you, wasn’t he? Wasn’t he treating younicely?”
Why did Adrian always have to make him feel bad? Gabriel rolled onto his side and curled into a ball. The cold cloth on his forehead plopped onto the sweat-damp pillow he was resting on. “Sir was treating me verynicely.”
“Then why would you hurt him like that?” Gabriel heard the cloth move, and soon after, it met his forehead again, held there by Adrian’s will. “What you did wasreallylow.”
“You gave me to him,” Gabriel whispered, almost too ashamed of himself to speak. “Omegas are designed to be bred, Adrian. Why else do we go into heat? Why are we so soft and slender when alphas are so hard and broad? If I can’t give Sir a baby, then what use am Itohim?”
“Jesus Christ. Nine months in Stonecrest and you still think that way?” The cloth blotted his forehead, then hit the water again. “That bastard really got to you, didn’t he? What you just said isn’t right. It’s not rightatall.”
Garrison had always warned him to be careful of the nonbelievers. Brainwashed omegas who argued that there was more to life than to serve the purpose they were born for were dangerous, and their way of thinking was toxic to happiness. At least, so Gabriel had thought. But he was starting to question what he believed. When had Garrison ever told him thetruth?
“What you did to Cedric? That wasn’t okay. You need consent from someone before you do something like that, Gabriel. Heat isn’t something you drop on someone out oftheblue.”
It hurt to hear, but Gabriel knew it was true. In pursuit of his own selfish desires, he’d tried to harm Sir by making him do something he didn’t want to do. If he’d truly respected Sir, he never would have done something like that. “I’msorry.”
“I’m not the one you need to be sayingsorryto.”
Gabriel opened his eyes. The room was bright, light streaming in through the sun room to dance across the polished floors and bring out the color of the paint on the walls. It had to be early in the afternoon—the days were getting shorter, and bright light like this didn’t last for long. “Where is Sir? In hisbedroom?”
Adrian snorted. He picked up the basin of water on the floor by the bed and moved it aside. There were empty bottles of water left haphazardly on the floor, and he nudged one out of the way with his foot as he walked by. “No. Cedric called Sterling to tell him what had happened between you, then disappeared. It’s not a good idea for him to come back until your heat is finished. Your scent is everywhere. He’s going to have to deep clean to get it out. We should probably pick up hiscleaningbill.”
Cleaning bills didn’t matter to Gabriel. He propped himself up on his elbow as Adrian set the basin of water on the table by the door and looked across the room. The door to his bedroom was closed, and as far as he could tell, there wasn’t anyone waiting outside of it to surprise him. He didn’t hear footsteps down the hall or noises in the kitchen. The housewasdead.
“Adrian?” Paranoia was starting to set in. It was an unwelcome but natural part of heat. “How much longer until my heat is gone and Sir cancomeback?”
“How long are your heats ingeneral?”
It bothered Gabriel that he didn’t know. Most of the time, Garrison put him on contraceptives and sold his heat, and Adrian had never thought to ask. All he knew was that when he woke up after it was done, he was always exhausted, filthy, and badly dehydrated. “Normal length, Iguess.”
“Then we’re looking at another five days until you’re one hundred percent okay to take out of the house. I’m not going to bring you back to the penthouse until your heat is completely gone. I need Sterling to look after Lilian while I look after you, so we can’t chasehimout.”
The world came to a stop. Gabriel sat up, head spinning. “Thepenthouse?”
