A bulbous nose, its large pores blackened with clogged sebum. A pronounced, square chin—deceptively handsome. Broad shoulders, powerful and muscular instead of hunched. A thick neck with pronounced tendons. Narrow, hungry eyes that devoured instead of appreciated. He was the same man Cedric had seen at the bottom of his driveway the day he’d heard the noise in the carport, and the same scent he’d smelled when he’d walked into the sun room with Gabriel’s blanket and had seen the shadowsshift.
All this time he’d been watching, and Cedric hadn’t clued in. He bit back on his frustration and remained silent. Until the gun wasn’t nudged against his jaw, there was nothing else hecoulddo.
“I want to treat you nicely, Cedric. I want to reward you. I saw you playing with my old toy, and if you’re good, I’ll bring him back so we can play with him together. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? To have a toy of your own toplaywith?”
“No,” Cedric hissed through his teeth. He kept his mouth shut, afraid of the consequences if he moved too suddenly or put pressure on the gun. “You leave him out of this. He’sinnocent.”
The man cackled. “Innocent? You don’t honestly believe that, do you? When I found him, he was wasting away in Baylor’s filthy brothel, throwing himself at whatever men Baylor wanted. When I took him home, he didn’t fight me. He was mine for a whole year, you know, before he ran away and found his way into your arms. There’s nothing innocent about him. A boy like that was made tobebred.”
Nothing mattered anymore. Not the fact that the man was holding him by the hair, not the gun pressing against his jaw, and not the fact that he was confronting a confessed killer. With a roar summoned from the depth of his being, Cedric launched forward and swung at his aggressor. Blind rage dictated his movements, and he barely felt as his fist slammed into the man’s face. They toppled together onto the ground. Cedric had no idea where the gun was, and he couldn’t bring himselftocare.
The monster that killed Brittany wouldn’t take Gabriel, too. He’d lost one lover to this scumbag—he wouldn’t loseanother.
Cedric’s fist connected with the man’s face once more. Spittle flew from the man’s lips as his head jerked to the side, but it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough. This disgusting excuse for a human wanted to harm Gabriel, and Cedric wouldn’t stop until he wasn’t a threatanymore.
He drew his arm back to strike again, but before the punch connected, the man lashed out and grabbed him. They rolled over so the man was on top, pinning him to thefloor.
“Don’t make me hurt you, Cedric,” the man rasped. The gun was a fraction of an inch away—the man had dropped it to pin Cedric’s wrists to the floor. “All I want is to take you home and make you mine. Can you imagine the life you’d lead? Free of responsibility, worry, and thought, you could indulge in submission all you wanted. No one else could tame an alpha like I could. You’d never be satisfied with anotherpartner.”
“I’ll kill you if you touch him,” Cedric snarled. He fought against the man’s hold, but failed to break free. “If you lay a hand on him, I’llendyou.”
“He’s just a toy, Cedric,” the man said, saccharine regret tinging his words. “There’s nothing special about him. He’s a sad, broken, useless waste of skin that we’d be stupid not toplaywith.”
“No, I’m not,” a voice said from just behind the man a second before a metallicclangechoed through the room. The man slumped onto Cedric’s chest, dead weight. Behind him stood Gabriel, a frying pan in his hand, his chest heaving with every breath. “And I’m never going to let you forget itagain.”
40
Gabriel
The frying panwas too heavy in his hand, and Gabriel cast it aside. It clattered on the living room floor, louder than it should have been. The world spun and his fingers were numb, but Gabriel didn’t let the terror win. As long as Sir was in danger, Gabriel would notgivein.
Sir shouted at him, but words had lost their meaning. The whole universe rang, like a gong had gone off in the distance, and its vibrations were everlasting. All Gabriel could do was trust his instinct, and his instinct told him to get the man without a name off hislover.
Gabriel grabbed the man without a name and dragged him to the side, his task made easier by Sir’s eagerness to get up from the floor. When Sir was freed, Gabriel picked up the gun and lifted his gaze until he metSir’seyes.
“Here,” Gabriel said. Even he heard his voice wilting.. He pressed the gun into Sir’s hand. “It’s not safe for me to touch itanymore.”
The world grew small and frightening once more. Gabriel didn’t fight it. His knees gave out and he fell forward, but he never hit the ground—Sir caught him and held him close, and in his arms, Gabriel let his panic rob him of hissenses.
* * *
There werelights when Gabriel opened his eyes, red and blue against the cold night. He blinked several times. The last time he’d seen police lights, he’d been at his parents’ house, freshly returned from a failed expedition to find Garrison after escaping from the man without a name. Had everything else been ahallucination?
Sir’s hand slid protectively over his thigh and shattered that possibility. They were perched on the sidewalk, Gabriel cuddled up against Sir’s side, as officers stormed the housebehindthem.
“Sir?” Gabriel asked. His voice broke, and he cleared histhroat.
“Everything’s okay, Rabbit,” Sir promised. The hand once on Gabriel’s thigh wrapped around his shoulders instead. It brought with it a blanket—the same heavy kind that Gabriel remembered from the day he’d returned to the Lowe household. “You’re safe. I’ve got you. No one is going to take you away from me.Noone.”
Safe.
Gabriel closed his eyes and let go of his fear. The man without a name was being apprehended by the police, and Gabriel was back at Sir’s side. No one had been taken and kept against their will, and as far as Gabriel could tell, Sir wasn’t hurt. Really, that was all that mattered. Against all odds, they’d come out victorious—he’dcome out victorious. For the first time in his life, he’d gone up against an alpha, andhe’dwon.
The screech of nearby brakes brought Gabriel to open his eyes. Adrian’s silver Lexus almost ran up on the curb. The second the car was in park, the driver side door flew open, and Adrian bolted from the car. Gabriel blinked, and as if by magic, Adrian had arrived at his side and dropped to his knees by the time he openedhiseyes.
“Gabriel?” Adrian took his arm, as if the only way to tell if Gabriel was real was totouchhim.
Gabriel managed a smile, but did not budge from Cedric’s side. “I’mokay.”
