He belonged to Garrison. He was Garrison’s property. If Garrison found out he was with another alpha, bad things would happen. Bad,badthings. All Gabriel wanted was tobegood.
“We’re going to give you to someone.” Adrian reached forward and gripped Gabriel’s knee through the blanket, likely in an attempt to be reassuring, but Gabriel didn’t want to be touched. Panic poisoned his thoughts and left him breathless. It speared his lungs, thousands of minuscule pinpricks strong, and made each breath he tried to take painful todrawin.
No.
He wouldn’t. Hecouldn’t.
Adrian couldn’tmakehim.
Gabriel jerked away from Adrian, but his legs were tangled up in the blanket, and he tumbled to the floor. The hardwood bit into his palms, and the force of his ungraceful impact sent searing pain through his knees, but panic numbed him to externalstimuli.
He neededtorun.
Like a startled rabbit, Gabriel kicked the blankets back and scampered across the floor. He’d left his shoes by the door, and his socks slipped against the smooth wood and made traction difficult, so he depended on his palms to guide him as he darted forward blindly. There were two ways out of Sterling’s penthouse—one that led to the fire escape down the back of Sterling’s building, and one into the club Sterling owned. Gabriel had never been to the club before, but he felt like maybe if he could break for it—if he could lose himself in somewhere he’d never been before—no one would know where to look. Adrian would never find him, and he could figure out a way to be with Garrison all onhisown.
He wouldn’t be owned by another alpha. It was bad enough the man without a name had kept him against his will after the bust on The White Lotus, keeping him from finding Garrison before Garrison was imprisoned. Gabriel would not allow himself to belong to anyone elseagain.
“Gabriel!” Adrian shouted, but compared to the rushing in Gabriel’s ears, it came across as awhimper.
If he could get across the room and around the corner, down the short hall that led to the soundproof door barricading Sterling’s living space from the club, he’d be free. He wouldn’t have to make Garrison angry. He couldbegood.
There were footsteps behind him, hurried, close to frantic. They spurred Gabriel onward, and he took the corner half-raised from the floor while skidding on his socks. The door was close, and it was unlocked. All he’d need to do was twist the handle and wrench it open, and from there, he’d let fate take him where itwould.
His hand closed around the doorknob, but the knob wouldn’t twist. In the fraction of a second it took him to realize the knob was jammed, Gabriel looked up with wide, pleading eyes. Desperate, he pulled the door with as much force as hecould.
To his surprise, itflewopen.
Someone stumbled in from the other side, their hand wrapped around the outside knob. Gabriel shrieked as the blur of human-shaped weight hit him. They toppled to the floor together, Gabriel effectively pinned beneath the individual’s bodyweight.
Three things made themselves obvious right away, and not even Gabriel’s fear-driven mind could chasethemoff.
The first was that the stranger was an alpha—the scent was subtle, but the notes it bore were powerful andheady.
The second was that the stranger was male—the rugged cut of his jaw and the barely-there stubble that shaded his skin gavehimaway.
The third? The third made Gabriel’s pounding heart skip a beat and stole the air from his already chokedlungs.
The third was that the stranger’s eyes were pale green, but his pupils were ringed with a rich brown that radiated outward like the rays of the sun. They were the most stunning eyes Gabriel hadeverseen.
“You’re a flighty little thing, aren’t you, Gabriel?” the stranger asked, making no attempt to remove himself from where he’d fallen. Even if he had, Gabriel wouldn’t have been able to get up. Those green eyes pinned him in place, and the shock of hearing his name from the stranger’s lipsensnaredhim.
“Who are you?” Gabriel managed to whisper, but his voice was so hoarse and his words were so broken that he wasn’t sure the strangerunderstood.
Hehad.
The response came naturally, flowing like stream water over smooth pebbles, as if it could wash Gabriel of his sins from the inside out. The magnitude of the reply thrilled him, seeping through his clothes and waterlogging his soul until his mind was choked for thoughts like lungs burningforair.
The stranger looked at him, those green eyes playful and engaged, and said words Gabriel would neverforget.
“You will callmeSir.”
4
Cedric
Hello,Rabbit. What’s going on behind thoseterrifiedeyes?
Cedric rose from where he’d fallen, careful not to put any pressure on the omega beneath him. Gabriel was on his back, eyes wide, more gorgeous than Cedric ever could have hoped. The frumpy teen hiding his body beneath billowing hoodies had grown into a stunning young man no longer ashamed of whohewas.
