Chapter 11

Gabriella was going into heat.

The shift had come from nowhere. One moment, she was all woman, her scent flooding the air as she climbed into his lap. It had been sweet torture, holding her, wanting to kiss her, wanting so much more. He had toed the line and nearly even given into it. Perhaps he could have used his fingers to give her pleasure, then pulled away, citing a fact as an excuse. Like the fact that he worked for her father or that she was—in her eyes, at least—a Beta. He could have lied and said there was someone nearby, a threat, some sort of bullshit he could pick up with his Alpha senses.

Anything would have been acceptable, and he had been attempting to unscramble his brain cells together enough to formulate words. Except then the scent had shifted.

One moment, she was a woman lusting for a man and the next, her scent was deeper, sweeter, saltier. It was undeniable, the complete shift in what her body was producing. Matthew knew without a doubt that if he slid his hand between her thighs, it would be slick he found there, with her aching and ready to take his knot.

She was going into heat. His scent, his Alpha pheromones, were pushing her into heat. He wasn’t even in a rut, and his jealousy was somehow enough. She didn’t know she was an Omega, yet her body was carrying her into it without her fully realizing what was happening.

The only way to stop it was to pull away from her, and he had done so immediately, flinging himself out of the car, leaving her behind. It was stupid for him to race to the front seat and lock the door as she stood outside of the car, demanding answers. But had he touched her again—or worse, took in a deep breath of her Omega desires—he would slam straight into a rut.

Fucking her through her first heat as she came to terms with being an Omega in the back seat of an SUV was not a good idea.

As he struggled to answer her demands, her questions, without giving anything away, he had to ask himself what the fuck he was doing. Her body was taking her somewhere she didn’t realize was possible, not without her mentally wanting to be his Omega. And he had continued despite knowing better. For a split second, he had wondered if she knew the truth about her designation, but when her voice cracked as she asked if it was because she was a Beta...

It was only because she thought she was a Beta that he was pulling away. Discovering her designation while an Alpha was knotting her was not the way to find out. She needed to come to it at her own pace and not because he was unable to control himself. Fuck, he had tried so hard at dinner, but she was so close to the politician he had nearly ripped the man apart.

He needed distance from her. Immediately. He needed to think, to see reason. Needed his team members to slap sense into him.

And the second she was inside, he drove away, not looking behind as he headed toward the Alpha Compound.

Only, as he pulled in, he had to accept the facts battering around in his head, knowing he was a complete fucking idiot.

The first was that she was going to find out she was an Omega sooner rather than later, and it would be better the words come from him, who only wanted the best for her, than someone who would seek to use her.

Second was that she, the woman, wanted him. It went beyond their designations somehow, although he had to suspect his Alpha pheromones and her Omega desires were helping them along.

Third and finally, for her to go into heat meant she had accepted and decided on one very important thing: that she, Gabriella Santorini, wanted to be bred by him. She wanted him during his rut, wanted him to carry her into her heat, and wanted to be knotted by him. It was the only way an Omega could go into heat. The scent of an Alpha in need, aching and begging for an Omega to care for them, would make an Omega ask themselves if they wanted it.

Did they want an Alpha, that Alpha, to tend to them, to worship them and spend their days devoted to only them? Would they reduce themselves to their base nature, allowing carnal desires to overwhelm and flood them, sinking into their heat so they could be bred by the Alpha who was trying to lure them in?

Despite having no awareness of her nature, she had answered the question with yes . She wanted to be his Omega. Wanted him to care for her. Wanted him to knot and breed her.

And he had run away.

He was a fucking idiot who didn’t deserve a single second of her attention. Rather than turning the car around and going back to her, he would drown himself in the shower until he woke up from his nightmare and could right his wrong.

“Hey,” Alessandro called out as Matthew walked by, “how was the evening and why do you smell like you’ve been—”

Alessandro’s halt told Matthew all he needed to know. The scent still flooding his nose and his senses was thick enough that other Alphas could smell it. He needed to wash away her scent. Immediately. And burn his pants while he was at it.

She had been in his lap, dripping onto his leg. Some of her slick was there, which meant the scent of her heat would fill the compound if he didn’t destroy it all.

“Hey, Matthew. Get your girl home o—KAY! Holy fucking, that smells fucking good. Damn, wait, shit, fuck—”

Matthew pushed past Tommy as he made his way toward the showers in the gym, hoping against hope that the pheromones stinking up the entire space would cover the sweetness of her scent. He didn’t want to share it with the others, didn’t want them to know what she smelled like on the verge of heat.

And fuck, they all had their suspicions, but everyone knew where he had been and who he had been with. It would confirm it all, which meant talking about it. He wasn’t ready to fucking talk about it.

But, fuck, they had to do something about this, about Gabriella. She couldn’t just keep existing without knowing what she was.

Matthew paused only long enough to remove his phone, keys, and wallet from his pocket and handed them off to Alessandro, who was, thankfully, a step behind him. A few seconds later, hot water poured over his head, trying to burn away the memory of her. She was so close to the truth, to realizing she was different—not a Beta—and he had even thought she knew the truth.

She was so fucking close yet somehow missing the key pieces.

He had pulled away from her, and she thought it was because she was a Beta . Fuck, if she was a Beta, he would have fucked her right then and there, without hesitation. He would still have her in his lap, straddling his cock, screaming his name, and his fingers running through her hair. He would be fucking her against the seat, giving them both a neck cramp, probably breaking the handles above the windows and maybe even the backrest. He would have her screaming so loud her father would have heard. He would—

“I’m going to drown you myself if you send yourself into a rut again,” Alessandro yelled half a second before someone yanked the back of Matthew’s shirt, pulling him downward. “Tell me she isn’t in heat. Tell me you didn’t—”

“She’s not in heat,” Matthew snapped as he let his head fall forward. He wanted to drown himself—sure but not really. “Tommy, grab me that nasty soap we all hate.”

“Come on, man. That’s my lady charming body wash!” Tommy protested before grumbling. “No one hates it other than you assholes.”

“How do you know she’s not in heat?” Alessandro demanded. “Because that sure as shit smells like a heat. It has me on edge already and I haven’t been struggling with my injections.”

“She’s not in heat,” Matthew said again, undressing. He needed his pants to be burned and to scrub himself down with soap. Only the stink of Tommy would be able to overload his own senses and burn away the memory of her. “She was yelling at me, pissed as hell, when I left.”

“Yelling is good,” Alessandro agreed.

It was never good when Alessandro went quiet.

Matthew hurried washing himself, scrubbing the soap into his skin as though it would burn away the memory of Gabriella in his arms. It quickly became apparent, however, that he could do no such thing. Every time his eyes closed as he put his head under the water, he could remember the look in her eyes as she smirked at him. With his every breath, despite the nasty soap in his hands and on his body, he could remember her thick scent, first her desire and then her heat. Every pass of his hands was a reminder of touching her body through her coat and dress, able to caress her shape but not her skin.

She was in him and around him and over him, and he could barely breathe because he was so fucking desperate for her.

He flipped the scalding water to icy cold, hoping to calm his racing heart and burning skin.

He wasn’t in a rut. If he were, he would have been unable to leave Gabriella behind. The pull of her, the need to be with her, to protect her, to pleasure her, would have been too strong. His ability to leave meant he hadn’t gone too far, and if he hadn’t, then neither had she.

She was fine and safe in her father’s house. She would settle down.

But would probably never forgive him.

“Fuck, she’s never going to forgive me,” Matthew moaned as an arm reached around him, turning off the water.

Alessandro was standing there, holding a towel with his eyes averted.

“Yeah, well, you are a fucking idiot,” Alessandro pointed out as he stepped backward. “Tommy, grab his clothes. Need to probably toss the suit.”

“Burn them,” Matthew clarified.

“They’re wet,” Tommy moaned as he stepped into the shower and nudged them with his toe. Picking them up with one hand, he pinched his nose with the other.

“Stop complaining,” Alessandro scoffed before turning back to Matthew.

Matthew shivered as his clothes disappeared with the other Alpha. Even with the towel around him, he was fucking cold. Ice cold, in fact. Colder than he had been in the shower. And it hurt. Everything fucking hurt.

“Alright, how the fuck did you send her into a heat when you aren’t in a rut? Or, fuck, did the other Alpha—”

“No, it was me,” Matthew rushed to say, wanting to clarify. “And fuck, I don’t know. I was sending off all sorts of pheromones, watching her with this politician and—”

The last thing he needed was Alessandro imagining some other Alpha could send her into heat. Gabriella was his, whether he deserved her or not.

“Was it Conrad Elliot?”

Matthew stepped back, staring at his second. “How the fuck did you know that?”

“Shit, man. We’ll come back to that. Tell me about—”

“No, how the fuck did you—”

“Long story fucking short, I saw him one time getting an injection. Never saw him again after that one time but I—”

“His mate is dead so why would he need—”

“Stop derailing the conversation. How did she end up nearly going into heat?”

Matthew wouldn’t let this go, but it would have to wait until later. Figuring out what to do about Gabriella needed to be his top priority.

“Fine. I don’t know. I was driving her back, and she was talking about wanting to know what it would be like with an Alpha and I told her to stop talking about it because she had been smelling like... She was horny, okay? The whole date. I thought it was because of Elliot but then I was climbing in the back with her, and she was talking about how it was one Alpha and then she was climbing into my lap and asking if I wanted her and—”

“I know you didn’t fuck her but how close were you to doing it?”

Matthew wouldn’t answer that. All he could do was glare at his friend. He couldn’t admit to how close he was.

“Alright. So, she’s horny, talking about wanting an Alpha and then...”

“And then...” Matthew shook his head, still not believing it. “She said she wanted me. Climbed into my lap. Asked if I wanted her. And then she—”

The things she had said, he never could have imagined. No underwear. No underwear because she only wanted him to touch her. Fuck, how was he so damn lucky?

It slammed into him, taking the air out of his lungs as he remembered what she had said. He had been so out of his mind he had answered her without thinking, although he had given nothing away. Not really.

“And then?”

“And then she said she couldn’t take me like an Omega and I told her she could and fuck, that’s when she when her scent turned. She must have been thinking about it because that’s the only way and—”

“Fuck,” Alessandro muttered, taking his own step back. “She basically told you she wants to be your Omega, even wished it in her own head and you ran away from her. You fucking idiot.”

“Wait, what?”

“You might have stopped it in the moment, idiot but now that she has the thought in her head, do you think that’s going to change?”

“I mean...”

“You should have just done it! Let her go into heat, then you could realize the truth together and then—”

“I thought you said I shouldn’t tell her!” Matthew snapped, completely confused at how he was the idiot. “I managed to get away from an Omega, my Omega , going into heat or at least on the verge of it and you’re not clapping me on the back? My self fucking control is unreal right now but I’m an idiot?”

“Why the fuck did you listen to me about this?” Alessandro snapped back. “I have no idea what I’m doing but when I said that, I meant don’t go charging in and just dropping information on her lap when she had no idea! But this? She wants to be a fucking Omega, so she could get railed by your stupid ass and you ran away!”

How was this blowing back in his face?

“I did as you said!” Matthew insisted again. “I... you said not to tell her!”

“I was fucking wrong! This was a shitty time to actually listen to my opinion on things! I’ve never touched an Omega, Matty! And you threw yourself out of a car to get away from one!”

Yeah, why had he listened to Alessandro? Oh, right—because he was currently lacking in blood and oxygen to his brain, and Alessandro was normally the big brains.

“What’s your end game?” Alessandro demanded as he stepped forward and smacked Matthew on the chest. “What’s the plan? She’s going to figure it out eventually and then what? What’s the plan? You’ve had a week and some odd days to figure out what the hell you’re doing. Are you telling me that you don’t know what the goal is?”

A plan? A goal? Every day was a damn battle to keep his shit together around her. He didn’t have one. He barely had any blood left in his brain lately.

“Shit for brains, what happens when another Alpha goes near her? Fuck, what happens when she goes to sleep tonight and dreams about you? She’s already on the verge of a fucking heat, which means whatever fucking thing she’s taking that’s been making her think she’s a Beta is failing. She’s going to figure it out. Shit, she’s going to figure it out when she can’t cool down in a shower or when she can’t settle down. Shit like that happens, when Omegas are in denial about their Alpha. They fucking sit around miserable until they come to terms with their own feelings. What happens then? She’s sitting around a fucking mess with only other dickbag Alphas around? The fuck are you going to do then?”

Matthew stared at his second, not knowing what to say. He was right. Of course he was. But shit, how could he fix this? Could he go crawling back now? Beg for forgiveness?

“Fuck,” he muttered, plopping onto a bench along the wall. “I really fucked this up, but she was in my lap and I fucking panicked. It’s one thing to want her, to crave her but to know she wants me too? I thought I was losing her to that dick Elliot and then she’s in my lap and...”

“Fucking hell, you’re even more fucking stupid than normal,” Alessandro groaned as he sank onto the other end. “You do what normal men do, dumbass. You go over to her house, with flowers and an apology, and tell her the truth—that you find yourself unworthy of her and panicked. If you’re fucking lucky, she’ll take you back without demanding anything else and then being around you should trigger it enough or fuck, I don’t know.”

Matthew turned to look at his friend, shoulders sagging, and shook his head. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, do you?”

“Of course I don’t. I’m taking the same fucking meds you are. Except, mine are goddamn working. No Omegas catching my eye. None trying to climb into my lap.”

They both let out a sigh, and Matthew closed his eyes as he leaned his head back against the bathroom wall. Fuck. He was flying blind. That was completely new to him. Even if they were lacking information on a mission, he always knew things, thanks to his senses. He could listen for heartbeats, detect various scents, even hear voices, and spot things faster than the normal Betas. He was never completely blind, just simply occasionally lacking in all the details.

This, though? He had no idea what was going to happen.

What the fuck was Gabriella going to do when she discovered the truth? What was the boss going to do to him when he found out he had fucked her into a heat? What about the rest of the family? And shit, if she was being lied to, what about everything else? There were too many variables and unknowns.

“I feel like no matter what sort of plan I come up with, it’s too open ended.” Matthew glanced at his friend. “When she finds out the truth, she’s going to demand answers. I mean, shit, she’s already struggling with thinking her father is keeping things from her. The fact he even denied her carrying a gun? I mean, fuck, I haven’t told her that yet but—”

“She’ll find out, and she’ll be angry enough to demand answers with bullets flying, but you’ll pull her back. That’s what an Alpha does. They protect their Omega. Sometimes, that means protecting them from themselves. Then, together, you’ll go and sit down and get answers together. If you’re already mated, the boss can’t change that.”

“He can still kill me for it,” Matthew pointed out, not that he thought the boss would necessarily kill him.

After all, he was head of her security and an Alpha. What did the boss think was going to happen? That he would be completely unaware she was an Omega, even with whatever chemicals they were shoving into her? No. The boss had to know this might happen.

Unless the boss didn’t know she was an Omega? No, that thought was stupid. It was impossible. There was no way the boss didn’t know. He had to know. He had to have suspected this might happen.

Shit, what if he wanted this?

“Matty boy, the boss has always seen you like a second son. You’re his first Alpha. The product of years of research. If you’re mated to his daughter, it might just solve all his issues with naming her his heir and the whole fact his heir is an Omega. I mean, he’s trying to marry her off to Alphas, right? Well, it could solve everything.”

Yeah, it could solve everything.

“And if it doesn’t... I shouldn’t fucking say this, but you know the Alphas are behind you, right?”

Matthew narrowed his eyes as he stared back at Alessandro. Yeah, the Alphas all listened to him, but where was this going?

“If she reveals herself as an Omega to the whole family and they’re made to make a choice, every Alpha in this compound is in agreement. They stand behind you. And you choose her. And think about all the Alphas running around behind their fathers in the family. All of their heirs are Alphas. Who are they going to follow? A Beta who kept his daughter suppressed or an Omega in need of protection with her Alpha mate standing behind her?”

This was starting to remind him of a coup. He didn’t like the sound of that and didn’t know how he would protect her from it.

“So, what I’m saying is, go to her. I think it’s a little too late to stop what’s happening. Take her through her heat. Be together. Do the mating thing. And when you come out of it, we’ll—”

“Create a power vacuum that could destroy the city,” Matthew stated as he stood. “Because that’s what would happen, if all the Alphas stood up and all of the heirs stepped in front of their fathers. A coup isn’t the answer.”

“We might not have a choice.”

“There has to be another way.”

“What, ignoring what’s happening to her and letting her go into heat by herself? Letting another Alpha take your place? Matthew, the boss doomed himself the second he chose to lie to everyone about what his daughter is, including to her. Do you think she’s going to just accept the lie? I mean, what about the rest of the family? What happens when they find out she’s an Omega, and her father was lying to them?”

“What makes you think they don’t know?” Matthew asked as he stared his friend down. “What makes you think—okay. So, the various heads of the family, all those with a seat at the table, how many of them have Alpha sons?”

Alessandro stared at him before holding up his fingers, counting. “Uh... more than half, I would say.”

“But their fathers are all Betas, right?”

“Uhh... yeah.”

“And how long has the boss been working on this Alpha Program?”

“About thirty years, give or take,” Alessandro answered with a shrug. “Wait, are you thinking—”

“Every single seat at the table is filled by a Beta. For most of them to have Alpha sons, that means all their wives are Omegas. What sort of Beta picks an Omega? What sort of Omega would settle for a Beta? I mean, sure, love, but for it to happen to most of the family?”

“They did this on purpose,” Alessandro said, rising from the bench. “They did this because their Boss had an Omega daughter. Because they wanted their son to be the heir.”

“Betas and Omegas are more likely to have an Alpha than an Omega born to them. They know, Alessandro. And they’re all trying to get their son the main seat at the table.”

“Shit...”

“Yeah.” Matthew shook his head, shocked he hadn’t realized it sooner.

That was why Gabriella was hidden. So that she would only mate with an Alpha of her father’s choosing from within the family. This was fucking wild.

“So, the question is, what are you going to do now?” Alessandro asked, shaking his head. “You going to let this wait until the morning? I wouldn’t let it go for longer than that.”

“She’s pissed tonight,” Matthew reminded him as he ran his hand into his wet hair. “First thing, I’ll show up and apologize and tell her the truth. What happens from there, well...”

“I’ll make sure the boys are ready for a fight.”

Matthew really hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Matthew took a deep breath as he attempted to gather his courage. He knew what he was going to do and exactly how he was going to do it. He had a present for her, at which point he would then awkwardly apologize and tell her the truth—or, at least, as much of it as he could—to help her along. If he weren’t so scared to break her, he would tell her she was the best smelling thing he had ever come across and that he wanted her as badly as she wanted him.

Then he would apologize again and confess his jealousy. Confess that he had wanted her from the first second he saw her but was unworthy. And then? And then she would kiss him because she was his Omega, and he was a fucking idiot. She was fucking brilliant and, goddammit, he was fucking lucky he couldn’t smell any Alphas other than enforcers on the estate. Otherwise, he would rip apart any Alpha who got to her before him, carry her upstairs, and fuck her brains out.

Whatever happened along the way, heats and ruts, he would deal with. They could figure it out together. He could play stupid, claim he thought it was just from wishing he could keep her or some stupid shit.

Yeah. All of that. He would say all of that.

Matthew finally found the courage to climb from his vehicle and stepped in through the side door most of the Alphas used. He nodded at the other enforcers as he approached, ready to go inside to find his girl, only for one to step in front of the door and shake his head. That was strange. Why would one of his guys stop him?

“Boss said you can’t come over today, Matty. Something about you wrecking his daughter’s date.”

He couldn’t believe it. What the fuck had Gabriella said? Shit, what if Elliot had been the one to say something.

“Hold up, what? What do you mean? The boss is mad at me?”

“No, no, not at you. He thinks it’s fucking hilarious, but he said Gabriella came in raging about you last night, angry as hell, and said she never wanted to see you again. Said she needs a day or two to cool off. Said you shouldn’t come by while she’s mad.”

Oh. Well. That was... good. Better than the worst. That was doable.

“Right. Well, I didn’t fuck up her date, but she’s definitely pissed at me,” Matthew commented, shaking his head.

Every instinct told him to go in there and grovel, but if the boss didn’t want him in there?

It was a good thing he couldn’t smell her and that he was driving a different vehicle because one whiff of Gabriella would leave him spiraling.

Speaking of...

“Yeah, Matty. Pissed isn’t exactly the word I would have used,” the other Alpha said. “She, uhh... Well, there’s a reason we’re out here, rather than in there.”

“The hell is that supposed to mean?” Matthew asked as he looked between the pair. “Start talking.”

“She’s mad at everyone. Not just you. Really fucking mad. Locked herself in her room and was screaming at everything. The boss finds it fucking hilarious but it’s honestly pretty terrifying. Then she was crying and then there were sounds that, uhh...”

“She was doing stuff,” the other Alpha offered. “With herself. And, uhh...”

“She was doing stuff with herself,” Matthew repeated, staring at the pair. “And by stuff, you mean...”

“Things we didn’t want to hear. Out of respect for you and for her and uhh...”

“And she was saying your name. And listen, Alessandro said we shouldn’t bring it up but whatever you did to piss her off this much, she’s—”

“That’s enough,” Matthew snapped.

Gabriella was inside the house, less than a minute walk from him. A quick jaunt up the stairs after a mad dash, and he would be there. She was touching herself, saying his name, and here he was, talking to these two idiots. Everything in him said he should go to her, beg her forgiveness, and give her the relief she was probably aching for. Fuck, he was glad the two were outside, or else he would have to kill them, and that wasn’t something he could explain to the boss.

“It’s good you’re outside,” Matthew snapped as he forced himself to step back. “Make sure you stay out here. And tell your replacements the same.”

“Uhh, for how long?” one questioned.

Matthew waved. “I’ll be back tomorrow, and I will be going in that house. Do you understand me?”

Both Alphas snorted, but Matthew didn’t give them a second glance as he turned and walked away.

So, she was pissed as hell and touching herself in there? He would give her a day to work it out.

Maybe two.

And by the time he came crawling back?

Maybe by then, she would be ready to forgive him.

And if not, it would be a good time to learn to beg.