Chapter 24

Matthew focused on Gabriella from across the table, unable to hear a single word. Just keeping his attention on her was hard enough. Really, he didn’t actually need to hear what she was saying, as he already knew everything.

However, if he were to have completely zoned out or left the room, it wouldn’t look good for her. He had embarrassed her enough over the past few weeks. The least he could do was to maintain his normal appearance as the focused and quiet Alpha enforcer turned focused and quiet fiancé.

She was amazing. Unbelievably so. Anyone else would have faltered or doubted themselves or stumbled, but he knew her inner thoughts and vulnerabilities, and she had none in regard to what they were doing. Both himself and her uncles had expected things to be harder, for there to be more struggles, for more to rebuke the idea of a woman in charge.

Had the lower underlings kicked up a fuss? Of course, but her father had, publicly at least, named her as his heir, and they had already had time to process the possibility of it happening in the future. No one had expected her takeover to happen so soon. As far as Matthew could tell—as well as other Alphas had surmised from conversations with others from the lower tiers of the family and various associates—they had all taken the stance of waiting to see if she could handle being boss.

Not only had she handled the pressure of it all but had easily charmed over any who had once considered taking a stand against her. All complaints, no matter heard, were brought back to her, and she had visited even the most basic of establishments, from convenience stores to laundry mats to gas stations, checking in on her tenants while visiting with each member of her inner circle at their new domains. No request was too basic, covering everything from issues with plumbing to a broken fan to even dealing with young troublemakers with too much time on her hands.

Each issue had received her full attention before being delegated to the appropriate person. Said youths had found themselves apprenticeships to help with the new workload Gabriella handed off to laborers.

Regular work, all above board, with good pay and security? No one was fucking complaining.

But it went beyond that. Marco had doubted her ability to handle Police Commissioner Pearce, who had sat at the top of the police food chain for far too long and enjoyed having his pockets stuffed by the various families. Rather than storming into his office and creating a scene, she had invited the man and his wife to dinner with herself and Matthew.

The whole affair had been casual and relaxed, not ever once mentioning business, save for her to mention that her father was still in intensive care and would not be making any sort of remarkable recovering.

This had led to Mrs. Pearce talking about her own experience, when her mother had passed. The two women had shared tears and discussion of loss. Gabriella’s compassion in speaking to her had been the highlight of the evening, saving him after he had knocked over a wine glass and struggled with his fork. Despite years of standing in the room, keeping watch during expensive and lavish dinners, he had never once eaten at any of them and had no idea which fork to use or how to twirl pasta or...

He had been an embarrassment, while she had glowed and thrived.

When Marco had received a call from a deputy about a suspicious car filled with known Marino associates in her area, where they asked if she would like it to be handle, Marco handed over an expensive bottle of whiskey to Toronto, and Gabriella simply smiled.

It seemed, once again, Gabriella was establishing herself as the top power in the city, with the police department entirely in her pocket. It was only a matter of time before every other family in the city knew it as well.

A second dinner invitation was sent a week later. Only, this time, Commissioner Pearce and his wife were accompanied by his teenage daughter, who just had to meet the brilliant young woman her mother wouldn’t stop talking about, along with the Mayor and his wife and daughter also wanted to meet the young Miss. Santorini and her fiancé.

Mayor Russell had only been elected a few months earlier, and her father had yet to pull him into the fold. It was an opportunity Gabriella could not pass up, and once more, she had enchanted the entire table with her wit and personality.

Meanwhile, Matthew had not only nearly knocked over the table when he sat but also stained his white shirt with red sauce. Gabriella had insisted on the white and never before had he ever worried about getting stains on his black button-ups. He had always worn black, given the probability of knowing blood could end up on him.

Somehow, no one had even noticed his spill, as they were all too charmed by Gabriella, who had spent dinner talking with both young women about their plans for after graduation. This had led to talking about studying at university, sending in applications, writing essays.

By the end of dinner, she had convinced not only Sophia, Mayor Russell’s daughter, that pursuing a STEM major was a good idea but Mayor Russell as well, who had been pushing her toward an arts degree. The evening had ended with Gabriella insisting on inviting Mrs. Pearce and Mrs. Russell for tea or wine and mentioning that her dear friend Irene Machado would join.

She was a natural charmer and speaker and had the entire table eating out of her hand.

And he had sat there, mute, save to answer direct questions, feeling completely lost.

The only time all month he had felt centered was when he was with his fellow Alphas in the compound, beating the shit out of every punching bag. He had always felt like a natural leader, with the Alphas as the biggest and strongest and oldest of them. Yet being big and strong was not an asset in a room filled with politically savvy, educated men wanting to test and prod at just how much wisdom and finesse the new Santorini boss had.

And she handled them with ease every time, never once flinching or drawing back from anyone who approached her with the intention of discovering if she had it in her to truly lead and control the Santorini Family.

She was beautiful, intelligent, powerful, funny, and somehow, she was happy to be with him. Completely and utterly happily in love with him.

He wasn’t stupid enough or selfless enough to tell her she deserved better. If Gabriella felt the same way he did, she never showed it, and he was too devoted to her to give her up.

If she set him aside, he would...

But she wouldn’t. Her love for him shined through every second he was around her, even when surrounded by others. She was constantly reaching for his hand, seeking out his touch, leaning into him, asking his opinion, whispering to him her own. When they were alone...

She was passionate. Demanding. Insistent on a need for both her pleasure and his. She never tired of him, even when he felt he was asking too much. He felt more man than Alpha when in bed with her, yet she always matched his desire for her. Afterward, she was always pressed tight to him in his arms, not wanting him out of reach, needing to feel his heartbeat against her ear to fall asleep.

He was the luckiest fucking bastard in the world, and if he lost her?

Fuck. He had never considered the possibility of existing without her, having already decided that if she fell before him, he would exact his revenge and follow. The idea that he could live after she died? Unheard of. He would stop at nothing for his vengeance.

Which was probably why sitting down with Conrad Elliot had been such a shock.

Matthew had loathed the man every second of his date with Gabriella. After having her end up in his own lap at the end of the night, he had never thought about the Alpha again. Sure, they would have to interact eventually, as he was a politician, and Gabriella was starting to collect them like bottles of wine in the basement, but he had never expected for the other man to reach out and ask to speak to him .

Not Gabriella. Him. Matthew. Matthew, the Alpha enforcer for the Santorini Family.

Matthew had been too curious to say no.

And what he revealed... Well, Matthew was useless at charming politicians and had no skills when sitting at a fancy meal or running numbers. Although he was good at taking in information about other families and figuring out how to handle them.

It turned out Elliot’s wife, who it was claimed had died in some sort of freak accident, had been killed by the Marinos. They had offered him an insulting bribe for results that were impossible for him to fulfill. The fact that Conrad was an Alpha wasn’t exactly public, so the Marinos had no idea how badly they had fucked up. They had been careful enough to pay off the investigators and make sure all signs pointing back to them had vanished, but Conrad Elliot had known the truth and had quickly vowed vengeance against the Marino Family.

That was how he had ended up connecting with Renaldo Santorini. After all, the enemy of an enemy is always your friend—at least until the originally agreed-upon deal had been fulfilled.

Renaldo’s Alpha research had placed Conrad in lifelong servitude because, while he no longer went into a rut, he was losing himself to his rage at being unable to avenge his Omega mate. Conrad’s injections Alessandro had mentioned were to keep Conrad’s rage at bay as he waited until he could strike against the Marinos.

Because Gabriella was an Omega with a devoted mate and a burning rage for the encroaching Marinos, Matthew would need to discuss the family with her, assuming what her decision would be. Having a valid reason to make a strike at the heart of another family? She was in.

But not without a price, of course.

While Matthew would have gladly suited up with no reward other than taking out mate-killing assholes, Gabriella was smarter than every other person in the room and had struck a deal with Conrad Elliot.

He would keep receiving his injections, of course, for as long as he required them. She would gladly gather more intelligence on who had called for the hit and who had pulled the trigger, but the man had higher aspirations than local politics. He was heading somewhere bigger, something statewide, maybe even nationwide, and she wanted him in her pocket. She wanted loyalty without an end date.

The promise of vengeance was one the man had been unable to pass up, so with her word that she would never demand something he couldn’t fulfill, they had agreed to permanent association and perhaps even friendship. He had even complimented her on her new progress, which had reinforced her desire to move into the modern age. She wouldn’t play by the rules, but neither would he. So long as her desires stayed far away from the lawlessness of the past, they would have many years of working together ahead of them.

Unlike Petyr Antorelli, who was dead and rotting in a hole in the ground.

That should have been the highlight of the month, knowing that the Alpha who had dared to take his mate was no longer walking the face of the earth. Marco had resisted, stating he would not beg but would request leniency, unable to accept his nephew was a dead man walking.

Gabriella had put off making a final decision, not wanting to break the old man’s heart, but once she and Marco had gone to visit his nephew...

It was said an Alpha would destroy himself if he wasn’t strong enough while in a rut. A number of enforcers had tried sedating Petyr while he was trapped in the cell, taking advantage when he had knocked himself out, but the injections he had given himself to clear the suppressing drugs out of his system voided sedation and rest.

He had nearly torn himself apart in the two weeks he remained in his rut, far longer than any Alpha should, and when it was finally over, there wasn’t much of him left.

But there was no joy in killing a man who was a shell of himself, only mercy.

The memorial service was a quiet one, only days after the ostentatious funeral for Renaldo Santorini.

Nearly half of the city had gone into mourning for the former boss and head of the family. For those in the know, it wasn’t exactly a shock.

Gabriella had spent the ten days before he passed preparing to assume control, quietly informing those who needed to know of his status. Those who might have balked at the idea of her simply taking charge took a few days to process the possibility that she would be the new boss and learn of the changes. On the eleventh day, when she decided to have all extensive care ended due to brain death, no one was surprised.

Renaldo Santorini was a big man who had a quiet death. He was dead and gone, a man many would remember, and his daughter would honor his memory and celebrate his life the proper way. The way the crime boss and head of the Santorini Family deserved.

They didn’t need to know what had happened in the end nor the lives he had destroyed along the way for no purpose beyond furthering his own control, which included over his own daughter.

Control of the Alphas had been a side effect of Renaldo’s research into Alphas and Omegas. From the beginning, the former boss had been intent on discovering how to change his daughter’s designation and how to prevent her from fading and falling the same way her mother had. Every scientist brought in to form the research team had been given one task—prevent Gabriella from going into heat.

None of those involved were anything other than a Beta because, of course, how could an Alpha or Omega understand the necessity to prevent them from attaining their true nature? In turn, those who were “cursed” to follow their hormones were treated more like science experiments. A fundamental lack of understanding lingered about how the hormones worked or how their baser desires held control once a heat or a rut sparked.

By complete accident, it was discovered how to subdue an Alpha’s rut. The theory was, if an Alpha did not go into rut, then an Omega would not follow him with her heat. No Alphas around in rut? The Omega nature wouldn’t develop in turn.

That was how Renaldo had ended up with an elite Alpha Program, all reliant on him to keep their destructive nature at bay. It wasn’t a cure, of course, but if the suppressant could block an Alpha’s driving force, which turned them into a mindless beast, then no Omegas would want to slip into their submissive nature and need an Alpha’s touch to soothe their hormones.

In theory, it should have worked. An Omega was an Omega with or without an Alpha in their rut, and an Alpha was still an Alpha, even if they didn’t lose complete control of themselves.

The suppressant had simply slowed the inevitable, but once triggered, it could not be stopped, which was what had led Gabriella and Matthew into their absolute hell. The progress their bodies had naturally undergone had been slowed for years. When they could no longer fight it, years of development had slammed into them both, keeping Matthew from being able to knot her and Gabriella in pain as her glands pushed to the surface.

Would Matthew, knowing the injections wouldn’t stop his need to rut completely, have still taken the suppressant until Gabriella was in his life? Yes. Without question. Going through a rut without an Omega was hell, and he had done it twice, most of it sedated out of his mind. If left out on the streets, he would have destroyed half the city in search of an Omega. It was good research, and the suppressant a needed evil.

Gabriella felt the same. She had gone through so much of life without a care in the world and no fear of her inner nature demanding satisfaction, but they should have been weaned off. His double injections and her suddenly being cleaned of her medications was torture.

In the future, no others would endure the same.

Because there would be others. With the information spread out of in front of them, Gabriella and Matthew had stood before the Alphas days earlier, giving them the choice to stay on the injections or to naturally let it clear from their systems. They rejected the option to take the injection to clear it out of their systems. Until they had an Omega with whom they would lose control for, the Alphas all preferred their current status.

Omegas within Gabriella’s new inner circle all felt the same, wanting to understand what was happening to them before they began a process they couldn’t undo.

It was a problem for another day, but it was a problem they couldn’t ignore if Addison and Alessandro kept looking at each other like they were on fire while denying it. The pair hadn’t even spoken, and Gabriella found it cute, but Matthew was frustrated. They were going to end up as bad off as himself and Gabriella if they weren’t careful or worse, given the way Alessandro had started being the first in line every morning to get his daily injection.

Fucking idiot.

But Matthew wasn’t going to waste any energy on worrying about another Alpha and his mate. Not when Matthew still hadn’t gone into rut and still hadn’t broken each of Gabriella’s glands.

She was still a target for every Alpha, despite his scent all over her. Until their souls were bound, another could take her from his grasp. She would fight back, of course, but she had already fought off one Alpha’s attention while in heat.

The second he was in rut, he was going to make her his for all eternity so no other could ever stand between them. Soon. Fucking soon. Any day now.

“I think that about wraps it up for today. If I become unavailable over the next few days, Marco will contact you, and you will proceed as normal.”

Matthew perked up in his seat as everyone else around the table stood, and he realized that more than one face was turned to look at him. Gabriella stood, and he shot to his feet, trying to process what had been going on while he lost focus.

Gabriella had been talking about plans for reconstruction projects on buildings downtown, and the hour was still early, so why was the meeting already over?

Why would Gabriella be unavailable?

“Uhh, good luck?” Addison offered, her voice higher in pitch. “Is that what we’re supposed to say?”

“I think it would be better to say nothing at all,” Toronto said as he shot Matthew a glare. “But don’t hurt her.”

“Out, all of you,” Gabriella insisted, sounding amused, but her cheeks were burning.

From where he was sitting, he could smell her lust. In horror, he realized every Omega around the table—and probably the Betas as well—could smell his hormones raging.

Fuck. He was thinking about fucking her again, and they all knew it.

The dining room was quickly emptied, leaving only himself and Gabriella behind. Normally, she was the first to leave, but this time, she sat across the long table from him and smiled.

He didn’t want to smile, nor did he want hers. He wanted her eyes closed and her lips parted as she gasped for air to scream again. He wanted to crawl under the table and see if she was wearing any of her lacy underwear. He wanted to lay her across it and make a feast of her breasts and cunt. He wanted to bend her over it and fuck her until her knuckles were white, and he had sunk his claws into the wood. He wanted to—

He wanted to rut her, only, as he sat back into his own chair and let himself go, he felt only peace. Peace and satisfaction that his Omega wanted him. No desire to rip the table apart for sitting between them.

He wasn’t in rut, but, fuck, he really wished he was.

“Shall we have dinner before we go to bed?” Gabriella asked, raising an eyebrow. “I think we’ll need the energy, given what you’re putting off right now.”

“Yes,” he answered, his voice gruff. “I’m not...”

“I know,” she confirmed as she stood to retrieve the plates waiting for them. “Soon, Matthew. It’s okay that we have to wait. The drugs are out of us, so it could be any day but it’s okay that it’s not today.”

It was okay that he couldn’t rut her? No, it fucking wasn’t.

“I want to be,” he stated, but she already knew that. “Fuck, I wish I knew when it would happen.”

“I just finished my period a few days ago so probably, your body is waiting for my cycle,” she reminded him, something she had pointed out a few days earlier when her period had begun. “So, if anything, it’s because of me. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”

But he couldn’t help it, even as he poured them a glass of wine and started on the food she had brought out to them. Couldn’t help but feel it was still his fault. Couldn’t help but wish he could know when it would finally happen and when Gabriella would be completely his.

The changes were so gradual Matthew hadn’t even noticed until realization smacked him in the face. He had been expecting the urge to slam into him, the desire to fill him and flood him so rapidly he couldn’t fight it off. He had expected it to hurt, to ache deep in his soul.

Which was why, when he went into rut, he was so unprepared.

It wasn’t like last time, when his body felt like he was trying to break through a barrier. Last time, a switch had flipped, and he was on the edge, trying to claw himself back up, to keep from falling. One moment, he was fine, and the next, only Gabriella would sate him.

This time, it was natural, slow. By the time he had realized what was going on, it was apparent that Gabriella had known for a day, maybe two. She had shooed away the housekeeper and had the chef completely restock the kitchen with easy-to-heat meals. He had begun moving snacks and even stocked the mini fridge int her room without even realizing it.

It wasn’t until he had told every Alpha in the manor to fuck off to the perimeter, and they had all given him a knowing smirk, that he realized what was happening.

He had been slowly approaching his rut over the past few days, and within a few hours, he would be fully lost to his Alpha nature.

Her heat had not yet begun, but as Matthew paced her bedroom, he could smell it coming. She was wanting, aroused, amused, but she wasn’t inviting him to touch her or even teasing him about his own desire. Instead, she was busying herself, moving things around, bringing in clean blankets and occasionally checking his temperature and her own. She was moving with purpose, ticking off tasks she had talked about preparing before her next heat, and he was standing around, filled with hormones and reactions he couldn’t process.

Run. He wanted to run. And fight. Fuck, did he want to fight someone right then and there?

He had to do something with his pent-up energy but leaving her alone for even a minute was a risk he was unwilling to take. Anyone could come and take her. Not Petyr, of course, nor any of the Alphas who patrolled the perimeter of the estate, knowing their head Alpha and their Boss were indisposed and vulnerable but someone else. Anyone else. His Omega was beautiful, strong, intelligent, and the boss of the Santorini Crime Family. Every Alpha for miles should’ve feared him, but they would be stupid to not try and make her theirs.

So, he settled for pacing the hallway outside of their bedroom, a patrol of his own, the hallway he had once felt was so long but now felt too short. He added in the grand stairs to the front door and then eventually continued around toward her office and the basement. Back and forth, he went up and down the stairs, pacing, struggling, balling his fists, fighting the urge to punch another Alpha or having them punch him.

If he wasn’t careful, he would hurt Gabriella, his grip too rough on such soft, supple skin. He wanted to mark her, yes, but not bruise her in such a way that it would be anything other than a pleasant memory. He had to keep his shit together, for fear of injuring the perfect Omega who was wasting herself on him.

But at the sound of the shower starting, knowing she was naked and cleansing herself of any scents on her body save for her own, he knew he had to run. Had to run as hard and as fast as he could to burn out the rage and fear, so all that was left was an Alpha who would crawl his way home to her, begging for her gentle touch.

It was all so fucking different this time around. Trying to hold off his rut was impossible, and as he pushed himself out the front door and into fresh air, any and all resistance had disappeared. There was no more controlling himself or holding back. When his rut set in, and his body pumped with the hormones, he would have no choice but to seek her out. He was gliding into it in a way no books or research or lessons could have prepared him for. He tried to fight against it but was swinging against nothing but the wind, and he was certainly not able to stop that. It was insane, how last time, something in him held him back, when all he wanted was to move forward.

Two laps around the manor, and he would see how he felt. Two hard laps, pushing himself, gritting his teeth, trying to clear his brain. There was no fighting the inevitable, no fighting his nature, despite years of chemical injections doing just that. Before, he only had to work with the suppressants, letting them do the hard part, but nothing was there anymore, nothing keeping him from slipping into his Alpha state.

All the previous times—particularly the last time with her—had been like going down a slide covered in rocks and gravel and spikes, and he was forced to brace himself as he slid down. This time, he was gliding down a slope with nothing to grab onto. It was easier to feel his heart start beating faster, and his muscles swell, but it was fucking with his head.

Reaching the front door the second time, it was almost like entering a trance as he turned to head in and locked the door behind himself. Up the stairs, he journeyed toward their bedroom, and he didn’t even knock or pause before pushing the door open and locking it behind himself.

Gabriella was sitting in front of her dressing table and didn’t even look up as he entered, too busy focusing on her skincare. He had laid in bed many mornings, watching as she applied various bottles to her face and hands and chest, always mesmerized by her actions. This time, he only paused for a moment to look at her body covered in her soft robe before continuing into the bathroom.

The air was still warm from her shower, and he quickly turned on the water. He wanted to be as clean as she was, scrubbing away dirt and sweat and memories of blood on his knuckles until he felt as clean as possible.

The otherwise soft towel felt rough against his skin as he dried himself off and wrapped it around his waist before returning to the bedroom, intent on watching her.

Never before had he interrupted her routine, but his need and desire drove him forward to stand behind her. She said nothing as she raised a brow at him in the mirror, then picked up her hairbrush and lifted it toward him. He took it and brushed her hair, slowly working from the bottom.

When she lifted a bottle of some sort of spray, he looked at it after taking it from her, studying the words. A leave-in conditioner?—right because, last time, her hair was a tangled mess after he was done with her. He sprayed it in and brushed it through, careful to never pull too hard on her hair, despite knowing she sometimes enjoyed it.

But this wasn’t about sex. No. In no way was this sexual or even sensual, but it was intimate, a gesture of caring and comfort he had never before experienced.

She seemed warmed to his touch as he finally set the brush to the side, pleased to see that her hair was perfectly tamed. Taking a step back, she reached over a shoulder to pull her hair forward and quickly braid it. That was a new look, but it made sense. Perhaps this would keep her hair from being too disastrous by the time he was done with her.

Matthew was ready to sit on the bed to wait for her to finish, knowing that her next step was to rub herself down with lotion—unscented for him—when she turned in her chair and offered him the tub, almost expectantly.

Was she allowing him to rub her down with body lotion? She would let him touch her in such a way? Was he even allowed to do that?

His hands shook as he twisted the lid off and nearly scooped some out with his fingers. She cleared her throat before he could do so, however, and he looked back in the mirror to see her offering a plastic spatula.

Right. He had commented on that once, asking why she was using other tools to remove products from containers. She had talked about keeping her nails clean. He hadn’t even thought about using it himself, but here he was, carefully scooping the product onto his open palm, a small amount to make it go further.

Probably a good thing, given how, pretty soon, his mouth would be all over her, and he would rather taste her than the product.

Gabriella withdrew one arm from her robe, not exposing more of herself than necessary, and Matthew moved to massage the product into her skin, amazed at how easily it slid. Things like body lotion were so far beyond him, but as he felt her skin soak in the product, he could understand why she was so meticulous in her ritual after every shower. There was a reason her skin was so soft, and if putting this on helped, he would do it every single fucking day.

He continued down her other arm, then down her back as well, but took a step back she stood and massaged the back of her legs. He didn’t move closer to the bed, however, and stayed watching her as she righted her robe and sat back down, picking up her hand cream. It was mesmerizing, to watch her carefully squeeze it onto the back of her hands and rub the product in, but that wasn’t what kept him so close.

No. It was her scent, the scent of her body changing. He could smell her hormones and felt her temperature rising as he massaged the lotion into her shoulders. She was going into heat slowly. She was responding to him, whether she knew it or not.

She was smart enough, though, he suspected she had known that all along.

That was why she wasn’t rushing to finish her skincare or moving them toward the bed. It was a process that wasn’t quite finished yet, and until it was, she was giving him no pressure to surge forward and attempt the very thing he feared wouldn’t happen.

Because fuck everything if he couldn’t knot her this time... He would never fucking forgive himself.

“What if I can’t do it?” he blurted. He was interrupting the peace, the quietness of her room, but if he didn’t voice his worries, he was pretty sure they would explode. “I mean, fuck, Gabriella, we already know I’m not fucking good enough. I’m not a part of your world. I thought I was, thought I could handle it. How many fucking dinners have I watched? But then I’m sitting there beside you, knocking things over, don’t know how to choose a wine, can’t even figure out which fork to use when.”

He prepared himself for her teasing, as that was how she normally responded to his concerns, at least his concerns as far as his own behavior went.

Normally, he loved how she would laugh and brush his concerns aside, reminding him that she knew who it was she had chosen, but this time, he couldn’t handle the laughter. He was vulnerable, confessing to his weaknesses, unsure of how he would ever live up to expectations.

But his fears were foolish because Gabriella paused to look up at him in the mirror, their eyes locking. There was a softness in her look, completely in contrast to the normal hardened stare she would give to others. She was thinking about it, truly ready to answer the concerns she had always previously brushed aside.

“Is that what’s been bothering you? Feeling incompetent because you don’t know how to use silverware? That’s something which can be taught and practiced over time. I hadn’t realized it bothered you so much, but we can start using a full set every night at home and skip public dinners for a few weeks. But I don’t think that’s what’s really bothering you, Matthew, but before you say anything else...”

She turned her head to look at him, and he nearly stepped back from her fierce look. There was such love and tenderness in her eyes, such devotion, in a way he normally only saw reflected in himself.

“What a man can’t learn is kindness and selflessness and the protective desire to destroy anyone who looks at me. A man who treats me like a prized companion and not a possession. You elevate me in your eyes, give me the courage to enter any room no matter the conditions. Your love for me... That can’t be taught. That can’t be practiced. I like making decisions, and I enjoy choosing the wine. And I’ll gladly take a man who knocks over a few wine glasses or needs me to choose the bottle because he knows I’ll make the right choice over a man who tells me what I will be ordering and telling me to sit quiet and look pretty any day.”

It sounded so simple, but other men could do both. He had seen the way other men looked at her, even Conrad Elliot, despite his insistence that he was still devoted to his lost mate. Other men could do what he did. Perhaps not as well, but it was impossible that they wouldn’t love her more with every passing moment in her presence.

“Where I fail, you succeed,” she continued, rising. “You complete me, in a way I never understood was possible before now. And I love you. I truly love you. I don’t say it enough and that’s my fault because sometimes, it scares me how much I love you. I never knew I could love anyone as much as I love you, never thought it would be possible to find someone in our world I connect with on such a level. I love you, Matthew. And I’m not afraid to tell you that. To believe in it. To believe in us.”

She loved him. He knew that. Knew that she loved him, but hearing it, hearing it said so passionately made him want to break down and cry.

“I feel the same. The fear, I mean. I’m scared of what my love feels like for you. Like if I could, I would rip my chest open and show you. And sometimes, I’m scared you didn’t feel the same. Not the same depth that I feel.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but he needed her silent, to make sure she knew the whole truth.

“No, that was me being scared,” he insisted, not wanting her to think she had done anything wrong or that he doubted her love for him. “I’ve never loved anyone before, not as a man, or as an Alpha, and this has all been... new. To love someone with my whole fucking being. To feel ripped apart and stitched together by you.”

“I’ve never loved anyone either,” she reminded him, stepping toward him. “Not like this. Not like you. Not with every part of me on the table.”

“I’m so fucking devoted to you, I would destroy anyone and anything for you. I would rip this city apart if anyone took you from me and that’s before we’re even bound. And it scares me what will happen after, once we are bound. I’m terrified I would burn this city to the ground if you were out of my sight for even a minute and earn your disapproval because of it.”

Gabriella laughed, her cheeks turning red, as though embarrassed by his devotion. Or, no. From the scent she was now emitting, she was aroused .

“I think you’ll feel more secure, once we’re bound. You’ll always be able to sense me, always know when I’m worried or afraid or stressed. And don’t forget, I can defend myself but I’ll always feel secure in knowing that you are never far away, always ready to step in at the any sudden shift.”

He would. Always. And, yes, once he could read her beyond her facial cues and tense shoulders and scent, he would, perhaps, feel more secure about her well-being.

“How is it you seem to know so much more about being an Omega and being with an Alpha than I do?” he questioned, knowing she hadn’t much concerned herself with thoughts of Alphas and Omegas until she found out she was one.

“Matthew, please,” she chided, sounding almost insulted. “That’s my job. My duty. To learn and to understand things. You act on instinct, following my every whim and desire, protecting me. My duty is to provide a safe space where we can work through your feelings, a place where you can fall and be vulnerable, and we can process them together. That’s how we grow. Always. Together.”

She was right, of course. Always right.

“The road ahead won’t always be this easy,” he said.

Even though he didn’t want to linger on the negative, he wanted to be realistic.

“Of course it won’t. Nothing in life is easy. I mean, we just took over an entire crime family and we’re moving to take over this city, completely. None of this will be easy.”

He knew what she meant, but that wasn’t what he was talking about.

“No, I mean us. We’re in a honeymoon phase, where we can’t get enough of one another. It won’t always—”

She laughed, her cheeks turning bright once more, and he watched in amazement as her shoulders lifted, a sign of her becoming more relaxed. “Matthew, we will always be in the honeymoon phase. Any time we’re pulling apart or struggling, you’ll go into rut, whether to breed or not. Every time, we’ll connect on a baser level and remember how we work well together. Any time it gets hard? We’ll figure it out right here, in the safety of our own room until every fear and concern you have is settled.”

Fucking hell, why was she so perfectly right? She really did complete him in a way he should have expected.

“I’ll never get tired of how desperate you are for me,” he teased, stepping forward, only to lean himself away. “But I’m scared I won’t be enough again. That it will be like last time.”

He could see her wanting to laugh again, to tease him, but she took a deep breath, stood in front of him, and touched his cheek. “Of all the things I am worried about, stressed about, concerned... that is the least of them. What happened to us last time, we were literally being blocked in such a way that we could never break through. But you can feel the difference this time, can’t you? The way your body is slowly changing? The way I’m changing with you? And even if you can’t, Matthew, I love you too much to care. We’ll... get a toy if we have to, I don’t know. But worrying about knotting me? Stop it. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

Peace coursed through him as she touched his skin, as though his fears and worries melted away with a single touch. She was confident in them, confident in him. And if she believed that he could succeed where he had failed, then he would believe it as well.

“You and I? We’re a team. We’re secure. Maybe you don’t see it but over the past month, more than once you’ve followed commands that I’ve only even thought about. No one else has even noticed but other Alphas always follow your lead so maybe that’s why you don’t recognize it, but you are completely in tune with me. Anything I need, without even asking, you respond and give. With you by my side, I can do anything. Everything else will fall into place along the way.”

All at once, Matthew could feel the slide start to taper off, as though he was finally reaching the bottom. As he stared into her eyes, he realized he was no longer afraid of it. Not when she was standing right there, waiting for him to reach her, ready for him to fall into her arms.

He knew what she wanted without her saying a single thing and leaned forward to kiss her.

Immediately, Gabriella responded, going onto her tiptoes and wrapping her arms around his neck. His towel fell as her body rubbed against his, and he tugged at the tie on her robe to open it. Her bare skin touched his own, and he worried he was too rough against her softness, but she only pressed harder against him. Ignoring her robe, he reached down to the back of her thighs and lifted her.

Her legs wrapped around him as he deepened the kiss, and her glands were hot against his hips, wet and burning for his touch. He wanted to explore her, to mouth at her skin, to suck and kiss and tease, and he pulled his mouth from hers to kiss her throat, the Alpha need in him roaring up, ready to bite down. Not yet, of course, but soon. Just as soon as she was in his lap, knotted on his cock and begging for his bite.

“What are your hands doing?” she gasped, giggling as he dug his fingers into the cleft of her ass.

He had been working his way toward her cunt, wanting to tease her to her first orgasm, but as he pulled a hand away to slide it underneath the hem of her robe and touch her again, he realized what the wetness he could feel was. Yes, her normal arousal was there, but it was slick. Her slick. The slick she only produced while in heat.

Her heat. She was in heat. Or, at the very least, on the edge of it.

“I have all month for your fingers and mouth but right now, I don’t want your fingers,” she insisted, leaning her head back to avoid his kiss. “I want you inside of me, fucking me into the mattress, now .”

Both man and Alpha knew an order when he heard one, but an idea struck him out of nowhere, with the image of her knotted on his cock and unable to pull away as he fingered her.

His mouth would have to wait until later, or at least until his fingers were covered in her slick, and he could taste them.

Matthew sat on the edge of the bed, Gabriella still in his la,p and groaned as she rocked her hips against him. His cock was hard, and her slick rubbed against his length. He was going to split her open if he didn’t prepare her, but he was pretty sure she wanted that. Fuck, she was on fire now, burning in his arms but also burning with a passion as she panted. His cock was between her folds, and he could almost guess she was getting herself off on him, the slick and his hardness giving her just enough pressure to bring her to the edge.

Any other time, he would gladly let her get herself off using him, but he wanted to be inside of her when she hit her first orgasm and feel the shuddering waves of pleasure as she tumbled down over that edge.

Flipping them over, he pushed the bottom of her robe completely open, not bothering to remove it, then gripped his length. She was dripping wet, truly dripping, with slick running down the inside of her thighs, his cock already covered in it. She had slid into her heat as easily as he had into his rut, and for the first time since the last time, all fear of not being able to knot her was gone. The bulb at the base of his cock pulsed, and he felt only pleasure and no pain.

She was his, and he would mark her as such very soon.

Pushing inside, Matthew groaned, her heat enveloping him. She was hot enough to burn him, but it felt fucking amazing. It was so hot it made him want more, made him want to burn himself alive in her. She keened, arching off the bed, but he grasped her hips, keeping her from pulling away. Still standing, he brought her ankles up to his shoulders and was glad the bed was raised, giving him the perfect angle to hit deep inside of her.

With no warning, he moved his hands back to her hips and held her body still while he pulled out. She wouldn’t last long, but that was of no concern to him. She was made to orgasm around him, made to take hours of pleasure, and he would give it to her. Give her more pleasure than she could ever possibly handle.

With each thrust, each movement, she gasped for air, clawing at the bedspread. If her nails could reach him, she would scar him for life, battle wounds he would wear proudly. He didn’t give her the chance, however, as his hold moved onto the bed to grasp her wrists while he bent her body forward. Like this, he could have sworn he felt her cervix, could have sworn he was so deep it would feel like he was in her soul. Her eyes went wide as her first orgasm hit, and he felt only pride as she screamed for him.

For Matthew. For her Alpha. For his knot.

Letting go and allowing his knot to grow was easier than breathing. All he had to do was will it to be so, let himself find pleasure inside of her. Then he was no longer pulling out, no longer able to in any way. He felt himself growing, locked inside, his cock spurting his cum deep inside. It was hot as it raced down his length, nearly as hot as her own body, and he roared as his knot finished swelling, locking him inside of her.

He had feared it would never happen, that he would never give her this, would never make her eyes go wide as she struggled to breathe, to make her sob out his name and beg for more pleasure.

But she was right again, and as her body clamped down on his knot, another orgasm beginning, he knew that this pleasure—and perhaps a little pain—was everything and more.