Chapter 7

“If you keep going like this, man, you’re going to destroy yourself.”

“Look at the state of him, Ricky. He’s in too deep right now. If you try and pull him out of the haze, he’s going to hit you.”

“I can take a few hits, Tommy, but he can’t keep swinging like this.”

“Sure, he can. He’s gone through a rut before. Whatever weird funk he’s in now, I’m sure he can punch his way out of it.”

“Don’t fucking talk about that, man. You know we don’t say that word around here.”

“Fuck, you’re just like Alessandro. We don’t have to go through that. That’s why we’re on the shots. Speaking of, Matty, tell me you’re still taking your shots.”

“Fucking idiot, that’s why he’s swinging. Didn’t you hear A? He was saying they won’t up his injections. Says they’re working fine as it is.”

“Fine? They haven’t seen him swinging like this.”

“Yeah, well they’re the doctors and we’re the idiot Alphas.”

“Fucking morons...”

“Will you shut the fuck up?” Matthew roared as he whirled on the pair of Alphas.

Neither flinched, which was concerning. He was bigger than them, his hormones at max. The pheromones had to be rolling off of him, nearly choking them. He was filled with so much rage and frustration and they were just staring at him, not concerned in the slightest.

But he was. He was fucking terrified. Terrified that one wrong move meant he would rip apart anyone who came near him.

“Is he expecting us to be scared of him?” Tommy asked as he turned his head to look at Ricky.

Ricky simply shook his head.

They should’ve been, so why the fuck weren’t they?

“Jesus, man. You need a fucking shower and to get some sleep.”

No. Not sleep. Sleep was the last thing he needed.

Because that’s where she was. The angel. The one that reached for him over and over again, calling to him, fulfilling him.

The angel, whose face he had never seen until now. The angel had always been faceless, always a voice, a scent, a sensation. Now, in his dreams—or, more accurately in his nightmares, for that was what it was when she was ripped from him—she wore the face of Gabriella Santorini.

He was fucking losing it, and the goddamn doctors who oversaw their care weren’t fucking listening to him.

He needed higher injections—or a goddamn sedative.

“We can’t just leave him standing here like this,” Ricky said. “He looks like he doesn’t even have a thought left in his brain.”

What the fuck was wrong with them?

“Matthew? Fuck, man, come on. Say something. Anything.”

“Fuck off,” he snapped, ready to push through and head to the showers.

They were right about that. A shower and something to eat would do him good.

Only his legs weren’t moving, but his body was. One moment, he was standing there, and the next, he was sitting on his ass with Tommy and Ricky on either side holding him up by the arms.

Fuck. What the hell?

“What the fuck is going on with me?” Matthew mumbled, confused at why his words were so slurred.

“Fuck, it’s like he’s goddamn drunk. Matthew, did you figure out how to get drunk and not tell us?”

“Not drunk, you moron. He’s coming down off a high.”

“High? What the fuck could even— oh .”

“Yeah, oh.”

What the fuck were they on about?

“I thought we agreed she wasn’t a—”

“Don’t say it in here,” Ricky snapped.

Why couldn’t they talk in here? Wait, fuck, the cameras—and what were they even on about?

“Get him up and into the shower. Where the fuck is Alessandro?”

“Said he had to run an errand for her . Shit, you really think this is all because of that meeting?”

“Fuck, I don’t know. Just get him up.”

Meeting. What meeting? He didn’t have a meeting. Well, he did—sort of. He had sat down with the boss while on the phone with Jannick Morcan. The same Jannick Morcan whose son was on a date with Gabriella, and, fuck, that had burned a rage in him like something he had never known. At first, he thought it was jealousy, but he knew Gabriella was just as disgusted by the Alpha as Matthew was. It had been envy for all the other dates, sure, but this one was concern. She wasn’t safe with the Morcan brat.

He should have gone on that one, should have been there watching her, protecting her.

But if he saw her smiling at that little shit, even a fake one, he would have ripped everyone apart to get to her, to touch her, to grasp her.

He was losing his fucking mind, becoming a goddamn liability. He couldn’t risk her. Couldn’t risk her seeing him like that.

So, he had spent the whole time texting Alessandro, demanding to know what was going on, every second.

And then he found out that it was the fucking Morcans responsible for his team getting shot up, and the boss had demanded Alessandro bring her home for her safety. She had entered the office breathtakingly beautiful and filled with rage. She had been on fire, demanding answers, demanding her father do something. He had wanted to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder, to take her upstairs and fuck her through all their combined rage. Their fires would have burned out together.

Even though she wasn’t an Omega, he just fucking knew that she could still take him. Deep down, he just fucking knew that she could handle his brutality. That she would revel in the touch of his hand and the grip of his fingers. He fucking knew she would love to be touched by him.

But he hadn’t moved. He had kept his rage at the forefront, which was a struggle because of how badly he fucking wanted her and watched as she was reprimanded by her father.

It was a true testament to his own self-control because he had nearly ripped the boss’s head off for daring to speak to her like that. And that wasn’t okay. That wasn’t allowed.

And that was why he was now here, beating the shit out of every punching bag and Alpha who came near him. And they dared to call him a liability? HE was more than a fucking liability. He had been on the verge of destroying everything.

All because of how he wanted to protect her .

Because he wanted her in a way he couldn’t have.

Because he was burning for her, ready to destroy himself, just to have a taste of her.

Nothing could satisfy his need. Nothing could sate his rage. Nothing could calm him.

Save for her. Having her, tasting her, pleasing her. That was the only way he could calm himself.

Her.

He wasn’t going into a rut. He couldn’t. Not with all the meds in his fucking system. Not with the daily injections and the pills and everything else. It was impossible for him to go into a rut. It had only happened the one time because he had been refusing injections, wanting out of the family. He could barely remember that time in his life, but when he survived it, that had solidified his need for the injections.

Anything was better than being an Alpha in a rut without an Omega.

And he couldn’t go into a rut.

But that didn’t mean it didn’t feel like it. It felt like he was in a rut.

Like...

Like how he couldn’t fucking knot his own hand, but it didn’t change the fact that his cock wanted to swell.

Like how he could jack himself off and finish but how his balls were still full of a load.

Fuck. This was bad. Real fucking bad.

This was as fucking close to a rut as an Alpha could be without entering one. He was losing his goddamn mind with need.

And now—

Now, he was getting hit by freezing ass water with two idiots holding him underneath the stream.

“Fuck, just cool off a little bit,” Ricky was insisting as he leaned over Matthew’s back. “Alessandro has a bed in the works for you.”

A bed? He had a bed. What the fuck was he on about?

“So, we really think it’s that?”

“I mean, the fact he’s not killing us right now is a pretty clear sign he’s not in one, but he’s pretty fucking close, don’t you think? Too close for comfort.”

“A fucking rut. Jesus. So, you think this means—”

“Can you keep your goddamn mouth shut until we’re somewhere that we can talk privately?”

“Fine, fuck off...”

He focused on nothing else, only tried to lose himself in his own mind. He couldn’t go to sleep, even if they put him in a bed. Because sleep was where she was. And that was hell.

It wasn’t her. It wasn’t really her. It had never been her before.

Was he so desperate that his mind was just trying to fill in with whatever it could manage, or was he actually remembering things? Was it a memory and not a dream? Was she the piece of the puzzle his brain had always been missing?

“Fuck, alright, come on,” Alessandro said from somewhere. “We got to get him out of here before someone notices.”

“Uh, did you forget the security system?” Tommy asked. “Anyone who’s watching will notice that we’re in here trying to drown him.”

“Alfie is on the cameras tonight, and he already knows what to pull. He’s calling in Hank to give him a hand.”

“Fuck,” Ricky muttered. “And they won’t tell the boss?”

“I told you, Ricky. Shit is changing around here, ever since she showed up.”

“She has no fucking idea, does she?” Tommy asked. “The boss either.”

Matthew had no idea what he was talking about.

“That’s going to change, I think. She’s starting to ask questions. You should’ve heard her tonight. She was pissed.”

“And that’s why our boy is like this?”

The water cut off with Ricky’s words, and Matthew blinked as he looked up at Alessandro, who lifted him off the floor. Matthew still felt unsteady, but with Alessandro under one arm and Ricky the other, he could somewhat step forward with their guidance.

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s why he’s like this.”

“How much longer can we go like this?” Ricky asked. “I mean, he’s a fucking liability.”

“Yeah, I am,” Matthew muttered.

“You shut the fuck up before you say something you shouldn’t,” Alessandro said. “We’re going to have a long fucking talk when you wake up.”

“Mmm,” Matthew agreed.

That sounded miserable.

“The fuck is that in your pocket?” Tommy blurted. “Is that a fucking—”

“I’m giving him a sedative. He’s going to sleep this off.”

Alessandro sounded uncertain.

Matthew was concerned. He couldn’t sleep. She was there.

“Get off me.” He tried to struggle against them. “I can’t fucking sleep. She’s in there. I can’t escape her. She’s there, and she’s—”

“Fuck it, we’ll have to carry him,” Alessandro said. “Goddamn, you’re heavy.”

“Fuck you—”

The needle penetrated his skin...

Sleep. Blissful, hellish sleep.

She was so close he could taste how ripe she was in the air, ready to be taken by him, ready to have his cock inside of her, ready to be his. She was on the verge of heat, all thanks to his pheromones flooding the air, which was a good thing because he was so deep in his rut that he was verging on going insane. As it was, reaching out for her, calling to her, it was driving him mad. He couldn’t go to her, the bars blocking his way, but she could come to him. All he had to do was reach out to her.

She would come. He knew she would come.

She was made for him. His perfect Omega. His perfect mate.

He was ready to dig his fingers into her thick thighs, ready to bruise them from his tight grip. He was ready to suck marks into her skin, bruises that would show she already had an Alpha who worshiped her. He was ready to bite her skin, to find the glands hidden underneath, to rupture them. He was ready for his scent to blend with hers, for his pheromones to awaken her heat, for her to go into overdrive for him.

He was ready for her. He just needed her to come to him.

And she would. She had a choice, and she could reject him if she found him unworthy, which he was unworthy of such perfection. Yet, already, even at this distance, he could smell her. She was on edge, searching for him, just as he longed to search for her.

His perfect fucking Omega, already ripe for the taking, and he hadn’t even had the chance to begin to show his devotion.

He would destroy whoever had trapped him here, keeping him from being able to crawl to her.

“Perfect,” he called out. “So perfect. I can taste it in your scent. Come to me...”

Betas seemed to think that Alphas and Omegas weren’t actually made for one another, that it was just some bullshit they made up to explain their carnal primal need to be with each other. Of course a Beta couldn’t understand it. They didn’t have the senses an Alpha did. They couldn’t hear a person’s heartbeat or the quick intake of breath. They couldn’t smell the hormones or a person’s base nature. They didn’t know. How could they?

They were lacking in their abilities. They would never understand what came between an Alpha and Omega.

And before now, Matthew had never understood, either. Not really. Sure, he had dreamed about it. He had come across mated Alphas and Omegas and wanted what they had. He had run into a few unmated Omegas as well and wondered what it was about them that smelled so sweet but still not right.

But now, he could smell her .

Everything in the world was suddenly fitting right into place, creating a full picture Matthew never could have imagined. It was completely rewriting everything he had ever thought to be real in the world.

All that mattered anymore was him and her and being together until everything was settled. He needed her in his embrace, safe, marked with his own pheromones, so all others would know she was his.

And until then, he had only one goal. One path forward.

Get to her, while destroying anything in his way.

“I’m here,” she called out, her voice warm and rich. She was uncertain, but she was moving toward him. “I’m here. I’m coming to you. Wait for me.”

“I’ll wait for you. I’ve been waiting for you,” he vowed. He had waited an eternity for her, and he would keep waiting, but if she took much longer, he would lose his mind. “I’m trapped somehow. I can’t reach you, or I would come to you. I’ll... I’ll destroy whatever this is, rip it apart—”

“I can see you,” she answered back, so close he could almost touch her. “I can’t see your face. Why can’t I see your face?”

“Come here,” he growled, his voice low and deep. He was more Alpha than man, suddenly, at the realization of how close she was. “ Come here .”

She was there, suddenly, in his arms but not entirely. Something was still separating them, bars or blocks, but still, she was there. He could smell her, could run his hands over her bare skin, over her soft arms, along her back. She turned in toward him and tried to touch him.

His hands ran lower, down the sides of her breasts, down her middle, then back up. He wanted to be careful and respect her body, but she turned, and his hand ran over her breast, his fingers catching on a nipple. It was covered in a silky fabric and hardened in his touch. Her moan sounded so delicious it sent shockwaves into his cock. If he was hard before, he was a rock now, aching and needing to swell.

He would soon, inside her soaked cunt, which was flooding the room with her delectable pheromones.

“Touch me, please,” she gasped and turned her back against his front. “I need you. Nothing compares to you. I feel so empty without you. Only you can fill me, please—”

“Anything you ask,” he vowed as his hands moved up her body and then down around the sides of her breasts once more. He wanted to know the swell of them, but exploring her with his hands would have to do. “I’ll do anything. Anything at all.”

His hands moved up, the rough callouses catching on the fabric until the weight of her breasts dropped in his hold. Clumsily, he lifted them and thumbed the tips, and her soft moans encouraged him, telling him he had to be doing something right. She was pressing back against him, despite whatever was keeping them separate, and he tried to lean forward, to press his face through to reach her.

He could smell her hair, nose to neck, but nothing more. It was driving him mad. He needed more of her, needed to mark her, even if it was only temporary. She was so fucking close, made for him, and he was unable to do anything more than just touch.

Fuck, if touching was all he could do, then he was going to touch every inch of her.

“What’s happening to me?” she moaned as he pinched her nipples on her last word, making her squeal.

He liked that, how responsive she was and so audible. Something about her screamed at him that she wasn’t one to normally be loud or expressive. For him to be able to draw such noises from her, it was encouraging him to go further, to touch more.

“You’re going into heat,” he murmured, his voice soft to not scare her.

If she was asking this, then she was further gone than he had realized. He still had his wits about him somewhat, but she was clearly losing it.

“What? I don’t understand?” Confusion laced her voice, but she didn’t pull away from him, so he didn’t stop. “Heat? I’m... I’m going into heat?”

“I’m in my rut and only your touch can soothe me. You should only be responding like this if you wanted this. Do you...” His hands stopped and slid from her breasts, then settled on her shoulders. She whined, but he resisted. “Do you want this?”

“Don’t stop,” she begged, wrapping her small fingers around his wrists. She pulled his hands down so one returned to her breasts, while the other went to her belly. He could feel how soft she was, and he could imagine resting his head there, finding comfort in her touch. She was made to be filled by him, to take every inch of him. He was going to spend days filling her belly with his cum. “Please, I want this. I need this.”

“How does my touch feel?” He guided his hand below her belly, then to the crease of her pelvis, to where her thighs pressed together. It was hot and damp, but he didn’t try to push his fingers in. “Do you want me to keep going or is this too confusing?”

“Please, touch me,” she begged, and her thighs parted, allowing his fingers to slide between and toward her damp heat. “You’re the only thing that feels right.”

She was perfectly soft and supple and made for him. He was unworthy to be touching her, to be exploring her, but he couldn’t stop himself. She had given him permission, and he was too far gone. He needed his Omega, and he would have her.

“I need you,” he answered, wanting her to know he felt the same. “Let me taste you. Let me sink my teeth into you.”

The sweetest scent flooded his nostrils, and he could feel where it was freely flowing from. Her body was responding to both his words and his touch, urging her closer to the edge. Pretty soon, the heat that was emanating from her throat, and her cunt, would be spreading through her, taking control, and throwing her completely into her desires. He would be ready for it, for her. Ready to please and worship her.

“Tell me you want this. Tell me I can taste—”

“Please,” she begged. “Please!”

“Tell me. Tell me !”

He didn’t need her to beg him, to ask him. His answer was already yes. What he needed was for his Omega to command him. To give him the last bit of permission. To let him know, with her words, she would accept him.

Not answering, she only moaned as his fingers dipped into her lingerie covering. The silky fabric was doing nothing to hide how wet she was, and he longed to rip it from her body and shove it into his pocket. She would never wear underwear around him, always ready to take his knot if she would allow it. He would always be prepared for her, always half hard. With a simple glance, he would fuck her anywhere she so desired.

She was soaked—dripping, really—and he delighted as more and more flowing out of her. Each touch, every stroke, it seemed to drag more and more. Her cunt leaked her from her slick. He could tell the difference, could even feel how silky smooth her slick became. He had to be careful to avoid her clit, knowing it would send her over the edge too soon, but it was difficult, given how she was rocking her hips with his touch, and he was so easily running his fingers between her folds.

“Fuck, I need to taste,” he groaned and pulled his hand from her sex to lift to his mouth.

It would taste better from her fingertips, which would even be nothing in comparison to him drinking from the source, but he needed something now to satiate him and keep him from rushing forward. If he didn’t have her word, her permission, he wouldn’t be able to mark her. If he couldn’t mark her, he would not be able to fully knot her, and if he couldn’t, he would lose his fucking mind.

He had to have her, all of her. She simply had to say the word.

Sucking two fingers into his mouth, he nearly lost his shit altogether. Perfectly sweet and salty and made for him, she truly was. He had to grasp her and whatever was keeping him from her had to come down. She was his, made for him, meant for him, and he would devote himself to her fully, just as soon as he could get to her.

“No, wait.” She gasped, and she slid from his hold, away from his other hand resting against her stomach.

He reached for her more, trying to grab her, but she was no longer even close. She was leaving him, but—

“Stop, what are you doing?” she demanded. “No, let me go! Stop! I have to go with him! I have to be with him! Please!”

A terror he had never known raced through him at her words. He could feel her fingers, but he couldn’t grab her. He fought harder, trying to get through, but they were solid metal.

“Stop, bring her back to me!” he growled. “ Bring her back to me .”

She screamed for him, begged for him, and he fought, gripping at the bars, pulling, anything. He searched the wall, searched for an opening. He tried to recall because it seemed more like a memory, but he could remember nothing else other than her his arms and then her being ripped away.

She screamed again, and he fought to find something, searched the walls, tugged at anything he could find. His hands searched the wall, patting around until his hands found a handle. He tried to turn it, but it didn’t budge. He pulled again, then shoved his shoulder against it. Something popped, and he wanted to yelp in pain, but he just kept going again and again and again.

She was so close, had been in his embrace. He could almost visualize it, almost remember her being picked up and carried off. He couldn’t protect her. His Omega. His mate. His—

“Gabriella!” He shoved his shoulder against the door again, ignoring the cracking of bone he heard. He didn’t know how he knew her name, but it felt right, just like how she had felt right in his embrace. “Gabriella!”

He shoved again and again and again,—

And then her screams were gone, leaving behind only her scent.

He growled and charged at anything, everything. He ripped up the bedding, flung the chair against the wall, and threw himself against the bars over and over again.

He slammed against it so many times he was no longer certain the bones in his shoulder would stitch together, and he dug at the floor, trying to find some way through the concrete. His fingers bled, body ached, and in the end...

In the end, he was alone, trapped, and screaming her name.

Matthew sat up straight, his eyes going wide as he looked around the room.

He was sitting on a mattress on the floor, blankets puddled around him. His body having been wrecked, he was naked and had a raging headache. The last thing he could remember was standing in the shower—no, sitting in the shower, with his team standing around him.

Fuck, he didn’t know what they put in that shot they gave him, but it did a number on him.

“Feel better?”

His eyes focused on where the voice had come from, and Alessandro was leaning against the door. It was closed behind him and solid metal. He looked around. It wasn’t his room but a holding room where they put new Alphas who were losing their shit before their first injection. The fuck was he doing in here, and how long had been there?

“How long have I been asleep?” Matthew asked, knowing it had to have been for more than a day.

He looked at the encrusted blood on his hands and forearms.

Fuck.

“About a day,” Alessandro answered. “Before that, I wouldn’t call it sleep. I tried to keep you sedated but on the fourth day, you fought back. Destroyed the bed in here and ripped shit out of the walls. It’s a good thing these rooms are soundproof because you put it through the test. You went at it for about forty-eight hours before you dropped and I sedated you again. Your body needed the rest, although I’m betting you still feel like shit.”

Matthew didn’t know what else to say.

“But I don’t care how your body fucking feels. That’ll heal. I need to know if you’re back in control. If you’ve got your shit back together again.”

“Yeah,” Matthew answered, and he groaned as he pushed himself up to stand. He needed a shower and to figure out what had happened while he was down. “Yeah, I’ve got my shit together. Don’t know what the fuck that was but—”

“Sit down, Matty. We need to talk.”

“Hey, man,” Matthew shrugged and threw up his hands. “I know I lost my mind for a minute but I’m good. Don’t forget who’s in charge.”

Alessandro pulled out a gun and pointed it at him. “Sit the fuck down, Matty before I tranq your ass again.”

Matthew paused in his steps, then stepped backward, then to the bed. He would sit, but only because he was done sleeping. “Fuck, man, you don’t need to threaten me like that. Shit, you’re on fucking edge.”

“Yeah, well, when you hear what I have to say, you’ll understand why.” Alessandro lowered his arm, no longer pointing the gun but certainly not holstering it. Fuck, why was he so on edge? “We need to have that talk now.”

Matthew stared back at his second, knowing exactly what talk he wanted to have. Problem was, Matthew didn’t want to have it. His dreams, the ones that had plagued him for years, were starting to adapt, to put Gabriella in the place of the unknown Omega. He knew it wasn’t really her, that his Alpha brain was becoming muddled between want and need, but it wasn’t real. None of it was real. He had never held an Omega like that, and that Omega was certainly not Gabriella.

“Fuck it, let’s talk about it,” Matthew said with a shrug as he leaned back against the wall. His shoulder was killing him, and he rolled it a few times, trying to relax the muscle. What had he done to it to make it ache so badly? “What do you have to say?”

Alessandro pushed himself off the door and moved deeper into the room. He leaned against the wall, still leaving a few steps between himself and Matthew, but it was a good sign he was closing the distance. Maybe he trusted him a little bit more.

“Alright. Tell me the truth. Is Gabriella an Omega?”

Matthew stared at Alessandro for a heartbeat, then forced himself to laugh. Right. Gabriella, the boss’s daughter, an Omega. That was absurd because she wasn’t a fucking Omega. She was obviously a Beta. She had to be a Beta.

Alessandro’s face was hard as Matthew’s laughter faded, and he finally looked away. Everything about his laugh had been awkward, but he hadn’t known how else to respond. Clearly, pretending like shit was okay and he had it figured out wasn’t going to work.

“Fuck, fine. I don’t know,” Matthew answered as he looked down at his feet. “No, she’s not. She can’t be. She’s not an Omega.”

“I think she’s an Omega.”

Matthew swallowed hard before looking up at Alessandro, who was still staring at him. The gun was still in hand, but Matthew was no longer worried about it. He waited to feel something, to feel his anger emerge, his hackles rise, but all he felt was... loss. Emptiness. Loneliness. He didn’t know how to fill it, even with his closest friend in the room.

“How? How could she be an Omega? If she was an unmated Omega, her father would never let her go out with Alphas nor would he let any of us in a room with her. She would have to be mated but we would smell an Alpha all over her. And it’s not like an Omega’s nature can be suppressed. If she was an Omega, we would know.”

“According to the rest of the world, an Alpha’s nature can’t be suppressed either, but here we are, taking injections that keep us from going into rut or at least, they’re supposed to.”

Matthew swallowed hard, not liking the sound of that. “If... if she were an Omega, I would... I would go into rut. I want her, fuck it, I’ll admit that. And if she were an Omega, it would... I would...”

Alessandro groaned, gesturing around the room with the gun. “And what the fuck do you think the past week was? What do you think you were just in?”

He couldn’t answer because he already knew the truth. It wasn’t a full rut, but it was pretty fucking close to one. As close to a rut as his jacking off was to finding release.

Not really enough, not what he actually needed but enough to satiate his needs.

What I need is a taste of her...

“Fuck,” Matthew breathed out as his head fell back against the wall. “She’s a fucking Omega. She has to be. And I’m—”

“You can’t tell her,” Alessandro announced, his voice hard. “You can’t say a goddamn thing to her about it.”

Matthew’s head shot back up as he stared at the other Alpha, thoroughly confused. They had just established that she had to be an Omega—but what did he mean by they couldn’t tell her ? Surely, she had to know.

“The fuck do you mean? You don’t think she knows?”

“I know she doesn’t know,” Alessandro said as he lowered the gun. “Get up. I expected you to lose your shit by now.”

Matthew forced himself up off the ground using one hand braced on the wall and leaned against it as he stood. Shower, food, injection, and he needed to figure out what was going on.

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve spent the past few weeks following her around while you slowly lost your fucking mind. I took her to see her uncle today and it clued me in. She has no fucking clue, Matty. Had. I think she’s starting to figure out that things are being kept from her.”

“That’s my girl,” Matthew muttered. Fuck, she was so goddamn smart. He couldn’t wait to see her work. “But give me one good damn reason why I can’t tell her. If she doesn’t know, she needs to.”

“Think about this, Matty. We figured it out. The other enforcers, they all figured it out. And none of us are trying to court her. We all just fucking knew. Now think about all the Alphas who’ve been taking her out on dates. They’re getting injections too, Matty. The Morcan shit all but admitted it. What do you want to bet they also know what she is.”

Terror ran down his spine at the realization that his Omega, the one who was flooding his dreams, had been courted by other Alphas, while he locked himself away, beating himself up. He was fucking failing her again.

Shit, what if one of them had touched her?

“We have to tell her. She has to know.”

“She has bigger shit to deal with right now,” Alessandro hissed. “She has refused to go on any more dates until she learns more about what’s going on, but she and her father aren’t talking at all. That’s about to change, though, so you need to get your shit together as well.”

“Fuck, why?” Matthew asked, trying to keep himself from demanding.

“Because she’s demanding your presence. She’s noticed every time you’re not there but tonight, she told me you need to stop avoiding her and take up your spot protecting her. She expects to see you tomorrow.”

Matthew swallowed hard as a cold weight settled into his stomach. He was fresh out of a rut and was more man than Alpha at the moment, but the thought of being around her again already had him on edge. Particularly now that he knew—or at least suspected—she was an Omega.

“I need a shower and some food,” Matthew said as he pushed himself off the wall. “And my injections. I told the docs I needed to up my injections but—”

“I paid one of the nurses off,” Alessandro said, moving toward the door. “Double doses for you. Told her that if you grew anymore, we wouldn’t be able to find pants that fit you. That was enough for her to agree you need a higher dose.”

Good. That was good.

Alessandro unlocked the door, then stepped to the side. Ricky and Tommy were on the other side, looking wary, yet they grinned. Matthew smiled back and nodded.

He owed them one and then some.

“Go get your shower and hit up medical. We’ve got a lot to talk about and probably six hours until she wakes up. We’ll want to be in the house when she does because she’s going to start demanding answers and we need to know what the boss says.”