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“There is no relationship.”
“He called the Right of the First Night for the first time in his life. To haveyou.”
“I… Yes, he did. But it’s exclusively to get back at Lord Larsen. It has nothing to do with me.” Andreas scans my face like it’s a book written in the tiniest font. Ahead of us, Marguerite is still piling rocks, and I allow myself to asksimplyout of curiosity, “Is there anyone else?”
“Excuse me?”
“Gabriel. Has he…ever thought about mating? Or been close?”
“No. God, no.” He laughs. “Can’t you tell? Does he look like the kind of Alpha who has an Omega behind him? Someone who loves him?”
I have to mull it over for a minute. “Not really, no.” Without a doubt, Gabriel is very skilled at taking care of the stronghold. But maybe he needs someone who’ll take care of him—and someone to take care of who’ll give back in a more tangible and immediate fashion than a massive stone structure that hosts tens of thousands of people. Someone who won’t let him wake up earlier and earlier. Someone who’ll decorate his rooms with just a splash of color. Someone for him to talk to about his day. Someone willing to massage the stiffness of his muscles after a sparring session. Someone able to make him laugh?—
Fuck. Where are these thoughts coming from?
Iknowwhere. It’s what he told me earlier. He looked me in the eye and listed every single thing I’ve ever wanted, like I’m more transparent to him than limpid water. And now my brain is twisting itself into thinking that it knowshisneeds and desires.
I really must be ill.
“Can I tell you something?” Andreas asks softly. “As an Alpha?”
I nod slowly.
“You don’t smell cold. In fact, you smell”—he sniffs deeply—“well, for the most part, you smell like Gabriel decided to personally coat you in his scent. But also healthy. Very healthy, if you get my meaning.”
I swallow, then massage my temples, where the throbbing is steadily intensifying.
“You see how this is odd, right?” Andreas asks.
I hesitate. Watch the thin line of his lips. Nod, because things are changing. My body. My mind. What I want and what I need. I don’t know how or why, but I’m no longer the person I was twenty-four hours ago.
And my head is about to fuckingexplode.
“No offense,” I say gently, “but I think this might be a conversation I should be having with Gabriel.”And with Lennart, I try to force myself to add. But the name simply won’t come out of my lips.
“No offense taken, Sofia.” His hand lifts to pat my back, but instantly falls back at his side, as if he remembered himself. As if he realized that I belong to another Alpha, and that it would be impolite for him to touch me. “I think so, too.”
Chapter16
THE MEETING
Gabriel
Itake the meeting Lennart requested in the same operations suite that was stormed just a few days ago. Despite the attempt at cleaning, the stench of blood still saturates the air.
I’m attempting to make a point and hope it will come across bright and clear.
“I don’t believe you and I have ever talked face-to-face,” I tell Lennart after he sits across the table from me. I can smell the sweat of his palms, see him wipe them over his trousers. “Although I remember you standing behind your mother, back when she was demanding that I leave Kuznetsov’s funeral.” He glares at me, tight-fisted, and I smile behind my face mask.
“Gabriel—”
“That’snothow you address the general of the military system that keeps you alive, is it?”
A tic in his jaw. Clenched teeth. His brown hair is mussed, as though he ran his fingers through it one too many times. If anyone who is not a member of the military wants to access this wing of the keep, they need to use a complex system of tunnels and elevators. How convenient that today they were all out of service and onlyjustgot repaired.
What a stressful few hours he must have had.
“I want her back,” he bites out.
