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“If I stayed on her the entire night, I wouldn’t be able to do a thousandth of what I want.”
“I don’t—I didn’task, Gabriel.All-father.” He grimaces. “You keep her for the night and do your thing, no questions asked. Butbefore, you tell her that she can either go back, or she can stay with you. And if she asks to go back, you let her.”
“I don’t fucking want to let her?—”
“Gabriel, damn it.” My brother’s palms are suddenly planted on the stone table. His face is an inch from mine. “If we want any semblance of our plan to work, we need to obey the law. We need to be spotless in front of the council. If she asks to stay with you…then maybe we can massage the messaging. We could argue that you’re removing her from a situation she never wanted to begin with.”
I clench my fists. Release them. “She doesn’tknowwhat she wants. They did something to her. She wasn’t given a chance to?—”
“Gabriel, this is bigger than your knot.This is about the lives oftens ofthousands, and last I checked the math, thousands of lives are more important than one. Especially when we’re talking about people you swore to protect.”
I loathe everything about this. Above all, and with every fiber of my being, I despise the idea of ever implying to Sofia that I’m willing to let her go.
But…
“I’ll do it. I’ll give her the option,” I say at last. Just as Ivar’s shoulders sag in relief, I add, “But it’s not true.”
“What isn’t?”
“The fucking math.” I stand to leave. “Thousands of people might be more than one. But all their lives put together do not matter more than hers.”
Chapter18
THE SECOND
Sofia
My headache has gone from bothersome to skull-splitting, and it’s not helped by the way Alex stares at me, as though my thighs are sure to be the tastiest morsels she has ever encountered. Luckily, the throbbing in my temples eases the moment the automatic door slides open and Gabriel steps inside his rooms, bringing a fresh wave of his mouthwatering, soothing scent with him.
“No one has come to pick me up, huh?” I ask.
He takes off his mask, revealing a tense expression that I want to reach out and soften with my fingers. Then he begins to unlatch his armor. “Don’t take it personally. I made it very difficult for any Larsen to get here.”
I try to muster some outrage at the admission that he’s purposely keeping me apart from my mate, but all that comes out of me is “ah.”
“And even then, you motivated Lennart enough that he managed to make it to my operations suite. He just left.”
I should feel some degree of pride at the thought. An ounce of that same gratitude I’ve always experienced when it comes to Lennart’s willingness to stand by me, despite all my imperfections. But whenever my mind goes to him, my chest throbs with an empty, bitter kind of ache that I cannot yet parse.
Without thinking about it, I stand from my cross-legged seat on the bed and walk to Gabriel. “Why is it that I’m still here, then?” I ask out of idle curiosity.
“I told him you were sleeping. He’ll be back in the morning.”
That should upset me, but all I know is that his scent is intoxicating and that I don’t mind remaining close to the source. In fact, I want to get closer. I want totouch. “I see.” I come to stand in front of Gabriel and begin freeing him from his breastplate.
He freezes. Breathes deeply once or twice, maybe three times. Then, after observing me working on the latches for a while, he asks roughly, “Who taught you how to do that?”
“Who do you think?” When his hand comes up to help me, I gently push it away. “My father, of course.”
“Ah.”
“And since I heal soldiers, it’s a useful skill.” I move down to his legs. “Except that one time I almost choked an Alpha.”
He snorts softly. “Reassuring.”
“He bitched a lot, but lived to tell the tale.” I look up at Gabriel. Watch him return my smile. He’s down to his blue shirt and pants, and I feel a deep sense of satisfaction at having helped him with this small task. I made my Alpha more comfortable?—
What? NotmyAlpha. JustanAlpha.
