Page 35 of The Runaway
Antoine leaned forward in his chair, a calm sympathy on his face. “I know you’re not thrilled about this, and I’m sure you have plenty of doubts. You never said much about Helen’s heat after it was over, but I have it on good authority that Helen’s only complaint was that you weren’t as lively as she would have liked. You didn’t hurt her. You didn’t scare her. You did nothing wrong. And I’m still a bit annoyed with her for the way she reacted afterwards. I don’t know if that helps or not, but I don’t think you have anything to worry about as far as hurting Connor goes.”
“That’s beside the point,” Gabriel said, feeling old beyond his years. “I was a mess with Helen, and Connor’s going to be in no fit state of mind to deal with all of my hang ups as well as his own.”
“Look at this from Connor’s perspective,” Antoine said. “You’re absolutely right, he has been abused. He didn’t give me any details, but he did say his heats in the past have not been pleasant. I wish there was a way I could make sure he never needed to go through a heat again. But heaskedfor you. He’s had very little choice about anything in his life so far, but he’s going out on a limb to ask for something he wants now. When Dante first came here, he couldn’t. He neveraskedfor anything. He couldn’t even get his head around the concept.”
And that was really the crux of it all, wasn’t it? Gabriel hadn’t been able to give Connor a choice when he’d bought him – for all that it had turned out to be the right decision. But if he was asking now…
“Fine,” he said, already feeling his gut roll with dread. “Fucking hell…” He looked up at Antoine, a pleading look in his eyes. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
“You won’t,” Antoine said. “I believe in you. And for what it’s worth, so does Connor.”
“Fine,” Gabriel said again, already praying that he didn’t end up regretting this. “I’ll see to him. Where is he now?”
“In the omegas’ quarters. Give me ten minutes to get everything set up, then you can go through to the mating room with him.”
Gabriel started to nod… then suddenly changed his mind. “No. Not the mating room. It’s too impersonal. Take him up to my room instead.”
Antoine raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? I mean, you haven’t…” Since he’d arrived on the estate, and Helen’s heat notwithstanding, Gabriel still hadn’t mated with any of the omegas. And he’d certainly never invited any of them into his bedroom.
“My room,” Gabriel said again. “I don’t want Connor thinking this is just some service to get him out of the way. He deserves to feel cared for. To feel special. My bed’s bigger, my room’s warmer, there’ll be more space. We shouldn’t be in the omegas’ bunkhouse.”
“As you wish,” Antoine said, standing up. “Wait here. I’ll have Connor brought over and get your room set up. I’ll send someone to fetch you once we’re ready.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Connor sat on the edge of the bed in Gabriel’s bedroom, feeling like the world had just turned upside down. Gabriel’s bedroom?
He’d never heard of an omega being mated in the master’s bedroom before. On the Riviere estate, he’d been mated wherever his masters had found it most convenient, including in the middle of the yard. His heats had been seen to in the barn. On his first master’s estate, his heats had taken place in the small, musty room where he and the one other omega slept. And back at the baby farm, there had been a number of small, dank rooms where the omegas were taken each time their heats had hit.
He looked around the room, too scared to even move lest he damage something or leave dirty fingerprints on the master’s fine possessions. He’d never even been inside a room this nice, not even to clean it.
The bed was huge, big enough to fit three people, based on the size of the beds Connor usually slept in. The floor was covered in rugs. The window had long curtains to keep out the cold and a wardrobe was set in one corner, gleaming polished wood and a brass handle displaying his master’s wealth. And that was even before he considered all the things storedinsidethe massive cupboard. There was a desk against the wall near the window, with a padded chair tucked underneath. Paintings hung on the walls, and a large mirror rested on a stand beside the wardrobe. The glass was crystal clear, unlike the scratched and faded mirror in the bathhouse.
He didn’t belong here. What on earth was Gabriel doing, dragging him up into a room that was suited to people who were so much better than him?
The door was still open, and Carolyn slipped inside, carting a box of food – bread, cheese, dried fruit. He and Gabriel would be occupied for the next twelve hours, unable to leave the room for food or water, so a supply of it was provided for their convenience. Or, for Gabriel’s convenience, at least. Connor had never been allowed to eat during his heat before, expected to endure the exhausting physical activity with no sustenance. There were also two large jugs of water and a small stack of extra blankets, for when the bed became soiled. And with the amount of bodily fluids that would be produced during twelve hours of frantic mating, that was a wise idea. More often than not in the past, he’d been left lying in a puddle of his own cum, filthy and smelly, while his master cursed him for making such a mess.
Gabriel wouldn’t do that, Connor reminded himself, as fear began gnawing at him again. He’d spent three hundred francs to rescue him. He’d been kind and patient, putting up with Connor’s questions and opinions. He’d mated with Helen and hadn’t injured her at all – leaving her pride aside. He had nothing to fear from Gabriel.
And yet the alpha was going to spend the next twelve hours using Connor’s body as a way to relieve his own lust, Connor’s pheromones driving Gabriel into a state of rut. God help him. He briefly considered just enduring the pain, but gave up the idea only a moment later. However awful being mated would be, the pain would be worse.
“We’re all set,” Carolyn told him, as she headed for the door. “I’ll go and fetch Gabriel.”
Connor nodded, and the door closed behind her. The pain? Or Gabriel? One last chance to decide.Please let this go well, he prayed silently, feeling his heart racing in his chest.Please don’t let him hurt me…
Footsteps sounded from outside the door, and Connor held his breath. It was too late to change his mind now. The footsteps paused, and Connor waited, his entire body tense. What was Gabriel waiting for? He wasn’t going to just abandon him, was he?
The knob turned, and the door swung open, and as he met Gabriel’s eyes, both of them froze. Like the first time they’d met, while Connor had been hiding behind the apple crates, Gabriel seemed almost as shocked as he was. Fear skittered across his face, then he swallowed, his expression returning to calm neutrality. He closed the door, but didn’t come any closer.
“How are you feeling?” Gabriel asked.
“Okay,” Connor said, putting on a brave front. “I’m okay.”
Gabriel nodded and stepped further into the room. But instead of heading for the bed, he moved over to sit on the chair by the window. He set a small bottle on the desk, though Connor couldn’t quite see what it was. “I know you might not believe me,” Gabriel said, “but I need to say this anyway. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to do anything that you’re not okay with. So if you need anything, please ask. Or if I’m doing anything you don’t like, you can ask me to do it differently.”
Connor had heard rumours of that sort of thing. Some alphas seemed to like spoiling their omegas during a heat, pampering them or showering them with compliments. He wasn’t sure whether to believe it or not. No alpha he’d ever been with had displayed that kind of behaviour. But if Gabriel thought it was possible, then he was willing to take a shot at it. Gabriel had already saved his life, after all. Maybe it was safer to trust his words than it was with other alphas.
“Antoine said that your heats in the past haven’t been very pleasant. Is that true?”