Page 74 of The Runaway
Heading away from the centre of town, they found an inn that looked busy, but not too crowded. Most of the pubs and hotels they’d passed so far were full to bursting, where vacant rooms would have been rarer than hens’ teeth.
“Do you have any spare rooms for tonight?” Gabriel asked the innkeeper, a grey-haired man with a frazzled look.
“We’re full,” the man said, in a disinterested tone. “Move along.”
“Do you know anywhere else that might be available?”
“Move along,” the man said again, his tone a fraction sharper this time.
“Come on,” Gabriel said, with a sigh. He started herding the rest of the group out of the inn. There was no point in lingering, and the longer they delayed, the less likely they were to find another option.
But just as they were heading for the door, a small, lithe figure stepped into Gabriel’s path. “I saw you protesting in town today,” the man said, wide, blue eyes peering up at Gabriel. “Where are you from?”
“South of Montargis,” Gabriel said, not sure where the conversation was going. “It’s a small town. It’s not likely you’ve heard of it.”
The man smiled. “Probably not, no. Sounds like a long way to come, though. Listen, I couldn’t help but overhear you’re looking for a room for the night? We could fit you in. There’s three of us already, but if you don’t mind sleeping on the floor, you’d be welcome to stay. Better than a draughty stable, right?”
Gabriel glanced back at the rest of his group. “There’s five of us,” he said, expecting the man to retract his offer.
But instead, he shrugged. “Like I said, you’ll be sleeping on the floor. But if that suits, then you’re welcome to stay. Five of you, all traveling that distance to make our voices heard? That’s worth a favour or two, in my books.” The man was most likely an omega. He was short enough for it and had a deep tan, like he was used to working outside in the fields.
“Thank you,” Gabriel said. “I’m Gabriel.”
“I’m Hugo. Come on. I’ll show you which room we’re in.”
They all traipsed up the stairs, Gabriel having to duck to get through the narrow doorway into the room. There were three small beds lined up neatly against the wall and two other people sitting on the end of one of them. They looked up when the door opened, then a moment later, they were on their feet, tensing in preparation for a fight as they saw the line up of them all coming in.
“It’s okay,” Hugo said. “They’re with me. I saw these guys protesting today. They need a place to stay, so I said they could bunk with us.”
“We’re very grateful,” Gabriel said, not wanting to make anyone nervous. “We just need somewhere to sleep. We’re not here to cause any trouble.”
“Oh, you were protesting,” the woman said, relaxing at the news. “Good for you. But… you’re not an omega, are you?” she said, eyeing Gabriel up and down. “You’re too tall and well fed. And you’ve got way too much confidence. The rest of you, I could believe are omegas.” She let her gaze wander over the rest of them. And despite knowing she was wrong, Gabriel could see how she’d reached the conclusion. Adalene and Connor were both lean and wiry and dressed in very simple clothes, Lucas was still a good head shorter than Gabriel, having not yet grown into his alpha status, and Niles looked so damn scared that it would be easy to believe he was of the ‘meeker’ gender. “But you’ve got to be a beta,” the woman concluded.
Gabriel wondered how best to respond to the assumption. It would be easier to let them believe he was a beta, but the blatant deception was galling. How would these omegas feel knowing they’d inadvertently spent the night in the same room as not one, but three alphas?
But before he could come up with a decent reply, Connor beat him to it. “Actually, it’s a little more complicated than that,” he said. “My name’s Connor, by the way. And this is Gabriel.”
“I’m Charlotte, and this is Jacques,” Charlotte said. “Why is it more complicated?”
Connor sidled closer to Gabriel, slipping his hand through Gabriel’s arm. “Gabriel’s an alpha,” he said, trying to keep his tone soothing. “So are Niles and Lucas,” he added, nodding to each of them.
“Alphas? What the fuck, Hugo? You broughtalphasinto our room?” Charlotte backed up a few steps, while Jacques reached for a plank of wood he had leaning against the wall, raising it to use as a weapon.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Connor said quickly, trying to calm them. “I’m Gabriel’s personal omega, and Adalene is Niles’s personal omega. Both of us would trust them with our lives. They’ve always done right by us, and I promise they’re no threat to you.” Officially, Connor had never been given the status of personal omega, but under the circumstances, it was the simplest explanation, and not unreasonably far from the truth.
Charlotte looked only marginally mollified. “What about him?” she asked, jerking her head towards Lucas.
“Lucas is seventeen,” Gabriel said. “He only presented as an alpha a few months ago. He’s under strict instructions not to cause any trouble.” He shot a warning glare Lucas’s way to make the point, and Lucas obediently ducked his head.
“So what are three alphas and their personal omegas doing at a pro-omega protest in the heart of Paris?” Hugo asked, folding his arms and leaning against the door frame. He was ignoring his roommates’ discomfort for the moment, perhaps in the hope that they would follow his lead and not start a fight right here in their bedroom. But he also wasn’t welcoming them with open arms, and the irony of the situation was not lost on Gabriel. Without Connor to speak up for them, the three alphas would have been out on the street for the night. It was simultaneously unsettling and liberating to be on the receiving end of such open prejudice – liberating, because for the first time, he was seeing what it felt like to need someone else to stand up for him, and the warm thrum through his chest at the knowledge that Connor was willing to fill that roll was a heady feeling.
“The short answer is we’re doing the same thing you are; fighting for the rights of omegas who are about to be murdered for no good reason. The longer version is that as unlikely as it might seem given current circumstances, there are still alphas in the world who believe that all human beings should be treated with equal respect and compassion.”
“Equal respect?” Charlotte’s eyebrows rose. “You call owning a slave and forcibly fucking him whenever you feel like it ‘respect’?”
“Gabriel’s neverforcedme to do anything,” Connor said, glaring at her haughtily. “Not even a week ago, I was dining on cheese and wine, shared without a single protest. He doesn’t mate with me unless I agree to it, and when I said I wanted to come to Paris, he dropped whatever plans he had to come along and keep me safe. Not all alphas are the same. And if you steadfastly object to his presence, then Adalene and I will be leaving with the rest of them, because we were taught to stick together, not sell each other out when it gets inconvenient.”
Charlotte was speechless for a moment, looking from Gabriel to Connor and back as her mouth hung open. “I… I guess they can stay then?” she said, glancing at Hugo for confirmation.