“I would advise you to refrain from any further insults,” he said, meeting the man’s eyes unflinchingly. “My name is Gabriel Calvet. I’m a former sergent in the French army. Our estate’s two days south of here. And if you damage any of my property, I will make sure the cost is taken directly out of your wages.”
The man stiffened slightly and took a very small step backwards. “Fair enough. But before I let you take yourpropertyhome again, you won’t mind if I ask you to prove it’s actually yours?”
Gabriel didn’t bat an eyelid. “Connor, get over here,” he barked, not taking his eyes off the soldier. Connor trotted obediently over, his eyes on the ground. Gabriel grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around roughly. Then he yanked his shirt down, exposing the tattoo on his back. “Satisfied?” he asked the soldier, injecting a healthy amount of disdain into his voice.
The soldier leaned down to examine the brand. “What did you say your name was?”
“Gabriel Calvet.” The words came out just shy of a growl.
“Hm.” The soldier stood back. “Fine. Looks like you’re telling the truth. Well, then, get your rabble out of here and stop clogging the streets. We’ve got enough problems to deal with already.”
“Right then,” Gabriel said loudly, turning to the cluster of omegas. “This way, the lot of you. And don’t go running off again! I’m getting tired of chasing you.” He marched off, back towards the alley where Lucas was hopefully still waiting, trusting the omegas to have the good sense to follow him. Even if they weren’t completely convinced of his motives, taking a chance on a random stranger was still a better option than allowing themselves to be dragged back to the military barracks.
Lucas, thankfully, was still sitting by the wall where Gabriel had left him. “Lucas? We need to move,” he ordered, not willing to take the chance that the soldier would follow them. He seemed the cruel and power-hungry sort, and such people were all too often unpredictable. “We’ve got to get back to the hotel.”
If Lucas was surprised by the little crowd of omegas following Gabriel, he didn’t let it show. Instead, he hopped to his feet, looking surprisingly spritely for someone with a head wound who’d just been running for his life through a stampeding crowd. “Lead the way, oh fearless commander.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Two streets over, and certain they were well clear of the soldier, Gabriel came to a stop. He put a hand on Connor’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly. “Sorry,” he said. “Thanks for playing along. I didn’t have time to come up with a better plan.”
Connor grinned. “It’s all good,” he said. “You play the part of angry asshole surprisingly well.”
“That is not a compliment!” Gabriel complained, but he felt a rush of relief at Connor’s easy forgiveness. Even if it had been a ruse to fool the soldier, manhandling and berating Connor like that had felt awful.
“Um… excuse me, but… what the hell is going on?” one of the omegas asked – the woman who’d been defending the fallen man. The man was now leaning on her shoulder, still unsteady on his feet.
Connor stepped in to take control of the situation before Gabriel could utter a word. “This is Gabriel,” he said, pointing to him. “He’s my master, and he’s the most wonderful alpha in the world. Sorry for the rudeness and all, but we’re both just trying to get you out of here safely.”
“Sorry for the abrupt orders,” Gabriel added. “I really don’t do that on a normal day.”
The woman relaxed at the apology. “Oh. Well, thank you. Thank you very much. You probably just saved our lives.” She looked the pair of them up and down, then she asked, “Are you two bonded, or something?”
“What? No!” Gabriel replied, shocked by the question. What the hell had he done in the last two minutes to make the woman think that? “We’re just…” Just what, exactly?
“He’s just a really decent human being,” Connor filled in the blank. “Surprisingly enough, some of those still exist. I’m Connor, by the way.”
“I’m Fay,” the woman said. “Listen, the four of us rented a stall in a stable nearby. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s warm and dry, if you’d like to make use of it for a while.”
“It’s probably a good idea to get off the streets,” Connor said, peering anxiously up at Gabriel. For all his brave front, he’d had more than his share of near misses today.
But Gabriel shook his head. “We need to get back to the hotel. We need to find Niles and Adalene.”
“They’re more of your friends, right?” Fay asked. Gabriel nodded. “Where did you lose them?”
“Back towards the centre of town. We were trying to break free of the crowd when the shooting started.”
“Alphas or omegas?”
“One of each.”
Fay nodded. “Well, if Niles is an alpha, then he’s got a pretty good chance of getting out of there in one piece. And I know you need to go look for them, but right now, your friend is bleeding.” Lucas’s head wound had leaked down his neck and the collar of his shirt was now stained red. “And I don’t mean to drag you into our problems,” Fay went on, “but if we don’t have an alpha escort back to the stable, we’re very likely to end up in exactly the same trouble we were in before. And Jean needs his injuries treated,” she added, struggling under the weight of her friend. From the looks of him, he’d taken a brick to the head. His forehead was bruised and bleeding, and his right eye was beginning to swell.
“Let me take him,” Gabriel said, reaching for him, but Fay shook her head.
“Right now, we need you to be our muscle. You were in the army, right?”
Gabriel nodded. He’d mentioned that detail to the soldier threatening the omegas. “Back during the war, yeah.”
