GABRIEL #3
Blue is finally able to eat more than just energy shakes again, but he’s so physically thrown off that he doesn’t even want to sit upright, especially since his petals are still swollen.
He lies propped up on a double stack of pillows while I sit beside him with a spoon or fork, cutting up the incredible steaks prepared by his father’s kitchen and feeding him bite after bite directly into his mouth.
Maybe it’s a little ridiculous, feeding a grown man like this, but for some reason Blue allows me to do it, and I find a strange kind of satisfaction in taking care of him so completely.
Blue stares at the ceiling and sighs from time to time.
"Damn… after a high like that, this hormonal crash is brutal. If I couldn’t rationalize everything that’s happening to me, I’d probably be lying here sniffling pathetically right now."
I smile at him with total understanding and offer him another bite, which he graciously accepts and swallows.
"I think if you want to sniffle a little, you should. There’s nothing wrong with it. Most omegas go through this. It’s natural."
"I’m not planning to sniffle."
"Oh, come on. Just a little sniffle."
"I don’t want to. It’s stupid and irrational."
"But it helps. Crying releases adrenaline, you know?"
He shoots me a murderous glare.
"I am not sniffling!"
"Just one tear, hm?"
He sighs and turns his head toward the monitor on the wall displaying a sunset.
I cut another bite for him, but then I notice it.
A few actual tears slipping free beneath his long lashes, and I feel deep relief, since I know it’s healthy and cleansing.
But I don’t comment on it. I can tell perfectly well Blue doesn’t want that. I simply keep feeding him little bites while he eats quietly, tears occasionally rolling down his cheeks.
At one point I lean down quickly and kiss one of the tears away before calmly returning to feeding him.
Blue gives me a slightly pouty look and allows himself a few more tears after that.
Eventually I set the plate aside and quietly lie down beside him.
I take his hand and play with it gently, massaging each finger individually, rhythmically pressing the pads of my thumbs against them one by one.
Blue seems to enjoy it because he closes his eyes and sighs softly.
I know there’s a part of him craving comfort right now, so… I let out a low soothing purr.
Slowly, almost shyly, Blue moves closer and presses his head against my vibrating chest.
"Mmm… I like that sound," he whispers, and only moments later he drifts off to sleep.
When Blue wakes up, he still looks pretty rough, sluggish and drained, so I decide to run him a warm bath.
It’s a really beautiful whirlpool tub, with LED lights built into the walls that create an almost magical effect as shifting colors flow beneath the bubbling, gently rippling surface of the water.
I wrap my arms around Blue, my heart overflowing with tenderness and protectiveness for this small omega going through an experience like this for the first time, and I carry him there. He’s still sleepy, yawning softly now and then, but he lets me lower him into the warm water.
Then I take a sponge and gently glide it over his body with slow, careful movements.
During heat recovery, touch usually isn’t something omegas enjoy, but the warm water relaxes him, and the soft sponge doesn’t seem to bother him at all.
Blue stays quiet, withdrawn into himself, staring vaguely ahead while his eyes drift aimlessly across the bathroom wall.
I squeeze some shampoo into my hand and move behind him at the edge of the tub, then begin lathering his hair, massaging his scalp with my fingers.
I can feel Blue relaxing more and more. He closes his eyes, sighs softly, and simply gives himself over to my ministrations.
After that, I carefully rinse out the foam and even apply the conditioner Blue uses, continuing to massage his temples and scalp with gentle strokes.
"So nice," Blue murmurs. "No one’s washed my hair since I was a child, because I usually don’t let hairdressers do it. I’ve always avoided services that involve touch whenever possible," he says suddenly. "But I think I’ll make an exception for your touch… It’s the only touch I like."
"Even during heat recovery?"
Blue takes a deep, calm breath and whispers, "Even then. Maybe it’s magic," he adds, faint amusement coloring his voice.
"I always used to get kind of nervous touching you, but if you’re saying it’s okay, then I’m really damn happy about that," I grin.
Blue slowly lifts his hand and places it over mine where it rests against his shoulder, my fingers slipping lightly through his navy strands.
"You know, I still don’t want strangers touching me, but you’re not a stranger, Gabriel."
I don’t say anything. My heart is too full of happiness. I rinse his hair thoroughly, then lift him out of the bath, wrap him carefully in a towel, and carry him back to bed.
I bring over the hair dryer and brush out his strands while drying it, Blue sitting comfortably against my knee the whole time.
This whole process feels especially important to me, deeply intimate, a kind of closeness between us I couldn’t even have imagined a few months ago.
Blue always used to be alone in the bathroom. It was his kingdom. But now I’ve been allowed inside. More than that… I’m obviously welcome there.
"Closeness is nice," I mumble. "Thank you for letting me touch you outside of sex too."
"You introduced me to that world, Gabriel. The world of sensory experiences, and… you get exclusive access to it."
I lean down and leave a wet, loud kiss on his cheek.
"I’ll take it!"
The next morning… I wake up alone in bed.
It’s seven o’clock.
I hear footsteps in the hallway and sit upright immediately.
Blue walks into the room wearing his swim gear, his hair still wet as he rubs it dry with a towel.
"Wow. You’re up already?" I ask in mild shock.
"Obviously. I’m going back to work today. Recovery is over."
"Wait… after only one day?"
Blue snorts. "We’re True Mates. This is normal," he says with a crooked grin.
Still half-stunned, I jump into the shower, pull on my bodyguard suit and mask, and… the day starts exactly like any other.
Blue heads down to the Malden floor, and meeting after meeting fills his schedule.
There’s just one small imperfection in all of it.
I notice he’s using a deodorizing suppressant to mute the scent of his Allure, which also means nobody can tell he’s already mated.
I realize he probably wants to avoid unnecessary questions and gossip, but it still leaves a tiny splinter of disappointment in me.
Even so, I have no intention of masking my own scent. I let the omegas I pass in the hallways during my security shifts glance at me with raised brows.
I’m a mated alpha now, and I’m not going to hide it.
Blue’s decision is his.
Mine is unwavering.
◆◆◆
Blue spends the next few weeks in his lab for hours on end, working on something with great passion and focus.
He’s in a good mood, upbeat in a way that’s almost unlike him.
Whenever I try to get him to tell me what has him so absorbed, he just gives me that secretive smile and says that I’ll find out soon, that it’s going to be a real breakthrough… you could even call it the work of his life.
"The work of your life? That sounds incredible. Can you at least give me a hint?" I ask, a little shy, pressing my lips to the warm skin at the back of his neck.
But he slips out of my arms with ease and shakes his head.
"Classified. Top secret. Until the whole world knows about it," he says, winking at me.
I tilt my head slightly, a little teasingly, and say, "You know, technically I still have my ways of finding out what you’re up to…"
Blue snorts and lightly wags a finger at me.
"I got smarter about that. I use different glasses in the lab now. Ones that can record, but don’t allow outside access. I have to manually transfer everything with a micro USB." He lets out a slightly theatrical sigh.
I hesitate for a moment as a thought suddenly occurs to me.
"Blue… do you think Director Flanegin might have actually been interested in your secret project?"
Blue pauses briefly. "Theoretically, yes. But that project was never publicly announced by me. Only Adams and a few of his direct subordinates know about it… Flanegin definitely wouldn’t have had any easy way of finding out."
He scratches thoughtfully at his chin, deep in thought, and suddenly something clicks in my head.
"Maybe around the time he first connected to your systems, you were launching some other project that was public? Something that attracted attention? Maybe Flanegin was working for someone else."
"That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking.
There were a few projects like that. One of them was the Alpha Activation program.
It’s a very small project, completely overshadowed by Beta Activation, almost operating on the sidelines of it, but we were using some very bold and groundbreaking methods there. However…"
He suddenly trails off.
"Wait. Is that the program you talked about with Marlow once?"
"Yes. Interesting… Exactly three days after Flanegin left, the program had to shut down because… hmm. Its main subject, Mr. Fenn Drax, received an offer from another company and left."
"Which company?"
"Welrun Corporation."
A deep, thoughtful silence settles in.
"Did Flanegin have any connections to them?"
Blue shrugs. "I don’t know. But maybe we should look into this more closely…"
For a long moment afterward, he just stands there with a deep frown, lost in thought.
The same day, we get a message from Detective Arnold that the case against Marcel has taken a complicated turn.
He’s been diagnosed at the hospital, and there’s a malignant tumor in his frontal lobe, one that’s growing fast enough to already affect how he functions and possibly the course of the trial itself.