Chapter 16
Vincent
Sleep didn’t come any easier an hour later. If anything, I was just as awake as I’d been when I stood at the stove, hoping warm milk might coax my thoughts into quiet.
It usually helped, just enough to blur the edges, to let me drift into something that resembled rest.
But tonight, even the dozes were shallow.
Brief pockets of silence between waves of thought.
My mind wandered where it shouldn’t. To my brother. To the other siblings I never got to meet. It wondered to Charles. And to the phone call.
That stayed loudest. The weight of it pressed against everything else.
Who would want him back at Lockswell House so badly? And why now?
I didn’t have answers. Just questions that curled around my ribs and refused to let go.
I didn’t know who the clients were. Just that they came, and the Omega served as he was trained and ordered to do as.
Maybe he was popular; it wouldn’t surprise me.
The way he shifted so easily—reading me, adapting without effort—it spoke of practice. Of survival.
I sighed and rolled over again, facing the window. The moonlight spilled across the floor, soft and indifferent.
And I lay there, wondering what it meant to be wanted by someone who was only after one thing, and one thing only.
Was that the way for all Omegas in Lockswell?
I shook that last thought away. I knew the answer and refused to let it fester.
It was already dangerous with how easily Charles was slipping beneath my defenses.
Not with grand gestures but just small things. Fleeting moments when his real self surfaced without him noticing.
A glance. A shift in tone. The way he held silence like it was armor.
Anyone else might’ve missed it. But I didn’t.
I turned over again, restless, and caught the faint sound of feet brushing against the carpet.
Soft. Intentional. He wanted me to hear him.
It was the first time I’d heard him move since bringing him home.
I sat up slowly, letting the quiet stretch between us. And waited.
When his feet didn’t move, or at least not that I could hear, I called his name. “Charles.”
Almost a full second went by before my bedroom door slowly opened on soundless hinges.
His face was shadowed by the dim light from the hallway, but even then his eyes weren’t on me.
“What do you need?” I kept my voice gentle.
Charles shifted, his weight moving from one foot to the other like he couldn’t quite settle.
“I… I…” The words tangled in his throat, too heavy to speak. Then his shoulders dropped, slow and defeated, like the effort of trying had cost him more than he expected.
I didn’t push. Just reached out and patted the space beside me on the bed.
“Come here,” I said softly.
He hesitated. But I wasn’t going to let him disappear into silence when it was clear he needed something.
Even if he didn’t know how to ask for it.
He didn’t come in right away. Just stood there, one foot inside the room, the other still planted in the hallway like he hadn’t decided which direction he belonged.
His posture was stiff, but his eyes weren’t guarded. They were tired.
I didn’t speak. Just shifted, making space on the edge of the bed.
He stepped forward slowly, like each movement had to be earned. Then sat, carefully on the edge of the mattress. Close enough to feel the warmth between us. Far enough to retreat if he needed to.
I didn’t reach for him. Just let the silence settle. And after a long moment, he leaned—barely—toward my side. Not enough to touch. But enough to say: I’m here. And I let that be enough. Because sometimes, presence was the most honest kind of closeness.
“They’re….” He started, pulling his feet closer to his body. “They’re going to com take me, aren’t they?”
I didn’t need to see his face, or his eyes, to know the depth of his worry and sorrow.
“Most likely if the client is determined to have you.” Charles didn’t need to know that I’d be making a call to a lawyer friend first thing in the morning. I would be doing what I could to protect this Omega while he was in my care, and that included from other clients.
“Take me back. Right now.”
“Do you really want to go back there?” I would, if he truly wanted to go. But my gut said otherwise.
Charles shook his head, just the tiniest bit. His hair flopped a little over his face at the motion.
“Then, no. I’m not going to return you just because a client of yours demands your attention. Right now, you are in my care, and I don’t plan to let you go easily.”
“Okay, Sir.”
He took a deep breath, then slowly leaned his body more against mine. “You’re nice. You….”
“I told you from the start that I was a kind man, Charles. That won’t change. But I may not be so nice to who wants to take you before my time is up with you.”
The Omega nodded, his head brushing against my arm.
He sat there for a long time. Not speaking. Not moving. Just breathing beside me, like he was trying to decide if the silence was safe enough to break.
Then, barely above a whisper: “Can I stay?” He didn’t look at me when he said it. Just stared at his hands, fingers curled tight around the edge of the blanket like he expected the answer to hurt.
It wasn’t a question about the night.
Not really. It was about belonging. About whether he was allowed to exist in this space without being sent away.
I didn’t hesitate. “You can stay,” I said, voice low. “As long as you need.” As long as I can hold Alpha Vale off, I thought but didn’t say.
He nodded once, sharp and quick, like he didn’t trust himself to linger in the moment.
Then he lay down—stiff at first, like he wasn’t sure how close he was allowed to be. I didn’t reach for him. Just stayed still. Let the quiet settle around us. And slowly, I felt him relax.
Not fully. But enough.
But Charles was more than right. The Alpha would send his crew to collect the Omega sooner than later. And I wouldn’t have a choice but to let him go. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to fight, though.
For now, as I laid on my back, Charles close enough to wrap his arm around my own arm, body pressed tight against my limb, I breathed in deep and let out the air slowly.
In the morning, things would change. Limits would be crossed, and doubts could flow back in. But right now, I basked in the small things, like having an Omega seeking me out when I was scared to do it myself.