But as I grew older, I realized two things. The first was when he left, my father saddled my mother with a mountain of debt so huge it seemed insurmountable. Her little shop, which we lived above and sold tourist trinkets from in our small coastal town, was barely making enough to pay the rent. The second was that the Polizia Locale didn’t make enough money for me to do more than help her keep her head above water.
“Gabri, I am not your responsibility,” Mamma told me with her hands on my cheeks and a sad smile, but I could see the stress eating away at her.
So I applied to the Polizia di Stato, even though that would take me from her. Surely I could send money home.
But the state police didn’t need me. There were plenty of young men just like me with better schooling and better connections who also wanted to make something of their lives.
I had never had time for the branchi, the packs, the sprawling, centuries-old families that once controlled everything. Depending on who you asked, they still controlled much of the day-to-day operations of our town.
When I was twenty-two, and had been rejected from the Polizia di Stato for the fourth time, Branco Agnello bought the lease for our shop.
Their leader, Nico, was nothing but polite as he raised our rent. I tried to reason with him, but he wasn’t interested in protecting my family’s welfare.
I didn’t choose all at once to work for them. It happened slowly, drop by drop. First, it was just making deliveries for discounts on the rent. I didn’t ask what I was delivering because I didn’t want to know. Then it was driving Nico and his second, Tomas, around in their blacked-out SUV. By the time I realized I had become hired muscle for Branco Agnello, the money was too good to stop.
And I was good at my job.
Nico and Tomas never asked me to join the pack. I was a Beta among Alphas, and my status was clear. But they came to trust me with their most treasured possession: their Omega, Matteo. And the skills I gained in protecting him from the threats of rival packs translated well to a career in legitimate personal protection: securing entrances and exits, monitoring crowds, and not being afraid to fight if it came to that.
Even after years as Andrew’s bonded partner, I still kept up my routines. It made me feel like I had something to do. I still did a bit of work for the security agency — light surveillance, nothing dangerous — but being Andrew’s superfluous bodyguard was hardly a fulfilling career.
The biggest threat to his safety lately had been the small woman bursting in to interrupt our appointment at his doctor’s office.
I had grilled the front desk staff at the clinic, and the building’s security. The woman had simply told them she was Bridget’s mother and that she needed to speak with her urgently, and the staff agreed. It was easy to forget that anyone could be dangerous, no matter how they looked.
A surge of adrenaline ran through me at the thought of the little scientist curled up in Andrew’s arms, then shaking in my own embrace. He had done the right thing for her — purring to ease her stress. For the first time, I wished I had that particular Alpha skill. I had a soft spot for Omegas in distress. And based on her scent, she was unbonded and unprotected from the dangers I knew Omegas could face.
As I checked the last door, peering out into the back courtyard, I mulled over my reaction to her soft scent, soured by anxiety. I was no Alpha, but the urge to protect her from anyone or anything was overpowering.
It had been similar with Matteo. He was much younger than me, or his Alphas, and even before I was officially his bodyguard, I’d been one of the few people outside the pack he was allowed to see. He had felt like my little brother, right from the beginning.
A gust of wind rattled the door, and I realized I’d been starting blankly into the darkness. I felt a tug on the bond as I went upstairs to join Andrew for bed. As an Alpha, his emotions were stronger and easier to read than my own, but he must have felt my melancholy. The shower was running when I entered our room, and the wet heat intensified his scent. I inhaled. Even after all these years, I still reacted like this.
“Is there room for another, amore?” I asked, opening the bathroom door. I wanted to burn out the bad memories, and thiswas the best way I knew how. A gust of steamy air, scented with him, made my stomach clench with lust.
He used his hand to clear the fog from the inside of the shower door. His look of concern faded to a feral grin. He knew what I wanted. “And you say I’m insatiable.”
I stripped. My cock was already hardening in anticipation of his hands on me.
As soon as I stepped under the spray, he pushed me against the wet tile. He was taller and lankier than me, and he could throw me around when the mood took him. The mood had definitely taken him.
I ended up on my knees, his cock in my mouth as the spray of the shower hit my face. I gripped myself as I sucked him. He came with a cry, propping himself with one arm as he drew out of my mouth to paint me with his cum. I’d learned early on that Andrew liked to reinforce his claim on me, and he seemed to like nothing better than coating me in his scent.
As his cum dripped down my chest, the water mixing to fall down my chest in rivulets, he pulled me to my feet and spun me to face the wall. I pressed both hands to the white, wet tile for support. Andrew gripped my cock from behind, and I thrust into his hand.
“Come for me,” he growled in my ear. I could feel his still-swollen knot pressed against my ass. Even though he assured me it didn’t matter, I hated that I’d never been able to take all of him, to let him settle his knot inside of me as he filled me with cum. But before I could get too distracted, he moved just enough to slide a long, callused finger across my hole. His lips found my throat and the bond mark there. He scraped his teeth against the ghost of his bite and I felt my balls tighten. I groaned as he pressed his finger gently against me, still working my cock, and my orgasm crashed over me.
“Mi hai rovinato,” I breathed as I came down from the high.
“That’s a new one. What does it mean?” Andrew asked, his lips on the outside edge of my ear.
“You ruin me,” I said with a small laugh. “In more ways than one.”
Andrew growled softly, and I felt his pure Alpha satisfaction down our bond. I sent him my sense of satiety.
That night, as he curled around me and I started drifting off to sleep, my mind wandered to Bridget again, hoping she was okay wherever she was.
“Stay still,” I said irritably. Andrew wouldn’t stop fidgeting so I could fix his bowtie properly. I could feel his tension in the line of his shoulders, even if he was keeping most of his anxiety to himself.
