Chapter Fourteen
Beau left the bathroom, feeling relieved in more ways than one. He held the clothes he’d been wearing in one hand, not wanting to put the dirty material on his newly clean skin. In his other hand, he carried the manacle. Griffin was sitting at the desk, poring over some papers. He glanced up when Beau stepped inside.
“Better?”
Beau gave a cautious nod. “Much. Thank you.” He held out the manacle. “You should put this back on.”
Griffin set down the paper he’d been looking at and leaned back in his chair, watching Griffin closely. “What if I told you we didn’t have to?”
Beau walked right up to the desk and set the manacle down on it.
“You can’t take that risk. I might run. I might lose it again. It wouldn’t be safe.”
Griffin stood, walking around the desk until they were side by side.
“In the cottage, maybe. But here, in the house, it would be different.”
Beau shook his head. More people. More danger.
“There’s a reason they kept me in chains.”
“And there’s a reason I want to free you.”
He felt his hands start to shake and clenched them into fists, turning and striding toward the window. Outside, the sun broke through the clouds, bathing him in light. He placed his palms flat against the cool glass before falling to his knees.
“I don’t understand.”
He heard light footsteps behind him before a hand touched his shoulder. Bowing his head, he closed his eyes and waited.
“I get that you don’t trust yourself,” Griffin said softly, “so put your trust in me, instead. Trust me. I’ll keep you and everyone else safe.”
It seemed like a tall order. He lifted his head, glancing at the omega over his shoulder. Griffin had a look of determination on his face.
“Do you have somewhere secure to lock me up?” Maybe they had an attic or a basement?
“I was thinking you’d stay here, with me.”
Moving around so they were face to face, Beau tried to work out if Griffin was serious.
“Here? No chains?”
“No chains. But maybe a guard or two at the door, at least at first.”
“I could stay here with the chains,” he suggested. He didn’t mind the cottage, but the time alone seemed to stretch on forever. The chains he could almost forget he was wearing if Griffin was nearby.
“I don’t have the heart to bind you like an animal,” the omega admitted.
He reached toward Beau again, brushing a strand of wet hair from his forehead. Beau wasn’t used to so much touching. People usually kept their hands to themselves, too concerned that they might lose a finger. Griffin touched him with confidence, like he knew Beau wouldn’t hurt him, like he wanted Beau to feel his touch.
“We’re shifters. At our heart, we are animals,” he told the omega.
Griffin’s fingers lingered, stroking across Beau’s forehead and down his temple. He closed his eyes, swallowing hard, torn between pulling away and savoring the caress.
“And animals don’t belong in cages.”
He opened his eyes, staring deep into Griffin’s. The omega’s hand moved lower, cupping his cheek.
Beau flinched, the proximity becoming a little too much.
“Easy,” Griffin murmured. “What do you need right now?”
“I don’t know.”
How to explain all the thoughts running through his head. How to pick one need among the dozen. Part of him wanted to stay right there, in that moment, gazing into Griffin’s eyes and feeling the omega’s palm on his cheek.
Griffin smiled. “Let’s start with some clothes and go from there.”
Beau followed Griffin out into the corridor.
“Ronan got some clothes for you, I left them in the spare bedroom. Here.”
He opened a door and disappeared inside. Beau followed more slowly, watching and listening. He half-expected to find Griffin’s alpha waiting. As many times as he’d been told the omega didn’t have one, he was having trouble wrapping his head around it.
Griffin was standing by the bed, laying some clothes out.
“There are a few options, so you can choose whatever you prefer.”
Beau shuffled forward. There were a handful of T-shirts and a few pairs of pants. Some underwear, too.
“I don’t know,” he said. He never made those kind of choices, they were made for him.
“Just choose what you think would be comfortable.”
Helplessly, he turned to Griffin, pleading with the omega.
“Okay, how about…” Griffin reached over, ignoring the underwear in favor of a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. He handed them over and Beau took them, pulling the jeans on and buttoning them before tugging the T-shirt on over his head, the material hugging his skin but not squishing him.
Turning back to Griffin, he found the omega looking him up and down with a smile, brushing a hand down Beau’s shoulder.
“Looking good. That color really suits you. Brings out your eyes.”
Beau didn’t reply. Clothes were just clothes. Things to cover you when you needed them so you didn’t get too cold. Sometimes, for fights, they gave him special clothes. Usually, stuff that bothered his skin, stuff he tore off as soon as he got the chance.
“What now?”
“We go talk to Ronan, let him know there’s been a change of plan.”
Griffin called Ronan inside and told him Beau was staying. The alpha’s reaction was less than happy. He beckoned Griffin outside, shutting the door and leaving Beau standing in the corridor. Their voices carried through, though the words were muffled. Beau started to get restless and a little bored, pacing up and down the corridor as the voices outside rose and fell.
Finally, the door opened, and Griffin came back inside. Ronan wasn’t with him.
“All sorted. You’ll stay here for now. There’ll be some people outside keeping an eye on things. Ronan has gone to get us some food. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
Griffin showed Beau into a room that he called his lounging space.
“I like to shift in here sometimes or just nap.”
There were comfortable chairs and couches, a hammock strung from the ceiling, large cushions on the carpet. And floor to ceiling windows, covered in light drapes. Griffin pushed them back and sunlight streamed into the room. He opened one of the windows and cool air followed.
“If you’re tired, find somewhere to crash,” the omega said, waving a hand around. “I’ll be back soon.”
He left, and Beau paced slowly around the room, taking in its scents, learning about the space. He wouldn’t close his eyes in somewhere so wholly unfamiliar, not unless he’d made sure it was safe.
After circling the room three times, he came to a stop beside a long cushion stretched out on the ground just beside the window. Tugging off his T-shirt, he lowered himself down onto it, laying on his stomach and staring out at the sky and the tops of the trees. The breeze blew over him, carrying on it sounds and scents from the outside world. Somewhere nearby, he could hear children laughing and playing. They sounded happy. He remembered what that felt like, as a kid, to be free, to play, to be chased without ever fearing being caught.
At some point, his eyes closed, and he drifted to sleep. He awoke to the smell of food and the clink of plates, pushing himself up on his hands and turning his head to see Griffin setting food down on a small table nearby.
“It’s just chicken and salad,” the omega said. “But it smells good.”
Beau stood and stretched, yawning.
“Nice nap?” Griffin said teasingly.
“I like the window.” Beau gave a serious answer, unsure how to react when the omega seemed almost… playful.
“Yeah, me too.”
They ate together, Beau sitting on the floor beside the table while Griffin sat cross-legged on a chair.
Beau noticed he ate easily twice as much as the omega, more even. The other man wasn’t fazed, passing another plate to him.
“Eat as much as you want, you’re probably making up for a few leaner months when you weren’t eating your fill.”
Soon, his stomach was full, and his eyes were drifting closed again.
“Beau?”
He blinked his eyes open.
“If you want to sleep again, go right ahead.”
Pulling himself to his feet, he went back to the cushion, sinking down onto it and letting sleep take him, feeling the warmth of the sun on his back.
A voice nudged him awake a while later.
“Beau?”
“Hmm?”
“You’re sleeping right in the sun. Your skin’s going to burn. Can I put some lotion on?”
Beau made a sound of agreement and buried his head back against the cushion. He jolted awake a moment later when two hands settled on his shoulders, spreading something cool and slippery across his skin.
“Easy,” Griffin murmured. “It’s just some sun lotion. No sense giving your body more healing to do.”
He liked the way Griffin’s hands moved across his skin, it felt nice. They worked their way down his back, stopping at the waistband of his jeans.
“Almost done,” the omega said softly, then his fingers were on the nape of Beau’s neck, working the lotion into his scarred skin. It had been a long time since anyone had touched him there and a long time since he’d felt anything but pain from the damaged tissue. But the press and slide of Griffin’s fingers drew a surprised murmur of pleasure from his throat. It felt good for once.
“That’s it,” Griffins said, his hands trailing out to Beau’s shoulders and giving one last squeeze. “All done.”
Beau turned onto his side, so he could see the omega kneeling next to him. He reached for Griffin’s hand, catching hold of it, feeling the slippery lotion on his fingers. Then he stretched his hand higher, his fingers just brushing Griffin’s chin, his cheek.
“Why?” he asked.
Griffin smiled quizzically. “Why what?”
Beau could only shrug. Why any of it? Why would a powerful omega care so much for a powerless alpha? Why did Griffin’s touch feel like nothing he’d ever felt before?
Griffin seemed to understand what it was he couldn’t say, cupping Beau’s hand between both of his, curling Beau’s fingers, and placing a kiss upon his knuckles. “Because you are more than just the sum of your parts.”