No, I'm not okay, Gabriel.

~Gabriel~

Staring up at his ceiling in utter disbelief, Gabriel tosses and turns on his bed. It's almost 12am in the morning and he can't sleep. Licking his lips, Gabriel can almost taste his mate's fluid on them from the sheer memory of it. The way Daisy's moans reached a crescendo when she was about to come was so hot.

Gabriel groans, getting a semi hard on just thinking about it. He hadn't gotten the opportunity to cum because his mate's attention was needed in the hall while she was still experiencing post orgasm clarity.

Watching her rush to put on her clothes and arrange herself after she we called has to be the funniest thing he has seen in a while. What was not funny, however, was how he had to take a good thirty minutes thinking about the most traumatizing images he could muster to get his raging hard on to go down enough for it to not be visible through his pants. Of course his mate made it a point to laugh at him the minute he stepped into the hall. Seeing that smile on her face almost made him hard again in public. Hell even the slightest pain he felt from breathing nearly made him hard. All in all, it was a hard night to get through.

Gabriel facepalms himself for that weak ass pun. He offered to take his mate home but apparently there's no end to how much Alexander can screw him over even in his absence. What the hell was the idiot thinking leaving his car with Daisy? Okay so maybe he didn't want to leave her stranded but what was she doing driving it to the company launch?

Gabriel picks up his phone. Pulling up their last chat, his annoyance is quickly replaced by happiness when he reads her message for thirtieth time this night.

'Dress classy and chic tomorrow. Pick me up by 10am. It's my day off.'

Smacking his bed to release the jittery energy in his bones, his hand speed dials someone he knows is not going to appreciate this late night disturbance. "She said yes!" He unintentionally yells as soon as Delilah picks up.

The female Alpha sighs. "I'm sure you couldn't have asked your mate to marry you and that was her answer so I'm going to need some context here," she grumbles sounding just about as annoyed as Gabriel predicted but he doesn't care.

"She wants to go out with me tomorrow," he nearly squeals, clearing his throat to cover the slip up.

"Good for you," she drawls.

"And what the fuck do you mean you're sure yes won't be her answer if I asked her to marry me?"

"Are you sure it will?" She asks simply.

Biting his tongue, he remains silent.

She hums. "I thought so."

Gabriel frowns at her low tone and the fact that she let go of that perfect opportunity to rub her 'omniscient' skills in his face. "What's wrong with you?"

"Oh wow. You care?" She gasps dramatically, sarcasm prevalent in her voice.

Gabriel rolls his eyes. "No. I just don't like how your negativity is soiling my happiness."

"Oh excuse me for sounding sad when I'm nursing my mate's mental health back to normal."

Right, the dinner on Sunday. He winces. "That bad?"

"My father kept gunning for him, he cracked so I cracked and nearly clawed my father's heart out. Just as I predicted," she recounts, sounding really stressed.

"Jesus," Gabriel lets out in shock. Talk about family dinner gone wrong.

"My mother...intervened so now I have a matching wound on my chest and a healing fractured spine."

He blinks. "What?"

"Yep. Oh and my mate fainted while this was going on after having a severe panic attack. He just woke up yesterday."

Gabriel doesn't know how but he can sense she's close to tears despite her nonchalant attitude. "Are you okay?"

There's a long pause on the line and he mentally curses himself for asking such a stupid question.

"No," she answers him anyway, her voice breaking. "No, I'm not okay, Gabriel."

The male Alpha freezes when he hears a light sniffle. Shit. Is she crying? He tenses up when he hears a heavier sniffle some seconds after. She's crying. She's actually crying. Fuck.

What the hell do you say to someone who's crying? 'It's okay'? 'Everything will be alright'? 'You'll get through this'?

Those are normal things to say but they all sound like meaningless words and unnecessary lies. He's not a seer. He can't tell if everything will eventually be alright. He doesn't know if she and her mate will get through this and ever be accepted by her father. He doesn't know if this will lead to more animosity or not. He doesn't know if she and her father will reconcile or give each other the silent treatment and grow distant out of pride. There are too many ways this could get worse than better.

"What? No snide comments to give?" She chokes out, her cries now audible.

"Honestly? I have way too many of those in my head but I can't figure out one nice thing to say to you that isn't a lie," he says, already feeling like such a terrible friend…

Friend? Where did that come from? Since when did he ever consider this stubborn brat his friend?

"Shoot."

"That dinner was a total disaster but you already knew that," Gabriel starts without skipping a beat. "To be honest, you and your entire family are assholes so I can't say I'm surprised. I'm just shocked."

She scoffs. "That's the same thing, idiot."

"I'm shocked it only ended at that." Pushing his lips out in thought, he lays on his side. "On second thought, I'm pretty sure it won't end at that. Your mum will be pissed at your audacity, your father will be pissed about his injury and they'll both blame your mate for it. Then your mum will stay sober enough to come up with some grand scheme to separate you two."

Delilah lets out something between a muffled sob and a chuckle. "It's doomed, isn't it?"

"Yep. Sorry," he says before he can stop himself. Closing his eyes in frustration at his stupid mouth, he sighs.

Less talking, more thinking, you insensitive idiot!

"So there's nothing I can do to stop it?"

Pausing for a moment, he grits his teeth so he doesn't blurt out his thoughts again.

"Gabriel, the truth please."

He sighs. "No. That's exactly what's going to happen. It's tradition and tradition is not easily broken."

She huffs. "Fuck."

"Yes, you are royally fucked but I don't see why you can't screw them over too." Gabriel hears some shuffling. She's probably sitting up now.

"What do you mean?" Her voice is serious and the male Alpha can tell she has a frown on her face.

"Find a loophole. Every pack law has one. My pack says my Luna cannot work and that she must obey my every order in total submission. Daisy hates orders, I'm practically the one submitting to her at this point and she will let hell freeze over before she quits her job. I'll still marry her when the time comes and all these things won't be a problem. Do you know why?" He asks, smiling at this ingenius solution he just came up with. "You can guess it. I'll give you a moment to think."

It only takes a few seconds for her to gasp in shock. "You can just order her to work and do what she wants."

He smirks. "Bingo. Yes, my mother has already broken the obey your husband's orders law but the legislative council aren't exactly happy about it. They will want to correct the dynamic with my marriage and this loophole guarantees that I don't get my head bitten off my mate. Besides, there will be an election to vote in new council members. All I have to do is cheat a little and get them to change the law. I have that power as the Alpha."

"You lucky bastard."

Gabriel grins. "Wanna be a lucky bastard too? Play dirty because that law is cruel. I cannot imagine having to reject Daisy or get rejected by her just to lead my pack. Fight and win."

Delilah doesn't speak for a while and Gabriel knows she's pondering over everything he just said. When she finally speaks again, she sounds more relaxed. "I'll give it a try. But what if after all my efforts, it still doesn't work?"

"Do you love your mate?" He asks, smiling when he hears an annoyed scoff.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"It's a yes or no question, Delilah. If you can't admit it to me, how can you declare it to the world?"

She huffs. "Fine. Yes. I love him. I love him so much I can't breathe properly when he's not near."

He scoffs. Over exaggerate much? "You were breathing just fine when you visited me last time."

"You know what I mean, you unkind bell-end," she grumbles. "He completes me. No matter how weak he seems in other people's eyes, he will always be the strongest person I know. He's my pillar even though it doesn't look like it. He grounds me and I will burn the world down before I let anyone take him away from me."

"Well, there you have it. That's your answer. You lose, you choose him and everyone else will just have to go fuck themselves." Inhaling sharply, Gabriel scowls at how sappy that sounds. "Though you could have spared me all those mushy gushy confessions. I feel like I have to blow dry my brain to get that disgusting speech out of there." He grins when the female Alpha lets out a tired sigh, knowing she's also smiling.

"You just have to ruin it every single time, don't you?"

"Yes. Yes, I do."