→ Gabriel:

“Do ya think this blue is too navy?” Aeddon shouted inside Gabriel’s apartment. Judging by the volume, the fashionista must’ve been somewhere by the kitchen.

Gabriel blew a ring of smoke from his vape into the crisp, spring air. He was leaning over the rail of his penthouse’s balcony, watching the dog moms gossip far below.

“I don’t know why you’re even asking me about fabric colors right now when we have a dumb Charles meeting to run to,” Gabriel said. A familiar head of wavy brown lochs came from the garage area and started talking to the husky mom just outside the complex. Gabriel pushed back from the rail and headed in, closing the sliding door behind him.

“Ya know I can’t hear ya when ya speak so low,” Aeddon said as Gabriel locked the balcony door.

Gabriel ignored him and pulled the black curtains over the glass instead. As much as he loved to help his step brother with his fashion emergencies, they really had to bounce, and running into the nightmare below would for sure set them back.

“I said it’ll be fine,” Gabriel spoke up as he crossed the living room. “Now come on before we’re late for Charles’ meeting.” He grabbed his Calvin Klein peacoat from the hanger and put it on.

“But ya didn’t even look at it!” Aeddon said, rolling his eyes. He dropped the two fabric squares he was holding onto the kitchen island and followed after Gabriel. “And who cares about Charles’ meeting, anyway? He’s just going to warn us about Sienna again. I’m sure of it.”

Gabriel laughed as he slipped into his doc martens. “That’s a given, but we still have to go.”

At ALPHA Corp., it was the general consensus that any operation didn’t start until after the twelfth hour, since alphas tended to go to bed in the late mornings (their genetics made them akin to night owls). So, whenever Charles had to hold a meeting with his models, he usually ran them an hour to an hour-and-a-half earlier. This wasn’t a problem if the gatherings were planned ahead of time, but it certainly wasn’t fun for the models when they were sent surprise blast texts or emails the night before.

“Either way, this better be good because we got way less sleep than normal last night since we went to Jonas’ bloody party,” Aeddon interjected and paused to yawn, like he was trying to further prove his point. “It wasn’t even worth my time because once again, he didn’t bring any cute beta males. Ugh! Stupid heteronormative wanker.”

Aeddon finally trailed off into incoherent muttering when he turned around to see Gabriel was holding the apartment door for him, his signature “are you done yet?” smile plastered across his face.

“Ya know I hate when ya look at me like that. I’m not some omega floozy, thanks!” Gabriel cackled like a madman when Aeddon threw up his hands and whisked past him.

After the door was locked, Gabriel joined his step brother and boarded the elevator. The wait generally took three-to-seven minutes since he was on the top floor—sometimes even longer than that—but it wasn’t too slow today.

Aeddon strolled in like a supermodel on a catwalk when the golden doors slid open, but Gabriel had some initial hesitation for fear that a certain someone was waiting inside. Thankfully, his step brother’s confidence meant he was in-the-clear, so he shook his head and followed after. Aeddon raised an eyebrow at Gabriel’s behavior, but he refused to enlighten him lest the man try to find the omega model himself. Instead, he pressed his building tag against the unlock mechanism so he could push the ground floor button.

“Better get some coffee to wake up ‘cause ya know Charles won’t accept complacency at today’s shoot,” Aeddon said once the doors had shut. Gabriel stepped back to stand beside him and snorted. Who was this guy to suggest they make a pitstop when they would be lucky to make it on time to the meeting? Aeddon was the reason they were running behind in the first place!

“I’ll just text Sabrina to pick up our usuals while we’re at the meeting.” Gabriel leaned back against the elevator rail and slipped his hands into his pockets. He rolled his slim vape back-and-forth between his fingers and stared at the maintenance escape above.

Apparently, it was Aeddon’s turn to snort now. “Yer poor make-up artist may as well be yer personal secretary at this point, hm?” Gabriel rolled his head to his left to fix his stare on Aeddon next. The fashionista-for-an-alpha was glaring down a purple, metal pocket-mirror and playing with a chunk of his hair. He must’ve repositioned the front-most end fifty times already within the meager two hours they’d been up.

“Unnecessary when she knows what her primary duty is,” Gabriel added and watched Aeddon curl the front strand of hair with his fingers. “Besides, I don’t ask this everyday like a certain brother I know.” Aeddon’s mirrored gaze shifted to glare at Gabriel, so he grinned.

“So I have to tip her sometimes, whateva…”

The elevator doors slid open to the gaudy garage below and Gabriel’s laugh echoed off the walls as they exited.

They reached Gabriel’s sleek, black Agera in no time and buckled-in. The sports car hummed to life as indigo accents lit up around the control center and along the door’s edges. Gabriel canceled the previous playlist and set his library to shuffle, ignoring Aeddon’s scoff when Lil Mosey blasted from the surround-sound. He pulled out from his parking space and rolled over to the exit, which was the furthest from his assigned parking spot since he was given one of the spaces closest to the elevator instead.

“When’s the next full moon?” Aeddon said, breaking the silence that had stretched between them once Gabriel left the garage. Gabriel leaned his head back against the top part of the car seat and sighed.

“Should be marked on your calendar,” Gabriel said when he stopped at a red light. “I know it is on both my phone and the one on my fridge. I think it’s sometime next week? Not sure, but I have been feeling a bit antsy lately, so it sounds about right to me.” He glanced over at Aeddon just in time to catch the Irishman nod his head at a turtle’s pace.

“Thanks…just wanna know when I should mentally prepare for being a damned wolf again,” Aeddon sighed this time and refocused his attention on the cars they flew past.

“Well from what I recall, it’s just an ordinary full moon, so we should only suffer for one night at the very least…”

Thankfully, traffic was relatively light between ten and eleven a.m., so the pair made it to ALPHA Corp. with three minutes to spare. Aeddon had talked with his hands the entire ride, but Gabriel was a master at tuning out the eccentric male’s antics, so he remained unphased (and totally forgot whatever the Irishman had been babbling about in its entirety). Gabriel parked the car in his star space and stepped out right after, Gucci shades already in his hand.

The front entrance doors automatically opened when the brothers approached, walking side-by-side. Gabriel fished for a Dum-Dum from his right pocket and placed it onto the front desk when they reached it. Aeddon turned left to pass the desk instead and make for the model operations hall, but Gabriel liked to stay within the good graces of the receptionist.

“Mystery flavor today, huh?” the tall blonde said around her current sucker. Gabriel smirked and returned his hand to his pocket.

“Cause we got another ‘mystery meeting’ to attend.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” she said with a click of her tongue and returned her gaze to the desktop in front of her.

Gabriel headed for the door and retrieved his keys for the model hall’s tag. Only models, makeup artists and photographers were given access to the area—unless you were also a special friend of the owner, of course.

He walked down the long hallway—past the first lounge and some of the smaller photo op rooms—and caught up to Aeddon in only a few long strides. The blond was standing just outside the big, group photoshoot room, peering in. Gabriel crossed his arms and stood next to him to get a better idea of why Aeddon didn’t just walk in, and it turned out that one of the baby alphas had been blocking the entrance. As not only a senior star, but the current crowned prince of the “royals,” Gabriel was surprised Aeddon didn’t just shove the first year forward.

So, pulling his own status as a top model, Gabriel elbowed his step brother to the side and gave the smaller Hispanic in front of him a gentle shove.

“Little brother,” he said as the younger alpha stumbled, “some of us still need to get inside the room.”

“I’m gonna get inside you if you ever push me lik—oh shit,” the first year slurred as he caught himself, but changed his tune as soon as he whipped around and saw the “country’s sexiest” face looking down at him with raised brows. “Sorry, Gabriel. Didn’t mean to block mi hermano’s view…”

Gabriel patted the model on the shoulder and walked over to where the fold-up chairs were spread out. “Don’t worry about it, José.”

Aeddon joined Gabriel right after he sat down. He crossed his legs and smoothed out his peacoat while they all waited for Charles to arrive, and Aeddon pulled out his iPhone. José wandered over to the seating area and joined in on a circle of rather loud first years.

While Gabriel was admittedly more of a lone wolf, he still hung around his fellow Hispanic brothers when given the opportunity. He just preferred to not be around them during meetings, considering their habit of rambunctious chatter when they should be paying attention to their boss. Plus, Pablo was still mad at him for taking “his spot” on the March issue centerfold. Pablo still got the cover, so he had no right to complain.

The man of the hour, otherwise known as the big boss himself, Charles Johnson, walked into the main photoshoot room a minute past eleven and went straight for the director’s chair. He picked up the bullhorn beside the chair and cleared his throat.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen!” Gabriel was glad he’d covered his ears in advance because Charles didn’t hold back on the volume this time. His peers, on the other hand, either jumped, rubbed their ears and whined, or a combination of the three. Aeddon just put his phone away and mirrored Gabriel’s position with a sigh.