Jael slowly approached, he wasn’t scared or wary, it was just Gage.
Gage didn’t look up the entire ti he approached, and he knew that the Alpha was already aware of his presence - it would be be strange if he wasn’t.
The n that had led him there lingered at the entrance to the alley. Their eyes bulging as the hitman confidently walked up to the dangerous Alpha rapidly emptying another bottle of liquor.
"Hey," Jael tried to say casually but his voice trembled, "Where did you toss your phone?"
Gage didn’t reply, he kept his head down, bottle held up to his pale lips like the barrel of a gun. Of course, Jael would co looking, the kid was too...
When he didn’t get an answer, Jael reached out to take the bottle. He t resistance, Gage glancing at him with hazel gold eyes afla.
Jael hesitated, the pain in Gage’s fiery eyes was depthless, it pulled him in, making his breath seize.
"I’m not going to die." The Alpha finally broke the silence, "You should focus more on yourself, not this old man."
Jael blatantly ignored his words, "Why?" He said instead, genuine confusion in his eyes.
Gage had been doing so well, he was a sad old man with a lifeti of regrets but didn’t he hate drinking because it had clouded his judgent? Because it was a driving cause of his pain? Why would he go back?
"It hurts," Gage muttered, his gaze going distant. Going by the empty bottles littered around and the fact that he had been going at this for several hours, it was a miracle he hadn’t blacked out yet.
Jael frowned, his eyes red-rimd. "Layla?" He prodded carefully, it had been two decades since Layla died - while he didn’t expect the Alpha to get over his tornted mate, he had hoped that he would have grown so numbness to it at least.
"No." Gage leaned back against the wall, his grip around the bottle almost tight enough to crack the sturdy glass. "Asher is stronger than I ever was... you’ve gotten shot a handful of tis Jael, how did that feel?"
Jael pressed his lips together, getting shot was a work hazard, he hadn’t been fatally injured yet, but he had gotten shot more tis than he could count. It was a searing pain and then it stung for a while after.
"It burned." He humored the drunk Alpha.
He couldn’t pry the bottle free so the next best thing was to wait till he blacked out.
"That’s how it feels constantly, burning, scorching..." Gage paused to take a deep drink of the liquor, like it was water and he had eaten a bowl full of chilli peppers.
"You know, I used to think that’s how everyone felt, that the prickly heat was normal." Gage slurred his words the more he spoke, exhaustion etched deeply into his weathered features.
Jael listened with a frown, this was news to him. Without thinking, he reached out to place a palm on Gage’s forehead. It was close to the middle of fall, despite it being in the afternoon, it was still cooler than the average day.
Gage’s skin was scalding to the touch, his skin wasn’t flushed despite his elevated temperature.
The Alpha gave him a small empty smile and pulled away his hand, taking another swig. "I’m not running a fever." He was quick to reassure him.
That hadn’t even crossed Jael’s mind, he was too busy thinking about Asher’s unnaturally elevated temperatures as well.
"It’s just, my blood feels like burning liquor. Most tis its bearable but sotis, it’s a lot..."
The trio so distance away had had enough of the sappy reunion, interrupting rudely while keeping their distance.
"Hey! Aren’t you supposed to do your job?"
"Stop fucking chatting," Another chid in, greedy eyes looking Gage over
Jael’s hands twitched with the urge to take out his gun and quieten them down but he got distracted by the curious look Gage shot him.
"They think I’m a hitman here to kill you for so prize money," He explained awkwardly.
The brought a chuckle out of Gage, he found the prospect so ticklish that he chuckled for a good long while, choking on the liquor spilling down his throat.
Jael put on an expression like he was unimpressed by Gage’s mirth but deep down he was relieved the Alpha could still smile.
"Why are you a target anyway?" Jael fully settled into a crouch. The n behind them weren’t a danger, especially not with Gage right next to him.
Gage’s burning eyes drifted past him to stare down the trio still lingering at the entrance to the alleyway. That was enough to have all three of them scampering away.
He sighed in their absence, "Found an underground fighting ring, it cools down the heat sowhat. Its been years now, I co and go. Stumbled onto a huge competition this ti, a battle royal. Got carried away and won, the prize money put a target on my back, and the competition worsened the heat."
Jael listened carefully, this was the first he was hearing of this. Gage had never spoken about this ’heat’ before, and neither had Asher. Just like him, the current Mafia King probably thought it was normal to feel like your blood was on fire.
He eyed the emptied bottles surrounding them, understanding completely now Gage had said that his relapse had nothing to do with Layla’s death. He cared and empathized with Gage but the Alpha’s words only made him focus on Asher.
If Gage constantly had to endured this, didn’t that an that Asher had it much worse?
He pressed his lips together; there seed to be more complications than answers. Asher’s odd behavior just earlier that week and now this heat that seed to be a symptom of the curse.
Gage seed to perfectly read him, "Next ti I go off the radar, don’t co looking-"
Jael barely let him finish his sentence before interrupting. "I’m not going to do that."
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