The following is a teaser of the chapter.

Roberto

[...]

One morning, I was practicing defense positions during combat class - a special elective for Alphas, Betas, or anybody who would someday need to lead warriors - when I had an argument with Kyle over the use of excessive force.

I kept complaining he was coming on too strong and he kept telling me I needed to toughen up. Until I had enough and I showed him who the hell needed to toughen up. I applied my capoeira moves on him and he was down on the ground so hard, he cracked his back.

"You son of a bitch!"

"You should toughen up!"

Needless to say, the coach gave us a serious reprimand and told us that his class was not meant to settle disagreements and we should take it seriously. I was taking it seriously, but I hate when people tell me I need to toughen up. It's the same bullshit my dad used to pull on me growing up.

'You need to be more manly like me, son. You need to strike fear in the eyes of your enemies.'

I am man enough, thank you very much. I don't need any lessons in that department. It's not because I am gay that it makes me any less of a man - despite what many of my countrymen may think. I hate that backward mindset that being gay takes away from our masculinity. It doesn't. It also does not take away from a woman being girly.

I should point out that my father has another family with his new 'Luna'. As most men do, when the first family does not work, he starts another one. He has three children with his current wife. Two boys and a little girl. They live happily in the pack house that I grew up in as a child.

For the rest of the day, Kyle was giving me the evil eye, as if planning my death.

Yeah, is this the part when I tell you guys that I was bullied at school?

When a group of boys rounded me up, calling me 'fag' and threatening to beat me up, I had to show them what it means to be a 'Nobre' Alpha. My father, for all his faults, put me in capoeira classes since I was a child. He does the same with all his children.

Needless to say, they did not try to bully me again for being queer. No one did once word of their beat down spread around high school. I can put up with many things, but neither of my parents raised me to be a victim. I do not stand for this kind of stuff. It's beneath our society, though Brazil is far from being an evolved society when it comes to LGBT rights.

Day in and day out, Kyle was glaring at me and he was eager to catch me off guard at any day now.

At one point, I took the fight to him and caught him off guard in one of the passages between the first and second towers. I am an apex predator and I will be damned if anybody will catch me unprepared.

I pushed his body against the wall, eyes glowing in rage, talons coming out of my hands, ready for a brawl.

"What the fuck do you want with me, Martinez? Do you still think I need to toughen up? Fuck you! I am already though! Do you think you scare me? Where I come from, men with machine guns guard the slums and if you make a wrong turn, your car can be fired upon for no reason and the police won't do anything about it because they are scared of the criminals. Who the fuck do you think you are? Do you want to come for me? Come on! I am ready whenever you are!" I was seething in rage at the petulant boy.

Kyle kept staring at me, immobile, for a minute until he finally said:

"I think you're hot."

Wait, what? Is he for real?

I took a step back from him, baffled to have heard that from the boy. An Alpha of all people.

"You do know I am an Alpha too, right? I wasn't placed in the same house as you by mistake." I told him, still reeling from that confession. What does he want with me?

He laughed at my words and for some reason, I found his smile so endearing to me.

"Yeah, I know that you are an Alpha too. No one is talking about prospecting, but maybe..." He trailed off, sounding purposefully cryptic. He stared at me with a deep, penetrating gaze that had my heart racing right now.

"Maybe what?" I stared back at him in curiosity.

"Maybe we could find a room somewhere and fuck each other's brains out." He proposed, boldly. I gasped in shock at the indecent proposal.

[...]

https://youtu.be/Oextk-If8HQ

A|N: I wrote this chapter exclusively for my Patreon account.

One patron left me a comment asking for their story and here it is. What my Patrons want, my Patrons get.

It's a side piece on how Kyle and Roberto connected. It is set in a separate timeline than the rest of the book, which will always be free to read.

Fair warning: if you do choose to subscribe to my Patreon account, know that this is just the beginning. I have more exciting stuff in store for my beloved patrons.

Do you want to read the rest of the chapter? Do you want to know who topped whom?

It's all available right now at:

patreon.com/LeonardoMontero

OFF: I have been waiting a long time to get this song in one of my books and it amazes me that it took me this long, tbh. It's one of my absolute favorites.

Next is the nerve wracking, gut wrenching "Four Minutes".

You'll have to wait until Friday for the new chapter, but it'll be worth it. Or subscribe right now to find out what happened to Skylar.

Love,

Léo.