Chapter 15 #2
He cleared his throat. “I mean, I’ve heard about it, obviously.”
“An organization was kidnapping Glyphians and transporting them to Synastry for the sole purpose of breeding.”
Sky sucked in a sharp breath, shocked not only by that news, but by how steadily Kian had delivered it. As though it was as common a thing to discuss as the weather. Which meant this was something the alpha was so familiar with, it no longer affected him.
“What have you been doing these past four years?” He held up a hand before Kian could respond. “You said Shiloh doesn’t know who the father of his baby is…you can’t mean…?”
“The Imperial princes and I have been trying to put an end to it,” Kian announced.
“It’s dismantled now, but a few months ago, when we were closing in on the ringleader, Shiloh was taken.
He was forced into the program and knotted by an alpha who’d also been kidnapped.
They were only made to breed once before it was confirmed he was pregnant.
Because of that, we’re unsure if it’s his ex-boyfriend’s baby or if the father was that other alpha. ”
“Why don’t you DNA test?”
“Because the alpha’s people broke him free from the facility before I got there, and all record of his identity was wiped from the systems. I have an idea who he is, but no way of getting close enough to get a DNA sample.”
“And the ex?”
“Dead.” Kian sighed. “That’s where I went after our time together at your studio.
We’d located him, but we were too late. We could test his DNA still, but…
My brother is understandably fragile right now.
He’s been told, and he’s putting on a brave face, but that’s only because he’s aware this is the ending most people in his shoes get.
He’s trying to focus on the fact that he was one of the lucky ones and was rescued. ”
“You can’t excuse away the bad just because things could be worse,” Sky said. “I can’t do that.”
“I’m the worst thing that’s ever happened to you,” Kian stated, and it sounded extremely self-aware, until he followed it up with, “I’m also the best thing.”
Sky rolled his eyes and slumped deeper into the tub, the warm water coming up to his shoulders. “Tell me more about the trafficking.”
“There were several breeding rings set up around Synastry’s major cities,” Kian explained.
“That’s why it took us so long to locate and dismantle all of them.
In the beginning, we weren’t prepared. As soon as we took one down, another would simply crop up in its place.
We had to root out those in charge and end them before any real progress could be made. ”
“And you did that? You found them and…brought them to justice?” If he’d done what he’d done to Kenta, it sounded like they’d deserve it, but Sky was still unsettled by the idea of murder.
Mostly because Kian was right. The worst thing that had ever happened to him was his forced presentation at that party, and if he was being one hundred percent honest with himself, Sky hadn’t even hated it.
Not the way he should have. The way he’d been trying, and failing, to convince himself he had every day since.
That seemed like such a waste of his time now. He’d ended up back in the masked man’s bed in the end, hadn’t he? Back on his cock.
And now he was bathing with him like real lovers would…
Sky was hopeless.
Here they were, talking about real horrors and real victims, and he was wallowing over the fact that a part of him wanted his captor back?
“Altair helped. It was a joint effort,” Kian said.
The Imperial Heir to the Synastry throne was well known, so Sky didn’t need to ask who he was talking about, though he hadn’t been aware that the two of them knew each other. Maybe they hadn’t before all of this.
“Together, the four of us have plans in place to prevent these sorts of things from happening in the future. It’ll take time and energy, but funding isn’t an issue when three Imperials are involved.”
With the Imperial twins set to take the throne from their grandfather soon, Sky would imagine not.
“So, you’re actually not a bad guy, is that it? I’m supposed to just believe you’re some vigilante doing good in the shadows?”
“No,” Kian shook his head. “I’m a terrible person, Sky. Don’t ever forget it.”
His spine stiffened at the note of warning in the alpha's tone.
“You were right earlier,” Kian said then. “If one of us enters our cycle, we’ll obviously have to fuck.”
“Can you stop calling it fucking?”
“Would you prefer I refer to it as making love?”
Sky grimaced. “No. You sound like my grandpa.”
“Breeding?” The wicked glint in his eye made it obvious he was teasing on purpose.
Sky refused to dignify that with a response.
“Whatever you want to call it,” the alpha continued, “we’re a mated couple now. If it happens, we’ll sleep together. My rut isn’t for another month, and you just experienced your heat. That gives you plenty of time to come around.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I was joking, asshat.”
“If you can make it until Fright Night, I won’t touch you again until my rut.
I don’t just mean no penetration this time.
I won’t engage with you sexually at all, not until you beg me for it.
Two separate bets. Two chances for you to win.
Even if you fail the first, I still won’t give you my cock again until you’re begging for it. ”
Sky considered that. He really didn’t see how he could get a better offer at the moment, and Kian’s statement about the law was accurate.
The mark on his neck labeled him as Kian’s.
This was Glyph, so he might be able to get him on assault charges, but he’d need to escape to do that, and he doubted it’d be easy, if even possible.
They were in some penthouse in the city, and even though he didn’t yet know what Kian actually did for a living, he guessed the place was crawling with security that wouldn’t look the other way if Sky tried to leave.
For now, he’d agree, because at least it gave him agency. It made him feel like he had some semblance of control, even if it was a mere illusion.
Surely Sky could go four days without thinking about the alpha’s cock. Did it matter that he’d been unable to pull that off for the past five or so years? No, absolutely not, because back then, the only thing on the line had been his sense of self-worth and his sanity. Now there was more to lose.
Now he had a shit-eating grin to wipe off the alpha’s face.