Chapter 16
The club was busy as usual, and Kian hung back in the corner of the smaller bar, watching for any signs of trouble.
He’d rather be upstairs, in his private levels of the building located in the center of the bustling city, but he doubted his self-control. So here he was instead.
Milking his third drink.
Sky was so close he could practically taste him—could definitely smell him, his sexy omega scent clinging to Kian’s clothes despite the distance, and the fact Sky hadn’t let him touch him since he’d helped him from the bath hours ago.
It’d been foolish of him to offer Sky that deal, to willingly agree not to sleep with him again. After all of this, Kian finally had his omega, and he wasn’t even allowed to touch him?
He downed the drink, slamming the glass onto the mahogany countertop, and then signaled Brint, the bartender on duty, to pour him another.
“Shouldn’t you slow down?” Shiloh appeared at his side, setting down a tray full of empty glasses on the counter. He was dressed in uniform, the form-fitting black pants and pressed white shirt looking good on him, despite his current state.
No one would be able to tell he was pregnant.
Syns didn’t develop swollen stomachs like many other species.
It was a defense mechanism to keep them safe, a way to better shield the child growing in their wombs and prevent others from attacking out of spite or misplaced anger.
In the past, it was common for an alpha’s enemy to go after his pregnant mate, since the mate was more vulnerable.
The baby would be born small but would grow at a fast rate. One-year-olds looked like most three-year-olds on other planets. Glyphians had the same biology, though they could develop a very small, subtle bump, still mostly unnoticeable.
Shiloh took the drink away from Kian when Brint filled it. “Seriously. Enough. A wasted alpha is a dangerous one. What if you hurt him again?”
Kian scowled. “He’s fine.”
“He’s locked up in a tower like some stolen prince in a fairy tale,” Shiloh drawled. “He isn’t fine, Noki. Trust me.” His hand absently went to his stomach. “He’s alone and afraid. I told you not to do this.”
“I claimed my omega. Quit acting like what I did was unnatural.”
“It was wrong.”
At ten years old, Shiloh and Sloane had successfully pulled off an escape plan, freeing themselves from their mother and the Eumia. For a time, anyway. Eventually she’d found them again, dragged them back into the family, but that taste of freedom, of a regular life, had stuck with the twins.
They were better people than Kian, and they’d made their disapproval for the way he’d handled things with Sky abundantly clear.
“He’s mine.” Kian turned on his brother. “Now he knows it, and so will everyone else.”
He’d gone a bit overboard with the bites, sure, but he hadn’t meant to. In the throes of passion, Kian’s instincts had taken control, had demanded he mark Sky permanently as many times as possible, ensure there was no undoing his claim. Even if it hadn’t been planned, he didn’t regret it.
“I’ll never regret claiming him,” Kian stated, finality in his tone.
Shiloh looked away. “You’re no better than the people who did this to me.”
“Say that again, Nuka.” He refused to be compared to those vile beings. “I may be a monster, but I’m the monster our mother made me. You remember her, don’t you?”
“Our mother,” he sneered, “would have left me to rot in that breeding den. You’re nothing like her, Kian. But that doesn’t mean what you did was right. If you really cared about him—”
“I already heard it all from my omega,” Kian stopped him. “You both think I should have tried the romantic approach. I should have courted him? Me? Between running Caelum and leading the Eumia?”
“Properly winning an omega over is also a responsibility,” Shiloh said distastefully. “One you failed at.”
“Yes, well, I can’t be good at everything.”
“You’re wasting your time.” Their sister, Sloane, appeared. She was dressed in a similar outfit, and when she stopped at her twin’s side, she placed a hand on his arm. “You should rest. I got it from here.”
Kian hated that they worked in the club at all.
He hadn’t opened the damn place so his siblings could become hosts, had in fact done so for the opposite.
But he’d made them both a promise when he’d taken control of the organization once led by their mother, that he wouldn’t try to control their lives.
If he had his way, they’d be safe somewhere preparing for their first semester at Firethorn University.
They’d be nervous and excited, like regular kids their age.
Not that they were kids anymore, at twenty, they were both considered adults in the eyes of the law.
To Kian though? They would always be those seventeen-year-olds he’d been introduced to.
They’d hated him then.
They sometimes hated him still.
“I can finish my shift,” Shiloh was reassuring their sister. “The female beta I’m hosting prefers me, and she pays big.”
“If you need money—” Kian held up his hands in surrender when that earned him joint glares. Technically, all of the money he had was also theirs. Some might even argue it was solely theirs.
Before he’d been discovered, Sloane had been set to inherit their mother’s empire.
She wasn’t cut out for it, hated the lifestyle, and had been more than happy to hand it over when Kian had stepped up.
But that didn’t mean much to some of the older members of the organization.
The Eumia mafia spanned back over a hundred years, and tradition was a thing many desperately clung to, despite the changing times.
Kian didn’t give a damn about tradition.
He only cared about taking and keeping what belonged to him.
That included this place, the Eumia crown, and Sky Tancredi.
After meeting his mother, he’d set out to achieve all of his goals, to get everything he’d ever wanted. Now that he had those things? No one was going to take them from him, not even his disapproving siblings or their penchant for morality.
“So,” Sloane rested an arm on the counter and turned to him, “when can we officially meet our new brother-in-law?”
“Whenever you’d like.” Kian wouldn’t keep them apart, however… “Neither of you is allowed to tell him anything jarring, though. I won’t have you poisoning my omega against me.”
“You’ve done that well enough all on your own, Noki.” She flipped her inky black hair over her shoulder, those deep blue eyes, the same shade as his, locked on him. “From what you’ve told us about him, your mate isn’t going to accept this gracefully. You really fucked up.”
“How could you do it?” Shiloh asked, and it was obvious he’d been holding the question in for some time now. “Knowing what was done to me, how hurt it’s made me, how could you force yourself on someone like this?”
“Don’t compare your situations,” he growled. “What happened to Sky and what happened to you are completely different.”
“An asshole alpha took our choice away,” Shiloh disagreed. “Tell me where the difference is?”
“I love Sky.”
“You hardly know him.”
Did Kian know everything there was to know about him?
Not yet. But he understood him on a deeper level.
Understood his temperament and the demons he liked to keep hidden away.
Maybe the two of them hadn’t shared much conversation prior to now, and maybe to some people, that was important, but not to him.
“The difference, dear brother,” Kian said, “is that you were bred for profit. You were tossed into a dirty room and taken by an alpha who didn’t want to be there any more than you did. And you hated every second of it.”
“Of course I did,” he scoffed.
Kian leaned back and smiled softly. “That’s it. That’s where you and Sky aren’t the same.”
The twins both frowned.
“You can’t honestly believe Sky liked what you did to him?” Shiloh exclaimed.
“Sky’s body recognizes his alpha, always has.”
“You’ve been in this world too long, Noki,” Sloane told him. “You’re starting to sound like the madman Dominus who thinks everyone likes getting roughed up and taken.”
“Not everyone,” he corrected, “but he does.” His little omega had presented and begged for him all pretty like during the claiming.
It was hard to tell if Sky was even aware of his own actions, but he’d rocked back on Kian’s knot and clung to him toward the end.
In his delirium, he’d been honest about his dark desires, and Kian had boldly taken advantage, milking him for all he was worth.
He'd dream about those soft cries and the way Sky had breathed his name almost reverently for years to come.
But those moments were his. The twins didn’t get to hear about them.
“Sky is angry because his pride is wounded.” Kian stood.
“He’s embarrassed that I always knew how he felt about me.
He’s angry at himself for having those feelings, and he’s questioning whether the version of me he’s always held in his head was ever even real.
At the end of the day, I gave him the future he desired, even if it’s a slightly different version.
Once he’s able to rid the idea of what a happy mating looks like from his mind, he’ll see the life I’m offering is the one he really wants. ”
“That’s arrogance, Noki,” Sloane said.
“It’s confidence, sister.” And Kian was nothing if not certain of himself and his abilities.
He left them there to stew over his words, knowing this argument was a futile one. It didn’t matter what they thought; it was already done. Sky was his, and his omega was currently asleep in his bed, in their home, several floors up.
Kian made his way to the elevator and took it to the second level, where some of the more risqué transactions took place. He and Avi carefully constructed the floor plan long before they’d found a suitable building. Club Caelum served a few purposes, all of them important in the long run.