Chapter 20 #2
“Huh? Don’t you have to be involved with a high-standing independent criminal organization for that?” Elm laughed it off. “Come on, I know he’s a lot, but my brother—”
“So he hasn’t told you where he’s really been these past four years then.” Was he planning on it? Had Sky just dropped the ball?
Honestly, good.
Kian deserved to have the rug ripped out from under him.
See how he liked it.
“You should really talk to him,” Sky suggested, leaning back against the wall.
Now that he was home, in his own space, his body was starting to shut down.
He’d been too keyed up, even during the cuddle session last night with his alpha.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about him. A lot we both didn’t know.”
Elm frowned, and his nervousness was apparent. “Sky…What did my brother drag you into?”
He closed his eyes, not even sure where to start, even though he’d been the one to bring it up.
“Hey.” Elm didn’t reach for him again, but there was real fear in his tone now.
“I was against this because I thought it wasn’t fair to you.
You’ve always crushed on him, but you’ve never gotten close enough to see the darker parts he keeps hidden.
But still…I talk shit behind his back, but I love my brother.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit happy for you, thinking that you were finally getting what you’ve always wanted.
But if he’s done something—something worse than do that to your neck—you have to tell me, all right?
He may be family, but I’ll always have your back. ”
“He inherited the Eumia mafia from his birth mom,” Sky divulged. “He’s the head of the organization now.”
Elm was stunned into momentary silence and then managed to eke out, “Like, the lead group of the Aurora Syndicate? That Eumia mafia?” He dropped down onto the couch. “What the hell? How…Oh. That must be why our dad was so insistent that he join the Academy. They must have known.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?” Elm shook his head. “I should be the one saying that. If I’d warned you properly about Kian from the start, this would never have happened.”
“You said a part of you was happy for me.”
“Yeah, before I found out he’d dragged you into the mafia!
Sky, don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but you’re not made for that kind of life!
You’re a ceramicist, Good Light! You make matching tableware sets because you think a cohesive kitchen display makes for a homey environment!
The Eumia? You think any of those people give a fuck what kind of bowl they eat their soup out of? ”
“Do you think they all sit around eating soup together?” Sky asked, mostly to cut through his friend’s panic. It hadn’t been his intention to send Elm into the same mental spiral he himself had been experiencing. “Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have told you.”
“You absolutely had to tell me!” he disagreed. “In fact, is there anything else? Tell me all of it. You know you can trust me, Sky.”
It was nice that Elm wasn’t insisting because Kian was his brother, but that he was so clearly doing it out of worry for Sky.
That kind of friendship was rare, and not for the first time, Sky recognized how fortunate he was to have someone like that be a part of his life.
He should have told him everything sooner, after his first encounter with Kian during his heat, but he’d been afraid and embarrassed.
“Shit.” Something else seemed to occur to Elm. “That also explains why my parents signed us up for those damn classes.”
That was right. Sky and Elm had been gifted self-defense lessons from the top training facility in the city three years ago.
Elm’s mom had brushed it off as a necessary thing now that the two of them were in college and going to be living independently for the first time.
Sky’s parents had agreed when they’d heard about it, so Sky had dutifully attended all of the prepaid lessons.
They’d lasted an entire semester, and afterward, even though Elm had dropped out, Sky had continued.
“Guess it’s a good thing you stuck with it,” Elm snorted. “You’re what? A yellow pin now?”
“Yeah,” he replied, even though he knew Elm wasn’t really asking and knew the answer.
“Think my brother knows?”
“That I’ve reached the highest level in daigwendu? Hell if I know. It hasn’t come up.”
“He turned you into an Eumia member and didn’t even bother to ask you if you know how to defend yourself? Bastard. Please tell me you haven’t fucked him.”
“Since the claiming?” Technically, Kian hadn’t needed to screw him for that, so Sky was upfront about what had happened. “I’m holding out on him.”
“Good. He deserves it. Make him work for it.”
“That’s the plan.”
Elm blew out a breath and then asked again, “Are you sure you don’t want me to help you find a way out of this?”
The fact Sky hadn’t brought it up or accepted the offer must have made it obvious what he was thinking. “He’s not who I expected, and this isn’t going to be the picture-perfect life I always dreamed of, but, for better or for worse, he is my alpha. I can handle Kian, Elm. Don’t worry about me.”
“If he does anything to you, you have my permission to shoot him with an arrow. Seriously. I’ll help you hide the body. My parents won’t even look into it if he mysteriously goes missing again.”
“And the Eumia?” He quirked a brow, chuckling. “You think they’ll just let it go when their leader vanishes? What about Shiloh and Sloane?”
“Who?”
Oh. Shit.
Sky straightened. “Crap. My bad.”
“What?”
“It’s just—”
Elm’s multi-slate went off, and he leapt to his feet, answering before Sky could finish. “You’ve got some nerve calling me now, asshole!”
“Meet me at home in an hour,” Kian’s no-nonsense voice came through the speaker.
“Hell no, you don’t just get to summon me like I’m—Hello? Gods damn it!” Elm cursed some more as he was hung up and then snatched his coat from where he’d left it draped over the back of the couch. “Don’t worry about the rest, Sky. I’ll go get answers straight from the source.”
Sky opened his mouth to reply, but the front door slammed hard enough to rattle the walls before he could.
Kian had a real knack for pissing people off.