Chapter 23
He’d known Kian would be there, Sky wasn’t completely clueless, but he ignored him as he approached the ticketing booth, where the twins were already waiting off to the side, tickets in hand.
Last night, he’d lost their game.
It was Kian’s fault. Sky had been fine, but the second he’d realized the alpha was jerking off on the phone with him…His hand had been in his pajama pants before Sky had even realized his intention.
Not. Fair.
He refused to give the alpha the chance to be smug about it.
Shiloh broke away from the group and approached him first, a sheepish look on his face as he held out the circular sticker that acted as the ticket into the maze. “No hard feelings?”
Sky accepted and peeled the backing, slapping it onto the corner of his sweatshirt. He’d opted to keep it casual, in a pair of dark jeans and a black hoodie. He refused to dress up to traverse through a corn maze on farmland, giving Kian the idea he thought this was a date.
The twins had invited him, so he’d come. That was all.
“For what?” he asked, trying not to note how no one else seemed to be under the same impression he’d been.
Shiloh was dressed in dark brown pants and a yellow and black plaid shirt over a white t-shirt. His loafers were definitely not appropriate for the muddy terrain they were about to experience. A glance at the rest of the Eumia party had Sky biting his tongue.
Sloane had on leather pants and knee-high boots, but at least the heel was flat. Her hair had been styled in a cute twist, and she waved when she caught his eye.
Her friendly disposition changed as soon as Kian stepped directly in front of her, blocking Sky’s view.
Was he…jealous of his own sister? Surely not.
“I got cornered,” Sky rested his attention back on Shiloh, the edge of his mouth twitching when he thought he caught the rumble of an alpha growl at his obvious slight. “I don’t blame you for that.”
“I heard the story a little differently,” Shiloh said.
“Oh?”
“I heard you conceded.”
“I haven’t done anything yet.” They both knew that was a lie, but Sky wasn’t willing to give in until things were unbreakably settled between him and Kian. That meant winning their other bet and then going from there.
He could still win it, right? Just because he hadn’t been capable of lasting the week without touching himself to the alpha, didn’t mean Sky would lose completely. All he had to do was resist temptation, avoid begging for sex, and then once Kian’s rut finally arrived, he’d get to—
That was not how he was meant to be viewing this. Shit.
The two of them finally joined the rest of the group, which included Sloane, Kian, Pike, and three guards Sky recognized.
“Kind of a lot of backup for a family-friendly event,” he stated as soon as he’d stopped in front of them, eyeing the muscle. As if to back him up, a family of four with two kids under seven raced by squealing excitedly.
Sloane stepped around her older brother and looped her arm through Sky’s. “We tried to explain to him that this isn’t Synastry, but you know better than most how stubborn he is.”
He grunted in agreement, then tugged her over toward the entrance where a staff member was checking people in.
Visiting the corn maze on Fright Night was a tradition, and though there were several popular ones in the city, the one located at Evening Star Vineyard was the largest. The parking lot was packed despite it being a little later in the day, and glow sticks illuminated the area.
He’d purchased a few at the front when he’d arrived and pulled the items out of his pockets, handing one to Sloane and then to Shiloh.
He purposefully avoided making eye contact with Kian as he slipped his own on his wrist—the last one he had.
And if it was neon blue?
Total coincidence.
“Sky, hey!” Bow, a junior at his school, ended up being the worker, and she smiled at him broadly. “I saw Elm earlier and wondered where you were.”
Apparently, the family meeting at the Erskine’s had gone…
expectedly. Tensions were high between them and Kian at the moment, and while Elm had supposedly received an invite from the twins, who claimed they wanted to get to know him, he’d understandably declined.
Sky hadn’t been insulted when his best friend had left the apartment this morning and told him about how he was going to go with other people.
“Who are your friends?” Bow curiously greeted them and then brought the scanner she was holding up to scan the tiny barcode printed on their stickers.
Each was original so they couldn’t be swapped or reused.
The proceeds of the maze went toward charity, and Evening Star had always taken the entrance fee seriously.
“Sloane and Shiloh,” he pointed to them respectively. “They’ll be enrolling at school next semester. Keep an eye out for them, will you?”
“For you?” She winked a bit more flirtatiously than he’d expected her to. “Absolutely.”
A heavy hand settled on the back of his nape, squeezing warningly, and Sky stiffened. It was tempting to rebuff him or continue with his act and try to ignore what Kian obviously wanted, but Sky decided it wasn’t worth the trouble and cleared his throat.
“This is their older brother, Kian,” Sky introduced him, forcing the smile back onto his face.
“Kian?” Bow frowned between them. “Wait, isn’t that the name of Elm’s brother?”
“He’s Elm’s brother, too,” Shiloh helpfully interjected.
Kian’s fingers dug even harder into Sky’s flesh.
“Omega.” The admonition was spoken low, quiet enough that Sky was probably the only one to hear it, but his point was made.
“Alpha,” Sky turned his head as much as the hold would allow, which wasn’t much, “this is Bow. She’s in one of my art classes. Elm introduced us.”
Realization came over her at the way Sky addressed him, and she sucked in a breath and scanned the code on his chest faster than she had the others. “Wow, I didn’t know you were mated, Sky. Congratulations.”
“That’s interesting,” Kian drawled, and Sky internally winced when he felt his dark gaze practically burning holes in the back of his skull. “Your marks should have been pretty noticeable.”
Unless he’d covered them up, he meant.
“I didn’t—”
“Oh, I haven’t been on campus,” Bow fortunately came to his defense, but it was impossible to tell if she recognized the displeasure Kian was feeling, or if she was merely clarifying things to be accurate.
“I packed all of my classes in the first three days of the week to make room for work. Downside is I always miss all the good gossip.”
“Sky!”
Maybe he could get lost in the maze and just die there.
He forced another smile and turned as Pera and one of her friends joined them. “Hey. You guys just get here?”
“We just finished, actually.” She must not have any self-preservation skills, because she bypassed the others, ignored the alpha who still had his claws in Sky’s neck, and pulled him in for a hug that lasted far too long even by normal standards.
“Elm and Bella went to get our prizes for making it out in under an hour. He said you were coming with other people this year. Gotta admit, I was kind of bummed.”
Pera released him but didn’t step away, frowning at his throat before she reached underneath his sweatshirt and pulled the orange shirt collar out. She smoothed them over the neckline and grinned at her handiwork. “Much better. Did you choose these colors to be festive?”
“He’ll blend right in with all the scarecrows,” Trish teased, but Pera clicked her tongue.
“No way, he’s far too attractive for that.”
“Are omegas always so gracious with their compliments toward each other?” Kian asked tensely, making his presence known once more.
Sky stepped back, bumping into the alpha in the process. When Kian’s hands settled on his waist from behind, helping to steady him, his cheeks-stained pink. He needed to get out of here before he died of embarrassment for real.
“Let me guess.” Kian leaned forward, his mouth pressing against the curve of Sky’s left ear, “She hasn’t been on campus either?”
“Pera knows I’m mated,” Sky said, eyes pleading with her silently to help him out.
“Of course I do,” she caught on, and he couldn’t help the small sigh of relief as she confirmed it for him. “It’s been the talk of campus all week.”
A short-lived relief, since then she decided to toss in a grenade just for fun.
Her gaze hardened as it settled on Kian over Sky’s shoulder. “Everyone’s been wondering which over-the-top, aggressive asshole alpha did that to him. Now we can finally put a face to the—”
“Shit.” Sky shot forward, barely realizing that Kian let him, and slapped a hand unceremoniously over her mouth, pushing her back a few paces in the process to put distance between her and the no doubt livid alpha she’d just openly insulted.
The alpha, who also happened to be a Dominus.
“Hey!” Pera struggled and shoved his hand away, glaring up at him. “Did I say anything that isn’t true? This is bullshit, Sky! You don’t deserve to be treated like this!”
“Pera.” Trish kept glancing over at Kian and the others, her nervousness showing loud and clear.
At least one of them knew the danger they were in.
She tugged on her arm and tried to ease the situation.
“Come on. That’s not fair. You haven’t even asked Sky how he feels. You’re just making assumptions.”
“Please,” she scoffed. “This is Sky we’re talking about.
His final project last year was a set of wedding tableware, complete with charger plates!
Do you really think he’s the type of person who wants an alpha who can’t even be bothered to court him first?
He’s got one alpha but five bites? This is a forced bond! Which is illegal!”
Sky absently rubbed at the bites on his neck.
They were healed over now, but the scars were there for anyone who got close enough to see.
He’d known they’d been talking about it at school, but no one had said anything to him directly aside from the occasional congratulations.
There’d been lingering looks, of course, some filled with questions, others with pity, but again, no one had actually said anything to him.
He'd had no idea there were rumors about him like that going around.
He had to de-escalate the situation and find a way to handle the rumors all at the same time. If he’d learned anything these past few weeks, it was that he didn’t know Kian well enough to put faith in his moral compass. What if he got angry and took it out on Pera and the others?
“Do you remember what that set looked like?” he asked, really wishing he didn’t have to.
“Of course. It was the best work I’ve ever seen. Even the professor praised you,” Pera replied. “They were black and had detailing in this really unique shade of blue—” Her gaze wandered behind him once more, and she gasped, slamming her own hands over her mouth this time.
Sky didn’t have to turn to know what she’d finally noticed.
“Oh gods.” She latched onto his wrist. “I am so sorry! How awful of me to just assume—Sky, please forgive me. I was just so worried about you, I didn’t stop to consider—”
“It’s all right.” He gave her a reassuring smile, patted her hand, and then gently removed her from him. “Maybe you could just help me clear things up with everyone else?”
“Absolutely,” she quickly agreed, this time less resistant when Trish tried to pull her away from the scene. She gave Kian one last look, grimacing. “I really am sorry.”
Sky waited until the two girls had stumbled off a safe distance before he exhaled and turned, coming up short when he found all eyes on him.
Three pairs of blue in that same unique shade he’d chosen for those damn wedding plates. It’d be foolish to assume Kian hadn’t figured it out, so he didn’t bother trying to confirm or deny. Instead, he went to storm past him, only for the alpha to grab his arm, stopping him.
Sky growled. “Let go.”
“Little omega—”
He yanked free of his hold. “What?”
“Do you always let everyone touch you like that?”
“Un-fucking-believable.” Sky heard Pike and the three guards suck in shocked breaths.
“Hey, is that really the most important thing you got out of all of this?” He stabbed a finger into Kian’s chest. “The entire campus took one look at what you did to my neck and came to the conclusion I’ve been trapped in some abusive relationship, and you’re mad someone hugged me? ”
“Sky.” Shiloh cleared his throat, but he wasn’t done.
“Tell me, alpha, what part of what Pera said just now was wrong? Hmm?” He didn’t wait for a response, stomping through their group back to the front. He motioned toward the large banner a few feet away. “Can I go in now?”
“Uh, yeah.” Bow licked her lips, having just witnessed all of that.
“Can you do me a favor?” he asked.
“I won’t tell a soul,” she promised before he could get to that part.
He gave her a grateful smile. “Thanks.” He motioned to the twins. “Let’s go. You,” Sky addressed Kian, “keep your distance. I didn’t come here for you. I came to bond with my in-laws.”