Chapter 25
He refused to allow any of the nurses to tend to his omega. Kian knelt in front of Sky in the private room he’d booked in the VIP suite of the hospital. The room was for Shiloh, who was currently getting scans done in another location.
Sky had been grazed by a bullet, and though it wasn’t deep, it still had to hurt. The dazed omega barely gave any sign of that fact as Kian treated it, cleaning it and then bandaging it while they waited for news from his men.
“Sloane says you fought bravely,” he risked breaking the silence, unsure how much he could prod his omega.
It seemed like killing a man had already pushed Sky to the brink.
Any tiny tap could send him careening right over the edge.
“I knew you’d been training, but I didn’t know if you were any good. ”
“Ask the guy whose throat I just slit how he feels about my skill level,” the words came out toneless, and Sky’s glossy gaze didn’t clear or waver. It was almost like he was a machine set on autopilot, going through the motions without processing a damn thing.
Kian would drag him back from the shock if it didn’t wear off on its own, but knew he had to give Sky the chance to do it himself. This was the brain's way of protecting itself and processing things, and what Sky had just experienced…it was no doubt a lot to take in.
“Technically,” he said lightly, “Sloane delivered the killing blow when she put a bullet in his skull. According to her, he was still breathing up until then. You didn’t kill him, Sky.”
“He wouldn’t have survived what I’d done to him.”
“Maybe,” he shrugged. “We don’t know that for certain.”
Kian wasn’t any good at this. He’d never had to comfort anyone before. Even when they’d been younger, Elm had mostly stood on his own two feet. The most he’d come to Kian for was help with homework.
What was he supposed to say in this situation? He somehow doubted divulging that he thought it was sexy what Sky had done would be conducive to the situation. The fact that his chosen mate could hold his own was so attractive, he might even be hard if not for the fury.
The doors whooshed open, and he turned to catch sight of Pike as he entered. He was pale, and he gave a small shake of his head when Kian held his gaze in silent question.
Fuck.
“What does that mean?” Sky’s voice cut through the anger and disappointment he was feeling.
Pike looked at Kian before answering, waiting until he’d gotten the okay. “He lost the baby.”
Sky’s lips pressed into a thin line, but he didn’t say anything else.
“Do we know who’s responsible?” Kian growled.
“From the sounds of it, they were trying to kidnap the princess. My guess? It was the Yilrora.”
The Yilrora were a rival gang on Synastry that had been in talks to join hands with the syndicate before Kian had taken control and dashed their hopes.
He’d uncovered a few of their members' involvement with the ring and had ostracized the whole gang for it. Much of their power had been stripped away in the ensuing war between them, and they’d been left scattered.
“Find Rish,” Kian ordered. “If they are behind this, it was his doing.”
“Already have someone on it. The bodies have also been cleaned, and anyone who may have seen anything has been paid off. This won’t get out.”
That was something, at least. “Where’s Sarang?”
“Standing guard outside the room the prince is currently in.”
“How is he?” He wasn’t asking about his underboss.
“Shiloh is…” Pike stared at his feet.
“He’s crying,” Sky answered for him, but he wasn’t looking at either of them. “Of course he’s crying. He just lost his baby.”
“It might not have been his alpha’s,” Kian said, freezing when Sky set the coldest gaze that had ever been aimed his way on him.
“Don’t you ever say anything like that to Shiloh. That baby was his. Who the father was stopped mattering the second Shiloh decided to keep it.”
“He’ll recover quickly,” Pike told them. “He’s strong.”
Sky’s expression somehow turned even more fridged. “He shouldn’t have to recover. This isn’t something someone just gets over. What the hell is wrong with you people?” He got to his feet. “Where is he? Take me to him.”
“This is his room,” Kian reminded gently. “They’ll bring him here.”
“When? After he’s done crying? We could be here all week.”
“The princess is with him,” Pike said.
“If he doesn’t want me there, that’s fine,” Sky replied tightly. “But I’ll find that out for myself.” He turned on Kian. “You should be there with him. You should want to be. What if it were me? What if—”
Kian stepped forward, letting out a stronger wave of soothing pheromones as he nuzzled Sky’s jaw, scenting him in the process. He could tell by the quickening of Sky’s pulse that his omega wasn’t as solid as he was pretending to be.
Such a little liar.
“Shiloh has Sloane and Sarang,” he said. “I need to be here with you.”
“I—”
“I know you mean well, little omega,” he shushed him, “but think. You’ve only just met. Will my brother really want you there to see him at his lowest?”
Shiloh would not, but Kian didn’t launch into a greater explanation than that.
Sky would come to that realization on his own now that it’d been mentioned, he was sure of it.
His omega was smart, attentive. That was why he’d made all those friends, even in Kian’s absence.
All he’d had to do was give a small push when they’d been younger, and now Sky was the highlight of everyone’s social group.
His cheerful and positive disposition drew people to him, but Kian and Shiloh weren’t like that. The types of lives they’d lived wouldn’t allow it.
A grieving Eumia member, especially one who’d been reared to potentially one day lead, would not take kindly to having their pain witnessed. It would be perceived as sharing a weakness, and that went against everything they’d been taught.
Sky stood there and let him rub his scent over his body, seeping it into the omega’s clothing so the fabric would carry Kian’s smell, ensuring he was engulfed in the soothing pheromones. He wanted him calm, at least until they were back home and secure.
They’d taken care of the men who’d been sent tonight, but what about tomorrow? What if there were more out there, lurking and waiting for their chance?
“We can stay here and wait until Shiloh is ready to come,” Kian said, “or I can take you home to get some rest. What will it be, little omega?”
Sky frowned, but Kian caught a spark of something flash to life in his otherwise empty eyes. “Whose home?”
“Ours.”
“I still have a week.”
His grip tightened on Sky’s elbows. “Don’t be difficult. Not about this.”
“You promised.”
“Just until we know for sure who was behind the attack, all right?” He hated this.
Kian hated that he had to cajole his mate into coming home when it was the clear choice.
No place was safer than Club Caelum right now, and with the twins also at risk, he couldn’t afford to split their forces.
Many of them were still on Synastry, keeping things running there.
He’d only brought enough Eumia for basic protection, thinking they’d be safe enough on Glyph.
Idiotic.
Reckless.
The second he’d taken Sky, he should have sent for reinforcements.
Sky searched his face, but Kian didn’t know what he was looking for. In the end, he seemed to find it, because he sighed and gave a single curt nod. “Okay. I’ll go with you. But only for tonight. That’s it. Tomorrow, I’m going back to my apartment. You can’t stop me.”
He could.
“They weren’t after me,” Sky pointed out. “We both know that. I’m not the one at risk.”
“You could be now,” he said. “You’re my Possessio.”
“You have guards on me already.”
“I can’t send any more.”
“So don’t.”
“If something happens to you—”
“I’ll stay with him,” Pike stepped forward and offered. Kian glared at him, but he didn’t back down. “I can sleep on the couch, and I’ll keep enough of a distance during your classes no one will notice. How does that sound, Sky?”
“Agreed,” Sky answered before Kian could tell him to fuck off. He stepped into Kian’s arms, hugging him loosely. “I’ll let him tail me and stay at the apartment. I won’t go anywhere without telling you first, and I won’t try to go alone.”
“Sky.”
“We were just attacked in a corn maze. At an event I’ve been attending my whole life. I slit a man’s throat, Kian.”
“More of a reason you should know not to take risks.”
“How is it a risk? They weren’t there for me. None of them bothered with me until I inserted myself into the fight.”
“Speaking of.” He captured him by the nape and his forced his head back enough that their eyes met. “Don’t ever do anything like that again, do you hear me? If there’s a situation, you turn and you run.”
“But Shiloh and Sloane—”
“Save yourself. I don’t care who else is there. You keep yourself safe, and you get out unscathed, Sky. Swear it to me.”
He pursed his lips. “They’re your siblings.”
“You’re my omega,” he reminded coldly.
“Yes, but they’re your family.”
“Wait for us outside,” he ordered, waiting for Pike to step out and the door to shut firmly behind him before backing Sky against the couch.
He toppled down onto the cushions, gasping, a bit of color returning to his cheeks from the motion. When his green eyes lifted back to Kian’s, there was even more life there.
Good.
Kian wrapped his hand around Sky’s throat and pinned him against the couch, placing a knee between Sky’s spread thighs so he could get closer. “I’ll only say this once, so listen closely. My family is important because they’re mine. It isn’t the same. You can’t compare them to yourself.”
“Why?”
“You’re important because you’re you, Sky.
They’re an extension of me. But you…You’ve always been a separate entity.
I would love to consume you, to find a way to absorb you whole and make you a part of me permanently, but that means killing your essence, and I like who you are as a person too much to do that.
If I lost them, I’d be infuriated.” His grip loosened, and he shifted his hold, lightly stroking against Sky’s bottom lip. “If I lost you, I’d be devastated.”
And Kian wasn’t very familiar with emotions like that. To say he wasn’t afraid of learning what it felt like would be a lie. He’d rather go the rest of his days with no experience of the matter at all.
When his mother had died, he’d stood there, dry-eyed, almost bored.
It’d been inevitable and a long time coming, but he’d tried to at least excuse his reaction, or lack thereof, on the fact he’d only known the woman for less than a handful of years.
It wasn’t like Shiloh or Sloane shed a ton of tears publicly, either, but at least with them, there were feelings.
Their relationship with the woman who’d birthed them was rocky. Some days it seemed like they’d loved each other very much. Others, Kian was surprised they hadn’t murdered one another in their sleep at some point.
The night he’d discovered Shiloh’s alpha, dead and decaying, he’d experienced a monumental epiphany.
Sky’s death wouldn’t be anything like his mother’s.
If Sky ever perished, Kian would tear his own heart out and end things right there and then.
For years, he’d falsely believed the attraction he felt toward the younger omega was merely a reaction born of his instincts.
Alphas recognized potential for strong mates, and he’d thought that’s all it was.
Sky would make a good genetic match. They’d produce strong babies to continue their line.
His body had concluded that based on pheromones and other things Kian wasn’t consciously aware of, and that was that.
Since he’d never experienced that kind of attraction toward anyone else, that assumption had only been bolstered over the years.
Then he’d stood over Lane’s body and it’d hit him all at once.
Kian had been drawn to Sky even before the omega had presented. That wasn’t normal. He hadn’t been aware of what he’d been doing at the time, but Kian had most definitely been seeking out specific traits that would signal to him Sky would be a good mate choice.
Childhood crushes and connections were common, obviously, but he’d personally never felt attached to anything.
Even Arbor and Avi were more fixtures in his life that had always been there than anything else.
There was no fondness toward them, just the steady understanding that they had each other's backs, and that trust like that was rare in this universe.
Normal alphas didn’t get angry at the touch of other omegas.
They weren’t irritable when a pretty male or female showed an interest and tried to bed them.
When his ruts had come around and he’d needed to give in and select a partner to help him through it, he’d been stingy. No one was ever good enough.
He’d given up early on and resigned himself to spending them alone.
Kian’s need for Sky wasn’t normal. It wasn’t because of some ingrained alpha bullshit. It wasn’t because they had perfect genetic compatibility, or that Sky was his soulmate, or anything as onerous as that.
Sky wasn’t his because his instincts had made an invisible claim.
Sky was his because he was.
Sky was his omega. The only one for him.
It was as simple, and as complicated, as that.