Chapter 21 #2
Though, if he were being honest, Elm had always known half the reason Kian stuck around him growing up was solely so he could be closer to Sky. He’d used their brotherly relationship as an excuse to be near to his future omega.
“Your past lovers couldn’t wait to get away from you.
” Elm motioned to the room. “Mine couldn’t either.
We’d have a good time, and when the good time was over, they left.
” He stopped the alpha when he went to speak.
“I know what you’re going to say. You murder people.
I just bore them. It’s not the same. Which, no, it isn’t, but,” he picked at the cuticles on his thumb, “the end result is. We’re both always left on our own. ”
Stable homelife.
Kind parents.
Attentive older brother.
Graduated with good grades.
Opened up a pottery shop that was doing all right.
Elm had lived a relatively easy life.
So why was he always left wanting?
Why did he always feel like something was missing? Like the world he’d been given wasn’t enough?
“Sorry.” He rubbed at his face and then laughed. “How did I turn this all about me?”
“I like hearing about your life,” Levi said.
“I’d say the same, but yours kind of makes me sad.” Elm cleared his throat. “I’m sorry your parents sucked so bad.”
“It’s okay.” The alpha grinned. “It made me the ruthless Dominus I am today.”
He couldn’t help but gulp.
“Come.” Levi took a pointed step back. “Lunch is ready.”
With no reason not to follow, Elm exited the room. He glanced back into it for a moment, and then shut the door and walked away.
* * *
“What does this word mean?” He held up the book he’d been reading so that Levi could see it from where he sat on the L part of the couch. Elm had sprawled across the center, taking up most of the pace, a pillow under his head to help prop him up a bit.
They’d spent most of the afternoon there, Levi working on his laptop, Elm flipping through a stack of books he’d found and brought down. A week into being here, exploring had gotten kind of dull, and if he wasn’t sculpting in the studio, he found he preferred sharing the same space as the alpha.
Levi finished typing the sentence he’d been writing and then glanced over. “It’s another way to say something is being pieced together. Where did you find that?”
“In one of the rooms on the third floor.” Elm went back to reading.
Shortly after, the sound of clicking keys filled the space once more.
* * *
Inspiration hit like a brick directly to the face.
He couldn’t recall the last time he’d entered a flow state, and Elm leaned into it, allowing himself to be completely overtaken by the urge to create.
Three days passed with him hardly ever leaving the studio. Levi even started bringing his meals upstairs, leaving them on the table. Sometimes, he lingered, other times he pulled up one of the chairs and sat and silently watched for hours.
Elm hardly noticed either way, too engrossed in his work.
He spent hours sketching, drawing up a design only to find it unsatisfactory or immediately think up a better one.
There was a feeling he wanted, but the subject matter was rather common, and that was making it difficult to settle on something.
For some, that may have been frustrating, but for Elm, that was half the fun.
Churning out potential. Sorting through it.
Picking out only the best pieces of himself.
In the studio, it didn’t matter who he was, what he was, or even where he was.
The whole universe was just him and his art and the alpha he could always sense lurking at the corners of his mind, his scent constantly present in the air.
It took careful care to keep the clay workable. Took planning and structure. This was where he’d always excelled though. Sky had shifted toward pottery, but Elm crafted statues and knicknacks.
The statue he was currently working on was three feet tall and a foot and a half wide at its thickest part.
The sleek rabbit had formed simply enough, Elm’s hands guiding the design as it came to him, but smoothing it out to satisfaction had taken forever.
Everything had to be perfectly symmetrical as well, no exceptions.
It was more modern than most of the smaller pieces he made and sold back home, and vastly different from the Rabbit God, but Elm had long since learned never to fight against the muse that lived in his head.
The creature almost hadn’t fit in the kiln, but he’d somehow managed, and once that had finished, had started the painting process.
Matte white paint coated the entire statue, one that would turn glossy once it was fired again. He gave it silver embellishments, nothing too fancy, wanting to stick with a more elegant vibe.
Elm was almost finished with it when the doubt started to creep in and he realized how dumb the thing was. How pointless.
“What’s wrong, omega?” the alpha spoke from the corner of the room, startling Elm.
He’d forgotten he was there.
“Nothing.” He sighed. “It’s stupid.”
“What is?”
“This.” He motioned to the statue, but picked up the brush he’d been using and kept going. “I hate it.”
“Then why continue?” Levi asked.
He grunted. “Gotta trust the process.”
“What do you plan on doing with it?”
“It’s going in that spot at the foot of the stairs at the second-floor landing,” Elm informed him. “There needs to be a bigger pop of white to make the space more cohesive.”
“Does there?”
“Obviously.”
The alpha chuckled. “And is there a reason you chose this particular creature?”
“You like rabbits.” These questions were beginning to annoy him. “Quiet. I’m almost finished.”
“As you wish.” Levi watched silently the rest of the evening.