Chapter 33 #2
Elm leaned away, taking in the man’s matching clothes. They were both in cashmere turtlenecks, fit jeans, and long coats with fur lining and trim. The only difference was the color scheme.
“I’ve been meaning to ask, why am I always dressed in white?”
“It’s my color,” Levi replied absently.
He frowned. “But you always wear black.”
The alpha ran a hand through his hair.
Elm’s eyes narrowed and he reached up and touched his own. “Be so fucking for real.”
In the driver’s seat, Wook sputtered. When he inadvertently met Elm’s gaze in the rearview mirror, he quickly looked away, eyes wide.
“You look good in white.” Levi ignored the weird interaction, adjusting Elm’s collar attentively. “I look good in black. What’s the problem?”
“What if I want to wear black?”
“No.”
“You let me have gray sometimes,” he reminded.
“Still no.”
Elm heaved a sigh but dropped it for now, confident he’d wear the alpha down once this situation with Kian was finally settled. “How are you doing?”
“What ever do you mean?”
“Freaking out, huh?” Elm grinned when Levi stared at him blankly. He set the back of his hand on the alpha’s right knee and wiggled his fingers.
Levi glanced at the back of Wook’s seat and then cleared his throat before pressing his palm over Elm’s.
The alpha wouldn’t admit it, but he was most likely anxious now that they’d left the lodge. Now that he didn’t have Elm locked safely behind closed doors.
“I don’t like that other people will be able to perceive you,” Levi surprised him by confessing, keeping his voice down to prevent Wook from overhearing. He watched out the window as they sped past the trees, almost as though he were too embarrassed to meet Elm’s eyes.
Which was kind of adorable.
A rush of power knowing he could reduce someone as vicious as the Leviathan to a near blushing mess overcame him, and if they’d been alone, Elm would have launched himself at the alpha and ridden him right then and there.
But he sort of got the sense that Wook was integral to Levi’s successful business life, so getting him murdered—which was what would happen if Elm got naked in his presence—was off the table.
“It just means they’ll all be jealous that you snagged such a catch,” Elm teased, quirking a brow when that had Levi peeling his gaze off the window and turning to him after all.
“You used to think of yourself poorly,” the alpha said.
“Clearly I was wrong,” he replied. “If the guy who won’t spend less than six hundred coin on a sweater finds me valuable, I must be, right?”
“Your sweater cost twice that.”
He blinked. “You’re kidding.”
“Not at all.”
“That’s ridiculous. It’s literally just a white sweater!” He picked at the material but the alpha lightly slapped his wrist.
“Stop that,” Levi ordered. “You were attempting to comfort me. Continue.”
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Elm said. “I’ll stick by your side the entire time.”
“And if Kian asks to meet with you separately?”
“I’ll say no.”
“If he insists?”
“Alpha.” Elm gave him a pointed look. “Trust me. That’s the only way this works in the long run.
Besides, even if something did happen, you can track me—” he flung up his free hand when Levi opened his mouth, “Not that anything is going to happen. Nothing will. I’m just saying. There’s always the tracking device.”
“Two,” he corrected, but in a steadier tone.
“Right, the backup. How could I forget.” Tagging people was still wild to Elm, but if it calmed the alpha, it wasn’t like it bothered him. Elm couldn’t feel them or find them on his person. He also sort of liked the idea of knowing Levi would always be able to find him.
Getting kidnapped from Glyph had affected him in ways he hadn’t taken the time to properly pick apart, but now wasn’t the time for that, so it was going to have to wait a bit longer.
“Are you going to the estate after?” Elm asked, unable to keep a hint of trepidation from his tone.
“Would you prefer we go somewhere else?” Levi covered their hands with his other one.
“No,” he shook his head, “it’s fine. I’m just being weird.”
“You spent months locked up in the basement there,” the alpha stated. “Your reaction is perfectly normal. Why don’t we skip the main house? That used to belong to my parents. I was given my own smaller home on the other side of the property.”
Maybe starting somewhere fresh, somewhere that didn’t have any negative connotations attached to it, was a smart idea.
“Yeah, let’s do that,” Elm agreed.
“Wook, once we arrive, call the estate and have them prepare Frost Palace,” Levi instructed his secretary.
Elm snorted. “You would have a place named that.”
“You can change it if you like.”
“It’s fine. Who doesn’t want to live in a palace?”
Levi pondered that a moment. “It’s not quite as large as the lodge. Perhaps—”
“I was joking, alpha. I’m sure it’s more than enough for two people to coexist. How long will it take for us to get to the meeting point?”
“Another hour and a half, Possessio,” Wook answered before Levi could.
Elm rested his head on the alpha’s shoulder. “Could you do that thing that I like? I didn’t sleep at all last night. My nerves were shot. I think a nap will help.”
Levi released targeted soothing pheromones and purred.