Chapter 34 #2
Elm was hurting him.
“Kian!” Everything else blurred, his focus on the harm he was causing his older brother, guilt and worry overtaking rationality. He cut his pheromones off and ran over, stupidly putting himself in the line of fire.
One of the men by the door managed to lift their arm, aimed and pulled the trigger, but then Levi was there, throwing himself in front of Elm.
The bullet lodged itself in Levi’s back. The alpha hissed then spun, returned fire and easily killed the man. He blocked Elm and turned again at the sound of footsteps, some of the tension easing out of him a second later.
Elm glanced around him, exhaling when he saw Baal and Wook, both armed and with reinforcements, enter the room.
The relief was short lived, however.
Suddenly Kian was there, at their side, pressing the barrel of his gun against Levi’s skull.
Everyone seemed to go still at once.
“Get away from him, little brother,” Kian growled. “I’m taking you home.”
Odette and Bowie appeared across the room, exiting a stairwell that must lead to the second level. They’d both taken hits, Bowie noticeably limping, but aimed their weapons at the White Frost currently reacting to seeing their Dominus with a gun to his head.
Baal kept his blaster pointed at Kian while the others around him turned toward the new threat.
“The Serpents?” Levi addressed his underboss, voice casual, like his life wasn’t being threatened and he wasn’t bleeding from two gaping wounds already.
“They pit us against the Eumia outside,” Baal explained. “We were too busy fighting each other to notice it was a ploy. That’s how they managed to get past us.”
“And the Eumia now?”
“Working with Oberon to hunt down the rest and manning their posts since these two,” he jutted his chin in the direction of Odette and Bowie, “are in here.”
“Call them to confirm,” Levi suggested to Kian.
“Whether this was you or not,” Kian argued, “doesn’t make any difference. I’m taking my brother.”
“Like hell,” Levi’s crack in composure seemed to surprise everyone in attendance.
Elm used their momentary pause to rest a hand over Kian’s arm, though his brother refused to let him push the gun away. “Kian. Please. Stop.”
“He’s the enemy. You don’t understand,” his brother argued.
“You’re the one who doesn’t understand.” Elm waited until Kian pulled his angry gaze off Levi and rested it on him instead. “I love him.”
Levi grunted. “This is the super special moment you were talking about, treasure?”
“Shut up, alpha.” Elm watched confusion pass over Kian’s face, especially when he showed the Leviathan disrespect and instead of getting mad about it Levi did as directed and went quiet.
Kian must have been too hopped up on adrenaline to take the time to really sort through everything, because he started looking at him funny. Inspecting Elm almost as though he’d never seen him before. “You’re…That was you. Just now…”
“He’s stronger than even you,” Levi said, pride in his tone. “Isn’t he perfect?”
“What the hell did you do to my brother?!”
“It wasn’t him.” Elm tightened his hold on Kian’s arm. “Please, just lower the gun. Let’s talk.”
“Talk about what? About how you smell like a prime omega?” he demanded, using the Glyphian term for dominant, “Or about those teeth marks on your wrist?” He froze again and then growled. “It’s not the only one. He bit you? You bit him?!”
“Kian—”
“He has to die,” Kian snapped. “It’s the only way to break the bond. I’ll—”
Elm didn’t want to hurt him. He was family.
But Levi was his alpha.
In a burst of motion, Elm targeted his pheromones and sent them at Kian.
At the same time, he shifted his grip, lifted Kian’s arm and snapping the gun out of his hold.
He slammed a palm to the center of his chest, knocking him back, and took a defensive stance between him and Levi, gun aimed at Kian.
As soon as he was sure he’d separated them, he cut his pheromones off, guilt at the look of betrayal on his brother’s face causing the hand holding the gun to shake slightly.
“I did not know you could do that, omega,” Levi praised. “Impressive.”
“Kian put me in self-defense classes as a kid,” Elm said. “I told you that.” He lifted his voice to address the room. “Everyone drop your weapons. Now.”
No one made any immediate moves.
“You heard your Possessio,” Baal stated sharply. He lowered his weapon, and the rest of the White Frost complied.
“Them too.” Elm motioned to Odette and Bowie. “Tell them to stand down, brother.”
“Are you going to shoot me, Possessio of the White Frost?” Kian asked.
“No. But I am going to protect my alpha. Stop this so I can explain.”
“You never would have been able to pull that move on me without the use of prime pheromones.” He glanced between Elm and Levi. “Can you make him hurt like that too?”
“He has other ways of causing me discomfort,” Levi drawled.
“Leviathan,” Elm growled, “you’re starting to piss me off.”
“Relax, treasure, he’s coming around.”
“Was this a late presentation?” Kian asked. “Or something else?”
It wasn’t unheard of, but incredibly rare for one of their kind who’d tested as beta to really be a dormant alpha or omega and present later on in life.
But that was so unlikely, being changed by an illegal drug was actually the more believable reason.
“Rebirth,” Elm said. “The people who kidnapped me did it, not Levi.”
Kian’s hands tightened into fists at his side, and he glanced at the Leviathan. “Dead?”
“Oh, deader than dead,” Levi assured.
“It hurt?”
“Absolutely.”
Kian still wasn’t all right with any of this, but he ended up nodding. “Stand down.”
Elm exhaled when Odette and Bowie lowered their weapons.
“The medical team has arrived,” Baal announced. “Should I let them in?”
“Yes,” Levi said. “I imagine the Eumia would rather stay here than relocate.”
Baal sent someone outside, and a group of six entered carrying medical bags. “See to the Dominus.”
“And them.” Elm pointed at Odette and Bowie.
The medical staff hesitated, looking between Levi and Kian, until Kian grunted and gave a wave for them to go ahead.
“Come with me,” Kian told Elm. “Let’s talk.”
“No.” Levi grabbed Elm’s hand. “He stays.”
“Calm down.” Elm eased out of his hold and helped him into a nearby chair.
“You’ve been shot twice and you’re bleeding out.
While the doctors take care of you, I’ll be right over there,” he pointed toward the bar, “talking to my brother. I’ll be in your line of sight the whole time, and there’s no exit there. ”
Kian watched their exchange, but didn’t interfere. He didn’t argue either when Levi finally agreed, and Elm led his brother to the corner where the bar was.