Chapter 36
The second he was able to climb back onto his feet, Levi exploded.
The rest were still dealing with the lingering effects of Elm’s pheromones, even though the omega—his omega—had fled, and Levi wasn’t of the right mind to hold himself back or think of the bigger picture.
His hand found Kian’s throat and he strangled him, lifting him off the ground and furiously shoving the other alpha backward until he came hard against the wall.
Pheromones of his own shot out, snapping at Kian, striking against his skin like lashes, the anger and worry and fear twisting in Levi’s gut needing some way to purge itself from his system.
“What the hell have you done?!” his voice, always carefully collected, always calm in the face of conflict, was loud and aggressive.
When Kian managed to fight him off enough to free himself, Levi punched him, digging in his knuckles for good measure, sure to break skin for the both of them in the process.
He barely felt the burn, or the fire caused by Kian’s rivaling pheromones, now responding to his.
Levi didn’t care.
Not about any of it.
The only reason he was even here had been because of Elm, and now—
He hit Kian again, then growled when the other alpha delivered a kick to Levi’s side.
“Leviathan!” Baal called out to him, and he managed to break through the haze.
Levi turned to go, intent on chasing after his mate, but Kian apparently wasn’t finished being an asshole.
His arm banded around Levi’s neck, catching him in a strong chokehold, then yelled to his people, “Go protect my brother!”
Levi elbowed him in the ribs, once, twice, and then a third time, which finally did the trick, and spun on his heels, growling. “He doesn’t need your protection!”
But he did need Levi.
“Whatever you did to him,” Kian snapped, “I swear I’ll undo it. Elm isn’t a thing to be played with. Just because he’s my brother—”
“Oh suck a dick, Erskine.” Levi heard everyone else in the room gasp at his seemingly out of character remark, but he was still too keyed up to give two shits about them or their opinions. “What’s between my omega and me has nothing to do with you.”
“Since that omega is Elm Erskine, I strongly disagree,” he countered.
“I know a gods damned trauma bond when I see one. You got in his head, didn’t you?
Made him reliant on you so he’d be easier to control.
There’s no way in hell I’ll allow that to continue.
I’ll find a way to break the bond, even if it means I have to slit your throat to do it. ”
Levi couldn’t exactly argue over the first accusation. It wasn’t wrong. Hadn’t he made the conscious decision to acclimate Elm to him with the purpose of tying him to him? However…
“He isn’t as weak as you make him out to be. Not in mind, or in body.” His omega was one of the most resilient people Levi had ever met, maybe even the most resilient. “He was aware of what I was doing, what I was planning. We’ve already discussed it. As a couple. Because that’s what we are.”
“Just because he was aware, doesn’t mean he could defend against it.”
“He didn’t want to defend against it, you moron.”
Kian gnashed his teeth threateningly. “You think I’ll believe that my extroverted, kind hearted little brother would willingly choose you as a life partner?
You? You’re a cold son of a bitch, Leviathan.
An anal-retentive bastard who doesn’t flinch at gore or cruelty.
Meanwhile, Elm cried when he found an injured bird. ”
“How old was he?” Levi snapped. “Ten? Eleven?”
“Does it matter?”
“Of course it does, because he’s no longer a kid, and he no longer needs you to monitor him.”
“So I should let you do the monitoring instead?” Kian grunted.
Right. About that.
Levi lifted his arm and started typing on his multi-slate, pulling up the tracking device he’d imbedded in Elm.
Reason was finally starting to slip through the cracks of his fury.
He’d allowed his omega to get a head start, figuring since he’d bolted the way that he had, he clearly needed some space.
But this was as much time as he was willing to give him, and there was still going to be a punishment later for breaking his word and running when he’d sworn up and down to Levi he wouldn’t.
“What the hell is that?” Kian asked, anger palpable. Neither of them had fully pulled back their pheromones, preventing any of their people from getting closer.
“He isn’t extroverted,” Levi said, covertly sending the coordinates to Baal.
On foot, Elm hadn’t managed to get very far, had in fact stopped only a few blocks away.
Was he coming to his senses? Considering returning on his own knowing he’d left Levi and Kian to duke it out?
“He’s a people pleaser afraid to be overlooked.
He doesn’t want or need a hundred people shouting in his corner, he just needs one.
That was never you, Kian. Don’t fault me for filling the gap. ”
“You’ve known him for six months,” Kian disagreed. “I’ve—”
“Protected him because he’s your brother,” Levi cut him off, “and cared for him to the best of your capabilities. But you’ve never once put him first.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Baal silently order three of their men to follow him before exiting the room.
Kian scoffed. “I don’t think you have a right to mention firsts here. This isn’t the first of my siblings you’ve screwed, or screwed over.”
Levi stiffened, the pieces coming together.
“He knows the truth now, that you couldn’t get your hands on the bargaining chip you actually wanted, so you settled for what you could,” Kian finished.
That’s what he’d told Elm?
And Elm had believed him?
He—No. Of course he’d had a momentary lapse in judgement. Since this was coming directly from Kian, the one person Elm had basically revered his entire life, of course he’d question things.
“The reason I didn’t tell him about the breeding den,” Levi began, “is because it didn’t matter.”
“Sure, that’s why you sent men to attack Shiloh.”
“I never did that.” This again? Perhaps he should have been clear when Kian had brought it up before, but he hadn’t considered the repercussions then. Hadn’t realized he’d fall so thoroughly for the guy’s brother and need to actually defend himself.
It didn’t matter what the Dominus of the Eumia believed because they were enemies.
But Kian Erskine? The older brother of Levi’s omega?
He fucking hated it, but that mattered.
“I don’t know where you got your intel, but it’s false,” he insisted. “I haven’t sent anyone after Shiloh, and I never intended to. As far as I’m concerned, that event never happened. We were two strangers forced into a horrible circumstance.”
Levi thought about the breeding den once in a while and got pissed off about it.
But Shiloh Sobu was never on his mind, in any capacity.
“I’m supposed to believe that?” Despite his words, Kian didn’t seem as certain as he had a moment ago.
Levi’s multi-slate beeped, the small red dot showing Elm was on the move again. Baal and the others most likely hadn’t reached him yet.
“This is a waste of time.” He took a step toward the door, but Kian bent down and picked up one of the discarded weapons, aiming it his way.
With a growl, Levi stormed forward, until the end of the gun was pressed directly over his heart.
“My mate is out there on his own right now, Erskine. I don’t have time for this pissing contest, and if anything happens to him, not only will it be war between us, I swear to Light that I will personally cut your head from your body.
If you insist on shooting me, do it now, or back the hell off so I can go find the man we both claim to love. ”
Kian stared at him, openly searching his expression, something seemingly occurring to him. “You’re…different.”
Before he could respond to that idiotic statement, his device beeped again.
The dot representing Elm sped up, moving faster than it would be possible for Elm to run.
“If your people found him, where would they take him?” Levi demanded to know, a dreadful feeling sweeping over him. “Damn it, Kian! Hurry up!”
“They’d bring him back here,” he replied with a slight frown. “They’d know after searching for him for so long, I wouldn’t trust them bringing him anywhere I wasn’t at.”
Levi cursed and twisted on his heels, practically racing across the restaurant, the blaster and the alpha holding it all but forgotten in his panic.
“What’s wrong?” Kian caught up with him outside.
“Move.” Levi shoved Wook out of the way and opened the car door, sliding into the driver’s seat himself. When Kian immediately climbed into the empty spot next to him, he didn’t argue, starting the vehicle and peeling out of the parking lot instead.
“Leviathan.” Kian still held the gun, but it was no longer aimed his way.
“He’s in a car,” Levi explained.
“A taxi?” he suggested.
“No. He doesn’t have any money.” Before Kian could ask, Levi hit the call button on his device, barking out a question as soon as it connected. “Baal, do you have him?”
“Eyes on him,” his underboss sounded nervous. “We were a minute too late. Serpents grabbed him.”
Levi slammed a hand against the steering wheel and picked up the pace, weaving dangerously through traffic, eyes flicking back and forth from the road to the flashing red light over his wrist. “Don’t you dare lose them!”
“I won’t,” Baal promised. “I—Shit!”
The sound of screeching tires echoed through the speaker, and both Levi and Kian tensed. There was a loud bang next, and then yelling as Baal gave orders, seemingly forgetting all about the call.
“Protect the Possessio! Go! Go!”
There was shattering glass, shooting, and then crackling before the line went dead.
Levi drove so fast he almost caused several accidents along the way.