Chapter 21
“A word, underboss.” Sloane stepped from the shadows, appearing behind him like a phantom, quiet and still. Even her pheromones were locked tight, only the barest hint of her on the air, impossible to catch since this was her home, and her scent in the walls was to be expected.
Sarang paused, considering. It’d been a day since he’d locked her brother up and refused her an audience, since his talk with Tull, and he was still confused. Before he saw Shiloh, he wanted to work through his own feelings. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them if he didn’t.
Knowing the omega lusted for him on his own, that it wasn’t driven from the life-bond, made a huge difference, and if this discovery had come before Sarang had learned that Shiloh was a heartless killer, he wouldn’t have held back.
But now that he knew…Now that the person he’d believed to have loved all this time wasn’t real…
“I’ll spare you a moment.” It wouldn’t do him any good to make an enemy out of the princess, no matter what his final decision might be.
And he did have options.
Even if they weren’t very good ones.
Sarang’s reliance on Shiloh to keep his qi flowing and balanced meant he could never be permanently parted from the omega’s side.
He’d have to return to it, whether he liked it or not.
There’d been nothing to do but think of his choices when he’d been trapped in the hotel, slave to Shiloh’s whims and fantasies.
Nothing to do but plot.
For four years, Sarang had done everything in his power to protect and shelter Shiloh.
Had gone out of his way, had reduced himself to little more than a servant on more than one occasion.
The coin he made helped support his family back home, yes, but the second he’d inadvertently snapped that life-bond in place, he’d known he was going to have to leave them or suffer the consequences.
In the beginning, he’d been unstable and inexperienced with his Gray abilities. Aside from plants, he hadn’t practiced filtering qi through any other living beings, let alone sentient ones, so working with Shiloh, being connected to him, had been a learning process.
When the prince had woken and offered him a position as his bodyguard, he’d taken the chance, despite the risks joining the mafia would bring.
Back then, he’d needed almost constant connection.
Just being in the same room hadn’t been enough.
Sarang couldn’t even count how many excuses he’d made those first few months to get a chance to touch him.
Things were different now. He was older and had control of himself.
Had used his power on at least a dozen people over the years when they’d been severely injured in a fight.
Mostly, he kept it for himself and Shiloh, but with the life-bond already in place, there was never a fear of him accidentally forming it with another, which was a comfort.
If he chose to, he could stay away from Shiloh for six months, maybe even longer. When he did need to be in the same vicinity as him to restrengthen the bond, he wouldn’t need to get physical to do it. Spotting him from across a room for a few minutes would be more than enough.
Technically, Sarang could choose to walk away now, appearing only when he had to, and all without Shiloh ever knowing.
But that option wasn’t appealing.
He was trying to figure out why, but he also understood he was done taking the high road if he was going to be the only one who bothered. Shiloh had made him the underboss. Had placed him in a high enough position that Sarang could easily subdue him with red tape and Eumia politics.
No matter what, Sarang couldn’t let Shiloh go. He’d grown too accustomed to this lifestyle. To the rush of being in charge, to having people who relied on and respected him. To not having to worry about his family’s debts or how he’d afford to put his sister through college.
Why should he be the one to walk away when the prince was the one who was in the wrong?
He shouldn’t.
So he wouldn’t.
He’d keep Shiloh.
How and in what capacity was the question.
Sloane took a single, clearly threatening step closer, her expression enigmatic in a way that only added to the tense atmosphere.
It was in the early hours of the day, just before dawn, so pretty much everyone else had already finished working and gone off to bed. The two of them were alone in the hallway on the second level, and though he’d never witnessed her fight before, his newfound knowledge of Shiloh made Sarang wary.
“I don’t know what he has on you,” she said steadily, “but this is the only warning I’ll give. Harm my brother, and nothing will save you.”
He tipped his head. “You didn’t seem bothered by his being confined the other day.”
“Because I know how my brother feels about you, and I assumed this was another one of his games. I’ve since started to wonder.” She eyed him from head to toe. “I’ve been watching and you’re…different.”
“Oh?”
“You’ve always been stoic and imposing,” she explained. “That’s what made you such a good candidate for your position. But there was a softness in your expression whenever Shiloh was brought up.” Her gaze hardened almost imperceptibly. “There. As I suspected. It’s gone now.”
“How much did your brother tell you?” Sarang slipped his hands into the front pockets of his black jeans, but she gave no reaction to his false display of ease. The twins were close.
Close enough for Shiloh to entrust her with his secret? It was bad enough that Bishop knew. Dangerous. The second it got out, Sarang ran the risk of having his Gray side used, both against himself and against others.
He and Kian got on well enough, but there was no mistaking how single-minded he was when it came to his plans for the Eumia. Their friendship wouldn’t make any difference to him if he discovered Sarang had been keeping useful information.
A full-blooded Gray could drain the qi from an entire room of people. As a half breed, Sarang doubted he’d be as capable, but he’d also never tried.
The Dominus would put him through tests, push him past his limits.
Sarang was too proud to allow himself to become anyone’s lab rat, even Kian’s.
Hell, that was half the reason he was so torn over this situation with Shiloh. It wasn’t only that the omega was a psychotic killer, it was how the fact altered everything Sarang thought he’d known about him and them as a unit.
The information Shiloh and Bishop had put together on Grays had cleared up one fear.
The life-bond couldn’t affect someone’s emotional reactions, meaning Sarang’s worries that he’d forced a crush on Shiloh were misplaced.
However, Shiloh’s revealed personality disorder brought new doubts to the table.
Any official documentation on his diagnosis had been scrubbed from existence.
Sarang hadn’t been able to find any doctor’s notes or mentions of it in any of the files he’d searched through, including ones kept on both Shiloh’s and Kian’s personal computers.
He had no clue what type of personality disorder he had or if it’d ever been labeled, which made it rather difficult to predict Shiloh’s innerworkings.
There was a very real chance that he’d latched onto Sarang in the heat of the moment that day they’d met simply out of adrenaline. If his life before Sarang had been dull, like he claimed, it made sense that meeting a person who managed to excite him would unlock an obsessive streak within him.
If that were the case, this wasn’t a crush. Shiloh didn’t like or love him.
He was fascinated by him.
Would it ensure the prince remained at his side?
Yes.
But did that mean he could be trusted again?
No.
“We share everything with each other,” Sloane said, but added as soon as he bristled, “Except for when it comes to you. I’ll confess, Bishop is his only confidant where you’re concerned.”
“Why?” he couldn’t help but ask.
The corner of her mouth twitched, but never fully lifted. “He’s protecting you. Even against me.”
Maybe talking with her could help answer some of his burning questions.
He’d wanted to try and slip a few in, but hadn’t wanted to risk tipping her off or riling her up enough to attempt breaking Shiloh free.
He’d yet to find a good enough means to blackmail the prince into silence about his being a hybrid, another reason to prevent him from receiving visitors.
“You believe he has real feelings for me?” Sarang watching even more closely for any signs of manipulation, but she was a blank slate.
“I figured you’d learned the truth of him when you returned. After how boldly he’s been acting within the Eumia, it’s no wonder. Is that it then? You’ve locked him up because you’re angry that he played with you?”
“Four years is a long time to drag a game on,” he replied tersely.
“Not if the emotions developed along the way are true.” Sloane licked her lips, clearly taking a moment to decide how forthcoming she was willing to be. No doubt trying to decide how much of the truth would benefit her brother, and how much would push him further away from Sarang’s good graces.
“Can he develop emotions?” he helped her along, too impatient to wait for her. “He’s malevolent and spiteful.”
“I told him he was taking things too far when he brought Lane into the picture,” Sloane confused him by seemingly changing the direction of discussion.
“That he was being foolish for trying to show you a made-up softer side of himself. How did you feel, underboss, when you saw him docile and snuggling in the arms of another? When you saw him shedding tears the night we learned Lane had been killed?”
“I was the one holding him while he sobbed,” Sarang said. “My arms are the only ones he’ll feel around him ever again.”
Her brow lifted. “You don’t say that in a loving way.”
“You expect me to love him after learning he’s a virtual stranger?”
“Is he?” She tsked. “You’re smarter than that, and I’m not my brother. I’m not so infatuated with you that I can’t see the truth. There’s no point in lying to me. Unless you’re lying to yourself?”
Parts of Shiloh were strange and unknown to him.
But only parts.
“Four years is too long for anyone to keep up an act fully,” he confessed. Another realization he’d come to while he’d been captured with nothing else to do while he waited for night and the forced rut to come but read the same three books over again.
“He may not be a weak or gentle omega,” Sloane agreed, “but the arrogance? The brattiness? You’ve experienced both. They were very real. As the years went on, and he became more and more comfortable around you, it was harder for him to keep it hidden. I saw it. I know you did as well.”
“I explained it away,” he said. “He’d been through so much this past year alone. I thought…”
“There’s only one event that truly got to him.
” Anger flashed across her face, there and gone in an instant, but incredibly vicious.
“He never meant to be kidnapped. The breeding den, being forced to sleep with an alpha that wasn’t you…
It changed him. I believe that’s why he rushed things.
Why he was so keen to reveal himself to you and drop the act.
Maintaining the mask has been the most important thing to him all this while, but as soon as he was rescued, he couldn’t hold it together the same way. ”
She was right. Shiloh’s emotional outbursts had gotten worse since then, but again, Sarang had attested that to his traumatic experience. It was, just not in the way that he’d assumed.
“They were still able to take him, even with his skills?” Sarang asked, not because he doubted that Shiloh’s kidnapping had been real, but because he wanted to better understand.
“He was too focused on his stupid plan with Lane to get your attention,” she stated.
“He was constantly setting up little shows like that. Setting the stage so you could swoop in and play hero. Whenever your attention waned, he would pull another act. You pieced that together on your own by now, haven’t you? ”
He had, but he hadn’t realized the plotting was linked to his attention.
“My brother is obsessed with you,” she clarified.
“The second your eyes are elsewhere, he gets anxious. Anxiety and doubt make him dangerous, as you’ve seen.
I assume he’s kept you at the secret business he’s been building under Kian’s nose.
That the reason you’re holding him now is to return the insult.
Our mother used to do far worse to us whenever she felt we’d stepped out of line, so I trust he can handle being confined. ”
Sloane took another step closer, the first brush of her dominant pheromones warningly flicking across his skin. “She’d beat us bloody until we promised to be good little soldiers.”
Sarang barely resisted the urge to cover his nose, the smell of her heady and, frankly, making him queasy. It shouldn’t have. It wasn’t like he wasn’t familiar with her scent, and yet…Was it because she wasn’t his omega?
Had his body well and truly already chosen, to the point there was no use pretending otherwise?
He needed to test that theory, but he couldn’t do it while standing here with her.
“You’re telling me that you both learned how to placate her and give her the impressions of you that she wanted to see,” Sarang said, knowing that, while that was true, it had not at all been the angle Sloane had been going for.
Sure enough, another blast of threatening pheromones came, and this time he couldn’t prevent himself from actively gagging.
Which seemed to catch her attention in an unexpected way, for she immediately pulled her scent back, head tilting.
“That sly brother of mine,” she mumbled, clearly to herself, but Sarang caught it.
“What?”
“He’s imprinted on you.”
Sarang bristled. “Excuse me?” Surely he would have noticed if that were the case…right?
She retreated a full step. “It’ll hardly change anything, but I’ll respect his wishes. For now. My warning stands, underboss. Hurt him—in any way he won’t enjoy—and I’ll separate your head from your body faster than you can blink. And, Sarang? I’m not talking about the one between your shoulders.”