Chapter 35
“He’s going to bore holes into the back of my head,” Kian stated once they’d moved to the bar area. He leaned against it, crossing his arms, facing away from the room.
And the disgruntled Leviathan staring at him as though urging him to spontaneously combust.
“Just ignore him,” Elm suggested, kicking his feet at the glass that littered the ground.
“How are you?” Kian lowered his voice, as serious as Elm had ever seen him be. “Has he hurt you? Done anything you didn’t like? If he’s forcing you to tell me you’re fine, I have Eumia ready to storm in here.”
He ran his thumb over his wrist, not sure how much to be honest about, but of course his brother misinterpreted.
“Forget about the bite,” Kian said. “You don’t have to accept him. I can get you out of here.”
“I don’t want to leave,” Elm told him. “Things started out…rocky, but then they got better. He didn’t make me accept the bond. When he gave me the first claiming bite, I opened myself up to him willingly.”
He’d had no clue what he was doing, but Kian didn’t need to know that part.
This situation was already delicate to navigate. On the one hand, Elm wanted to be as honest as possible, didn’t like hiding things, and especially didn’t feel like he should have to, since he was an adult who could make his own decisions.
On the other, if their roles were reversed, and Elm heard all of the details exactly as they’d played out, he’d demand his brother leave with him immediately. Demand he seek help and work on undoing the unhealthy attachment he’d formed with his captor.
He also understood that in this moment, he wasn’t just dealing with his older brother.
Kian was the Dominus of the Eumia. This wouldn’t be the first instance where he and Levi butt heads, and while he and Elm were family, there was still the chance Kian would refuse to accept this and take advantage of the situation.
Elm had spoken pretty confidently about it when he’d been convincing Levi, but the truth was, predicting his brother’s behavior was a lot harder than guessing how the Leviathan might react.
“The first?” Kian’s dark blue eyes narrowed. “How many are there, Elm?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he insisted. “I’m fine. I wanted them.”
“You’ve been missing for six months, and now you’re telling me you’ve mated with the Leviathan. Am I just meant to accept that? You two don’t even have anything in common.”
Elm bristled. “Know Levi that well, huh?”
“I know you. You’re extroverted and vibrant, while he’s...There’s a reason the word Frost is stuck on everything he touches. Even if he wasn’t the leader of my rival organization, or part of the criminal underground, he still wouldn’t be good for you.”
“That’s not for you to decide.”
“Did you actually decide that though?” Kian shook his head.
“He’s influenced you. You weren’t trained to resist psychological manipulation, and on top of that, you experienced an extremely traumatic event with Rebirth.
Come home first. Let me have you looked at.
If you still insist on maintaining this bond after—”
“I won’t be separated from my alpha,” he stopped him. “As one yourself, you should understand. Would you doubt your feelings for Sky? Or, better yet, do you doubt his feelings for you? Your beginning was arguably as fucked up as mine, brother.”
“Sky and I have known one another for years,” Kian reminded. “We grew up together. You’ve only just met the Leviathan. Do not compare us. We are not the same.”
“That’s a no then. You wouldn’t let anyone tell you to give up your mate. Don’t ask me to walk away from mine.”
“Damn it, Elm, I’m trying to help you here.”
“I don’t need your help,” he said. “I need your understanding. You don’t have to accept us right away, but you have to understand that this is a choice I am making, regardless of whether or not you give your blessing.”
One of the doctors working on Levi extracted a bullet, but the man didn’t so much as flinch, stony face as he stared at them, as if he was afraid Elm would vanish if he blinked.
A trip to Glyph without the alpha was out of the question at this point in their relationship, and frankly, Elm didn’t mind that so much, because he wasn’t too keen on returning yet either.
To what?
Nothing Levi had said to him about his old life had been a lie.
Maybe exaggerated to some degree, because Elm had never been as lonely or miserable as the alpha made it sound, but he’d definitely felt dejected and like he was going nowhere.
Had watched his friends find their partners and get fulfilling jobs after graduation.
Meanwhile, he’d been operating Sky’s studio with him, selling small trinkets as an excuse to keep creating.
Elm had an apartment he’d moved into, but he hated going back to it because there was no one there to greet him. He’d even considered moving back home, had been on the fence about potentially getting a pet instead when he’d found himself kidnapped.
“I’ve never been this happy in my life,” he told his brother.
“No one has ever cared for me, listened to me, the way he does. I feel seen for the first time ever. There’s no pressure to measure up to anyone else’s ideal.
I don’t worry that someone else will come along and take my place, or be more impressive. ”
“Are you blaming me?” Kian asked, but Elm shook his head and reached out to touch his arm.
“No, of course not. My insecurities are my own, always have been. But knowing that doesn’t change the way I felt in the past.”
He sighed. “I thought I was protecting you by keeping you away from the Eumia. If I had known it would come to this, I would have integrated you in.”
Elm let go. “How much do you know?”
“About the day you were taken? We were able to trace your last known location. Sky figured out why you were probably there. He and Shiloh had changed where they were going to meet, but the message you saw was from before that.”
That explained why Elm had been out there waiting and neither of them had shown.
“Our enemies got the wrong intel as well. When they grabbed you, they mistook you for Shiloh.”
“I got that. That’s why they gave me Rebirth.”
“They wanted to trick the Leviathan,” Kian sneered.
“It makes sense that they thought the omega brother would be worth something, whereas the beta one wouldn’t.”
Kian tilted his head.
“What?” Elm didn’t like the glimmer he saw sparkle in his brother’s eyes and braced himself.
“He didn’t tell you.”
“Tell me what?” His eyes wandered back over to the alpha, and whatever expression was on his face, Levi didn’t like it.
The Leviathan stood, shoving the doctor who’d been working on stitching one of his wounds away when the man protested.
“This is why I didn’t want you involved,” Kian said. “You’re too na?ve for this world, Elm.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Did you really think you’re the only one of my siblings the Leviathan has attempted to seduce?”
“What?” The world seemed to tilt on its axis, but Elm somehow managed to remain standing.
“He’s fucked Shiloh,” he continued crassly.
“That’s why those guys snagged you on Glyph.
They were trying to bring Shiloh to him, but they botched the job and ended up with you instead.
Too afraid to confront the Leviathan empty handed, they altered you with Rebirth and crossed their fingers.
Idiots didn’t realize that Levi knew what Shiloh looked like. For obvious reasons.”
Yeah, the reason being that, apparently, he’d been inside of him.
“Bet he didn’t even know you were my brother,” Kian drove the knife in deeper. “Why’d he keep you alive? Rebirth, right?”
Elm didn’t deny it.
“This was all a twisted experiment. Now that I’ve felt your pheromones, I can probably put the rest of the pieces together. You went into an intense heat and he couldn’t resist. Instincts took over and he bit you.”
“No.” Elm frowned. “I mean…sort of, but…no.”
That wasn’t what had happened.
Levi was the one who’d entered his mating period. He’d gone into rut and—
Did it make a difference?
Didn’t that still confirm what Kian was trying to tell him?
Hadn’t a part of Elm feared that was the case from the beginning?
Hell, he’d run from the lodge as soon as he’d woken up and realized the bites for that very reason.
And in the cabin, when Levi had arrived, his first thought had been that the alpha was planning on killing him to break the bond he’d mistakenly created.
Elm retreated a full step, coming against the opposite counter, jostling himself. His hands gripped the edge.
“Omega,” Levi called out to him, but Elm barely registered it, merely shaking his head on autopilot as his mind raced.
“He’s using you,” Kian said. “Adding a prime omega as powerful as you to his legion is a smart move. The fact that we’re also related, and therefore he can use you to threaten me, makes it even better.
Of course he couldn’t pass up on the opportunity.
You think you’re in love? He brought you here to use you against me, Elm. He wanted Shiloh. He’s settling.”
Of course he’d wanted Shiloh.
“Everybody wants Shiloh,” Elm mumbled, not aware that he was doing it, and then glared at Kian and demanded, “What the hell is so great about him? You, Sky, and Levi too? Why does everyone prefer him over me?”
Kian seemed taken aback and Elm snorted, feeling a bit like he was losing his sanity.
“What? Did you not magically realize that part of the equation? That I was going there not out of some brotherly desire to meet him, but out of competition? I grew up with you, Kian, but the two of you share blood. What does that make me?”
The Dominus of the Eumia, the guy Elm had never seen crack, seemed…confused.
“You already took Sky,” he breezed on, unaware of the way the entire room had gone silent, “and now you’re taking Levi too?”
Even when they were at the studio, Elm hadn’t spent alone time with his best friend in months.
Ever since he’d mated with Kian, he was either busy with his alpha, or busy hanging out with Shiloh or Sloane.
And since Elm wasn’t allowed to interact with Kian’s other siblings, he was never included in those meet ups.
Before, he’d thought this feeling was insecurity, but now he saw it for what it was.
Resentment.
He resented Kian for making him question their familial ties. Resented Sky for mating Kian and leaving him to deal with these feelings on his own. Resented the twins for simply existing.
Resented the Eumia for stealing the older brother Elm had once known and relied on.
And now…
Now there was resentment toward Levi as well.
“Omega.” The Leviathan crossed the room toward him in wide steps, only to be stopped by Kian before he could make it all the way. “Back off, Erskine. My mate is crying.”
Was he?
Oh.
Elm touched his cheek and his fingers came back wet.
Well. That was embarrassing.
He finally noticed how everyone was watching and dropped into a crouch, hiding himself behind the long bar. Wrapping his arms tightly around his knees, he buried his face, a sob slipping past his lips before he could contain it.
There was a shout and a loud crashing sound, and then Levi was there, kneeling in front of him, touching him, sending soothing pheromones into the air.
But it was too late.
Pheromones couldn’t fix a broken heart, and Elm’s was breaking, on the brink of total collapse.
The Leviathan had treated him like an object, only changing his approach after Elm had successfully broken free the first time and injured his people all on his own. It’d been impressive enough to attract the interest of the alpha, of the Dominus side of him.
Levi was like that.
Was always quick to adjust his angle and try something new in an attempt to get the results he desired. He’d alter his behavior at the drop of a hat, with ease, and with the type of self-control he had, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for him to keep up a ruse for months at a time.
“Omega,” Levi sounded as confused as Kian had looked, probably because his potent pheromones weren’t doing anything to calm Elm. “What’s wrong? Talk to me.” He growled when Elm ignored him and then shouted over his shoulder, “What the hell did you say to him?!”
Elm couldn’t do this.
Couldn’t be here.
There were too many people and he felt smothered.
He should never have left the lodge.
The lodge had been safe.
It’d been just the two of them.
Quiet and comfortable and—
Aggressive pheromones exploded out of him, somehow even stronger than when he’d used them against the Serpents. The suddenness of it caught the Leviathan off guard, knocking him onto his ass.
Elm sprang to his feet while he was down, making a beeline for the exit, blindly moving through the noise and the people currently struggling to stand against the weight of his pheromones.
He kept pouring them out, growling and baring his teeth threateningly when a hand snapped up and caught him around the ankle just as he was about to make it to the entranceway.
Baal held on tight and pushed himself up onto his other hand and his knees.
So Elm punched him.
Pain exploded in his knuckles, but it did the trick and the alpha let go.
He spun on his heels and raced out the door.
And away from the chaos threatening to drag him back into a state of frenzy.