Page 261 of Dark Haven Omegaverse

“It didn’t go well, here she comes,” he announced. I swear the demon commander sounded eager for gossip.

Stravos charged in first like he was leading Layne here, then jumped out of the way as she stormed past.

She looked livid as she stopped between us and paced on the rug, giving everyone in the room an audience to her impending mental breakdown.

At least she only had to deal with normal emotions and not the shuffling of moods and emotions she would have had before.

“He’s so fucking dense, I swear. Even after dying for his ass in Dark Haven and coming back to life, he’s being an idiot. I don’t understand how one singular man... or whatever he is, can’t get the concept through his thick soul. Just because I love Stravos, doesn’t mean I don’t care about him. Never did I demand he be in a poly relationship. If he doesn’t want to be, fine, but he needs to make that decision and fucking stick to it!”

She threw her hands up as she finished. Every one of us looked like we were watching a performance, eyes tracking her movement and barely blinking so we didn’t miss a thing.

Clearly, entertainment was scarce in Helheim.

Then Crew stomped into the room a moment later and excitement built between their audience.

“Fight, fight, fight,” Monty muttered. Hiro and Drake lost it, covering their laughter with a cough when Layne glared at them.

“Woman, you didn’t even let me finish what I was explaining to you!” he growled out. It wasn’t far off from all the other arguments we’d witnessed in Dark Haven.

She whirled around at his tone and poked a finger right in his chest, jabbing him hard enough he stumbled backward.

“No, you were fucking gaslighting me. If I wanted smoke blown up my ass, I’d fucking ask for it. I am not forcing you into anything,Crew.” She spit out his name like a curse.

Crew deflated, his voice dropping down so even I had to strain to hear him.

“Why wasn’t I enough for you? Why couldn’t you just choose me?”

“Aaaand there it is.” Roman winced. “Have you not been listening at all, dude? She chose you, and she chose him. Not that complicated.”

Layne wasn’t done with him and she had no sympathy for his broken, pathetic tone. In fact, it seemed to piss her off more.

“Stravos is amazing. You haven’t even given him a fucking chance. I’m not asking you to let the gargoyle fuck you, I’m just telling you that I’m going to be with him, too. And you know what he’s done? Not fucking turned on me and abandoned me like you did.”

She had a point. Crew was always angry about his past and being left behind and he did it to the one person who was always in his corner.

“What else was I going to do? I was watching the woman I loved, the one I stayed in that awful place for, leave me behind.”

She turned and grabbed a throw pillow, screaming out her frustration into it before she finished.

“Not true. I never wanted to end things with you. Just because you can’t understand it, doesn’t mean that my feelings aren’t valid. I love you both. As we both know, life is too short to hold back. I refuse to have this shitty conversation anymore. So, either get on board or you can fuck off.”

My eyes drifted to Stravos who stood by the doors, watching them fight with a conflicted expression on his face.

“You may as well come and join the circus,” I called out to him. He hesitated until I pointed to the empty spot beside Roman.

Crew’s expressions darkened at the mere sight of him. You’d think death would cure his jealousy, but clearly, he wasn’t one for letting things go.

“See, how can I compete with that?!” Crew demanded. He turned to the rest of us like we’d give him an answer. He would get no sympathy from any of us. We worked this out with far more dicks than Layne was asking for. I might not have had a normal human choice, thanks to a prophecy and a bond being involved, but I don’t regret a single one of them.

“You don’t,” Hiro said. “It’s not a competition. If you want to be with Layne, be with her. Your relationship has nothing to do with Stravos, just as theirs has nothing to do with you.”

“Exactly!” Layne said in exasperation, waving wildly at him. “It’s like explaining things to a brick wall. You guys talk some sense into him.”

Layne stomped over, snatched my hand, and dragged me off with her. We made it as far as the throne room before she ran out of steam.

“Hey, this isn’t on you. You were clear in there and now he has to figure it out,” I said when she closed her eyes and let out a sad sigh.

“You know what’s wild? Even after that whole thing, I don’t feel so overwhelmed I want to scream. It’s just a normal range of emotions. I never thought I’d get to experience that.”

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