Page 109 of Xerxes Ascendant
Akira exhaled. “If Thetasaysit, it must be believed, must it not?”
Omicron’s lip curled at the acerbic force to the words. “You’ve messed us around for long enough, boy. Come before us all to speak truly for once.”
“When?”
“When else? Fuckingnow.”
The call ended.
Akira turned to Kyle, all his usual stoicism vanished and replaced with a deep, resigned sadness.
“You can’t,” said Kyle helplessly. “You can’t tell them you lied. The Coterie will tear you apart.”
“And if I do not, stars only know what Theta will do to Misha,” Akira whispered back, and how could anyone ever think this beautiful, compassionate man was heartless? “I will not have anyone else hurt because of me.” He rubbed absently at his wrist where the tattoo was etched.
Kyle let out a long breath. “Then let’s go.”
Akira side-stepped to block his way. “Kyle, no.”
“I’m not letting you face the Coterie alone!”
“There’s no use in us both being in disgrace.”
Kyle scowled. “I’m still coming with you.”
“Kyle, please,” implored Akira, his beautiful face drawn thin by the desperation of the plea. “I’ll be stripped of my Epsilon Mastery. Which means I’ll lose the House, and we both know Theta will waste no time in taking it over: you need to get everything out that matters before that happens. The men, our cats-”
“Ourcats?” asked Kyle.
Akira bit his lip, suddenly looking unsure. “Can they be ours?”
Kyle’s mouth curved upwards as affection surged through him, and he swept Akira into a tight, desperate embrace. “Of course they can. Havoc has been looking to get his claws into someone new.”
“I’m not new,” his boyfriend muttered into his shoulder. “He’s broken my skin more often than you have.”
“I shall have to remedy that on your return. You will return.”
He spoke the last part as a command, and Akira nodded feverishly against him. “Yes, Sir. I will.”
It went against everything in Kyle to let his man slip from his arms and leave to face that pack of credit-hungry wolves on his own, but he had to trust Akira knew what he was doing. TheCoterie wouldn’t kill him just for telling – what they believed to be – a lie, would they? But it was against one of their own number, and many Xerxians had died for less.
Fuck.
Did he race after his boyfriend, throw him forcibly over his shoulder, and whisk him away into an even darker and more disreputable corner of the city to spend the rest of their lives in hiding? Sacrifice Misha for Akira?
Kyle didn’t cry often but he felt the tears welling now, hot and terrified in the corners of his eyes.
What an impossible choice.
And he felt like a coward for resolving it by choosing inaction over action, even if he justified it on the basis that he’d never be able to keep Akira hidden. The noble, determined man would un-kidnap himself at the first opportunity to hand himself over in exchange for Mish, and wasn’t that why Kyle loved him so much? That he was willing to give upeverythingfor an employee…and dare he say it, friend, even if Akira insisted he didn’t have the patience nor the social graces for such things.
Kyle drew the back of his hand across his face to dry it, and took a deep, trembling breath. He’d compared Akira to a cat often enough, and the man certainly had nine lives. Let them hope there was at least one left to spare.
He made a quick call of his own. Indira picked up immediately, her hair mussed and her voice thick with sleep. Kyle quickly ran his cousin through everything that had happened, thankful he had the ability to vidcall rather than just message as a result of the new runepad Akira had gifted him – stars, everything good in Kyle’s life led back to that irritating, irresistible man – and then hurried back inside House Epsilon. The first staff member he found was Casey, hovering anxiously in the foyer and chewing on his fingernails.
“Did you find him?” he asked, and before Kyle could speak, frantically added, “I didn’t mean to yell at him earlier. Tell him he can borrow my perfume whenever he wants.”
Kyle blinked, before realising he was talking about Misha, not their Master.
