Page 128 of Xerxes Ascendant
Only it didn’t work.
He’d disposed of dead bodies before. Akira had made a lot of enemies, and it wasn’t the first time someone had come after him, but...itwasthe first time they’d made it to his house. To his family. To have gotten close enough to put a gun to his daughter’s head and forced him to raise both his fists and a knife to Kyle.
He hadn’t realised that he’d frozen in place until he felt warm hands wrap around his. Gentle and patient, Kyle tugged him into his lap on the bloodied kitchen floor and justheldhim until Akira felt able to breathe once more.
“You don’t need to stay,” he whispered into his boyfriend’s solid chest, taking comfort from how stable and reassured it made him feel to be held tightly like this. To be cared for and supported by someone who had never, andcouldnever, let him down. “I can do this alone.”
“You can,” Kyle agreed. “But you don’t have to.”
Akira lifted his head, meeting that bright blue gaze that sparked flutters into his heart each time.
Painfully aware of the corpse on the tiles next to them and how it had beenhishand that put it there, Akira swallowed. “You would not have killed him.”
“No,” Kyle said readily, cradling his cheek and looking at him with such love that Akira felt overwhelmed. “But I understand why you did, sweetheart. And I’m...as terrible as I know it sounds, I’m grateful that you did.”
Akira’s breath caught at the confession.
“Theta would never have stopped trying to hurt you for as long as he lived,” the blonde mumbled, his voice breaking on the difficult admission. “You’d always be watching out for him. Robby wouldn’t have been able to live a normal life.”
Kyle was being so wonderfully brave and vulnerable for him right now, voicing all of this aloud and yet still chewing fretfully on his lip as if believing Akira might think less of him for it. But if there was one certainty in this uncertain world, it was that Akira couldnever.
Kyle was perfect. Akira was the weapon, the monster, the one who would do whatever it took to protect him. He’d stain his soul black if it meant Kyle’s could remain pure.
But he didn’t stand alone.
Kyle wasn’t shying away from Akira’s dark side, even when it was laid out so blatantly like this. He may not match it, but he embraced it, appreciating what Akira was and what he was willing to do to keep those he loved safe. Stars, Kyle couldn’t take the life of a fuckingspider, but here he was, helping Akira scrub pieces of Theta from the walls and haul his body outside for one of Akira’s contacts to collect and dispose of. He looked miserably uncomfortable but he did it anyway, ignoring Akira’s gentle urging for him to leave it all to him, because that was whoKylewas.
“Is it over now?” his boyfriend asked an hour later, wiping the back of his hand across his forehead. He looked incrediblysexy all sweaty and worked up like that, but Akira held himself back from diving on the man despite the way his muscles bulged delectably beneath his t-shirt. Could this gorgeous, patient treasure of a sunshine Dom really be all his?
From up the hallway, Akira heard a splash from the bathroom, and then faint laughter from both Sarah and Robby. It held a strained note to it, but that was to be expected after what they’d both just endured. They were incredibly tough: they’d survive.
And so would Kyle and Akira. He wrapped his man into his arms, no longer caring about the dried blood, and held him tight for a long time.
“No, it’s not over,” Akira whispered against Kyle’s cheek, closing his eyes and losing himself in the warmth and peace of the man he loved with every fibre of his being, down to the stardust that each living thing had sprung from. “We’re only just beginning. Because forever’s going to start tonight.”
Sanjay:You know that box of fresh fruit and vegetables Mackenroth No. 2 sent to us?
[various House Epsilon employees offer an enthusiastic 'yes’]
Sanjay:Well, there was a second box, addressed to the 'Dominants of House Epsilon'.
Eric:What was in it?
Sanjay:[grins and produces his hands from behind his back. The item he is holding is too small to be identifiable through the camera feed] Ginger.
Adam:Oh, fuck.
[all but one of the submissives flee the room]
Ben:[looking confused] I don't get it.
Sanjay:You will, little slut. [stalks towards Ben with wicked promise] You will.
-Witnessed on the staffroom cameras of House Epsilon
CHAPTER 40
Kyle
