Elias’s POV
The muscles of my body lock in place as loud noise of a gunshot rings through the hallway.
’Noah’ my alpha growls our possession’s name.
"He’ll shoot you too" Damien says.
He continues to walk ahead of me without stopping. We both know our father wouldn’t kill an unharmed omega.
My father, Darius Deus is trigger-happy, but he also lives by my mother’s strict rules.
Do not shoot unless you’re shot at. And if you have to shoot when you’re not shot at, do not waste my bullets.
"I hope abandoning us to fuck a man was worth it. Hopefully he’s dead and you’ll need me to find you a new piece of ass" Damien’s crude words strike a chord in me.
A chord that shouldn’t exist.
I don’t feel. I don’t know how to feel. Yet, I stop walking.
"Repeat those words" I say in a calm tone and he looks at me from over his shoulder. The side of his face shows all of his intent. His dimples dent and brown eyes sharpening with a need for chaos.
Evil. Trouble hungry. Ready.
"I haven’t had blood on my fist in a while, pocketwatch" he snarls at me and mother walks past us.
He doesn’t spare us a glance as he walks down the hallway with the men behind him.
"Would I have to chain my children for lunch?" he asks without stopping and the tension between my brother and I dies immediately.
We wait for mom to leave before Damien rolls his shoulder.
"You’ve been wound up about that omega" he says and I shut my eyes, dragging air into my lungs.
’Damien means no harm’ I tell my system, counting numbers in my head to soothe all the rage.
"What is he to you, little brother?" the older alpha and I open my eyes. A false relief floods my body as I fix my gaze on the painting on the wall.
An old jellyfish watercolor painting. The one mom made two days before Kai was born.
"Noah is similar to someone I met years ago, someone I own" I tell Damien and he moves to stand directly in front of me.
"Similar?" he asks, folding his arms across his chest as he assesses me. "Elias, you never do similar. You never make mistakes either, are you doubting Noah’s legitimacy?" he asks.
"In his heat, he slipped into a state that I don’t understand, but when he came to, he couldn’t relate to what I was asking"
He doesn’t have to know all the details. He doesn’t have to know how he begged and sobbed. Those details are mine to know.
"Then the prince must have a mental issue" Damien concludes. He is well familiar with losing his mind during his rut.
It’s a buried pain we never dig up.
"I need to know if he’s the one I’m looking for" I say and Damien nods firmly, pressing his lips into a thin line.
"And if he’s not the one?"
"I’ll kill him. Burn Winslow and everything left to ashes. And feed whatever remains to wild animals" I say plainly.
"You wouldn’t. I saw you during his heat. You took care of him like he matters" Damien says. The crude playfulness, like every other time I’ve needed him, has disappeared.
"If he’s not the one I want, I will kill him. No one will stop me" I state and Damien nods.
"What would you like me to do, brother?" he asks.
"The man who touched him on my wedding night" I say and Damien nods.
"We’ll visit him" my words don’t need extra explanation. He’s my brother. He understands.
My brother shoves his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants.
"Visit" he repeats the word, looking around the hall for a potential weapon, "visit" he repeats.
Like a supply to his twisted needs, a maid walks by us with a tray and Damien busies himself with crowding her against the wall.
"You" he says and the young woman whimpers.
Her body trembles as he gets closer.
He taps her neck with two fingers, and she bares her throat for her master. The front of her dress tighten with how hard she starts to breathe and her breasts threaten to spill out.
"Give it to me" Damien drops his voice to a growl, and she holds out the tray in her hand.
She smells like sex.
"Good...good girl" he murmurs, eyes ravishing her before he takes a step back.
"Damien" I call, reminding him of the task ahead of us.
For him, Chaos, hunger, and lust always blur into one giant monster. He described the beast as red, perpetually thirsty, and him.
He’s the red monster.
"Run" he says to the girl, and she takes a moment to put herself together before she bolts down the hallway. Teeth audibly clattering as she goes.
"I just love the smell of terror" he says and tilts his head backwards.
"Shall we?" he asks and I nod, silently letting him to lead the way. War goes ahead, and death completes it.
He’s the loud beginning and I’m the quiet ending.
We make our way into the place we met the man last time.
And the second the Winslow dog sees my brother and I, he drops to his knees. Submission. The only appropriate response to death.
"You remember us" Damien says with a loud laughter. Slamming the tray against the wall to rise fear in everyone.
"Out, everyone" I order.
In no order or care for dignity. They all run out, falling over each other like domino piece with flesh and blood.
"How are you today...did we ever learn your name?" Damien asks, going to his prey of the day and patting his head like he does with his dogs.
I wrap my fingers around my metal pocket watch, counting the seconds down to the first hit...the first blood flow and the first scream.
"N-no sir..." the Winslow dog stutters, shaking on his knees.
I take one step towards him, and the smell of urine fills the room. The golden yellow liquid trickles to the floor, flowing towards my shoe.
"Please...please..." he begs Damien, pointing at me with his hand. The hand with the severed fingers.
He’s praying to the god of war to save him from the god of death.
Pitiful.
"What my brother wants is simple. He just wants to know the state of Noah’s mental health" Damien says, pointing at me.
I stand here, waiting. Just waiting for the right time to take. The right time to take his life.
"Mental health? I...I don’t know...Noah is hidden half the time"
"And when you see him, what do you see?" I ask quietly and the man shakes his head.
"Nothing...he’s just so...pure, poised, and he doesn’t look like someone who has issues" he says, still vibrating from a threat we haven’t even made.
"Is that all?" I ask quietly and he nods.
"I swear, that’s all...we...we only saw him from afar"
Like the stone angel.
"That’s not who I need to see" I tell Damien and he sighs. Dissatisfied with our preys unhelpful response.
"Fine then" he straightens his back, passing the silver tray to me like he’s done.
"Will you let me go?" The man ask, eyes wet with tears of hope.
"No" I give my response and he lets out a loud cry.
"I didn’t touch him after that, I swear to the moon goddess..." those are the last words I permit him to say before killing him.
My brother laughs with purely deranged delight as the man’s head drops first, blinks twice, and dies.
The edge of the silver tray is blunt, yet, enough force and suppressed rage can turn a kitchen item into a beheading tool.
His headless body follows.
"Zane" I say, wiping the splatter of blood off my face.
"What about him?" Damien asks.
"We visit him, now" I drop the tray, turning my body and heading for the door.
I’ve started. I won’t stop till I have my answers.
Why is Noah, the stone angel, the perfect son of the bastard governor, branded in my soul and I’m not in his?