Still, Sarang knew better than to ask Kian to return. He wouldn’t be able to abandon his sibling either, no matter how many weeks or months had passed with no word.
“Bishop was working on the leaks,” he informed the Dominus. “The traitors he handed over to Rhovan were already dead by the time we got to his lab. They exchanged information directly. It doesn’t seem like Shiloh was even given the latest report before…”
“Before someone murdered Rho and Bishop went into hiding.”
“He’ll return.”
“Of course he will,” Kian agreed. “He’d never abandon Shiloh.”
A spark of jealousy flickered to life, and Sarang squeezed his fists, banking it back down. Eventually, he was going to have to move past this. There was nothing between his omega and the beta, never had been, never would be. It was a good thing that Shiloh had someone so loyal in his corner. Sarang should be grateful.
Hewasgrateful.
But still…
“I’ll find him.” The sooner he located Bishop, the sooner he could ease this anxiety. The problem with being loyal was the beta was no doubt scheming ways to turn the tables back in Shiloh’s favor. Anything the beta did would undoubtably fuck with Sarang’s plans, and he couldn’t have that. Not when he was this close. “As for the prince…”
“Bite him,” Kian surprised him by saying. “Before it’s too late.”
“I’m not like you.” Sarang was loathe to admit it, but he didn’t want some rough, callous mating. He wanted it to be special. Perfect. “He deserves a proper claiming.”
He grunted. “Trust me, my brother doesn’t understand romance. You’re wasting your time. Unless this is just another excuse because you’re uncertain?”
“Shiloh is mine.”
“Yours, yet you’re refusing the claiming bite?”
“He isn’t ready,” he argued. “Neither of us are.”
“There’s no such thing as ready.”
Maybe not, but Sarang still had to try. If he risked it and gave the bite now, Shiloh would never change. He’d never learn.
“I want love,” Sarang confessed. “I want him to give it to me. I know he’s capable of it, he just needs to be taught.”
“That sounds selfish.”
“And biting a man who says no isn’t?” Sarang drawled, thinking about how Kian and his mate, Sky, had ended up together. “Our situations aren’t the same. Shiloh wants me to bite him. I want there to be more between us than lies and lust. I’ve come up with a way we can both get what we want, it’s just going to take time.”
Besides, Shiloh was being kept at Caelum. He was safe there. Secure.
Maybe Sarang was the one in the wrong here, and the brothers were in the right. Maybe he should set aside his longings for an emotional and romantic connection and just go through with the claiming. Lock his omega down before anything had the chance of going wrong.
But he’d grown up watching his mother and father both be miserable with one another. Had been there when his dad had ultimately left, and his mom had been distraught and wrought with uncertainty over her future. They’d started withattraction, had mistaken lust for love, and look where it’d gotten them?
Sarang wasn’t wrong. He knew he wanted Shiloh. After these past couple of weeks holding him, he’d gathered enough reassurance that the man he’d fallen for was still the same omega who held his heart.
“Until he loves me, he won’t understand the importance of sticking around,” Sarang said. “As soon as the chase is over, the novelty wears off, and things get difficult, he’ll mistake his own feelings and try to leave.”
“You sound so sure of that,” Kian stated.
“Do you think I’m wrong?”
“No,” he admitted. “There’s a good chance that you’re right. Even if he’s held onto you for all these years.”
It’d taken Shiloh time to realize what his infatuation with Sarang even was. By his own admission, they’d been almost a year into knowing one another before then. Prior to that revelation, Shiloh had simply been following his instincts, keeping Sarang close because that’s what felt right, even if he didn’t fully comprehend why.
Shiloh was like that. He believed in his primal urges. Believed that alphas and omegas were sexual beings meant to unabashedly lead with their primordial instincts.
