“Can’t I just call my big brother?” her lyrical voice came through the line, instantly easing some of the tension in Sarang’s shoulders.
At ten years apart, their relationship was more that of a parent and child than siblings. This was especially the case since their Gray father had run off less than a year after Yuna had been born. The bastard had formed a life-bond with someone other than their alpha mother in one reckless moment of weakness that had caused all of them to suffer—and not just in the obvious ways.
Sarang had an aversion to the bond now, a trauma made all the more real that day fate had introduced him to a bleeding omega in the throes of heat.
“How is mom? Is rehab still going well?” Thanks to his job with the Eumia, he’d been able to hire help for back home. They’d sold off most of the farm during hard times, but had been able to keep a decent amount of land surrounding their cottage after he’d agreed to join the mafia at Shiloh’s side.
An agreement he hadn’t really had a choice in, in more ways than one.
If the prince ever found out about Sarang’s secret, would he still cling to him like he did now, or would he reject him and have him stripped of his position?
The latter possibility was what always stayed his hand whenever the urge to confess bubbled to the surface. Fortunately, those times were few and far between. Sarang knew logically that he couldn’t risk it. He refused to put his family in the same shitty position his dad had.
They may have made a similar mistake, but Sarang wouldn’t abandon his mom and sister at a mere chance at the world.
No, Shiloh was stubborn. And that stubbornness came with a pride Sarang thought even the prince wasn’t aware of. There was no way he’d tolerate the truth once he learned it. He’d no doubt come to the same conclusion that Sarang had—that his attachment wasn’t natural, but instead borne of a decision Sarang had made without his consent.
He’d toss Sarang aside on principle.
Sarang would lose everything.
His family would lose everything.
He couldn’t do it.
Another reason why he needed to find this other omega he’d bedded at the Wardrobe. He’d offer them a deal, the bite in exchange for security and station. Very few would turn something like that down. With a claiming bond in place, the weaker Gray life-bond would ideally diminish over time on its own. He would no longer need close proximity to the prince to survive, and the prince’s misguided feelings would fizzle.
He wasn’t a complete idiot. Sarang knew Shiloh had a crush, but it was a trauma bond at best, and a result of the act he’d committed when they’d met at worst. Either way, it wasn’t real, and Sarang couldn’t take advantage of it.
Besides, if Shiloh really did have true feelings for him, the prince never would have gotten with that shitty alpha, Lane. The two had seemed happy enough together, though Lane had refused to exchange mating bites, no matter how openly Shiloh asked for it. On the one hand, if he had, Shiloh never would have been kidnapped, but on the other…
Sarang shut those thoughts down, inhaling slowly before attempting to refocus on the conversation at hand.
“She’s doing well,” Yuna was saying. “The doctors told us this morning that the new drugs are working. There’s hope that she’ll be well enough to travel soon.”
Their mother had shown signs of a pheromone disorder when he’d been in high school, which had progressively worsened over the years. She and his father had been unable to form a claiming bond, since he was of a different species, but she’d refused to find a Syn or Glyphian mate to potentially help her regulate, which had left them with no other options but to seek medical aid.
The disorder was only serious if left untreated, but the problem had been how expensive the medicine was. At the time, the farm had already been in the decline, and Sarang had ended up taking two afterschool jobs to be able to afford a single dose of what she needed.
Now, after joining the mafia, money was no longer an issue, and their mom’s control over her pheromone fluctuations was almost completely back to normal. The goal was to move them to Glyph, but Sarang had wanted to wait until they were sure she was healthy enough for the trip. Yuna had also begged to finish out her high school years with her friends first, and he’d been unable to deny her.
Being an alpha, Yuna didn’t have to worry about the same things as an omega would on Synastry, which was also part of the reason Sarang had caved. Female alphas weren’t as common,but they were given the same level of respect and the same prospects as their male counterparts.
Female alphas were even prized in some circles, protected by the fact they had to mutually deliver a claiming bite to their mate to properly form a bond. This meant no alpha male could claim her against her will, which was good. But it also minimized the number of potential mates available to her, at least if children were the end goal.
While she could technically mate with an omega male, the likelihood of her getting pregnant from one was slim—and that was before birthrates had plummeted to the dangerously low numbers they had. A male alpha would make the most suitable choice. The mix of their dominant genes almost guaranteed offspring. Since she was only sixteen, Yuna hadn’t been called upon by the government program yet, but eventually she would be.
To prevent this, Sarang needed to remain with the Eumia. The mafia’s connection to the Imperial family of Synastry ensured his sister would never be forced into any government sanctioned breeding programs, a very real danger that was being considered to combat the dwindling birthrates.
“Are you certain you want to stay there another two years?” Sarang asked.
“I’ve been discussing it with mom, and I think you might have been right,” she surprised him by admitting. “Before you get too excited, I’d like to finish up this school year at least, but I think moving to Glyph and starting my senior year there makes sense. Besides, I’m worried if I stay here, I’ll be tempted to enroll in university on planet, and then I would never make it to you.”
And if she didn’t come, their mother wouldn’t either.
Sarang sighed. “You don’t have to make sacrifices like that, Yuna. Mom and I are the adults. We’ll take care of things. You just have to—”
“Focus on school,” she chuckled, “yeah, I know. I’m top of my class, did you hear?”
