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Saint narrowed his eyes and glared past Octavius at the Atlas building. “There’s nothing in there for me.”
Octavius slumped onto the grass beside Saint, on the opposite side to Jay. He stared at the building too, and the rain pummeled them as though trying to wash all three of them away.
Water dripped from his locks of white hair and clung to his fine lashes. He was lovely, even wet and bedraggled.Especiallywet and bedraggled. Smart and prickly and like an unleashed force of nature in bed.
“When Mikalis wasn’t with us,” Octavius explained, “he was here, overseeing the rebuilding of the compound, and the building of… something else.”
Saint didn’t give a shit about any of that. “Leave with me. Right now. Walk away, Octavius. They don’t…” He dragged a hand down his wet face and guarded his heart for the words that would come next. “They don’t love you like I do. They will use you, they always have. And when done, they’ll lock you away, or dust you, or bury you in a hole somewhere. It’s what they do.”
“You love me?” His smile emerged, wet with rain.
“Look at you, acting all surprised, as though you didn’t already know.”
“The Big Bad Wolf is in love with me?” His grin grew, thawing all that ice he wore as armor.
“You’re brilliant, compassionate, quick to anger, sometimes a dick, but you’ll never quit. I admire you, Little Wolf. And love you.”
Octavius laughed softly, but that laugh soon faded. “I can’t leave.”
“I know.” He’d always known, but he’dhoped.
“Saint, Mikalis was building a cage, like the cage he kept you in, but bigger and reenforced. It looks as though it’s designed to hold a… monster.”
“Or a god,” Saint mused aloud. Mikalis was Erebus. And those theatrics back in the warehouse… There was no way all this was over.
Octavius nodded. “What if… we were wrong? What if I was wrong? I can’t stop thinking about his last words. ‘What have you done?’I know I did the right thing, I stopped him, we stopped Raiden, and you destroyed most of the nyks, but… what if I missed something? What if it’s not over?”
Octavius would never rest. His instincts were telling him something was wrong, and he had to see that through. Jay was right, when he’d said Octavius would do the right thing. He’d always right the wrongs. Saint almost wished he was more like him, but for now, he’d have to settle for loving him instead.
He almost told him that Mikalis was Erebus, but it wouldn’t change anything. It would only strengthen his desire to stay.
“I’d like you to stay because…” He hesitated and took a breath. “Because when I think of a life without you in it, I can’t breathe, I can’t think. I need you, Saint. You’re in my head, my veins, you’re in my heart. If that’s love, then I feel it. I can’t do this without you, or without Jayden. I need you both. But I know it’s a lot to ask. I know you hate it here, and fuck, I know you and Storm will try and kill each other. Maybe I’m wrong, and it’s all over, and if it is, then we’ll ride off into the sunset together, fuck the world and the Brotherhood. But I can’t leave just yet.” He turned his head and gazed into Saint’s eyes. “Will you stay?”
It wasn’t going to be easy. Saint eyed the Atlas compound through the falling rain and felt its restraints try to tighten around him. But in truth, he couldn’t walk away without Octavius. His heart would never allow it. And Jay wanted to go to college, put down roots, have a life. Saint would do anything for the pair of them, even give up his final ride into the sunset. Besides, what good was a happily ever after if he couldn’t share it with the men he loved?
“We’ll figure it out,” Jay said, echoing Saint’s earlier words.
“What did Storm say?” Saint asked. “You asked him if I can stay?”
“He said to keep you on a tight leash.”
“That asshole.”
“But he didn’t say no. Because he knows he needs you. They all do. The others didn’t stop your fight, and they could have. If Storm had ordered them to recapture you, they wouldn’t have obeyed. Things have changed.They’vechanged. They care, they care about a lot of things. This is not the Brotherhood you knew.”
“You know that for certain?” His little wolf’s eyes glowed with certainty, and perhaps a touch of silver sparkling in their Brotherhood blue. Maybe he should believe him. He already believedinhim.
“Yeah, I do. And Storm will come around.”
Saint snorted. “Maybe I’ll stay, just to see that.”
“You will?” Octavius’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.
“I’m here for you. Always. I’ll fight nyks for you, topple gods, change the world for you. But don’t ask me to do it for the Brotherhood. They do not deserve either of us.”
Octavius grinned and leaned in. “Good enough.” He laid a kiss onto Saint’s lips. “And if anyone hurts you, I’ll break their minds wide open.”
Saint grinned into the kiss and encircled his arm around Octavius, drawing him close, intending to keep him close. “My fierce Little Wolf.”
