by Nora Phoenix
“Not to you, I’m not,” Sven said calmly.
A heavy silence hung in the kitchen until Lucan spoke again. “It feels like I’m losing my dad.”
He didn’t look at Sven as he spoke, but Sven could taste the sadness in that statement on his tongue. Before he could say anything, Enar spoke up from behind him.
“Oh, honey,” he said. “You’re not losing him. He’s your dad. How could you lose him? He still loves you two. But did you really expect him to stay single for the rest of his life? He’s been single for far longer than anyone else would’ve been, I think. Don’t you want him to be happy?”
“Yes, but…” Lucan started, then stopped talking again.
“But not like this,” Enar said as he sat down next to Sven, and Sven felt moved by his brother’s support. “You had expected him to find someone his own age in a traditional, plain-vanilla relationship.”
Bray and Lucan shared a look. “Actually, yes,” Bray said.
“So it’s okay for you to engage in your kinks, but your dad should keep it vanilla because… Why? Because he has kids? Because he’s too old? Because the two of you don’t agree with the choices he’s making?”
Bray gestured, clearly agitated. “This has nothing to do with me or my personal preferences.”
Sven had no idea what the two of them were talking about, but he guessed Bray had a little kink of his own that he hadn’t intended for anyone to find out about.
“Bray, you can’t seriously think we wouldn’t know. You’re our head of security. Do you really think Palani didn’t do a little digging into your background to make sure we could trust you? We know. And we don’t give a flying fuck, but when you start judging other people for their kink, I do start to care. I start to care a whole lot. I don’t deal well with flagrant hypocrisy.”
A little touch of alpha rung in Enar’s voice, probably the result of years of habit and having to assert his authority at his job, Sven thought.
Bray leaned forward, placing both his arms on the table as he sent Enar an intense look. “Are you telling me the thought of my dad with your two brothers doesn’t bother you? Not even with the kind of relationship that they have?”
Sven almost held his breath. It was so fragile, the tentative peace between him and his brother. Lars and Enar were still at odds, but he’d tried to stay out of it. Enar had been friendly toward Sven, and he’d responded in kind. But Enar had never been there when Sven had needed him, so would he step up now? Sven stole a glance at his brother, whose face was tight as he spoke.
“Lars and Sven missed out on a lot of parental love, affection, and affirmation as they grew up. I should’ve been there for them, but I failed them. That’s on me. And I won’t deny I was shocked at first to see Lars’s and Sven’s relationship with each other, as you damn well know. It’s still not always easy for me that they have a different relationship with each other than I have with both of them because to me, they’re both still my brothers.”
Sven couldn’t explain why, but to hear Enar still claim him as his brother, it did something to him. They were still family, even after everything that had happened.
“But I have zero problems with their relationship with Grayson. They’re consenting adults, and they clearly need and want this type of relationship, all three of them. And instead of shaming your dad for wanting to take care of these two boys or shaming these boys for needing a Daddy in their lives, you could try to rise above your own prejudice and accept that this is working for the three of them.”
Sven didn’t think but did as his heart told him. He leaned over to Enar and put his head against his brother’s shoulder, his eyes filling with tears as a strong arm came around him. Enar didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. Sven knew they were good. Better than good, even. They were brothers, and his big brother had his back.
Duer sent Lidon an email a few days after his suspension meeting—and not from his email account with the union. In fact, the email didn’t even mention his name at all, and if he hadn’t made some references to the meeting, Lidon wouldn’t have been able to tell who the email was from.
“He’s smart,” Palani said, reading over his shoulder when Lidon had called him over. “He’s suspicious as fuck, and that’s a good thing.”
Lidon pulled him onto his lap, nuzzling his neck. “He reminds me of you.”
“Aw.” Palani laughed. “You say the nicest things. Is he as hot and sexy as me?”
Lidon grinned. “We both know there’s no good answer to that question, so I respectfully decline to answer.”
Palani opened his mouth to say something, and Lidon pulled him down to kiss him. That should shut him up.
“You’re gonna keep kissing me until I stop talking?” Palani said when Lidon let him come up for air.
“It’s worked so far.”
Palani leaned his head against Lidon’s shoulder. “You should ask him to come here. I want to meet him.”
“You jealous?”
“Fuck, no. I’m curious what he knows. It sounded like he saw through their ruse easily, and I wonder why.”
Lidon kissed him again, a soft, wet kiss. “You would’ve made an excellent detective.”
“I debated it, applying to the police academy,” Palani admitted. “But even I feared that uphill battle as a beta. I mean, technically they can’t refuse you, but…”
“Yeah, I know. They have other ways to discourage you. I’m not proud of that or of the fact that it took me a while to see the injustice of that.”
“I know. You got there, that’s the most important part. Not to rush you, but I promised Vieno I wouldn’t keep you too long. You may wanna send that email off and head to the bedroom. I think he needs you.”
Lidon smiled. “I was up early this morning,” he said. “And he was still asleep too deeply to wake him.”
Vieno had been nauseous again that morning, as he had been for the last few days. He was still extremely tired, and Lidon had worried a bit about how pale he looked, but Enar had assured him it was all normal. He’d never been more grateful for the man’s medical background and specialty now that Vieno was pregnant.
“You send off that email. I’ll warm him up for you,” Palani said, grinning. He gave Lidon a last kiss and slid off his lap.
Lidon quickly emailed Duer back and asked to meet that same day. He got back to his computer after he’d fucked Vieno into a whimpering but grateful mess—he’d taken Palani right after as well, since he’d been watching them with hungry eyes, hard as hell, practically begging for a hard fuck—and Duer had replied he’d meet him around five at the ranch.
Lidon hadn’t even hesitated in inviting him inside the gates, which meant his alpha trusted Duer. He’d better call Bray and let him know there was a visitor coming. Once he’d done that, he informed Palani that Duer was on his way. If Palani hadn’t taken the initiative himself to sit in on this, Lidon would’ve asked him. Two minds were better than one, especially a sharp one like Palani’s.
He spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on his email and finances, which wasn’t fun but needed to be done anyway. Duer arrived at five on the dot, scoring more points with Lidon, who appreciated punctuality.
“Ah,” Duer said when Lidon led him inside. “The infamous Palani Hightower. You have quite the reputation.”
Palani grinned as he shook the other beta’s hand. “You’re not so bad yourself from what Lidon told me.”
Duer shrugged. “I try. I love it when people underestimate me.”
“Oh yeah,” Palani affirmed. “It’s the best feeling ever.”
They sat down at the kitchen table, which had become a sort of informal meeting place, Lidon realized. Every time he had to talk to someone, the kitchen was his go-to place. It felt homey, especially since Vieno had started ruling it and leaving his personal touches everywhere.
“So,” Duer said to Palani, “you’re the reason Lidon is in trouble.”
Palani grinned. “Am I now? I tho
ught he managed that well on his own.”
He winked at Lidon, who merely smiled at his antics. “Talk to me,” he told Duer. “Assume I know nothing because officially, that’s awfully close to the truth.”
Duer reached for his bag, which he’d put down on the floor next to his chair, and took out some papers. “They’ve accused you of falsifying evidence,” he began. “Dating back to roughly two months before Palani’s first article about corruption among cops came out.”
Lidon wanted to say something, but Palani grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “Let him tell his story first.”
“Sorry, continue,” Lidon said.
“They have a long list of things that you supposedly did, ranging from doctoring reports in the system to intimidating witnesses to lie, making evidence disappear, and more. I don’t know what evidence they have exactly. The reason, of course, is that they are not willing at this point to hand over their evidence. That personally makes me suspicious. Do you have any idea what they have against you?”
Lidon sighed. “No, I have absolutely no idea. All I do know is that I have never fabricated evidence in my life, so anything they do have on me has to be falsified from their side.”
Duer cocked his head. “Was there any reason you can think of why they would link you specifically to Palani and to his investigation into corruption? Assuming all of what they came up with is a fabrication, why did they choose this allegation? Considering your work as a narcotics detective, I can think of a million things they could’ve come up with that would’ve been way easier for them to fabricate than this. I guess my question is, why this?”
Palani and Lidon shared a look. Lidon knew what the beta was thinking because he was wondering the same thing. Could they trust Duer already? They knew so little about him. He seemed like a genuinely good guy, and the fact that he’d been willing to help Lidon from day one was a positive sign, but that wasn’t enough evidence to share everything they had found out with him.
“Hmm,” Duer said. “I can see you know the answer to my question, but you’re not willing to share. I can understand your hesitation to trust me, considering the situation you’re in. The problem is that I can’t help you if I don’t know all the facts.”
“Why would you even be willing to help him?” Palani asked. “No offense, but what’s in it for you?”
“Fair enough,” Duer said. “I guess the easy and fast answer would be that I have a passion for justice, and I hate to see people get into trouble for things they never did. But in this case, that would be a half truth. Truth be told, I asked to be put on this case. I overheard two of my bosses talking about it, and when I heard Palani’s name, I knew this was something I would be interested in. I have followed your work over the last months, Palani, and like many others, I have been intrigued, fascinated, and also horrified by what you have uncovered. Even the little snippets I caught from that conversation between my bosses about this case led me to believe it was related to whatever you had been investigating. I’m not sure which of your investigations was the target, but the police corruption seems to be the most logical one, considering the relationship between you and Lidon.”
“How did you get your bosses to put you on the case?” Lidon asked.
Duer smiled. “I heard them say they wanted someone gullible, someone who would do a shitty job defending you. I knew I was perfect for that job, since they don’t know me, and as a beta, they would assume a certain clumsiness and shyness from me. I decided to give them exactly what they were looking for.”
“Smart,” Palani said. “As a fellow beta, I can certainly appreciate that strategy, and it’s one I’ve used myself on more than one occasion. It’s always fun to use alphas’ expectations of betas against them.”
Lidon decided to take the jump and trust him. After all, the beta had taken a risk with his strategy. If anyone had found out, he would’ve lost his job. Besides, it wasn’t like much of what they had found wasn’t public knowledge now, since Palani’s blog post had gone live the day before.
“We don’t know for sure who is behind this,” he told Duer. “But we have a pretty strong suspicion. Have you by any chance discovered Palani’s blog yet? He started a new one, and his first post explains the mess we’ve uncovered.”
Duer shook his head. “No. I’ve been buried in work.”
Palani opened his laptop and pulled up the post, then turned his computer so Duer could read it. “Read this. It’s easier than us having to explain it to you.”
They watched as Duer read, his eyes widening the further he got. When he was done, his cheeks had little red spots. “That’s insane!” he declared. “I can’t believe they got away with this for so long. Those poor women and those poor omegas.”
Lidon saw the moment Duer switched from empathy to analytical mode. “You’re saying your suspension was related to this?”
Lidon leaned back in his chair, just as Vieno walked into the kitchen, Enar on his heels. The omega looked much better than he had earlier, the color back in his cheeks and his skin shining with that faint glow.
“One second,” he told Duer and got up from his chair.
Vieno smiled as Lidon walked up to him. “Hey, sweetheart,” Lidon said softly, then kissed him. “Did you have a nice nap?”
Vieno melted against him, and Lidon held him tight. “I fell asleep while you were still fucking Palani.” Vieno giggled. “It was very soothing.”
Lidon grinned. “Glad to be of service, and I bet Palani feels the same way.”
He kissed him one more time, then let go. “Do you think you’re well enough to make dinner?” he asked. “I think Duer will stay as well.”
Vieno nodded. “Sven already prepared everything, so I can just slide it into the oven.”
Lidon was glad to see Vieno got help from Sven. The kid was a hard worker and, like Vieno, seemed to derive joy from doing household work. It had been too much for Vieno by himself, but with Sven’s help, it was probably doable.
Enar had stood a little to the side as he so often did, always careful not to intrude, and he pulled him close. “You wanna come sit with us? We’re walking Duer through the whole mess so he has all the info he needs for my suspension hearing,” Lidon said after kissing him soundly.
Enar nodded, and Lidon gestured for him to grab a seat at the table as well. Not until he turned around again and saw Duer’s stunned expression did he realize he might have forgotten to mention something to the man.
“Right,” he said, not even embarrassed anymore. “You’ve met Palani, of course. These are my other two mates, my omega, Vieno, and my other beta, Enar.”
Duer’s reaction at Enar being called a beta was so subtle, Lidon gave the man major props. Duer gave Vieno a short courtesy nod, then extended his hand to Enar, which he wouldn’t have done if he’d treated Enar as an alpha, because in that case, Enar would’ve had to take the initiative. The gratefulness on Enar’s face made Lidon realize how important little gestures like that were to him.
“Now that we’re all introduced, you may want to get comfortable,” Palani said. “We have a long story to tell you.”
They told him everything, not stopping at the gene but even sharing Palani’s findings about the election fraud. If Duer was sticking his neck out and defending Lidon publicly, Lidon wanted him to know who he was up against. The only thing they didn’t share was the pack and Lidon’s alpha powers. That was not relevant, Lidon felt, and he was glad Palani seemed to agree because he never mentioned it either.
Duer listened intently, writing down some notes every now and then but not asking questions until Palani was done.
“That is, without a doubt, the scariest, most insane story I have ever heard,” Duer said, leaning back in his chair, softly shaking his head. “And what’s even scarier is that I believe every word. I’m just blown away by it all.”
“It’s a lot to process,” Lidon agreed. “And I know we’re dumping this on you.”
Duer dragged a hand through
his neatly coiffed hair, which made it stick up in every direction. “I knew there had to be something going on, but this, I wasn’t expecting. I don’t know where to begin. I have so many questions. I guess my biggest one is what you expect of me? Like, how do you want me to proceed in your suspension case? Do you even want to fight it if this is who and what you’re up against?”
Lidon shared a look with Palani. “I’m not sure, honestly. My sense of justice says I have to, but my self-preservation and my deep desire to keep my mates safe tell me to forget about it. What do you think?”
Duer grimaced. “Right now, I think that I need more time to process and think this through. Maybe I can stop by again in a few days, when this has sunk in a little, and offer my thoughts? I can also do some research in the meantime to see if I can find out anything more about the false evidence against you.”
Lidon nodded. “I’d appreciate that. And yeah, contact me when you’re ready.”
Duer was packing his things into his briefcase when he looked up at Lidon. “What are you going to do about the election fraud suspicions? The elections are in three days.”
Lidon let out a frustrated sigh. “We don’t know. We honestly don’t fucking know.”
It was an exceptionally hot day, even for the time of year, and as he sat working in his office, Grayson worried about Lars working outside. He’d noticed the other men going inside to cool off every two hours or so, but he hadn’t noticed Lars among them. When his brain wouldn’t let it go, he decided to check on him.
He found most of Jawon’s crew sitting in the shade of a double party tent they had put up under a couple of big trees, but Lars was not with them.
“I told him he could take a break, but he didn’t want to,” Jawon said quietly, apparently having no trouble picking up on the reason for Grayson’s visit. “I think his literal words were that he’s a big boy and could take care of himself.”
Grayson rolled his eyes. “Yeah, clearly he excels at that. Thank you for letting me know.”