Or…For a wild moment, he was tempted to stay. Stay with this alpha, help him return home—wherever it was—and then maybe—Then what? his rational side said. Kerosvarin had no cure. Was he really ready to bind his life to a feral alpha Jules would never even get to know for real? A feral alpha who would never love him for real, for the person he was? Pheromones and great sex didn’t make a relationship; that much Jules knew. Even if by some miracle his Xeus managed to shift back into a man, he would be disappointed to find himself bound to an unattractive omega like Jules. They had no future either way.So this… this tight feeling in his chest was stupid. Irrational. It was the mating mark’s doing. It wasn’t real.But it felt so very real.Swallowing around the tightness in his throat, Jules took one last breath of the alpha’s scent and whispered, “Go.”The arms around him didn’t loosen.Jules bit his bottom lip hard. “Go,” he repeated, looking into the Xeus’s glowing eyes.The alpha st
Sometimes Jules really envied how well Liam could lie when he wanted to. His scent didn’t betray him at all, remaining steady, with an undertone of confusion. Jules had never been that good of a liar, but thankfully his suppressants made his scent faint, which made reading him difficult.Eric was the one Jules worried about the most. Although Eric didn’t know everything about the Xeus, there were other things Eric did know, and Jules wasn’t sure he could trust his baby brother not to betray them with a clumsy lie.So Jules cut in hurriedly, “If there was anything stolen, we didn’t hear a thing, Uncle. Eric and I were playing video games in his room until early morning—you know we get carried away when we play e-sports.”Eric nodded and, thankfully, remained quiet.“What happened?” Jules said, because it would have been stranger if he didn’t ask.Uncle Wayne gave him a long, scrutinizing look.Jules held his gaze, hoping his face didn’t betray him. He knew he would be his uncle’s main
It took him a while until he was able to focus enough to realize that the faint sense of another person he’d had since the Xeus’s escape was now gone.Jules froze, his eyes going wide, before he scrambled off his bed and ran out of the room.He couldn’t even remember how he ended up in front of their butler’s door. He pounded on it before he could think twice.Harrison looked sleepy and confused when he finally opened it. “Master Jules? What is the matter?”“Order me to do something,” Jules blurted out. “Use your Voice on me.”The butler froze. “Pardon?”“Use your alpha voice on me,” Jules repeated. “Now. That’s an order.”Harrison blinked in obvious bewilderment before saying, “Jump.”Jules didn’t jump—Harrison was neither his relative nor his bondmate. But he did feel the compulsion. He felt it.His knees suddenly weak, Jules turned and wandered away, ignoring the butler’s questions.The mating bond was gone.It was gone.Gone.Mating bonds could fade if neglected for a long time, b
Haydn turned his head and smiled weakly at Royce, his smile turning more genuine as his husband’s gaze held his. It was a little embarrassing that just looking into Royce’s dark eyes affected him like this. Everything felt magically better when Royce was close and looking at him.“I know,” Haydn said with a sigh, putting his head on Royce’s shoulder and deeply inhaling his familiar scent. It comforted him. “But Dr. Jordan said this procedure was too risky. What if he doesn’t remember anything when he wakes up?”Royce dropped a kiss on top of his head. “Then we’ll help him remember. At least he’s back to normal now, not a mindless beast anymore.”Haydn frowned. “He wasn’t really a mindless beast when we found him in the forest.”It was most puzzling. Although Devlin hadn’t recognized him, he clearly was capable of at least some cognitive thinking, which was a much better state than he had been in when he’d escaped the hospital months ago. Fuck, there were so many things they still didn
The truth was, Devlin hadn’t given his consent to this procedure. Haydn might have had his cousin’s best interests at heart, but he still had forced him to undergo an incredibly risky procedure the result of which wasn’t guaranteed. Devlin might wake up and not even remember who he was. He might wake up with his sanity gone. He might wake up and hate Haydn for his broken bond.Haydn cringed at the thought. He’d been honestly shocked when the doctors had told him that Devlin had an active mating bond. He couldn’t imagine the circumstances of a feral Xeus bonding to someone. In fact, he tried hard not to think about it. He could only hope that whoever the unfortunate bondmate was, Devlin hadn’t inadvertently hurt them.But it wasn’t relevant anymore. The bond was now gone. The genetic modification procedure had inevitably broken it.Haydn wondered if his cousin would even remember that he’d been bonded to someone. If he’d miss the bond. Would it hurt? The doctors back home had no idea,
“Of course,” the alphas chorused, their gazes on Liam.Jules took Liam’s arm, dragged him away a little, and hissed, “If you sic your fans on me again, I swear your face won’t be so pretty anymore. You think I don’t know what you’re doing? Stop. Just stop. I get that you have a veritable legion of suitors, but I don’t need your leftovers. Get it?”Liam sighed, as if Jules was the unreasonable one. “I didn’t sic them on you. I may have told them that I appreciate alphas that treat my family with kindness and respect. That’s all!”Jules scoffed. “Right. That’s totally all.”Sighing again, Liam took his arm and walked them to the corner of the ballroom, away from any potential eavesdroppers. “Look,” he said softly, his expression serious. “I really hate that you’re not having fun. I just wanted to help, Jules. I hate that you always look like you want to be anywhere but here. This is our debut season, not just mine. I hate that you hide in a corner of the ballroom and look miserable.”Ju
“You think he’s really interested?” one of the younger alphas said, looking positively crushed. Jules could sympathize.“Who knows,” another alpha said, her gaze on the dancing couple. “But Westcliff is thirty already. He can’t sleep around forever. He’s probably thinking of settling down soon.”Another alpha scoffed. “Please. It has little to do with his age. If the rumors are true, the king will want him to marry and produce an heir.”The first alpha shot him a startled look. “You really think the king will disown Prince Haydn and make Westcliff the heir?”“It’s not just a rumor,” the Marchioness of Ferhum cut in. “I’ve heard from a reliable source that the paperwork has already been drawn up. It should be announced any day now.”A murmur of unease rippled through the group. “But he’s a Xeus,” someone said. “We have never had a Xeus on the throne. People will not be happy.”“Which probably explains why Westcliff is suddenly expressing interest in a noble, beautiful omega,” another a
Jules nearly gasped from sheer outrage. A good story? Westcliff wanted to pursue Liam because it would make a good story? What a cynical, manipulative dick of a—“Don’t tell me you don’t find him attractive,” Terlaine said, sounding stunned.Westcliff shrugged again, some emotion flickering in his eyes. “He’s beautiful,” he said without any inflection whatsoever. “He’ll do. It’ll be a PR win, a stunt to distract people from the distasteful news that a Xeus will be inheriting the throne. You know the common folk like romanticizing the royals’ courtships and weddings. He’s beautiful enough to be a good distraction from the bad news.”Distraction? A stunt?Over my dead body, Jules thought viciously.He must have made some noise, because Westcliff suddenly looked right in his direction.Jules froze.Carefully extinguishing his cigarette with his shiny shoe, Westcliff said, “You can come out now, whoever you are. Don’t make me drag you out of the bushes.”Jules clenched his hands into fist