Ani felt their stares settle on him but didn’t lift his head.
“We’ll figure it out,” Flix reiterated.
“Speaking of,” Baikal took a step closer to the couch, but when Ani continued ignoring them, stopped. “As far as the Shepards are concerned, it looks like most of the bad eggs were involved in this half-assed plan.”
Their numbers kept dwindling, that was for sure. Aneski could see why the Brumal hadn’t bothered with them. They weretaking themselves off the board faster than it was necessary for Baikal or anyone else to bother stepping in.
“It’s been confirmed that since taking over, things have been cleaned up,” Baikal continued. “With that being the case, let your Onus continue to run them.”
“You want him to remain the leader of the Shepards?” Flix sounded confused.
“Better to have someone we trust doing it than risk another potential Haroon taking control. They’re doing a lot of good for the community, loaning out cash for smaller businesses that otherwise would have gone under. If we mess with that, it’ll look bad on the Brumal. We’ve always ruled with a mutual combination of fearandrespect. We can’t operate without both. Besides, your Onus earned his position. Who are we to swoop in and take it from him?”
Did Ani even want to keep running the Shepards? He’d been ready to give them up and move on with his life. But Baikal had a point, people were relying on them at the moment, and with Gannon out of the picture now as well…There weren’t many members left that Ani could count on.
He lifted a hand to his temples, a pressure starting to grow there. This was all too much to consider at once. His brother had only just died and—
Russ was dead. For real this time.
And Bowser had killed him.
Aneski dropped back onto the couch, eyes turning up to the ceiling, tracing the crisscrossing high beams. This morning, his biggest worry had been whether or not he’d be able to catch up on his midterms in time. Now he had the Shepards, his brother’s death, and what to do with Bowser and Gannon to deal with.
“Hey.” Suddenly, Flix was kneeling in front of him, resting his hands over Ani’s thighs. “You good?”
“Don’t crouch like that with your injury.” He pulled him up and made him sit next to him, immediately checking the tie around Flix’s thigh. “You were just shot. What are you doing putting pressure on the wound like that?”
“It’s fine,” Flix reassured him. “Baikal took a look at it, and I’m all cleaned up. The bullet cut through the side of my leg, that’s all.”
“It looked like…”
“I’d been shot through? Nope.” He brushed a few tendrils of Ani’s red hair off of his forehead. “I’m fine, Tiny Terror. How about you?”
He let out a shaky breath. “I…don’t know.”
“That’s fair.”
“You’re so calm.”
“Being shot at sort of comes with Brumal territory. This isn’t the first time a Shepard has pulled a gun on me, either.”
“It’ll be the last,” Ani promised darkly, hating just thinking about it.
“Did you hear what Baikal said?”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
“All right.”
Ani cocked his head. “That’s it?”
“We can talk about whatever you’re comfortable talking about. I’m in no rush.” He leaned onto his side, resting his head against the back of the couch. “I’m not going anywhere.”
After a moment, Ani mirrored his position so they were facing one another. “Where’s Baikal and Jett?”
“They left.”
“Without saying goodbye?”
