Milo refused to live behind the bars of ‘family ties’. He would rather die alone, but free, than continue being used until there was nothing of him left worth saving.
Chapter Seven
Keon
SITTING ON THEporch in his mother’s rocking chair, Keon held the cigarette between his lips and tapped his finger to a forgotten beat against the rim of his glass of scotch. A rarity in his mostly clean-cut life, but Drew would have recommended it, after a shitty confrontation with Vega.
Between the booze and the smoke, he’d found equilibrium.
He removed the cigarette with his right hand and sipped with his left, as Weston approached the house, heels rocking against the dirt to push the seat. “Well?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Weston perched on the stairs into the house. “Vega is packing, under guard. I’ve told them to keep him in sight, in case he’s considering retaliation,” he explained, offering a side-eye. “Eliseo would like an audience.” He leaned over his bent knees and narrowed a suspicious gaze at the empty road. “I’m worried. He hasn’t been the same since Simeon died. He was your brother’s biggest supporter and I’m afraid he’ll be trouble.”
Keon offered the cigarette, but Weston shook his head. He accepted the bottle of scotch Keon offered in its place. Taking another puff as Weston unscrewed the cap and took a sip of scotch, he revealed, “Simeon was his true mate.”
Weston choked, wide-eyed and disbelieving.
The awful truth sat bitter in his mouth, knowing they’d been screwed by the Fates. He tapped his cigarette into the ashtray by his feet. “I found him and Vega in flagrante. He read Vega like a book, knew he was using his position as my true mate to get influence. Eliseo warned him it wasn’t easy. He said—” He paused to remember the heartbroken and defensive words. “—being the Alpha’s mate doesn’t make you better than us. It makes you a willing bitch-in-heat for an asshole who won’t take no for an answer.”
“Shit.”
Keon choked on an unexpected laugh. Did Weston swear? For the first time? The word didn’t fit the old-man-in-a-young-body persona, but it was a welcome deviation. “Yeah,” he agreed, as Weston treated his shock with another sip. “He’s lucky to have survived everything Simeon put him through. My brother loved nothing more than lording over others, breaking hearts and spirits. If he knew Eliseo was his true mate, he would have used the bond to his advantage.” He put the cigarette between his lips, hands behind his head. “Have you sensed the true mate bond, West?”
Weston recapped the bottle to set on the step. “Yes.” Picking at an invisible mark on his knee, he gazed into the distance. “My best friend…Leo. He was—” He scratched his forehead, gaze distant but fond and longing. “—the epitome of out-and-proud. Effeminate, delicate, tall, and beautiful. I always hoped…”
Yeah, Leo was his true mate, and he hoped for happily ever after.
“What happened?” Keon wondered, embracing this rare peace to get to know someone who was a huge part of his new life.
“His father beat him. He said Leo was an abomination. Unworthy to carry his name.” Weston hugged his knees to rest his chin on top. “Days after I accepted my position with Alpha Grier to train as his Beta, Leo snuck into my room to say goodbye. He was afraid his father would kill him, and planned to take his chances in Dnara.”
“You never saw him again?” Keon guessed, unable to imagine how awful it must have been. To know Leo was leaving, yet trapped by his promise to Grier.
Weston shook his head and absently brushed his thumb across his bottom lip.
“Did you add his name to the list?” Keon asked, not swayed by Weston’s confusion. “He left because he wasn’t safe. Don’t you think he’d return, if he knew you were waiting? If he knew it was safe?” Why would Leo have risked breaking into the Alpha’s house to say goodbye if he didn’t have the same hopes, dreams, and love lurking in Weston’s heart? He should have the chance to know.
“What if they find him and he doesn’t want to leave?”
The pain in the question was everything he needed. Keon dropped his arms, crushed his cigarette into the ashtray and slipped off the rocking chair to perch on the step beside Weston. Without acknowledging his frown, Keon wrapped his arms around his Beta and whispered, “Who wouldn’t want you?”
Weston tucked his head into the crook of his neck, the drop of a tear betraying his emotions. Smiling at how much Weston reminded him of Drew’s softer side, Keon cupped his head and let him cry. After everything they’d been through, they needed time to grieve. To cry. To let it out and purge the darkness holding them captive.
It was time for a new beginning.
*
“ALPHA.”
Keon stood on the porch, leaning against the side of the house with his second smoke of the day, hours after their tender moment. Weston had slipped away after a few tears, insisting he had work to do. Keon was surprised to see him in good fettle.
“We should talk about your orders for Eliseo,” he insisted, emerging from the house, a notepad and pen in hand. He eyed the front steps nervously.
“Sit on the rocking chair.” Keon waited for Weston to sit, a blush rising on his cheeks, bypassing emotion for the job at hand. “I want a list of banished or missing pack members, as far as possible. We’ll need physical descriptions, full names, ages, nicknames, and distinguishing marks,” he said, watching a steady pencil mark the page with precision. “I’ve written a letter to Drew. You’ll find it on the coffee table. It details what our plans are and how he can help. I’ve asked him to use—” A sudden thought made him pause. “Do you know what the internet is?”
“I studied Dnara and its technology, for my position of Beta,” Weston admitted, pointing his pencil in the direction of the house. “I haven’t used it since Simeon became Alpha, but we have a laptop. It’s old, though. Someone made a battery generator to charge it.”
Keon was impressed. “Cool. I’ll add a note for Drew to get a new laptop. He can teach Eliseo how to use it, and Eliseo can teach you when he returns?” he suggested, seeing a great opportunity.
