“Overwhelmed? Exhausted? Scared shitless about your sister?” Keon guessed, glad Milo didn’t deny it. He needed to accept how he felt, to realise feelings weren’t a weakness, like Thatcher said. “I get it. Be fragile, if it gets you through it,” he promised, squeezing his hand in support. “I’ll hold on to you.”
Chapter Twenty
Milo
“I’M SCARED.” THERE, Milo had said it. Out loud to Alpha Keon. He hadn’t felt this vulnerable since the day of his injury, when he woke to find half his body didn’t respond to his brain anymore.
Keon smiled, a sad but careful thing, and brushed the back of a finger over Milo’s jaw. “It’s okay to be scared. Whatever you feel right now is valid and yours. Own it,” he said, his tone soothing and full of comfort.
Milo had never known the feeling currently beating at his chest. Keon had already done so much, but now he was talking about saving Milo’s life, giving him a future, rescuing his sister.
“You need to be careful,” Milo said, seeing no other way to warn them of the danger. If Thatcher had already pushed Usher into acting illegally throughout the challenge, with the Meskli there, he was past the point of being stopped. “My father wants your land. He wants to rule this pack, in revenge for the attack your brother made on our pack. Hewillbreak the laws and rules of m’weko, ofallVihaan, if he deems it necessary.”
He watched Keon smirk at Farley, as if they shared a secret that would soothe Milo’s concerns, but neither realised how duplicitous his father could be.
Tightening his grip on Keon’s hand, Milo waited for his attention. “Donotunderestimate Thatcher. I’m a grown adult in anyone else’s eyes, but…he terrifies me. The things he’s capable of…the way he can act without a single thought or care about the people he hurts…frightens me,” he cautioned, relieved Keon’s smile fell, as if finally taking his warning seriously. “He is the reason I can barely walk,” Milo reminded them, glancing at the Meskli, who sat forward, face tight with concern. “He’s threatened to hand deliver my sister to any Alpha who can help him gain power, and she’s only fifteen. She’s his only daughter, and all he sees is an asset to be used, or sacrificed at a time that suits him.”
Keon nodded, his thumb caressing Milo’s fingers. “Okay. I understand,” he said, taking a deep breath. “It’s entirely your choice, but…doyouwant to be the one to tell him of the union?”
Milo laughed, an instinctive reaction he couldn’t have suppressed even if he knew Keon would say something stupid. “I would rather be in Dnara, two continents from the nearest doorway,” he confessed, almost shocked at his honesty when Farley laughed and he realised he’d spoken aloud. “No. I want to be anywhere but in the same room as him. If that’s okay with you both?” He checked, realising he’d lost track of his manners. Keon made him feel comfortable; he’d forgotten he was talking to an Alpha and the Meskli.
“Sorry.” Milo shook his head, mentally chastising himself for the slip. He’d been so relaxed in Keon’s presence that the differences of their status had faded into the background. He wasn’t used to being spoken to kindly, honestly, and being taken into the confidence of an Alpha.
Farley snorted, sipping at his scotch. “Lad, if this one only ever spoke respectfully to me, we’d never talk,” he joked, drawing an attractive, warm smile from Keon that gave Milo flutters in the pit of his stomach. “Forget who we are or what our titles are. They don’t mean much, and you just told us you’ve got heecha blood, which in Vihaan terms makes you the highest status in the room.” Farley winked with that shocking and confusing revelation.
He glanced at Keon, but he only shrugged, either unwilling to argue with the Meskli or trusting his judgement. It left Milo speechless.
Guilt set in, when he realised the white lies he’d told. Afraid to expose himself as a reluctant spy for his father, he’d lain the knowledge of the bunker on his gift. He didn’t want them to think he was here because Thatcher had sent him, but now Milo worried how it would come across when they discovered the truth. Milo resolved to tell the truth the moment this fiasco with his father was over.
“I’m sorry. I’m not always like this.” While Milo hated constantly apologising, he hated giving a bad impression more. He wasn’t always scared and weak, and though he felt that way whenever he was around his father, he didn’t want to be that person around Keon or the Meskli.He was stronger than he’d shown.
“Like what?” Keon quirked an eyebrow. “Honest? Cautious? Do you not warn people if they’re stupid enough to underestimate someone you know well?” When he put it that way, it sounded silly to apologise, but he was missing Milo’s meaning. Perhaps from kindness by not pointing it out, or because he didn’t see how vulnerable Milo felt.
He took a breath, found the right words, and only spoke when he was sure of the phrasing. “I’m not always worried and afraid,” he explained, correcting them in a way that didn’t make either wrong. “I don’t always need to be cared for, looked after, and require help.”
“There’s nothing wrong with needing or asking for help,” Keon insisted, before he could say more. “And there’s no shame in being scared. I don’t know you well, but what I’ve seen, and from what you’ve told me, you are far from weak. Having emotions and expressing them doesn’t make you weak or less of a man. It takes a strong man to survive what you have, a real man to acknowledge his limits, and a brave man to have the courage to ask for help when he needs it.”
Milo bit his bottom lip to prevent anything ridiculous falling out of his mouth or his emotions running erratic. But it was pointless. He felt his eyes welling, probably more from exhaustion and over-exertion than Keon’s words. He wouldn’t deny they touched a place in his heart that had forgotten how it felt to be admired. Not for his appearance, his gift, or anything he’d done, but solely for his strength of character.
“I don’t feel like any of those things,” he admitted, but he supposed that was the point. He didn’t need to be perfectly put together, because that wasn’t real or genuine to who he was inside. He’d always been more emotional, prone to what his father snidely called ‘the softer emotions’.
Keon smiled, a slightly crooked, knowing look hinting Milo’s thoughts were right. He didn’t need to be those things right now, because they made up the core of his personality. “Would you be happier if I played up the whole dominant Alpha role? Kept your father thinking you were this docile, vulnerable soul being pushed around?”
He laughed, stunned at the visual that painted in his mind. Which was probablynotthe image Keon intended, but embarrassed him. Keon was gorgeous, smart, and he talked to Milo like he was an equal, something he hadn’t experienced in a long time.
Taking a long, slow breath, Milo took hold of his fate and made his choice.
“Yes, please.” He glanced at his hand, still held in Keon’s. “Can you maybe remind me? When I forget it’s okay to ask for help, toneedhelp…can you be my champion and remind me it’s okay?” he asked, hoping to take control of his needs, desires, and feelings. If he got too far inside his own head and tried to do things he knew only ended in trouble, he hoped Keon could be aware and strong enough to step in.
Now the idea was in his head, he wanted to become Keon’s mate. Not because he was an incredible Alpha, a strong man, and astoundingly attractive, but because he managed to be all those and not use his status against anyone. He didn’t abuse his power, didn’t flaunt his looks or position, didn’t demean others when he spoke to them, and he didn’t treat his pack like subordinates. To Keon, every member of his pack was important, and he’d made promises he had every intention of keeping.
This was a man Milo wanted in his life, who he wanted to support and care for. A man he could proudly stand beside, as Keon changed the world. He wanted to be part of that change to help bring Vihaan into a modern age whereeveryonewas welcome.
*
Keon
WHEN MILO WAScalm, Keon helped Weston arrange the room. They moved the coffee table into the dining room, brought the office chair from the study, and added the armchair from Keon’s bedroom, meaning he, Farley, and Thatcher would be equal in status. Leaving Weston and Milo to sit on the sofa, a separate entity from the Alpha triangle.
