Ehlian couldn’t meet his eyes. His face burned. His skin burned. The unbearable lust between his legs throbbing.
The cell door swung open abruptly, and a guard stepped inside. Ehlian jerked back, as if caught in the act of doing something forbidden.
If the guard noticed the unusual atmosphere in the room, he showed no sign of it. He turned to Hayce. “Your visitor is here.”
Hayce’s dark gaze lingered on Ehlian for a long beat before he looked away and strode out of the cell. The guard followed him.
Ehlian threw himself onto the bed.
Fuck.
What was he doing?
Had he completely lost his mind?
He had made his first mistake today.
He buried his face deep into the pillow, trying to shake off the lingering waves of lust.
Don’t think about it. Don’t feel it, he commanded himself like an idiot.
His mind wandered to the mysterious visitor. No one had come to see Hayce since Ehlian arrived.
Who could it be?
And what business did they have with him?
Chapter 9
Whatever business it was, Hayce hadn’t returned for the day.
Ehlian found himself standing alone in the showers that evening, exposed to the hungry eyes of alphas. Once again, he was grateful that Grasson wasn’t around. Who knew what that sick bastard might’ve tried in Hayce’s absence?
He noticed a movement to his right and already on edge, he shot a warning look at the alpha. A moment later, his sharp gaze softened. It was only Aric, with the thin omega beside him.
Apart from his name, Larik, Ehlian couldn’t get much out of the omega. Even now, he kept close to Aric, though their closeness looked purely platonic. Ehlian sent Larik a smile. Larik returned it, somewhat, but never held eye contact too long. His shyness was almost adorable.
In moments like these, Aric seemed almost as imposing as Hayce, his keen eyes warding off any unwanted attention. Sitting directly beneath Hayce in the pack’s hierarchy, he was clearly someone Hayce trusted without question. Ehlian wondered what exactly Aric had done to earn that kind of trust.
Ehlian sent him a casual glance. “Do you know who is visiting Hayce today?”
Aric’s sharp eyes darted to Ehlian and lingered there a moment too long. “If Hayce didn’t tell you, neither will I.”
“Why are you so loyal to him?”
Aric gave him an odd look, as though Ehlian ought to have known the answer, but said nothing.
“What’s with the secrecy?” Ehlian asked. “It’s not like I could do anything with the information.”
“It’s not a secret,” Aric said. “I’ve been his personal guard since he was fifteen.”
Fifteen?! That meant they had technically grown up together. “You followed him even in prison? Don’t you think that’s a bit overdoing it?”
“I’m not that loyal,” Aric let out a huffed laughter. “I was charged as his accomplice in his father’s murder. That tends to narrow your options.”
Ehlian studied him carefully, choosing his words just as cautiously. “You knew what he was planning?”
“It got less press,” Aric said, “but traces of my core signature were detected in his father’s mind before he died. I suppose that made it easier to believe it took two telepaths to inflict that kind of damage. Hayce’s father kept personal guards, but in high society you have to be ready to defend yourself, just as he made sure his sons and daughter were.”
