Page 103 of Elas

“What’s a knot?” August asks slowly, like he doesn’t want to ask, but his curiosity gets the best of him. Reyes leans forward, interest sparked. Ronan chuckles and Cameron grins as I glare at both of them. My eyes dart between Reyes and August, who both wait for an answer.

Fromme.

“Fuck… me…” I groan, dragging my hand down my face. “I refuse to sit here and explain the anatomy of my best friend’s dick. I didn’t sign up for this shit.” Cameron opens his mouth, but I shoot him a glare. “And I’m not going to listen while you explain it, either.”

He flashes me a grin and a snarky wink, but settles back in to Ronan’s lap. “I could draw you a diagram,” he says to August, and I sigh at the intrigue on August’s face. “You look awfully curious.”

“Strictly for medical purposes,” August hurries to say, a blush forming on his cheeks. “The differences in anatomy are fascinating.”

“Differences, huh?” Cameron leans forward with mischief positively gleaming in his eyes. “What sort of differences are we talking about here? Doesn’t Elas have a giant swell at the base of his cock that locks you together?”

“No,” August says, eyes wide as he blinks a few times. “But his balls are absolutely enorm—”

“We have gotten off topic here,” Ronan says loudly, and I grin as I fold my arms over my chest and sit back.

“What, you were fine hearing him gush about your knot, but you don’t want to hear about my giant balls? Hypocritical, Ronan.”

Reyes has a strange mix of horrified and intrigued on his face as he glances between us. Cameron leans closer to August and whispers loud enough that we all hear. “Does his dick do anything else fun?”

August is positively red now, and I chuff a laugh as I pull him into my side, protecting him from Ronan’s snarky mate. “It gets bigger,” I say with a cocky smirk, and Cameron rolls his eyes.

“That doesn’t count, dude. Even humans can be growers.”

August makes a strained noise in his throat, and when Cameron glances at him, August holds his hands apart. “Oh, it is not that fucking big,” Ronan snaps, yanking Cameron back against him.

I glance at the distance between August’s palms. “Looks pretty accurate to me,” I muse with a demure smile, fluttering my lashes.

“Do you…” Cameron’s eyes widen comically large as his mouth drops open, staring at August. “Do youbottom?!”

“Enough!” Ronan roars, and I bite at my lip as I try to hold back my laughter.

“How does it fit?” Cameron whisper-shouts, desperate to get his answer as Ronan growls threats about tossing him over his shoulder and giving him a demonstration. Everyone laughs except Ronan, and Cameron gives up, shooting August a loaded glance that tells me they will absolutely discuss this at a later time.

“Alright, back on track,” I say, still grinning. “So, you slaughtered this camp. Then what?” Every trace of humor is sucked from the room when Ronan gets to the part where they discover Nyx and break him out of his cage. Memories of cold bars and darkness make me shiver, but I know it’s nothing compared to what Nyx went through. Who knows how many years—how manydecades—he spent in confinement?

“Then we got here,” Cameron finishes, gesturing around. “We realized this was the village I grew up in and decided to make it a home. Nothing too exciting has happened since then. We’ve been rebuilding and getting the village operational again, Nyx is working on agarden—”

“A garden?” Reyes asks, perking up. “I could help him with that… if he wants.”

Ronan and Cameron exchange a sad glance before Cameron smiles gently at Reyes. “We can try once he’s gotten used to your presence. Nyx doesn’t trust anyone right now.”

“Not even the two of you?” I ask, and Cameron teeters his hand in front of him.

“Sometimes he does. Other times, he’s still terrified of us. We’re getting there.”

“Oh,” Reyes says, eyes dropping to the ground. “I wouldn’t want to scare him, I just thought… that’s what I did, you know? It’s been years since I’ve had the chance to grow anything, and I want to contribute.”

“You will,” Cameron says. “We’ll figure it out. This is a situation no one could’ve planned for, and we’re making it up as we go now.” Reyes nods, falling silent once more.

Ronan takes a deep breath and looks in my direction. “Well, you’ve heard our side of the story. What trouble have the two of you stirred up?”

August

“Wait,”Ronaninterjects,asnarl forming on his lips. It’s not one of those semi-playful, irritated-but-not-really sneers that he gets so often with Elas, but anactualsnarl, and my instincts prickle as his tails fan out behind him. “Wait just a godsdamned second. You’re telling meKhorsis now the commander? The same moron that couldn’t hit a sparring dummy and flung his sword across the training ring when he lost a match? Which, might I add, wasevery single fucking time?!”

“The very same,” Elas says, his tone simultaneously amused and annoyed.

“Fuck me, the world is doomed.” Ronan scrubs his hands over his face and groans. “That’s the best and brightest the military had to offer?”

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