Page 23 of Caged By the Ruthless Thief

Eros crawls in, and while he’s more in the middle, he doesn’t reach for me, and I’m not sure if I’m happy to have the space or sad for being without his touch.

12

HOLTER

The entire city watched my brother drop into the chasm. Everyone but me and Dad. Oh, the nurse offered. Offered to load it right up on their block so Alder could watch his son vanish into the darkness. The nurse is alive because I held Alder down. What a flounder. Most of the day has vanished with the two of us sitting in silence. From my bag I pull the scent block. I spritz myself, the last thing I need right now is for someone to scent that I’m mated. Belle needs to remain safe. And having someone find out she mated a geminae? That wouldn’t be good for her, even with her not in the city. I miss her so much. But it was the right thing to do.

My stomach is in knots. I know it’s selfish to want someone to heal so you’re not alone. But damn it, if Dad doesn’t get out of this place, I’m going to lose it.

“He told me,” Dad says after an hour of nothing.

I assume “he’ is Nico, but with Alder, you never know. “Nico?”

“Yeah.”

“What did he tell you, Dad?”

“That you should mate this Annabelle.”

My heart thuds. No one is supposed to know we’re mated. “Did he?”

“Yes. He said she loved you and that it was stupid that you couldn’t join her pod.”

“Nico said that?”

“You’ve only got one brother. And I always thought you were the smart one. You smell mated.” I open my mouth, but he waves his hand at me. “And don’t go saying that’s the hospital stink. Because it’s not. It’s your mated male stink. Mated male with an empty shrimp shell of a broken heart.”

I swallow.

“Where is this mate of yours?”

“We let her go, Dad. She’s too good for here. She’s too pure. Too perfect to live with scoundrels like us.” I try not to think about the damage done to Glyden. I’m going to find the ass who dared to attack my home and make them pay. I’m just glad Belle wasn’t there, that she’s safe in Boston.

Dad reaches over, and I think he’s... I don’t know what, but he smacks the side of my head. Harder than when he was teaching me how to box. Harder than some actual battles I’ve been in.

“Shit, Dad. What did you do that for?”

“I’m just testing to see if there’s anything in there. There’s not, so I forgive you.”

“You forgive me?”

“Yes.”

A nurse charges in. “Mr. Callis, are you doing okay?”

“I’m fine. This blubber head isn’t, though.”

“Dad?”

“Take mysoloand go wait for your brother.”

I grit my molars together. My chest is heavy. What can I say? No, Dad, Nico’s dead by now. I don’t want to think it, but how can I not? One male has returned from the chasm in the last two hundred years. One. The chasm is a thing of legend, something podlets have nightmares about. And now it’s taken another victim. Not that I will ever think of Nico as a victim. He will always be the strongest male I’ve ever known. Well, after Alder. He’s the second strongest. Alder took on all the responsibility for the two of us. When they were going to not give me to the Callis pod, he insisted. He dragged Muster through the years and raised both of us.

He’s the reason I’m the male I am. Fuck, it’s going to finish him off when he realizes Nico isn’t coming back.

It’s been hours since they dropped Nico into the chasm. From what I can tell, they’ve turned the cameras off. They’ve declared him missing, which is the coward’s way of declaring him dead.

The nurse glares at me.

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