*….*….* : { night time }
The night was a suffocating shroud, heavy with the scent of ozone and the looming threat of the "Southern king ." Inside the Royal Wing, the atmosphere was thick with the sweetness of Lorcan's escalating heat,a scent that had transformed from a light strawberry to a rich, cloying jam, signaling a vulnerability that no child should have to endure alone.
King Everest did not play by the rules of Northern hospitality. To him, the negotiation had been a personal insult. If he could not have his son through decree, he would take him by force.
The door to the guest chambers didn't creak. Everest was a man of expensive silk and silent leather. He slipped into the room where Lorcan lay, his body curled into a tight ball, shivering beneath the furs. The heat had hit Lorcan with the force of a tidal wave, his skin slick with a fine sheen of sweat that made him feel hypersensitive and soft, as if his very bones had turned to liquid.
Everest didn't hesitate. He reached down and hauled the boy upward. His grip was brutal and inappropriate, his large hand clamping firmly over Lorcan's mouth while his other arm cinched around Lorcan's waist, crushing the boy against his chest.
"Be silent, you disgrace,"Everest hissed into his son's ear.
Lorcan jolt awake and let out a muffled, desperate whimper. His body felt slime slick and weak, his nerves firing with every rough touch of his father's hands. He tried to wiggle, to fight back, but his muscles were unresponsive, melted by the hormonal fever. Seeing the struggle,Everest pulled a small, silver syringe from his vest, a sedative designed to drop a full grown Alpha out cold in an instant.
"Wiggle again," Valerius threatened, the needle glinting in the moonlight, "and I'll ensure you don't wake up until we're across the sea."
Everest moved with a frantic, desperate speed. He carried Lorcan like a piece of plundered cargo, navigating the back corridors toward the eastern exit door. He was mere feet from the heavy oak door that led to the courtyard when a palace guard, alerted by the sudden spike in Omega pheromones, turned the corner.
"Halt! Who goes—"
"I am the King of the South!"Everest bellowed, dropping the pretense of stealth. "Get out of my way!"
In the moment of distraction, Lorcan found a sudden, jagged burst of Northern courage. He leaned forward and bit down on his father's hand with everything he had left. Everest roared in pain, his grip loosening just enough for Lorcan to slide to the cold stone floor.
"AIDEN!" Lorcan screamed, his voice shaking, high and thin with terror.
He tried to scramble away, but his legs were like jelly. He collapsed a few feet away, gasping for air, his breathing weak as the heat and the terror fought for control of his heart.
Unbeknownst to the adults, Celine and Calix had been awake in the adjacent nursery, whispering about the strange "strawberry smell" in the air. When the scream echoed through the hall, Celine's Alpha instincts flared white hot.
"Calix! Go!" Celine commanded, her voice sharp. "Go to Lorcan! I'm going for Aiden and Papa!"
Calix, the shy, quiet observer, began to tremble. His chest felt tight, the mana in his blood buzzing with a frantic, erratic frequency. He hated the noise. He hated the conflict. But he loved Lorcan.
*...*...* : calix run out of the nursery.
For the first time in months, Calix spoke. His voice was a fragile, shaking thread of sound. "S-stop… leave him...a-alone."
He stepped into the hallway, his small form dwarfed by the towering Southern King. Everest , enraged by the bite and the delay, saw only a nuisance. As he reached out to grab Lorcan again, he swung his leg back to clear the path, his heavy boot striking Calix's leg and sending the small boy flying several centimeters across the stone floor.
Calix hit the ground with a sickening thud, his ankle twisting at a violent angle. The shock of the pain and the surge of fear triggered his mana instantly. Right there on the cold floor, Calix shifted, his frame softening back into a girl's body, her dark hair splayed across the stones.
He didn't cry. He didn't have the breath for it. He simply tried to get back up, his face pale with agony as he dragged his injured ankle toward the King, trying to reach Lorcan.
In the Royal Suite, Aiden had been dead to the world until the scream hit him. It was a sound that bypassed his ears and went straight to his marrow.
"AIDEN!"
He open his eyes and sat on the bed .
He didn't think. He didn't even put on a shirt. He threw on a pair of dark trousers, his bare chest glistening with the cold sweat of a sudden awakening, and sprinted out of the room. He was a ten year old boy, but as he rounded the corner and saw the scene, he looked every bit the Black Tiger's son.
At the same time, Kenzo burst from the nursery. He didn't look at the kidnapping. He didn't look at Lorcan. His eyes were fixed entirely on his twin, Calix, who was crumpled on the floor in a female form, clutching her ankle.
"CALIX!" Kenzo screamed, his Alpha aura exploding with a protective rage that made the torches in the hallway flicker and die. He didn't run to save Lorcan,he ran to stand over his twin, his small teeth bared at the world.
Aiden reached Everest just as the Southern King was reaching for the sedative again. Aiden didn't use a weapon,he used his body, tackling the King's waist with the force of a mountain slide.
"Get away from him!" Aiden roared.
Everest snarled, trying to shake the boy off, but he was interrupted by a voice that sounded like the crack of a glacier.
"That is enough."
Kyon and Arion stood at the end of the hall. Kyon was in his nightrobes, but his eyes were the terrifying, cold gold of the Serpent, and the Jade Heart (which he had retrieved in the chaos) was glowing with a malevolent green light. Arion stood beside him, a heavy broadsword already in his hand, his scent of mountain pine and iron suppressing the air in the courtyard. And a visible hickey on arion's neck (^_^)
"Everest," Arion said, his voice a low, lethal vibration. "You have hurt my child. You have attempted to steal a ward of the North. There is no diplomatic immunity for what happens next."
The Southern guards, seeing the King of the North armed and the Serpent King's eyes glowing, immediately dropped their weapons.Everest was tackled to the ground by Arion's elite guard, his face pressed into the very stones where his son's sweat and his son's blood now lingered.
Aiden ignored the arrest. He scrambled to Lorcan's side, pulling the older boy into his lap.
Lorcan was a mess. His skin was hypersensitive, his breathing shallow and weak. He was so deep in his heat that the mere touch of Aiden's skin against his made him whimper and curl closer.
"I've got you, Lorc," Aiden whispered, his voice finally cracking with the realization of how close he had come to losing him. "You're safe. I'm here."
Lorcan buried his face in Aiden's bare chest, his small hands clutching Aiden's arms. He was soft and trembling, his scent of strawberry and heat flooding the hallway, but for the first time that night, he felt the fire in his blood begin to cool under the steady, solid presence of his Alpha friend….
Behind them, Kenzo was cradling Calix, who had shifted back into a boy but remained silent, his eyes fixed on his swollen, bruised ankle. Tears welled in his eyes .