Page 77

“No, Leo, you asked for my truth, and I’m going to give it to you,” Gideon says, his voice sharp.

But it’s how his eyes go dead that causes Grayson’s stomach to drop into his toes.

Unexpected Revelations (Grayson)

No one moves. No one breathes. Not until Gideon keeps going.

“Maybe then you’ll understand why I kept you—all of you—out of it. While you were in the schoolyard worrying about scraped knees and whether that cute boy liked you, I was learning how to cause the most pain with the least effort and enjoy it.”

His voice flattens, and the air fills with the sharp tang of petrichor as Gideon continues. “I killed my first person at seven. Three more followed on my birthdays until I was ten. And I wish that was the worst thing I’ve done. Death is often a blessing, no?”

He turns to Nix, whose jaw is clenched tight, but his omega nods, silently.

Grayson’s heart hurts for his mate, who suffered so badly as a child, and for the reminder of Nix’s torture at Hayes’s hands. Grayson can only imagine what Carnell did to Gideon as a child to teach him that it’s better to hurt than to be hurt.

Grayson pulls Leo close, needing the comfort for himself as much as he needs to provide it.

“I won’t bore you with the gruesome details, but I have tried to be better—to do better—since. But I will never forget those people, every minute of what I did willingly…happily…for Patrick Carnell. I am evil. I’m only good for you. Only goodbecauseof you, because you are safe. If you weren’t…”

Gideon’s voice breaks, his eyes pleading. “I’m afraid I could be just like him. Please, please, don’t let me—”

“Taxidermy!” Luca yells, his voice cutting through the room and halting Gideon’s tirade instantly. Grayson thinks it’s the first time Luca has everused his safe word. “Please—stop, Gideon. Please.”

“I’m sorry, Luca. Sorry that you have to hear this, sorry that you’re tied to me. I’m sorry…all of you.”

“Shut up. Shut up. Shut up,” Luca repeats, his hands tugging at his hair. “I safe-worded. You promised me you would always stop. You’re hurting me and…and I need—”

He’s moving before the words finish, slamming his fists into Gideon’s chest. The beta is small, but he’s still a Were, and Grayson knows those hits probably hurt.

His soulmate doesn’t stop him. It’s Jay who pulls him away. “Baby, stop.” Jay lets him slide to the floor before following him down.

Luca sobs in Jay’s arms while Gideon stands stone-still, his eyes staring straight ahead.

Nix gags suddenly, clutching his abdomen. Rowan is over the island in an instant.

Finn emerges from the kitchen with a dish basin, just in time for Nix to heave up his breakfast.

“Hurts,” Nix whispers.

“The babies?” Finn asks, his voice laced with concern.

“No, the bonds. Fuck. Gideon?”

The alpha snaps his attention to Nix, and their omega continues, “Luca isn’t angry at you. Right, Baby?”

Luca nods. “Wait. Do you think I’m mad at you? Well, I am about the trackers, but not about your past. I knew some of it already. You talk in your sleep, and sometimes those bad dreams I had in the beginning weren’t mine…you know?”

“You’re not?” He drops to his knees beside Luca. “You don’t hate me? For lying about it this whole time?”

Gideon’s gaze flickers to Leo’s, but he quickly looks away. Grayson doesn’t know what he sees in Leo’s face.

“No, I could never. But you can’t talk about yourself like that again. It hurts you, and if it hurts you, it hurts me. Fuck. You aren’t anything like Carnell.”

“You could never,” Nix agrees, as he hands Rowan the dishpan. If it weren’t such an emotionally fraught moment, he might have laughed at his disgusted expression.

Finn lets a smile flash across his lips, too.

“I’ll just go…uh…dump this and then…yeah.” Rowan heads into the restroom and returns with a glass of water for his omega.