Page 35
“Pavel!” Zane crawled over to where he was lying next to the dining room table, the multi-slate he’d kept hidden in his pocket clattering onto the ground in his haste. He scooped Pavel into his arms, panicking when he saw there was blood blooming across the left side of his chest.
This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be about to lose Pavel only minutes after realizing he’d been an idiot and he couldn’t live without the guy.
Zane barely registered as the rest of the Retinue flooded into the room, didn’t process Kelevra yanking the blaster out of his sister’s hands or ordering the guards to stand down and get out. Instead, he was busy envisioning the map of Yurn anatomy in his head, tracing it over Pavel’s body in an attempt to locate all of his vital organs.
If he was correct, the bullet hadn’t hit his heart, but it was close. Too close. And if he was wrong and Pavel’s insides more closely matched those of the D-vitar…Or, wait, did his organs rearrange when he shapeshifted as well? Damn it! These were all things he had to know! They needed an ambulance.
“You really can’t help yourself, can you,” Pavel chuckled but then coughed, blood staining his lips. His eyes were locked on the discarded multi-slate. “You’re so sneaky, bashert. It’s so hot.”
“Shut up,” he hissed, then softened his tone and more kindly said, “Don’t speak, okay? Just…conserve your energy. You’ve been shot and it’s in a really bad place. We need—”
“Brother.” Ledger dropped down on their other side and pulled Pavel out of Zane’s arms. When that earned him a growl, he lifted his own weapon and pressed the barrel of his gun to the center of Zane’s chest. “Calm down, both of you,” he said that last part to Pavel who had started fighting him the moment he’d seen the blaster. “I’m helping and neither of you will be harmed.”
“You are not a doctor,” Zane snarled, wincing when Ledger laid Pavel down flat on the ground and tore the pajama shirt open to expose his chest. The second Ledger's fingers went to the open wound he gasped and pressed forward against the gun. “What are you doing?!”
“For the love of—” Ledger tore the shirt more and found the bandage on Pavel’s other side where he’d taken the bullet from Aodhan. He ripped it off, motioning at the smooth skin beneath it and then demanded sternly, “There. We good now? Fuck off before you actually get my brother killed because you won’t let me remove the bullet and start the healing process.”
Zane didn’t know what he was looking at.
He knew , but like… “How?”
There was no sign of damage at all, not even a scar. No hint that Pavel had been shot less than four days ago.
“I can explain,” Pavel began, gritting his teeth and making a pained sound when Ledger dug his fingers into the hole in his chest and literally dragged the bullet out of him. “Mother fucker!”
“He heals super fast,” Ledger stated calmly, dropping the bullet to the ground before tearing the rest of the clean bandage off of his brother’s side and slapping it over the new wound. He pressed against it and turned to Zane. “Like, almost instantly. Within a minute or two, this will be gone and he’ll be right as rain. A little woozy due to blood loss—thanks for cutting it close by complaining, by the way—but otherwise fine.”
“He heals…instantly…” Zane frowned. “Wait. But I patched him up again the day after…” His eyes narrowed. Pavel had left him in the office and disappeared for a while. When he’d returned, he’d been wearing different clothes, so of course Zane had naturally assumed that was the cause of the delay, but… “You injured yourself to make me believe it, didn’t you.”
It wasn’t a question, but Pavel still had the good sense to respond.
“I was going to tell you, just…later.”
“After you’d had enough time to manipulate me through guilt, you mean.”
“Yeah, that.”
‘Good Light.” Ledger sat back and tipped his head up at the ceiling as though asking for divine intervention. Instead, he was met with the circular device still secured there. “That’s right. You owe me therapy and a memory scrub, asshole.” He shoved onto his feet, using Pavel’s chest as a springboard. “Not everyone wants to see your naked, writhing bodies. Absolutely disgusting.”
“Pretty sure I kept my clothes on,” Pavel called out to him as Ledge turned and headed over to the others who were busy keeping Lyra surrounded.
Zane reached out and pulled the bloody bandage off, using it to wipe at the remaining gore before he scowled. “There’s not even a scratch on you.”
Pavel grinned. “Surprise?”
“Fuck you.” He tossed the bandage at him and rose to his feet, thinking better of it and pointing down at him warningly before Pavel could follow. “This is a new mark. We are not even for this.”
“Not even after I took the bullet for you?”
Shit. He had a fair point.
Refusing to look at him, Zane held out his hand.
Pavel took it and he hoisted him up, then the two of them turned to the group still occupying their living room.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” Zane said by way of greeting Kelevra. When he’d snagged the phone from Pavel’s other pocket earlier after the explosion, he’d dialed Kel and muted the incoming part of the call so no one would realize they were being listened in on. His hope had just been for the prince to overhear and then maybe take their side if it came to a fight between them and Lyra. “How did you get here so quickly?”
“We were already on our way,” Madden answered for Kel. He was standing behind Lyra, keeping his distance respectable, but clearly there to block her off if she tried anything funny. He took them both in as they approached. “You two good?”
Unlike Lyra, they hadn’t brought any other backup with them, but then again, with the entire Retinue here, they wouldn’t have needed to. Ledger moved off to the side, Madden stood his ground, and Rin stood in the kitchen, watching them from a safe distance—probably so he didn’t lose his cool and attack Kelevra’s sister, honestly.
Zane had figured out the guy was somewhat of a loose cannon.
Kelevra, Madden, Ledger, and even the Royal Consort.
“What do you mean you were already on your way?” Zane asked.
“You didn’t seriously think we wouldn’t worry when you vanished the way that you did?” Madden sounded surprised.
“He didn’t vanish,” Pavel said. “He got permission to skip two weeks of school.”
“Yeah,” Kelevra crossed his arms, “permission supposedly from me. Funnily enough, I don’t recall doing that. Isn’t that strange?”
“Totally.”
“I figured after you broadcasted that ,” Ledger shuddered, and Zane couldn’t tell if it was an act or a real reaction, “Lyra would try to retaliate somehow.”
“He came to me and explained the situation,” Kelevra caught his eye and held, “which is what you should have done from the very beginning.”
“Told you,” Pavel whispered in his ear, and Zane swatted him away.
“We followed her.” Kelevra shook his head at his sister, who was standing there silently pouting as they all talked around her. “Luckily, she led us straight here.”
“Way to keep this place a secret even from me, brother,” Ledger complained. “Not cool.”
“He was shot,” Rin frowned and stared at Pavel, bringing their attention to the other elephant in the room. “He also looked like Zane a moment ago. How…odd.”
“Careful, Consort,” Kelevra drawled. “I don’t like that look of interest in your eye.”
“You have a freakishly fast healy shapeshifting friend,” Rin pointed out. “That is arguably very interesting.”
Kelevra shook his head and sent his boyfriend a warning look, then clicked his tongue at them. “I’ve done this twin dance before,” he motioned at them, “so it’s gotten old. Switch back to your own form so I can decide if I have to hate you or Zane for the way my Consort is looking at you.”
“You’re so fucking dramatic,” Rin rolled his eyes.
Zane hadn’t even processed that Pavel still looked like him, especially since Ledger had known right away which one of them his brother was.
“You yelled my name, gorgeous,” Pavel reminded, able to read his train of thought. He shifted back to himself, the process like a rippling effect that might have been slightly horrific if Zane weren’t completely and utterly exhausted.
“Screamed it is more like,” Ledger corrected, grabbing one of the pillows off the couch in the living room area. He clutched it to his chest and wailed comically, “Pavel!”
“Does your brother have super healing too?” Zane leaned in and asked, loud enough for the annoying guy still chuckling at his stupid joke to hear.
“No,” he replied.
“Good.”
Pavel took his hand. “How about we not slice my brother open, gorgeous? Okay?”
“No promises.”
“This is ridiculous,” Lyra finally cut into the conversation. “You have no right to interfere in my affairs.”
“Correction,” Kelevra stated. “You had no right to try and manipulate or coerce one of my Retinue members. If I had known what was going on, I would have put a stop to it sooner. All this time, I incorrectly assumed Zane liked you since he never said anything to me about it. I had no idea you were the one coming onto him. Seriously, sister? Aren’t you ashamed of your behavior, even a little?’
“Why should I be?” She scoffed and jutted her chin out toward Zane. “It’s not like he’s all that important.”
Zane refused to let that hurt him.
Sting a little, maybe. But hurt?
She didn’t matter. Not anymore. Not for a long time now.
“Ugh, ten minutes ago you were trying to convince him to marry you,” Madden reminded drolly. “Ringing any bells?”
Lyra clamped her mouth shut and refused to meet any of their gazes.
“You were about to shoot one of my Retinue,” Kelevra stated. “That’s a punishable offense, even for you, sister.”
It was obvious she wasn’t overly concerned by the threat. “I lost my temper. It happens. Still, I’ll apologize for my behavior. That should suffice, don’t you think, Zanie?”
“You shot his fiancé,” Kelevra reminded.
Zane didn’t ask how he knew that.
“Wait, are they not married yet then?” Lyra asked.
“Don’t get your hopes up, the two of you are never happening. He’s engaged, sister, to a man you drew blood from. If it were me, I would have cut you to ribbons by now.”
“Yes, dear brother, but he isn’t you. That’s the point. What could Zane possibly do to me? I’m the Imperial Heir, he’s just—”
“The future Royal Doctor who will be in charge of all of our medical needs. From the common cold right down to emergency, lifesaving surgery.”
Lyra seemed like she was going to say something to that, but then it must have dawned on her the extent of what that truly meant.
Ironically, it dawned on Zane at that very moment as well.
“What a very interesting turn of events,” he murmured, the comment meant for himself, though it was obvious she’d heard when her eyes widened. He cocked his head and looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. Seeing her for what she truly was.
A body that would one day need repair.
“Everyone needs medical attention eventually,” Ledger crossed his arms and leaned against the back of the couch with a smirk, “Even Imperial Heirs.”
“You can’t refuse to help me if that day were to come,” Lyra sputtered. “You would be duty-bound.”
“For all this trouble, you don’t seem to know Zane very well, sister,” Kelevra cooed. “His philosophy is an eye for an eye, and since I only have one, it’ll be very easy for me not to see it if he were to have an accident with you, so to speak.”
She turned beat red. “You would do that to your own sister? Turn your back on me like this?”
“I care about you as well as I can,” Kelevra told her. “But I care about Zane too, and when we look at the two of you side by side objectively, I benefit more from having him around than I do you.”
“I’m your sister!”
“Yes,” he gave her a dark look, “but I have two of those.”
Lyra glanced between all of them as though expecting someone to offer her some help. When it became clear not even Zane would, she pulled her shoulders back and struggled to regain her composure. “Since everyone’s stance has been made, I’ll see myself out.”
“Hold on,” Pavel stopped her before she could make it more than two steps. “You haven’t given that apology yet.”
“I have a better idea,” Zane said, waiting until she met his gaze. “She can pay for our wedding.”
If she’d been red before, it was nothing compared to the shade of scarlet she turned then.
“She can do more than that,” Kelevra announced. “She can also attend. Without a date.”
Lyra stormed out—probably before anything else could be added—not giving any of them so much as a backward glance.
It didn’t bother Zane the same way being dismissed by Pavel had.
It didn’t bother him at all.
As soon as they heard the sound of car doors slamming outside, Ledger let out a whistle. “That’s got to burn.”
“She’s been telling anyone who will listen that Pavel kidnapped her Royal Consort,” Madden filled them in with a grin. “I have to agree, this will be a major blow for the Imperial family. She’s going to be a laughingstock for a while.”
Pride was everything to an Imperial like Lyra, that was why she’d wanted to keep their relationship a secret in the first place. If she’d gone around telling the world Zane was her Royal Consort, only for him to show up engaged to someone else? Yikes.
She would lose all respect. Business deals would be harder since they wouldn’t take her seriously, and even her friends, the ones who used her for social status, would pull away and leave her high and dry in the face of all that negative social scrutiny. The Emperor, their older sister, might even be tempted to remove her from some of her political positions to avoid permanent damage to Vitality.
“You sure you want to do that to her?” Zane asked, but Kelevra merely arched a brow at him.
“I didn’t make her do or say any of those things. If she suffers later from her own actions, that’s not on me.” He inspected Zane closely. “That being said, she is still my sister and still the Imperial Heir. I know your policy—”
“Knowing she’s both infuriated and humiliated at my wedding will be enough to satisfy me.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.” It’d pay her back for all those times she’d used and humiliated him. As for shooting Pavel…Zane would put that on the back burner to keep the peace.
For now.
He sighed. “I know it’s not a good enough compromise. If it was me in your shoes, I’d want blood in return for hurting my man. Unfortunately for us both, she is a step above me in the line of succession. There’s only so much I can do here.”
“I understand.” He really did. “Honestly, the fact that you came through at all means a lot. I didn’t think you would care enough to bother.”
“We’re friends,” Kelevra said. “I may not be able to do anything more where my sister is concerned, but I can speak for the entire family when I say no one would lose any sleep if something were to happen to dear old cousin Wells.” He shrugged a single shoulder. “Just a friendly suggestion.”
“As far as consolation prizes go,” Pavel chimed in. “It’ll do.”
“Keep it discrete,” Kel warned.
“Always.”
“Cool, are we going to talk about how you’re a shapeshifter?” Madden asked. “No? Seriously? Did everyone else know but me?”
“I didn’t know,” Rin said.
“Sorry about that. It didn’t seem important.” Kelevra held out a hand to Rin. “Everything seems fine here, Flower. If we leave now, we can still make it to that double date your brother begged us to go on.”
“Begged is a bit strong,” Rin took his hand, “And actually, I was hoping we’d miss it.” He motioned to Zane. “Do something that needs attention so we have an excuse to stick around.”
“I—” Everyone erupted into cries of outrage before Zane could finish, and when he turned to find out why, he saw that Pavel had slipped his cock free of his pants. “Put that away, are you crazy?!”
“Not that kind of attention!” Ledger yelled, darting from the room with his hands over his eyes.
Madden was close behind.
Kelevra growled in the back of his throat and Rin, who had the prince’s hand covering him, stated, “I didn’t even get the chance to see anything. You moved too quickly. Let go so I can take a peek.”
“Don’t you dare,” Zane growled, then turned back and yanked Pavel’s pants on. “And you, no more flashing your junk. From here on out, I’m the only one allowed to look, understand? No more modeling for the art department, and no more filming—”
Pavel sealed their mouths together, effectively cutting him off. His tongue pressed against the seam of his lips, demanding entrance, and when Zane sighed and allowed it, he fucked in wildly, with the same passionate frenzy he typically used to screw.
“We’re leaving,” Kelevra announced as he and Rin headed for the exit. “I’ll see you both tomorrow. I’ve rescinded your leave of absence, Zane, so don’t be late for class. That threat to withhold treatment from my sister only works if you actually become the Royal Doctor.”
“I don’t think he’s listening,” Rin chimed.
“Not my problem. I’ve wasted enough time here.”
Zane shoved Pavel back against the table and then lifted himself so he was straddling his waist with a knee at either side, only barely processing the other's words as they vanished out the door.
“They’re gone,” he said as soon as the sound of car engines racing off filtered to them a second time.
“And?” Pavel played dumb, the corner of his mouth twitching giving him away.
“So now,” Zane grabbed him by the neck with one hand, the other diving into the silky hairs at the back of his skull to tug, “you take your cock back out and you fuck me like you mean it.”
“Mean what, gorgeous?”
He emitted a sound of frustration in the back of his throat and then switched tactics, not having the patience for this. “Tell you what, new game. You fuck me hard enough I see stars, and I’ll sign my name as Zane Hart on the marriage license—Shit!”
Zane found himself on his back on the table with Pavel between his spread thighs in a flash.
“Deal.” Pavel grinned wickedly at him. “Get ready to see the whole damn universe, Doctor.”
When it came to Pavel and his impulsive nature, Zane didn’t think he’d ever be truly ready for anything. But maybe that was okay.
“Promise me I’m not your second choice,” he demanded as Pavel stripped them down.
“Choice?” Pavel grunted and lined his cock up to his entrance. “Baby, you aren’t a choice at all. You’re a necessity.” He eased his cock into his passage slowly, feeding him inch after delectable inch as he spoke. “You’re an essential of life. I need you in order to keep breathing, in order to keep existing.”
“Hart,” Zane gasped when he bottomed out, tipping his head back on the table. He moaned when that thick cock thrust in and out of him, picking up speed with each jab against his prostate. He wrapped his arms around his neck and clung to him, digging his nails in as he was taken, the words pouring from his lover's mouth turning him on every bit as much as being fucked was.
“There’s no point without you,” Pavel continued, clearly half out of his mind with lust and yet still somehow managing to say all the right things. All the things Zane needed to hear to solidify his feeling that this was right. That they were real.
And lasting.
“I’ve loved every version of you I’ve ever met,” Pavel divulged. “And I’ll continue to love all the versions of you that you become. We’ll build a family together and grow old together. I’ll prove my intentions to you every day for the rest of our lives if that’s what you need, gorgeous. Bashert.” He captured Zane’s hand and held it up between them, the gold of the ring still on his finger winking in the sunlight spilling in from the windows. “Say you’ll marry me, Zane. Will you? Hmm?”
“You’re seriously doing this now ?” Of all the places he’d imagined being proposed to, on his back actually wasn’t one of them.
“Where better?” Pavel clearly didn’t feel the same. “How better than while I’m fucking you senseless in our home?”
“On our table?” He’d been joking, but when the other man nodded, he realized he was too far gone to get how this was funny. “Ask me again when your cock isn’t battering my insides, and your eyes aren’t lit up like glowsticks. Ask me again,” he cradled his face in his palms, “when we’re both sound of mind and I can answer you in a way neither of us will ever second guess.”
Pavel kissed his left palm. “How about at breakfast tomorrow? This time we’ll get it right. No sulking or confused conversations.”
“No breeding next to the French toast?”
He groaned. “Good Light. If you talk like that I’m not going to last long.”
“So don’t.” Zane held him close and lifted his hips to meet the next thrust. “Come for me, Hart. Come for your bashert, and make me yours. Forever.”
The orgasm swept them both away at the same time.
And Zane did, in fact, see the whole damn universe flashing within Pavel’s eyes.