Chapter 77: The Conversation

Dexter was still lost in the questions when the door opened.

He did not look up at once. Part of him expected Merrick again, bloody and panicked. Part of him expected a servant with some ordinary household demand. Instead the scent that entered the room was unmistakable, Aaron’s rage, banked and seething, and underneath it the familiar, complicated presence of Levi.

Dexter rose to his feet in an instant, already gearing up for whatever that would come next.

Aaron came in first, then Levi followed and closed the door. For a moment the three of them simply occupied the same space, the morning light across the floor doing nothing to soften the tension that had immediately taken root. Dexter took in the split knuckles on Levi’s hand, the exhaustion carved into both their faces, the way Aaron’s shoulders were set as if he were holding himself back by force of will alone.

He knows, Dexter thought. Of course he knows. Levi is here. That is enough. He was almost surprised Aaron had not crossed the room already and tried to put a fist through his teeth. The restraint was new, it made the air feel heavier, not safer.

"Sit," Dexter said. He gestured at the chairs near the desk with a politeness that felt like a provocation even to himself.

Aaron did not sit, in fact he felt insulted by the offer, and by the fact that Dexter was basically acting like he didn’t know why they were here.

"Drop it," Aaron said. His voice was low and rough from the night and the morning. "Don’t offer me a chair like this is a conversation between brothers who still trust each other. Tell me why you’re doing this, why these games? What exactly are you trying to get out of this?"

Dexter’s gaze moved to Levi and stayed there a beat too long. The omega looked worn down to the bone—sleepless, bruised across the knuckles. Something in Dexter’s chest pulled tight and unwanted. Then he looked back at Aaron, still surprised. The old Aaron would only offer to talk things out when he had beaten his target half to death. It was like the man before him wasn’t even his brother.

"You’ve changed," Dexter said. "This omega has changed you."

"Answer the question."

Dexter let the silence stretch until it became its own kind of answer. Then he gave the truth, because lying would have required an energy he did not currently have.

"He interests me," Dexter said. "I have not found anyone I fixated on like this before. Not once. And I do not have an overwhelming desire to share him."

Aaron’s face went white around the mouth.

"Share him? He was given to three of us!"

The words cracked through the room. Dexter did not flinch, he simply stood still, his pupils fixed on Aaron’s.

"We all knew that eventually one or two of us would have to give him up," Dexter said. "Kai has Flora. I claimed him first. So why won’t you just step away, Aaron? You’re unbearable. I don’t see how you can help him. So why even bother?"

Aaron moved, but Levi caught his arm before the first step fully landed, fingers locking hard around muscle that wanted violence. Aaron strained once against the hold, breath coming harsh, eyes locked on Dexter with a look that had nothing fraternal left in it.

"I never thought a day would come when I would want to kill one of my own brothers," Aaron said. The sentence was quiet and worse for it. "Today is that day. And I do not know what to do with you."

Dexter held his gaze.

"You can start by taking care of your new marked mate," he said. "Merrick. Forget Levi, after all you have no claim on him."

Aaron’s eyes widened. The knowledge landed exactly as Dexter had intended—and also worse. Of course Merrick had told him. Aaron’s whole body went rigid under Levi’s hand. For a second Dexter thought the restraint would break after all, that the middle brother would shake Levi off and finish what he had walked into the room wanting to do.

But none of that happened. Instead Aaron turned and walked out without another word, the door opening and closing behind him with a controlled violence that left the air vibrating.

Levi remained, his hateful gaze never fully leaving the young Alpha’s figure.

Dexter turned to him fully and let a thin smile surface. The board, as he currently understood it, had simplified. Kai was eight days from a public mating with a pregnant northern Luna. Aaron now carried a claim on a household servant and the political mess that would come with it. That left Levi—

"I told you I always find a way to get what I want, didn’t I?" Dexter said. "With Kai marrying Flora and Aaron marked to someone else, you’re essentially mine."

Levi chuckled, the irritation and hatred he felt was almost palpable, and at that moment he genuinely wished he had left Aaron to maul the bastard before him to death.

"You’re a disappointment, Dexter. What a bore." Levi said. "Your brothers are better than you’ll ever be."

Something in Dexter snapped clean through. He crossed the remaining space in two strides, caught Levi by the front of the shirt, and slammed him back into the wall hard enough that the impact drove the breath from the omega’s lungs. Levi’s head knocked once against the plaster. Dexter pinned him there, forearm across his chest, face close enough that their breath mixed.

"Watch your mouth."

Levi’s eyes watered from the impact, but they did not drop. When he spoke, his voice was strained and steady.

"Or what? You’ll kill me? Get me pregnant? I’m not afraid of you, Dexter. You’re predictable, and you don’t scare me."

Dexter stared at the omega before him with rage and interest, unsure if he should consider him brave or foolish. It was probably the former. He had expected fear, had expected the flinch like Levi used to. But he got none of that, and somehow it scared the third prince.

Dexter held him there a second longer, then released him with a shove that put space between their bodies again. Levi caught his balance against the wall and stayed on his feet.

"Save the energy for our wedding night," Dexter said. His voice had gone quiet and ugly. "You’re going to need it."

He turned away before the expression on Levi’s face could land another blow, walked to the desk, and set his hands flat on the wood so the tremor in them would not show. Behind him he heard Levi push off the wall and move toward the door. The latch lifted. Morning air from the corridor spilled in.

Levi did not offer a parting line. He simply left, and the door closed on a room that felt suddenly too small for the truths that had been spoken inside it. He should probably find Aaron, and fast, he didn’t trust the Alpha not to do something reckless.