Alive // bxb

Chapter 14

Liam's POV:

"Uno," I declared with a grin as I laid the cards on the table, finding joy in the stumped expressions of Adriel and Milo. Sage, who was used to my winning strategies, simply threw his cards on the pile and started shuffling for the next round.

"The fact that you win so often, yet your strategy is so hidden it seems like you must have fifty for all different situations is crazy to me," Adriel muttered, gray eyes narrowed as he seemed to attempt to piece something together in his head. I just shrugged, smiling.

"I'm half convinced he's got no strategy and is just bluffing his way through it so that we'll think he does and therefore play worse," Sage confided. I made a noise of disapproval and elbowed my cousin in the side, causing his green eyes to slide to me.

"Maybe the real strategy is the friends we made along the way," I shrugged again. There was a moment of silence before they all started laughing.

"If anything, that proves my theory correct," Sage continued with tears in his eyes.

I just smiled. "Another round?"

"Kill me now," Milo muttered, but he accepted the cards handed to him by Sage. Adriel pressed a kiss to the ginger's forehead when his hand was dealt; I really hadn't seen them being the touchy sort of mates but in all honesty I hadn't seen them being mates in the first place, so maybe that was my problem. Sage's crush had been obvious but the feelings had never seemed to be reciprocated, at least until Adriel's birthday. Now they were together and I could only pray for my future self whenever they mated.

My own mate was watching them with happy eyes, so I couldn't be too upset.

"Who's ready for some very boring political talk?!" Aunt Eva shouted as she entered the house, approaching the table to place hands on Sage's and my backs. "Woo!"

"Aunt Eva," I complained as she reached to put the cards back in a pile and handed them to me to put back into the plastic bag. "I was just about to beat them for the thirteenth time in a row!"

"And nobody likes having their butt whooped at Uno, kid," she replied. "Come on, super fun boring stuff to talk about now. You're a grown-up, act like it."

"Milo and I aren't," Sage volunteered, causing Milo to wilt slightly at the mention of his name. Aunt Eva scoffed as Dad walked in.

"Not yet maybe, give it two months and I'll be a grandma."

"That's not how that works," Sage muttered, but the blush creeping up his neck gave him away. "First of all, pregnancy takes nine months, and second, Adriel and I are both guys-"

"Which is exactly what we need to talk about," Dad said. "Put away the Uno and let's get to the important stuff."

Only a few short minutes later, we were all spread out in the living room. Milo sat curled into my side on one sofa, Adriel and Sage on the other, and our parents in the armchairs. I might have preferred if we were all on the same couch, mostly because then I wouldn't have to look any of them in the eye during this discussion, but I digress.

"First of all." Dad made sure to meet every pair of eyes in the room. "What to do about those who... disagree with the Moon Goddess in the pairs of mates she's chosen to make."

"Fucking stupid homophobes," Aunt Eva muttered under her breath.

"It's never been a real issue before, since they could just stay out of the way of those who identified as... not straight, but now that both the alpha and beta are mated to males, we have an issue," he ignored my aunt. "It's apparent that they won't listen to you all because of who you're mated to, and we need a solution."