Bad Boy Alphas

11.4 | Let's Begin (REPRISE)

Zeke knows that he is Jax's eyes. Perhaps not literally, perhaps Jax can see just fine on his own. Better than fine, in fact, with their inherent canine senses. But he knows that as his diligent right-hand man, as his ever loyal second-in-command, he will always be needed. Wherever Jax goes, Zeke follows. Even now, this moment is no different.

Especially this moment.

Alpha Cyrus Pierce of Blood Moon, once their number one enemy and now their sole ally in a time where everyone else is plotting against them, nearly dwarfs Zeke with the slanted shade of his shadow, all while he inspects a shiny array of weaponry in between them.

Guns, knives, and wooden stakes are aligned across a metal platform in orderly fashion. The blunt edges of several silver blades are categorized on one side, the sleek steel muzzles of various pistols grouped together in another, and then the pointed ends of some wooden stakes are bunched together, revealing matching lengths and widths.

All three of them—Cyrus, Jax, and himself—are standing underneath the harsh, artificial lighting of Zeke's bedroom, awaiting what Cyrus will decide on. Anticipating what weapons Cyrus dubs safe enough to bring into Blood Moon territory. This is the question that's never been posed before: What is Cyrus most comfortable with? What does he want?

Figure that out and Zeke can unravel the rest from there.

Silver works well against vampires too, the only difference being that they can't die from it. Not permanently, at least—not with their undead status. Death is always temporary in their case, just like the mermaids. But if Cyrus doesn't approve of silver, then Zeke will find ways to do without it when the time comes. He always manages to figure it out in the end.

"I can't believe this is where my life's come to," Cyrus dramatically remarks, running a hand through his, ironically enough, silver hair. For someone who's so against the usage of it, his hair naturally gleams the same color as the poison capable of killing them in the first place.

Them and the vampires—a mutual weakness against a type of metal. It's almost as if Luna herself had planned this when she created them. Strange how, when it really comes down to it, they aren't too different from the bloodsucking parasites that roam this earth. Zeke knows that Jax may treat them as they are—as the rats of this world, the scum of this realm; but the reality is that, similar to the vampires, Grave Shadow is always thirsty for some kind of bloodshed that proves a point. Not that he'd ever admit to any of that aloud, never in front of Jax. He knows better than to break The Rules.

Rule #1: Whatever Jax says goes. No exceptions.

And...

Rule #2: Never voice any beliefs that don't align with Jax's.

Always remain in agreement with him. Obedience is of utmost importance.

Zeke acknowledges that just like the vampires, all of them deviously fickle in nature, he isn't any more immune to the intrinsic sin that is greed than anyone else. Who is he to oppose anything they've been doing? He knows that Jax has given him a whole new world of luxury and privilege that no other beta would ever be capable of possessing—this large bedroom being one out of many.