Firstborn [malexmale]

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

"This is it. This is how I'm going to die. Under my own roof, by my own family."

I rolled my eyes as I sat on the bed, watching Thorn lean on the window frame so he could stare out the window at the darkness, a cool night breeze ruffling his hair as he drew his stout glass to his lips to take a drink of whiskey. I shook my head, rising to my feet and gliding across the room so I could stand beside him, slipping my arm around his waist. He put his arm around me, resting his head on top of mine.

Out the window, beyond the retaining wall of the property, was the city of Madina. The capital city of Purgatory. In the distance, it was only a few glowing lights here and there, and surrounding it, cradled in a lap of sand dunes, was the desert. For miles and miles, the dunes slid up and down, lay flat, perked up with occasional cities or bedouin camps. A rare oasis would sit in the bed of sand. Runes from the ancient world half-buried. It was a beautiful land, despite its desert. Blankets upon blankets of golden sand that glittered and wavered in the morning sun, and became a land of silver when the moon fell upon it.

"You'll be okay," I told Thorn gently, as he let out another huge sigh, "I won't let them hurt you."

"It's not just me I'm worried about," he muttered and I frowned, glancing at him. His expression had gone grim and he went for another swallow of his whiskey. I started to chid him for thinking that Hades would straight up injury me, but I didn't have the chance because there was a knock at the door and we went inside. Thorn went right to the door as I stood in the middle of the room, watching him.

"My lord," one of the guards greeted him on the other side, then he paused to bow to both of us before straightening, "Lord Theo has arrived."

"Oh joy," Thorn deadpanned, and when I cleared my throat and raised an eyebrow at him, he sighed and faced the guard, "Let him in. We'll meet him downstairs in a moment." The guard bowed once more before departing. Thorn closed the door and went to the wardrobe to throw a shirt on. I watched him, smiling as he jerked a loose fitting beige t-shirt on over his head.

"Just let me do the talking," I told Thorn as we made our way to the door. Thorn scoffed.

"What're you talking about? Theo does all the talking. Always," he grunted. I smirked, giving him a little elbow in the ribs and he pinched at my nose. We made our way down the stairs, my having to walk carefully with Thorn's help as we made our way down to the foyer where Theo was waiting. He looked so out of place among the soldiers who wore their beige and taupe uniforms, while Theo was decked out from head to toe in black. A long sleeved shirt with a mesh torso, tight jeans with square chains dangling off the sides, and monstrously huge shitkickers.

"Yo," Theo greeted, flinging a hand up to greet me as I approached, "Did you get fatter?"

"He's pregnant," Thorn deadpanned. Theo gave him a droll look, clearly disappointed that Thorn didn't get his joke. Instead of responding to him, Theo came forward and ruffled my hair, then cocked his head down at my stomach.

"So, we figure out what the rugrat's name is yet?" He asked.

"Ah, no," I spoke before Thorn could, "We don't really want to think about the gender thing right now."

"Well, that's dumb," Theo deadpanned, "If the shifter is out to get the kid, shouldn't we know first?"

"I'd rather no one knew, including the shifter," I admitted, "The less people know about my child, the less the shifter does. The shifter only knows what people tell it. It won't know about my child until it's born. And then it'll be too late." Theo seemed skeptical at first, then shrugged and nodded, reaching up to fold his hands behind his head as he looked around. He paused, his eyes on Tristan, taking their sweet time to scan him from his boots to his skull cut.