A Sneak Peek

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What was I supposed to do?

I wasn't normal. I wasn't the type of person who "dated" or "watched movies". Fuck, not even my fighting style was normal, so how the fuck was I supposed to know what to do in a situation like this?

I was defective. It was a constant reminder originally beat into me by the Mother. Literally. Something could go horribly wrong and my attempts to make it better could only make it worse. It happened before and it could happen again and for some reason, now it was scarier. The idea of fucking up, the idea of hurting other people, especially him.

And yet... there was a deep hunger inside me. It surprised me. I'd never felt something like this before. It was a gnawing ache to reach out, to let him hold me, to let him love me. It ached for some kind of touch, some kind of affection, something different than what I was used to. I wanted to feel gentle caresses, hear sweet nothings, smell his scent on my skin. I never thought I'd want something so desperately. It was almost comparable to hunger the way my fingers twitched whenever he was near.

And frankly, I blamed my... guardians, for this feeling. Because it was their fault for taking my hand and taking me away from the Mother and her experiments. They took my hand, they took Thirteen's, and they brought us into this whole new world of love and family and dreams. It was surreal, it was confusing, it was... scary. Why couldn't they just take Thirteen and leave me behind?

My genetics, I reminded myself bitterly.

Because my genetics belonged to them, and they saw me as their child, but I wasn't a child.

I didn't belong to anyone.

I was just... a number. A defective number, to boot.

So why had they even bothered with me?

Part of me wasn't convinced they even wanted me around. In fact, I was positive the King didn't want me anywhere near him. He eyed me like he didn't trust me, even around Thirteen. And while he wasn't particularly receptive to Thirteen either, he was less likely to approach me, less likely to even speak to me. He cut me a wide path in the halls, barely said more than a word, and while his husband assured me it was simply the way he was around new people, I wasn't convinced.

I'd seen him with his subjects, with his guards, even with those he clearly didn't like, and he still spoke to them, paid more attention to them, than he did me. I was mostly just a spider in the room he wanted to keep an eye on, but not interact with.

He didn't want me.

And his husband... The angel was confusing. That was where the affection came in. He reached for my hand often, stroked my hair, cradled my face, wiped away Thirteen's tears. He was loving and caring and honest and true and it made me so horribly uncomfortable because I was unaccustomed to that. So why the hell did someone like him want someone like me around?

I felt like I was thinking around in circles, like I could run around all day and find no end to this ball of confusion and frustration.

In the end, I kept asking the same goddamn question... What was I supposed to do?

"Maybe you should go out today," the angel suggested, snapping me out of my staring contest with the beans on my plate. I blinked and looked up, watching Akin smile at me warmly from across the table. He was like a ray of sunshine when he did that. It was almost too difficult to look at him.

"And do what?" I asked flatly. I felt a spark of anger in the air and followed it across the kitchen to where the King stood at the stove, flipping a pancake. At his side, barely reaching his waist, was Thirteen, who clapped excitedly, completely unaware of the situation.

"Well," Akin said, not taking any offense to my tone, "You could start by maybe seeing if there's any classes you wanna take, or clubs you want to join, or maybe charitable labor for an organization." I stared at him blankly, because what the hell was I supposed to say to that?

Classes? Classes in what, fighting? My fighting style wasn't average, but it was good enough to protect me and Thirteen and that was all that mattered. Clubs? What kind of clubs? The loser club? Already had a lifetime membership. Charitable labor? Did I look like a community gardener?

No, the root of all this was Akin trying to get me to be... productive. To be normal.

Or maybe he was thirsty for some semblance of normal.

"I'll just stand guard outside the house while Thirteen goes to his lessons," I answered after a second, then hesitantly dug my spoon into the food on my place. I glanced up through loose strands of blond hair to see the King glancing over his shoulder at me, those dark brows of his slamming down hard in a disapproving frown. I met his stare straight on until he rolled his eyes and looked away.

"I don't wanna do school," Thirteen complained abruptly, reaching up to tug at the hem of the King's shirt, "I wanna go with you to the palace! I wanna see all the gods!" The King didn't really react to Thirteen's tugging, or his whining. He just ignored him to pile pancakes on a plate so he could hand them to him.

Thirteen's eyes brightened as he took his bounty to the table, hopping up in a seat beside me. He beamed at his meal and immediately dug in as Akin smiled at him.

"Maybe you can have your teacher take you to see all the gods at the palace," he pointed out, making Thirteen whine a little even though his mouth was full, "Don't gimme that. Eat your food with your mouth closed. Also, baby, I think we need to consider letting Thirteen go to actual school, instead of leaving him with your mom for most of the day." I glanced over at the King, who clearly did not like the idea, and frankly, I could agree.

It wasn't safe to send Thirteen to a public school. Right now, his life was in danger. Once word got back to the Mother of where we were located and the situation, she wasn't going to just let us live happily ever after. Thirteen was the most successful of all of her twisted experiments. She'd kill to get him back.

As for me, she'd probably just straight up kill me for my betrayal.

Fine by me. I wasn't useful to her, or to Akin and the King.

"No," the King answered after a moment, making me sigh in relief under my breath before I continued eating, pausing only to wipe syrup from Thirteen's shirt, "We're sticking to what we got right now. I don't want to take any risks right now. He's safest with my mom."

"I don't doubt that," Akin agreed, "But he needs to make friends. You know, aside from family."

"Friends are the least of his worries," the King disagreed. Akin's eyes flickered at that, and I could tell he was getting a bit exasperated with his husband.

"Can I talk to you?" He asked, clearly meaning a private discussion between the two of them. The King shut off the stove and obeyed without question. He never denied his husband a thing, hence why we were here in the first place. Otherwise, if the King had had his way, we'd be in an orphanage or foster care, whatever the hell that last one was. I knew orphanages were places for kids without parents and the idea that someone could take Thirteen away from me was almost enough to give me anxiety.

"Did I make 'em mad?" Thirteen asked, turning to look up at me with big blue eyes. I swallowed my food and gave him a reassuring smile. I reached out and wiped more syrup from his lips.

"No, I think they're just having trouble trying to figure out what to do with us," I answered, making Thirteen swallow thickly, fear settling into his eyes.

"They're not gonna send us to the kid place are they? The ones who might take me away from you?" He asked. I shook my head immediately, turning to face him and turning his seat so he was facing me now. I put my hands on his shoulders and looked him straight in the eye.

"No one is going to take you away from me, got it? Not some orphanage, not the King or Akin or Hades or even the Mother. I'm with you wherever you go, Thirteen. Don't ever think for a second we'll be separated, got it?" I demanded sternly. Thirteen swallowed again, like he was trying not to cry, and damn, he was such a strong kid, because he didn't let a single tear fall as he nodded.

"Okay," he said at last. I let him go back to eating and looked up to see that Akin and the King were talking in a hallway not far from us. My sensitive hearing picked up on a few bits of the conversation that went from healthy socializing, probably targeted at Thirteen, who hadn't made any actual friends yet, and then my stomach shrank in on itself when I heard Akin mention my name.

"Seven needs to go and do some socializing too," he was saying with a stern tone, "In fact, I think you should actually take him with you when you go to the palace today. He's technically a prince, Hannibal, and he needs to learn from the best."

"It's not safe," the King repeated monotonously, "And I don't want him in the palace..." His voice trailed when Akin started to put up a fuss about the King's aversion to kids, and that annoyed the shit out of me because I wasn't a child.

I didn't need them to take care of me. I didn't need them to teach me things. I was eight-years-old, but I'd been created with the body of a teenager, and now had the body of a man and the mind of a man. The Mother may not have found a use for me, but she wasn't going to let an fucking moron work under her.

And what is, he is technically a prince? Bullshit. The only prince in the household was Thirteen, and he deserved it. He was still a kid, only two-years-old- with the body a five-year-old, granted. But a child nonetheless. He hadn't learned everything he was supposed to yet. They should be worrying about him, about making sure he was receiving proper education, and Akin was right- Thirteen needed to socialize himself. He needed to make friends, learn how to communicate properly. As it was, he was smart, but he was also easily confused by certain concepts.

I'd been socialized by the guards, by the scientists, by the janitors and cooks. I'd learned how to communicate with their help.

But Thirteen was too young. He needed help, and I hoped Akin could provide that.

I'd say the King too, but the guy obviously needed some damn help himself.

"Alright," Akin said, coming back into the kitchen with the King following behind him with a clearly frustrated look on his face, "Thirteen, you and I are gonna meet up with your teacher in a few minutes. Seven, I'd like you to go with Hannibal to the palace. There's a lot of preparations for the upcoming festival, so it'd be neat if you could see how all of that works." I frowned at that, really not liking the idea of going with the King to the palace.

I looked at the King to see what he thought of the whole thing, and his expression was actually pretty stoic, but his eyes said he would rather pick belly button lint.

Understandable.

"No, I'm good," I stated, picking up my water to chug it. Akin looked at me, and I felt my insides shrink up a little at that look. It wasn't quite like the Mother's look, but it was one that promised some form of punishment if I didn't obey.

"Wasn't asking," Akin responded, making me grimace, "You really need to get out more. Besides, you won't be alone. We have a lot of visitors from out of town coming in for the festival. Blaine's actually coming too and he's bringing Keros with him." I tensed at that. Akin smiled slowly, averting his eyes and pretending he hadn't just used something to tempt me to go to this stupid festival prep.

"Guess I have nothing else to do," I muttered at last, making Akin beam.

Yeah, I had a feeling he always got his way.

"Great! Then let's wrap up breakfast and get started on our day! Man, I'm feeling so refreshed right now," he sighed, waving a hand in his face before pausing to look at his husband, who had gone back to the stove to take the rest of the food off. I pretended I didn't see the hot way he scanned his body or slid right up beside him and groped him to express his refreshness.

I rolled my eyes and got up, not finishing my breakfast, because I was getting nauseated. Thirteen was beaming from ear to ear, clearly loving the affection between them, even though he didn't quite understand it.

I left them to do their thing as I retreated to the room they'd given me.

The moment I touched the door, I felt a shift in the air in the room on the other side, and felt the corner of my lips twitch as I pushed it open and stepped in. The door shut behind me without a sound and one second I was standing in my room and the next, I was being picked up and shoved against the wall.

A mouth covered mine, a pair of massive paws grabbed and held my ass, my feet flying clear off the floor. I moaned as I peeked my eyes open to see Keros eagerly kissing me, his glowing bluish eyes watching me intently. I pulled back breathlessly, my arm sliding around his neck.

"Heard you were gonna be in town," I said. Keros studied me, his head cocked slightly.

"Heard you were gonna be at the palace today," he answered in that deep gravelly voice. I smirked.

"Wasn't expecting to be, but I think I can make some time in my busy schedule," I added, making his lips twitch in amusement. I licked my lips and pulled him closer, grinding myself against him and watching those blue eyes glow even brighter.

"I'd appreciate that," he growled, then leaned in to capture my lips again. I purred at that, clasping my fingers into the bulging muscles of his back. There was such a rock hard solid strength to him that I adored. It made sense; I'd seen his father. The guy was a massive monstrosity that almost put the King to shame. And Keros had gotten every last big, buff, and sexy gene.

He cradled me between his massive body and the wall for a moment longer, then swung me around and carried me to the bed where he dropped me down on my back so I bounced for a second. He reached up and stripped his black leather jacket from his body and tossed it on the hook on the bedpost.

"How you can wear fucking black leather in this weather is unreal to me," I snorted, watching him undo the zipper of his leather pants. He shrugged as he shoved his pants down just enough so he could pull his cock out of his underwear. My breath hitched at the sight of that massive length, semi-hard, and waiting for play.

"My dad once told me it was hard to look threatening in pastels," he replied, stroking himself in front of me. I moaned, propping myself up on my elbows as I watched him play with himself.

"Don't talk about your dad when we're about to have sex," I said, making his lips twitch again, "Also, that's fine, whatever, it looks good, even if you probably sweat to death in it." I scooted to the edge of the bed, getting right up there so I could get the best view of his hand stroking up and down. I licked my lips and reached up to finger the tip of him and he growled low in his throat. I dipped my head down and licked him.

A second later, his hands came up around my hand and shoved my mouth down around his cock. I gagged for a moment, shoving at his abs, but I pulled back enough to catch a breath before going back down around him. He moaned, tilting his head back as he held my head in his hands, his hips rolling against my face. I buried my nose in the crisp hairs at the junction of his thighs, tongue laving a hot path up and down his length.

He tasted like seasalt and rum somehow. It was utterly intoxicating. I'd never done anything like this with anyone else before. I'd never even considered the concept.

I wasn't stupid; I knew what sex was. I'd just assumed I'd be defective if I made any attempt, but Keros was happy to assure me I was doing everything right, that everything about me was... beautiful. It was so weird to hear someone call me that. For a moment, I'd thought I'd misheard, thought he'd spoken a word that wasn't Atlantean, but he'd been adamant and I'd slowly come to terms with that word being associated with me.

Beautiful.

Me?

I moaned as he came, filling my mouth before I swallowed his load and pulled my head back. I licked my lips, peering up his body at his heaving pecs, his eyes impossibly bright.

"It's good to see you again, Seven," he murmured.

"It's good to see you too, Keros."

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A/N: So, this was super short, but only because it's a smidge of something I'm thinking about adding onto The Underworld Chronicles. I don't have many details as of right now, but all I can say is the main character here is named Seven. And before you ask; no, i ain't tellin' nothin' lmao Anyone interested in a legacy series for The Underworld Chronicles? This could come after I finish Revelations.