24. Adam

24

Adam

One Month Later

A dam sat back and watched as chaos, which had started early this morning, continued and spread like wildfire in the office. Fear and panic were marked on most of the staff’s faces once the rumor began, and now that it was made official; Morrison and Co., the billionaire dollar company, had gone topsy-turvy.

Dave, unlike most of the staff, looked more intrigued than stressed out. He rolled his chair over to Adam and said, “Have you seen anything like this before?”

Adam said, “You mean the company collapsing without anyone knowing how and or why? Or the shocking news of the CEO of the company is a beastkin pedophile, and now that it’s public knowledge, the stock price of this company is sinking like a submarine?”

Dave looked at him for a moment and then burst out laughing. “Adam, you’re funny. ”

Folding his arms across his chest, Adam raised a brow. “Am I? I didn’t know I was funny.”

Debra came over to them then, clutching a folder against her chest. She leaned over the glass window of the cubicle and asked, “What are you two talking about?”

“The CEO,” Dave said.

“Oh, Mr. Morrison,” Debra said. “It’s shocking to hear all that coming out, but I’m sure it isn’t true. Who’d find beastkin attractive? I’m sure it’s just the competition playing dirty. Stuff like this, it ruins a man’s image, and if that man is powerful and wealthy, well, obviously, it’s big news.”

Adam asked, “And the fact that he’s a pedophile doesn’t disturb you?”

“But does beastkin even count?” she asked.

Dave raised a brow. “Debra, you’re quite cold, aren’t you?” He chuckled. “Sure, beastkin are beastkin, but they’re still living beings and they have emotions and feelings, and it’s just plain wrong that bastard does things like that. Imagine if you happened to be a beastkin and you or your child got caught in that.”

Debra glared at him. “I’m not a beastkin so don’t lump me with them.”

Dave shook his head and sighed. “Debra, you’re a lost cause.”

“What do you mean by that?” she demanded.

“You have something against beastkin?” Dave asked.

“I don’t,” she said. “But I just don’t want their kind mixed with us.”

It appeared, Adam thought, Debra had that line separating her and the beastkin. He came to realize now the woman was that one in a group of people where accepting anything different was just unacceptable, and her behavior at seeing Shiro, which had successfully been erased from her memory, wasn’t an isolated incident. And here she was, pining for him because he was strikingly handsome and looked very human, despite he was indeed a beastkin. To be frank, he had enough of her bullshit.

He stood and said, “That’s unfortunate, Debra, because here I am thinking beastkin and human could share a common space.”

“Huh?” She turned to him. “What do you mean? You’re sympathizing with the beastkin?”

Adam snorted. “I don’t just sympathize with them, Debra. I am one of them.”

She widened her eyes, shocked at this revelation.

Dave, too, was staring at him. “You’re joking, right, Adam? You don’t—”

“Have the animal characteristics?” Adam finished for him. “Yes, but I do have beastkin blood in me.” He picked up his suit jacket and scarf. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I need to see Mr. Morrison.”

Debra was still speechless while Dave asked, “Wait! Where are you going? It’s still working hours.”

Adam smiled. “I’m finished with this shithole.” He turned to the door and saw Nolan there, looking like a million dollars in his sleek suit. Lan, in his leather jacket and ripped jeans, his wolf ears sticking out and a pair of dark sunglasses on, looked ready to jump on these people, which naturally frightened them out of their wits the moment they saw him. More so since there was a hoard of men in black suits behind him and Nolan.

“Isn’t that…” Dave said, his voice weak as he stared at Nolan walking toward them. Everyone on the floor, in fact, was staring in shock at Nolan and Lan, their work momentarily forgotten.

Nolan called out, “Adam, ready to fuck the bastard up?”

Adam adjusted his tie as he said, “As ready as can be.”

The two headed out the door then, with the men following behind them. Lan, the last to leave, waved at the staff, saying, “Have fun finding another job, ladies and gentlemen.”

Once they were gone, chaos ensued with everyone asking, “Who are those people? What are they doing here? And what does Adam have anything to do with them?”

“Finding another job?” Debra said. “What does he mean by that? And he’s a beastkin, right? That boy? What is he doing here?”

Dave raked his fingers through his hair and then slumped down on his chair. Panic now started to set in on him.

Debra turned to him and asked, “What’s wrong?”

He raised his gaze to her and said, “What? You haven’t realized yet?”

Debra frowned.

Dave said, “The man who walked in, he’s a big shot.”

“Yeah? He’s hot, but what does he have anything to do with us and the company?” Debra asked.

“He’s Nolan Sullivan,” Dave said .

“Nolan Sullivan?” Debra asked. “I’ve never heard of him.”

“Then it’s a blessing,” Dave said. “Because you don’t want to hear his name, at least in the business world. He’s ruthless and…”

Debra rolled her eyes. “Dave, you’re not making any sense.”

His face hard, he said, “Debra, Nolan Sullivan is the second-in-command of the Sullivan mafia clan.”

“Mafia clan?” Debra said, her eyes wide. “Then what about Adam?”

“Fuck,” Dave said, chuckling nervously. “Now it makes sense. Adam Sullivan, he’s the head, the big boss.”

Debra looked all but frightened now, her face pale. “Are you serious? The big boss of a mafia clan was working with us in this very office for like five months?”

He nodded. “I’m very serious. This company is ruined, Debra. I think it’s best we start updating our resume and hunt for another job.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Debra said.

O n the top floor of Morrison and Co. building, Mr. Morrison, the owner and CEO of the company, was currently shaking and sweating profusely as he watched the television screen attached to the wall of his luxurious office. The affair of his time with underage beastkin teens and his association with the institute, particularly the red department, was out for the world to scrutinize, which pissed him off. Of course, he wasn’t scared by any means. He was wealthy and powerful and could hush this sort of things up with a snap of his fingers. The reason why he was shaking in his boots and sweating so profusely was because there were two big, bulky men on either side of him.

He hadn’t a fucking clue who they were. They just barged right in and one roughly shoved him to sit on the chair as he said, “Don’t move a muscle. Our bosses will be here soon.”

Bosses? What the fuck was he talking about?

The door opened to another two big, bulky men in black suits. Morrison glimpsed more men along the corridor and knew he was fucked. It looked like even his own team of security guards wouldn’t be able to handle these people.

Speaking of his own security guards, where the fuck were they in this time of crisis?

Walking in through the door were two striking, tall, lean men in immaculate, sleek suits and a punk wolf boy. The mere sight and intense aura from the two men turned Morrison stiff in fright. Even so, he managed to stammer, “Who… Who are you people?”

The man beside him snapped, “Silence,” which made Morrison jolt.

Adam came to sit on the sofa and then crossed one leg over the other, his eyes staring intensely at Morrison. Lan leaned himself against the edge of the sofa as he folded his arms across his chest while Nolan went over to Morrison and half sat on the side of the man’s fancy desk.

Again, Morrison stammered, “Who are you people?”

“I’m surprised you don’t already realize who we are,” Nolan said, shrugging his shoulders. “I thought we’re pretty famous. Or rather, infamous.” He turned to Adam and asked, “Aren’t we, dear brother?”

Adam said, “It appears not.”

Nolan tilted his head to one side and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Perhaps we need to be a bit clearer when we do our business operations and leave marks?” He leaned closer until his face was only inches from Morrison. With a dark grin, he continued. “Perhaps we, the Sullivan Clan, need to increase our notoriety even more by…” He left the sentence unfinished to let Morrison’s imagination run wild.

“The Sullivan Clan?” Morrison repeated, his eyes wide in horror.

Nolan raised his hand and snapped his fingers, which freaked Morrison out and he jolted again. A man stepped forward and presented Nolan a black folder. Nolan took it and then placed it on the desk.

Morrison glanced at it nervously and asked, “What’s… What’s that?”

Nolan opened the folder, revealing a contract inside, and slid it toward Morrison. He smiled and then said, “We’re here to kill you and your company, Mr. Morrison.” He paused and chuckled merrily. “Oops, excuse me, I was using the wrong word, which changes the meaning of our intention. I meant to say we’re here to save you and your company, Mr. Morrison. ”

Morrison was shaking severely now.

Wrong word? No way a mafia clan was here to save him. Mafia didn’t save anyone. They killed and took over.

Morrison glanced at the contract and then turned to look at Nolan and then Adam. He said, his voice shaky and weak, “You’re fucking kidding me. It’s you people, isn’t it? Doing this to me?”

Nolan said, “Hey, hey, what do you expect from us? Pleasantly shaking your hand while praising filthy rich bastards like you to the world how wonderful and generous you are when all the while you launder money and fuck underage beastkin teens who have no will nor freedom to express their rights? Sorry, Mr. Morrison, but that’s just not our style.” He snickered. “Our style, as you’ve witnessed already, is airing dirty laundry, blackmailing, and…”

Mr. Morrison was red in the face as he tensed, imagining the worst.

Nolan snorted. “Lan?” he called out.

Lan pulled out a tablet from the briefcase and handed it to Nolan, which the man took.

“Perhaps this might help,” Nolan said as he laid the tablet on the desk in front of Morrison. The man stared at Nolan for a moment and then shifted his gaze to the tablet screen. The moment he saw the video of his wife and daughter being held hostage—blindfolded, mouths gagged, and hands tied back—his body shook with fear and horror.

From the distance, Adam said, his voice firm and cold, “You have five minutes. Sign the contract and hand over this drowning company, or… ”

Bang!

Lan clapped his hands loudly, which made Morrison jolt again.

Fifteen minutes later, Adam, Nolan, and Lan walked out of the Morrison building, with the Sullivan men behind them. Business negotiation was done, with Morrison and Co. now under the Sullivan’s control. Within the next couple of days, the stock price of this company would once again magically raise, with the Sullivan owning one hundred percent of the share.

Climbing into the black Mercedes-Benz, Nolan crossed one leg over the other and relaxed back. Opposite him, Adam took out his phone to check his email. There were numerous he needed to reply to.

Hovering at the door, Lan said, “Master Nolan, I’m going to see Shiro and Aka now.”

Nolan turned to the boy and said, “You’re spending way too much time with your friends.”

Lan chuckled. “You said it’s okay.”

“Yes, yes,” Nolan said. “Just get your ass out of here then.”

“All righty,” Lan said and then shut the door.

The car started moving a moment later, and Nolan said, “So, are you moving back to the Sullivan Mansion now that this shit is over?”

Adam put away his phone and looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’m not sure.”

Nolan raised a brow. “You reluctant because of Shiro?”

“I don’t know if he’d like such a big place and with a ton of bodyguards patrolling the area twenty-four seven. ”

Nolan shrugged. “Lan is there, so I don’t see what the problem is.” He paused for a moment. “Besides, it’ll be safer for him if the institute is still hunting him down.”

“The city is safe from the institute because of the three clans,” Adam said. “So Shiro should be fine.”

“Yes, but he won’t be safe from the other clans,” Nolan said. “I wouldn’t put it past Luka or Sean to do something fucking crazy the moment they realize you have someone special like Shiro in your life.”

Adam understood what Nolan meant. Now that he had Shiro, the boy was his weak point and the possibility of the boy being used against him by the other clans was high. This was also the reason why, despite how much he loved the boy, he had never made any move on Shiro, let alone confessed to him.

To be frank, it was pure torture loving Shiro, living with the boy, seeing him every day, and wanting to kiss and fuck him but not being able to. He just didn’t want to cross that line where there was no return. Shiro had gone through too much shit in his life, and the trauma and fear within him were deep, leaving behind scars that’d take time to heal. Adam had promised himself he wouldn’t touch the boy until Shiro felt he was ready. So, until that day came, he’d just have to watch over the boy and endure.

And endure he had been, for over a month now. Since the boy had become fit and healthy, Shiro was more beautiful than ever, so much so that Adam just couldn’t find the right words to describe how alluring he was. Then there was that unique scent Shiro exuded as well, which Adam had started noticing a few weeks back, that refreshing, sweet blossom smell he couldn’t quite put a name to, which seemed to grow stronger with every passing day.

Whenever he was close to the boy, seeing his beautiful face and smelling his sweet scent, Adam felt his body responding and he had the overwhelming urge to simply make love to the boy, kiss him, taste every inch of him, suck his cock, and then drive his own cock into the boy’s asshole. Fuck, he wondered how much longer he could withstand this, desiring the boy yet refusing to touch him. He knew it wouldn’t be long until he’d be at his breaking point.

Switching his thoughts away from Shiro, which was never far from his mind, he said, “You just want me to move back and bring Shiro along so Lan would have no need to leave the mansion.”

Nolan chuckled. “You got me there, bro.”

Adam changed the subject. “So, have you figured out what hikari and daemon are yet?”

Nolan said, “Those. Ah, yes, very interesting words, hikari and daemon. Hikari is a Japanese word for light, and considering it’s a Japanese word and it’s beastkin related, I dug deep, once again in our vault of the beastkin library underground, and found some Japanese folklores or beastkin urban legends.” He leaned forward, his eyes bright with excitement at what he was about to share.

“In ancient time in Japan, there were the white and black wolfkin, white and black foxkin, and white and black catkin who are considered deities within the beastkin world. They are either alpha or omega and is never just the normal beastkin. Both the alpha and omega have life essence, which they refer to as hikari. When a pair of alpha and omega mate, their hikari are said to be transferred and became one, a combination of yin and yang, and it is this newly formed hikari that turns the alpha into a daemon.”

“A daemon,” Nolan continued, “in ancient Greek belief is a supernatural being between gods and humans. Translate that to us beastkin, it is a being between beastkin and gods, a being higher than an alpha. It is another evolution to something that is much more powerful.”

Adam thought for a moment and then said, “So to sum up, among our very small percentage of beastkin, there exist a few omegas with life essence that has the power to turn an alpha into a daemon when they mate?”

Nolan chuckled. “Yep.”

Adam said, “That’s interesting.”

“Yes,” Nolan said. “It is fascinating, isn’t it?” He tilted his head to one side. “By the way, you haven’t told me how you came about knowing those words. Sure, daemon is just an older version word for demon, but hikari?”

Adam said, “Shiro. He was talking in his sleep. I thought nothing of it at the time, but lately, it interests me.”

“Ah, Shiro,” Nolan said. “He’s a Japanese white foxkin, isn’t he? One of the six very rare kinds as we’ve learned from the Japanese urban legend.” He leaned back and looked out the bulletproof window as the car cruised along the street. “I read a bit about their history. During the incursion a hundred years ago, they were ruthlessly hunted and annihilated. What small number could survive scattered across the wind to other countries. Since they’re so easy to spot, with their unique appearance, it’s never safe for them to linger for too long.”

“Explains why Shiro and his family were always migrating,” Adam said.

Nolan turned to look at Adam, a serious expression on his face. “You’ve taken in a boy that is very rare and precious, Adam. From his appearance alone, I’m one hundred and ten percent sure he’s an omega.”

Adam didn’t want to believe it, that Shiro was an omega, but the evidence was piling up, making it harder for him to dispute the fact. On the other hand, so what if Shiro was indeed an omega? If he were to make love to the boy, would he then become a daemon? A being superior to an alpha? But would he want to mate with Shiro simply because he wanted that sort of power?

No, Adam wasn’t that kind of beastkin. If he were to mate with Shiro, it would be with love.

Drawing his attention away from his thoughts, Nolan said, “If the other clans found out—about both the legend and Shiro—then they’d do whatever it takes, play dirty, to get Shiro into their hands.” He chuckled. “Then again, this bond connecting thing bothers me. I don’t understand what that means. Honestly, I doubt just fucking an omega alone will allow the transfer of this hikari and turn an alpha into a daemon. I think there is a missing link.”

Adam nodded in agreement .

Nolan continued. “I personally know Luka fucked numerous omegas, which he doesn’t know are omegas.”

Adam raised a brow.

Nolan chuckled. “I’m very thorough with my research of our rivals. Luka is a member of the gold department club of the institute and I know he spends time with some of the special grade beastkin there.”

Adam said darkly, “What the fuck is Luka doing mixing himself with them?”

The gold department of the institute was a secret club for the rich and elite. The members donated millions to the institute and the institute in return provided all the luxury and leisure these exclusive members deserved—five-star accommodations at their various estates across the nation where they could network, share interests, join in the exclusive sports, and of course, access to beautiful beastkin.

Nolan shrugged his shoulders. “Beats me. Luka is fucking hard to understand. Anyway, I knows he fucks some special grade beastkin girls, and when I say special, I mean the omegas because I know an omega when I see one, and nothing seems to happen to him or between them. To me, that spells a missing link, and that, in my opinion, is in the words bond and connection .”

Adam nodded in understanding. “Otherwise, every alpha who mated with an omega would have already turned into a daemon.”

Nolan nodded. “Exactly. I’m sure as a being between beastkin and gods, a daemon would look at least somewhat different from us mere mortal beastkin, and considering how fast words travel in our circles, we’d know by now if anything like that were to have happened to any of the alphas. And the fact that we have one right here in our circle, being Chase and Aka and nothing seems to happen to either of them, well, it’s a confirmation that there is a missing link.”

The car came to a smooth stop outside a boxing gym, and Adam undid his seat belt. Looking out the window, Nolan said, “You seem to be coming here often in these past weeks. Frustrated or something?”

Adam snorted. “Chase and I planned on having a showdown today. It’s going to be a good workout.”

Nolan chuckled. “Please refrain from beating Chase into a pulp. Aka would be very upset and we need him at the clinic in case shit hits the fan when we do our next business operation.”

“I’ll try,” Adam said and headed out.