31. Micah

CHAPTER 31

MICAH

The Mafia Queen: Rise and shine, Rabble! The reporters from SNZ will be arriving momentarily, so if you would be so kind as to BEHAVE, there will be no need to add to the body count.

Clan Daddy: Godspeed, Boss. [Fruity drink emoji]

I awoke the next morning vaguely aware of sand under my cheek and extremely aware that I was being spooned from behind by someone.

Someone who smelled like apples and vanilla and freshly sharpened wood pencils…

Someone who's not Ziggy.

My eyes flew open to find Dre directly in front of me, stretched out on his side and looking shockingly well put together for someone who presumably also spent the night sleeping on the beach.

"Sweet dreams, Exo-Tech?" His mesmerizing blue eyes trailed over me—taking in the incriminating scene and grinning like he had a secret .

All my secrets, probably.

"Where…" I attempted to look around for my man, but my movement caused Gabe to pull me closer as he subconsciously rocked against me.

Rocked his rock-hard dick against me.

"Don't fuckin' move," he mumbled into my neck, clearly still asleep. "M'not done with you yet."

"Fuck," I choked out, as my dick jumped in response. When Dre's grin only grew, I scowled. "Enjoying yourself, Shock?"

"You have no idea," he snickered before peering over my shoulder. "And Gabe seems to be having some sweet dreams himself, courtesy of me. Well, courtesy of both of us…"

I froze. "You've been in my head."

It wasn't a question, and I didn't require an answer, but I wanted to see what kind of opponent I was up against.

Will he deny it?

Dre cocked his head, clearly confused. "Of course, I have. I was looking for intel on Ziggy, but your cute little fantasies about my twin are way more interesting."

Fucking voyeur.

I could feel my cheeks heat, which only made Dre's grin turn into a satisfied little smirk. "Don't worry, Micah," he purred, licking his lips, tasting my humiliation. "I won't tell your Space Daddy that your dick gets hard for someone else."

No…

That's not it.

This fool thought he had my number—and maybe he did, to some extent—but I had his dusty ass categorized in return .

He's a sadist.

"What about your fantasies, Dre?" I cooed, lightly trailing my fingertips down Gabe's forearm and mentally apologizing for the violation.

Dre tracked the movement of my fingers like he wanted to remove them one by one. In reality, he was the one about to lose the upper hand.

Because I don't play.

"You wanna degrade me?" I continued as a smirk curled my lips. "Wanna make me squirm and blush and whimper while your twin fucks me stupid?"

Now, Dre's eyes were the size of dinner plates, and I would've bet not many people ever clapped back hard enough to shut him up.

"Oh, demon!" A joyful voice that made me tense rang out from somewhere behind me. "How terrible that the brats have you outnumbered. How terribly marvelous!"

Theo.

Theo's with us, but Ziggy isn't…

I'm the one who's outnumbered here.

Dre rolled his eyes at his brat before returning his attention to me with renewed interest—and respect.

Good.

"You have a little bite to you, huh? I can see why he likes you," Dre murmured, looking me over thoroughly and not elaborating who he was talking about. "Maybe you are my type after all…"

"Too bad," I snapped, regretfully extracting myself from Gabe's cozy embrace so I could sit up. "Because your twin is the only one Zig is cool with in this situation."

That caught the psycho psychic's interest. "You've talked with Ziggy about your slutty little crush?"

Be so for real.

"Yes, Dre," I sighed, scrubbing a hand down my face while trying to shake Gabe awake with my other hand. "Zig and I com-mun-i-cate, as two adults in a relationship built on mutual respect do. He knows all about… whatever this is between Gabe and me, and we've decided to figure it out together."

"What's there to figure out?" Theo huffed.

I turned to face the alien stretched out on a nearby lounge chair, catching the early morning rays on the otherwise-deserted beach, and immediately wished I hadn't. As expected, he was practically naked, dressed in a minuscule leopard print thong that did nothing to disguise the size of what he'd stuffed inside.

My eyes!

"We just want to understand this shared resonance situation," I replied honestly, in hopes of inspiring some honesty in return.

A boy can dream.

Ziggy had shared a little of what he'd learned from Luca last night, but between being surrounded by nosey supes at dinner, the murder, and Balty turning into a Lacertus, we hadn't gotten the chance to regroup in private.

Where is he?

"Ziggy said he wanted to go check on a few things while Zion was busy breeding our brother," Dre smoothly answered my private thoughts. "Which included interrogating Isaiah. "

My blood ran cold. "I-interrogate?"

I'd seen firsthand how Zig conducted an interrogation. While he was able to extract intel with no bloodshed, he also thought nothing of removing body parts if it got him the answers he wanted faster. I usually found this character trait of his hot as fuck, but not so much when aimed at my family.

He wouldn't… hurt Izzy…

Would he?

My brother was a lover, not a fighter. He was also not the sharpest tool in the Salah shed, so I could totally see him getting himself disemboweled simply because he was too stoned to understand the question.

I need to stop this!

Not knowing what else to do, I refocused on the one person who'd been staunchly defending Izzy since the accusations began to fly.

"C'mon, Gabe." I roughly shook the supe still sleeping beside me, trying to ignore how his hand was now clutching my inner thigh. "We didn't drink that much last night, dude. Why won't you wake?—"

Hold up.

I sharply inhaled then spun on both assholes present. "Which one of you is keeping him under?!"

Theo raised his hands in mock surrender before pointing at Dre. True to form, the villain didn't look apologetic in the least.

"He likes it." Dre arched a brow, daring me to argue.

That's it!

Prepare for the fucking thunder .

"He likes it when it's Theo keeping him asleep while they play," I growled through gritted teeth as my powers rallied beneath the surface, itching for a fight. "He likes it when it's consensual."

"OoooOOOooo…" Theo added unhelpfully.

Dre's jaw ticked, but he otherwise didn't outwardly react. "I wouldn't expect you to understand the bond we have?—"

"I'M TRYING TO UNDERSTAND!" I hollered, beyond done with his bully bullshit. "Because we all have a bond now, whether we like it or not." I gestured between the four of us, including Ziggy in spirit. "And I protect what's mine."

And Gabe is mine, whether you like it or not.

Apparently, Dre didn't agree with that assessment. "You need to step away from my twin, Exo-Tech," he growled low in warning.

It was all I could do not to shrink from the overwhelming pressure I could feel building in the air, feeding off everything around us like a black hole devouring galaxies.

How powerful is this guy?!

I followed Dre's angry glare to where I'd instinctively cupped Gabe's head in my hand, which gave me an idea.

An idea that might get me killed.

Here goes nothing…

"I'm sorry, Gabe," I whispered, hoping he was somehow able to hear me in his unconscious state.

Then, I gathered my power and covered his head in a psychic energy-blocking helmet.

Magneto-style .

Gabe immediately awoke with a gasp. "DRE!" He abruptly sat up, eyes wide and hands clawing at the foreign object I'd created to both trap and free him. "I can't… I can't f-feel my…"

Ah, fuck.

"I'm right here," Dre replied calmly before turning on me in a fury. "Take the goddamn helmet off him before I fry your fucking brain!"

"Not until you stop treating him like your fucking puppet!" I shouted, wondering why Dre hadn't acted on that threat already, and thinking I should probably conjure some Magneto drip of my own.

I nearly fainted in relief when Ziggy appeared, with tendrils unleashed and murder in his eyes, but blessedly without Izzy's blood on his hands.

Thank gawd.

I'm not built for this shit.

"Oh, this is getting good…" Theo cackled from the cheap seats.

Gabe partly settled, although he was warily taking in his surroundings, including our very close proximity. "What the hell is going on?"

"I would like to know the same thing," Ziggy snarled, his accusing gaze rightfully flickering between Theo and Dre.

Theo grinned.

I hesitated to explain, suddenly wondering if I'd inserted myself in business that wasn't mine.

But it feels like my business… .

Gabe covertly slipped his hand into mine and squeezed—silently asking for what he couldn't say out loud.

Because he's my family now.

I cleared my throat. "Dre was… keeping you under while we… slept next to each other. He was feeding you… fantasies…"

My fantasies.

"Your fantasies," Dre echoed in a pissy tone, not so smug now that he was being called the fuck out. "And Gabe was gagging for it. Clearly."

"Oh, gawd." Gabe choked out, releasing my hand so he could cover his crotch, blushing furiously. "I'm so sorry, dude…"

These fools.

"Please don't apologize!" I gripped his face in my hands, forcing him to ignore the others and focus on me. "Like Dre said, it was my shit being projected onto you. It's not your fault, and dicks have minds of their own, so…"

I gestured at what remained of my boner— which really needed to just shoo at this point —while doing my best to send soothing energy to Gabe through our bond, like I often did for Ziggy.

Do you feel this too?

I hesitantly dissolved the Magneto helmet, startling when Dre's voice sounded in my head.

"He feels it too, trust."

Recognition shot through me as I threw Dre a judgy sidelong glance. "It was you in my head at the bar the other night, wasn't it? I'm not your puppet either, you know."

Dre sighed heavily, looking only slightly sorry .

It's a start…

"I was just trying to help," he grumbled while vaguely gesturing between Ziggy and Theo.

Oh.

What a fucking dumbass.

I dropped my hands from Gabe's face and faced his twin. "Okay, so in your efforts to get our stellar collisions to talk to each other, you decided to twist our connection for your benefit?—"

"It was for everyone's benefit," Dre scoffed and, all at once, I understood why Wolfy had given him his own mini clan to lord over.

He is 1000% clan leader material.

"Manipulating the way I feel about Gabe hasn't benefited me," I firmly replied. "All it did was make me more confused while I was trying to figure things out."

"What is there to figure out?!" Theo repeated, but I continued to ignore him.

Dr. Micah can't help you, dude.

Dre finally showed some humanity. He nodded thoughtfully but wisely kept his trap shut, and I smiled as someone— probably Ziggy —sent me a burst of encouragement through our bond.

He's got me.

Always.

"You… feel some kind of way about me, Micah?" Gabe asked, and when I faced him again, I found the supe gazing at me—not shyly as I'd expected, but like he wanted to eat me alive .

Eek.

I quickly glanced at Ziggy to discover him watching our exchange with the same hungry expression.

That looks like permission to me.

"Y-yeah," I replied, suddenly sweating like a teenager with a crush.

Which is how this all began in the first place.

"Same." Gabe's pretty gaze momentarily dropped to my mouth as he swept his tongue over his bottom lip. "And I'd really like to kiss you… if that's okay?"

We stan a consent king.

"Fuck, yes," I breathily replied before forcing a shaky smile. "Do you think it will help these two idiots work things out?"

Gabe's filthy smirk had me fully hard again in an instant. "I don't give a shit if it does. This is for me."

Then, he wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and slammed our mouths together.