“I’m not scared of you,” I added.
“That’s the second time you’ve told me that in two weeks. What’s to be scared of?” He moved a fraction closer. “You’re so much hotter when you’re scared.”
“Colin?”
G! Thank the tenshi!
Colin let out a soft growl, his eyes narrowing at me, then turned his head, painting on a smile. “Gabriel. What can I do for you?”
“I’m here for Akira.” G appeared in the doorway, cleaned up, and in a black suit. Colin stepping out of his way. “Time for lunch.”
Colin turned his head back to face me. “Better have that shower. That stink is offensive.” He left.
I listened to his fading footsteps down the corridor, able to breathe again.
“Fuck,” I gasped.
“Are you okay, Aki?”
My legs went from concrete to jelly, and I buckled forward. G caught me.
“Come on,” he said, “sit down for a minute.”
He helped me to the bed, then went to close the door, hurrying back over to sit next to me. His hand on my bare back made me gasp again. He removed it quickly.
“Aki? What happened?”
“He’s just a prick.” Deep breaths—in and out, in and out. The wanker was gone.
“I’ll deal with him.”
“It’s okay, leave it.”
“It’s not okay, Aki. You’re upset.”
“Please, G. I don’t want any drama.”
“Okay, okay. But there’s only so much I’ll put up with.”
Man, he was just so nice. All the time. I didn’t deserve it. “Thanks, bruv.”
“I’ll call your dad, tell him you’re running a bit late for lunch.”
“Thanks, G.”
“No problem.” He stood up. “Aki?”
“Yeah?
“You know you can talk to me about anything.”
Not that, G. Not that. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
“Appreciate it.”
I left him to his call and hit the shower.
* * *
The suit was like a prison for my body, the shoes hell on my tootsies. I’d left my hair wet and hanging, a proper loose mess. I had to keep my scruffy edge about me to keep my damn soul in place so my dad couldn’t steal it.
Okay. Game face. Fuck Colin. Fuck all the dead stars. This was it. If anything, that prick had stoked my fire to trump my dad.
Question was, though, how was I gonna keep this up and not mention Zach? This wasn’t the time to do it while I was in the hornet’s nest. I’d never get out. Did I do it by phone? Write him a letter? Email him? No. That was bullshit. It had to be face to face. Just not yet.
Trust my dad to put a different issue in my way to deal with first!
Dick!
No falling apart. No rage. Cool, calm, and gunning for freedom.
I strode into the dining room, a minion holding the door open for me. G waited outside, not invited to the party. Shame. Didn’t feel right with him not there to catch me.
Not his job. Not fair on him to catch.
Oh, knickers to ya, bruv!
Here we were in the grand hall with panoramic windows overlooking the city, marbled floors, and frosted glass walls with expensive Renaissance art hanging on them.
The room never changed. Many a brekkie was had here, at this black table in silence, hunched over a cereal bowl.
There was so much Japanese food laid out—katsu pork, sticky rice, some okonomiyaki, salmon and avocado sushi (my dad’s fave), yakitori chicken, a bowl of edamame beans, gyozas, some daifuku for pudding, and two trays of cheese and pickle sandwiches to throw off the Japanese theme—and my go-to snack when I was a kid. Wow, he’d remembered an actual fact about me. Or the staff had. Whatever. Big shrug.
The good this food would do for the homeless. This was some obscene shit.
Sarah Murakami entered the room through the second door at the other end of the dining room. She was in a floaty white dress, her blonde hair tied up into a bun, a big grin on her face and a big pregnant belly her hands were resting on.
She came over, extending a hand. She was so pretty, her almond skin all glowy, her eyes the perfect shade of blue.
Creeped me out. She’d been mega nice the first time I’d met her. I’d been holding out for a wicked stepmother, and all I got was warm and fluffy.
I shook her hand. “Hi.”
My dad entered next, coming over to kiss his wife on the cheek.
“So lovely to see you again,” Sarah said to me. “You look wonderful in that suit.”
“Hair aside,” Dad jibed.
“Likewise,” I offered to my step-mum. “How you doing?”
“Ready to pop.” She giggled and returned a kiss on my father’s cheek. “How did things go down there, darling?”
“Another threat destroyed,” Dad answered. “Let us be seated.
The table could fit thirty people around it. The three of us sat together at one end, my dad at the head, because where else would he be? Sarah was next to him, me next to her, the High Alpha right in my eye line.
At least I had Sarah as a buffer.
Minions in white tuxes came in, waiters straight out of a posh restaurant.
“What would you like to drink?” one of them asked me.
“Some water, cheers,” I answered him.
I’d never understood mealtimes at The Spire. The glass water jug was right there in front of me, a glass to dump it in, too. But dear papa insisted we were served, and that was that. Daddy says do it, so do it—even if it makes you look like the laziest entitled dick ever.
Wonder if he gets his arse wiped for him?
The waiter poured my water. “What would you care for, sir?”
“I’m good with a couple of sarnies.”
“Do try the pork,” my dad said in Japanese. “It is excellent.”
“Guess I’ll try the pork.” Butter up the popz. Good plan.
“Certainly,” the waiter said.
With all of us served, and me getting a side of sticky rice and gyozas, I poked at the grub with my chopsticks. Ugh. So wasn’t hungry. I just knew if I ended up trapped here, I’d be forced to sit in here with these two for every meal.
“Do not pick at such wonderful food, Akira. Taste.”
He was right. Eat. Don’t let the side down. I moved to the pork.
Yep. It was awesome.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” Sarah added.
“Yeah. Delicious.” I had another bite, the room silent.
“So,” Sarah said again, obviously needing to fill up the awkward silence. “How is the baking going?”
I nodded, finishing my bite first. “Good. Currently obsessed with salted caramel cupcakes.”
“How lovely.”
“Yeah, I need to move on, though. Made too many. Overkill.”
“Perhaps you could make some for us to try before you do.”
“Yeah.” No, Sarah. That would mean actually having to stay here and be stuck with you and misery bollocks over there.
“I have never understood the need for men to bake.” Ah, there was dickhead dad.
“A lot of men bake, shujin,” Sarah responded.
My dad smiled. Hitoshi Murakami actually let his lips spread. Not a lot, but any sign of joy was earth-shaking stuff.
Guess he found the one creature who could do that to him.
“You are so modern, tsuma,” he said.
Ugh. They called each other husband (shujin) and wife (tsuma), complete with googly eyes. Hated that terminology, but not my business. Still, it was putting me off the pork.
“Anyway,” I said, ignoring Dad’s bigotry and general dickery, to get to the point. “I need to say something. Permission to speak, father?”
His smile was long gone. “Of course.”
Okay. How to play this. Tra la la…right. Cool. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stay here.”
He regarded me with those cold, dark eyes for h
alf a minute, the silence and tension so thick my katanas would have a hard time cutting through it all. Finally, he spoke, his mouth the only part of him moving. “You can, and you will.”
Man, did I feel small, caught in his stare. “But I have a life. That’s my home.”
“That tiny flat? You would call that home? No. It isn’t home, and your life is not respectful.”
Tra-la-fucking-la. “But it’s my life. I need to live it. I can’t stay here. You must know that deep in your heart, Dad. It wouldn’t work.”
“Your lack of gratitude astounds me. I protect you, and now I shelter you, and you offer me disrespect? Have you learned nothing, Akira?”
“This isn’t disrespect. I appreciate Gabriel and the wolf guards. I do. But I have to—”
“Petulant child.”
“I’m not a child.”
“You are, Akira. A spoiled brat. Nothing is ever good enough, is it? I should cut you off completely.”
“Hitoshi—”
He silenced Sarah with a raised hand, and she shrank back into her chair.
“Many times, I have thought of cutting you loose, Akira. You cannot shift. You will produce no heir of your own, seeing as you’re gay. And you would rather dwell in that hovel and bake cakes all day, occasionally hunting.” He shook his head. “But you are my son.”
Oh, was my blood boiling. “Gabriel’s gay.”
“Gabriel isn’t my son. Gabriel is a true wolf.”
“Right. My fault I like dick, yeah?”
“Do not use such language in the company of a woman.”
Couldn’t help it—my eyes went rolling. “This isn’t the dark ages. Sarah’s not gonna faint at the sound of a bad word. Please. You’re good, right?” I said to her.
She didn’t reply.
Balls! He’d pushed my sassy button. “And,” I yelled, “it’s not my fault I can’t shift, is it? It was your sperm and Mum’s egg that made me.”
“I would be silent now, Akira.”
“No! No way, Dad! You’re out of order. I’m me. If you were any sort of father, you’d love me no matter what. Who said I can’t give you grandchildren?”
“Your own blood cannot be passed on. There is no child-bearer.”
“And that’s all you care about?”
“Enough.”
“What did I ever do to you? Eh? Why the lies? Why the shame? Why can’t you tell me about my mother? Go on. Right now. You’re in the mood for honesty, yeah? Come on. Tell me. While you’re at it, let’s—”
Fists slammed down on the table. He was on his feet. “I said enough!”
His voice was like a thunder crack, bouncing off every wall and window.
“I’m not staying here,” I muttered.
“Go to your room.”
“I ain’t five.”
“Now, Akira.” Arctic tone.
“Please,” Sarah said gently, placing a hand on my arm.
Great. What a fucking jolly. “Fine.” I shoved my chair out and left the room, my jaw clenched, wanting to smash the shit out of something.
“Aki?” G asked as I stomped past.
“Not now.”
Chapter Six
Sent to my room! What a fucking… Gah! Why didn’t I just come out with it about Zach, give him the ultimate smackdown? I’d been so close before he’d boomed at me. That would’ve shocked his new wifey! Probably would’ve sent her into labor right there and then.
She didn’t deserve that.
Shite bags! Why did she have to be nice? Why? Why? Why?
I booted the stupid fucking bed, then threw myself face-down on the duvet like a teenager having a wobbler.
I had to get out of here. This was too much. I was gonna be thrown off the edge and killed by my father because I was gonna commit the ultimate shameful act and try and kill him if I had to endure much more of his shit.
Damn. Tears. Just great. Anytime my eyes got wet over him, it made me rage.
I balled up the duvet in my hands, squeezing it tight, really shoving my face down into the fabric and screamed.
If I brought him so much shame, why didn’t he just kill me like he’d tried to do with Zach? Neither of us were the right fit for his life.
Fucking hypocrite! Oh, G was different. He could kiss all the boys, but not me. No. I had to be chasing girls and making babies, be a proper heir. Didn’t mean shit. I could have a kid. What if I did adopt? Wouldn’t care, would he? Not his grandkid. Surrogacy? He’d have a problem with that too.
Why was I even thinking about this stuff? I didn’t want kids! Too much hassle. Still, if I did, he’d treat them just as shitty as he did me.
I sat up. “Ungrateful. I’m ungrateful.”
Him protecting me was mega confusing more than anything. I’ve never understood why. All he ever said was ‘because you’re my son.’
Fuck.
Two hours later, me completely zoned out, there was a knock on the door.
“Who is it?” Colin wasn’t getting the drop on me again.
“It’s me.”
G.
“I can’t talk right now.”
“Yes, you can. Open the door.”
“Who says I can. I wanna be alone.”
“I say you can.”
“I say go away.”
“Stop being an idiot.”
“I wouldn’t try me, G.”
“Your threats don’t work on me, Akira Murakami. Now, open the door.”
“I don’t want to.”
“You’re regressing to your toddler stage.”
“Cheeky wanker!”
“Case in point.”
“I don’t wanna talk. Maybe later. Leave me alone, G. I mean it.”
“Either you open the door, or I will.”
My forehead scrunched up in a frown, and I opened the door. “You’re like one of those annoying puppies that won’t quit.”
“Thanks. I take that as a compliment. Can I come in?”
“You just bossed me about, so do what you want.” I went back to sit on the bed.
“Thanks.” He came in, closing the door behind him.
“What you got there?” I asked, noticing the two books in his hand.
He held them up. One was proper old, one in better condition.
“Light reading?” I added.
The Apocalypse That Never Was by Timothy Faulks—the less battered one. I couldn’t see the title of the other because everything about it was worn out.
“I want to show you some stuff, but first, I think we should talk.”
“Okay.” I’d given up the resistance.
“Can I sit?”
“Yeah.”
He sat on the bed with me.
Why did I wanna rest my head on his shoulder?
“This is it, Aki. For now, the hunting has to stop. You know that. The stuff at the hollow proved it, and we can’t go against your dad.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Come on. You saw what happened with the mazoku inside Mama Rita. They can exit her body when they want. You know what that means.”
I nodded. “We’re gonna get us some mazoku attacks from now on.”
“That’s right. Thank the tenshi the prisons are holding up.”
Mama Rita had managed to free those shadowy wankers that lived inside her from Hyde Park, as well as some others, but those not being her new best friends had been trapped by the SCU and put back inside the prison. That left eight taking up residence in her mutated body.
Ugh.
The terrorist attacks had failed to break Hyde Park’s walls. But Mama Rita had been successful before. So, why not try again? That was something not being discussed, but I bet it was on Dad’s mind every hour of the day.
She must be biding her time. I said this to G.
“I don’t understand it either.” He didn’t go into any more detail.
“Maybe she can’t,” I offered. “Might have been a one-off spell or something, or it might take time to make another one.”
“Maybe.”
Okay. Time to move this along. “Those two executed this morning—are there any others in their ring?”
“Yes. They’re being hunted down.”
“But that’s just one of loads.”
There’d always been resistance groups, and they’d always been crushed. But with the latest developments, along with the elves being forced to remain underground after the werewolf murders, tensions were high.
Dad didn’t need to do that to the elves. It wasn’t on them. He was stirring up unnecessary shit.
“I’ve put in a petition with your father for us to carry on living at your place, but without the hunting.”
Fuck. This sucked. “Thanks. At least the wanker has the ability to listen to someone.”
“I don’t know if he will listen, Aki. But I argued the case as best I could.”
“Thanks. Man, feels like I’m trying to avoid prison. ‘Cos that’s what it’ll be like here. I waited so long to be out of this dump, and now I’m gonna be dragged back again.”
“Have faith, Aki.”
“Yeah, if you say so.”
“Your dad wants you safe, and I know that’s a sore subject, but…I’ll stop.”
“It’s cool. I know you’re being peacekeeper. I just can’t stand this. I need to confront him, but he’s got me stuck. I don’t know how to do this. I need him to talk to me about Zach and what he did to him and Mama Rita, and be fucking honest.”
“The right time will come.” He smiled weakly.
Poor G. Always stuck in limbo.
“Anyway, those books. What you doing with them?”
“I went to Spire Library to look up some stuff. I remembered something.”
G was all about books. His fave hobby was collecting rare hardback editions from used bookshops and stuff.
“Right. What did you remember?”
“Read the parts I’ve marked.” He opened The Apocalypse That Never Was and pointed at a passage.
I started reading the bits with light pencil markings.
The queen of the mazoku was a powerful creature who climbed out of the shadow realms that she and her kind dwell within. She came to claim the world, to take and kill, to bring destruction to all. Some say to begin a new world, using Earth as her own. Some say purely for the joy of chaos, or simply because the mazoku are the dark side, and so their nature is to bring darkness. Whatever is to be true, and we may never know, the mazoku had risen up.
Four Moons: The Complete Collection: (Books 1 - 4) Page 27
