Gideon's Love

Gideon

26 years later,

He doesn't feel winded as he chases a lycan through alleys and around bins, various boxes, and transients. Orias tells him to move his ass or let him out, so he picks up the pace. He gets this brilliant idea and dives into a shadow, planning to come out before the running lycan. That was the plan, anyway.

The running lycan stops to look down an alley to his right. It's the last thing he does as he explodes outward, his body parts scattering several feet around the dazed man now standing where the lycan once was.

Orias cackles maniacally, struggling to catch his breath as Gideon spits pieces of lycan. "f**k! That's nasty!" he shouts out. That wasn't part of the plan. Somehow, his shadow and the running jerk's shadow crossed as he tried to pop out, resulting in Gideon ending up in him, and Gideon was much larger than the jerk.

Orias inhales deeply, his breathing irregular as he struggles to talk. "That was new! Let's do that again." he loved a good kill, and that right there was one of the best.

Gideon continues to try to wipe blood and various body parts off himself. "Hard pass, man. I got some of him in my mouth," Orias howls with laughter as he watches his human flick brain matter off his chest.

A feminine sigh to his right makes his head shoot up. A short female with long orange hair, deep black eyes, and pointed ears walks out of the shadows, and he relaxes. He's been helping this demon for years.

If he told someone he was helping a demon, they probably would think he was insane, but demons just get a bad rap. They're sticklers for keeping the balance between the living and dead and between pure souls and corrupt ones. Plus, Orias vouched for her. Apparently, they've been working together for centuries.

Achlys struts over to him, plucks an ear off his shoulder, and tosses it into her mouth. "You two done f*****g around yet?" she asks with her mouth full of food, chewing loudly. She picks up a finger and slides it into her pocket for later. His emotionless face shows nothing of his disgust. He can't complain. The jerk wasn't innocent, but it was still gross. For years he's known her, he will never get used to her eating people.

"We still have two more tonight," she tells them around an ear lobe sticking out of her mouth.

Gideon's eyes flash with irritation. "Can you swallow before talking?" she chuckles and walks away from him.

"You swallow," she calls out. He sighs and stomps after her, trying to dislodge pieces of lycan as he walks.

Four hours later, he drags his tired feet into his room. He still lives with his parents. Why? He doesn't know. It was his dad's idea, something about mom feeling abandoned. It only made things harder for him, sneaking in and out covered in blood, but the thought of his mom giving him a sad face made him shudder. It's not like his parents don't know what he is or does, but they don't need to see the reality.

He plans on talking to his dad again. It's not like he can't stay in the building but in a different condo. The pack house is a large skyrise with fifty-five floors of living space. The New Moon Pack lived directly in the center of a large city, so going upward made a lot more sense than outward.

Orias wheezes out a short laugh. "You can ask now." he takes a second for what Orias said to register, but it's too late. His bedroom door swung open, and his dad walked in. His dad still looking down at his phone as he asks if they want nachos.

"Um, yeah?" Gideon answers. His dad nods his head and mumbles as he starts to walk back out. He lifts his head from his phone and does a double-take as he goes to look at his phone again. The high-pitched screech wasn't the manliest noise coming out of his six-foot-four father, but Gideon knew he looked terrible.

"Fuuuuck... what happened to you? Are you okay? Is it yours?" his dad takes several steps and looks Gideon over. His dad's face was filled with panic. Although they looked almost identical, Gideon's face remained motionless while his dad was scrunched up.

Gideon put his hand up to calm his dad. "It's not mine. I accidentally made a Lycan explode." His dad raises both eyebrows in surprise.

"No s**t?" his dad asks. Orias chuckles as Gideon's dad, Aldrick, asks for details. He was about to explain when his mom walked in and started screaming her head off. She's a tiny woman, but she has a set of lungs on her.

Her hands flap dramatically as Aldrick tries to calm his mate and grab hold of her hands. "Breathe, baby." She inhales sharply and exhales loudly in a whoosh.

Gideon's mom, Emma, glares at them both. "What in the Franken f**k is going on? What happened?" She squints her eyes, zooming in on Gideon's hair. "Is that an eye?"

He lifts his hand up and touches something firm yet squishy. His usually emotionless face lightly twitches in disgust as he lowers his hand and looks down at an eye.

His mom gags as he gives the eye a couple of light squeezes. Yeah, that's definitely an eye. He looks back up at her and nods his head.

Emma glares at him. "You know what? You win, get your own damn place." She stomps towards the door and shouts over her shoulder, "No more than two floors away from me!" As she rounds the corner, she yells for the entire house to hear, "Family meeting in one hour!"

Gideon and Aldrick groan simultaneously as his dad walks out. "Take a shower, son. That's nasty". He sighs as he watches his dad leave his room, closing the door behind him.

He looks around his room at all the stuff he's accumulated. He looks at all thirty-eight wands he's collected from his favorite amusement park, action figures from his favorite anime, and dozens of stacks of comic books. He flinches slightly as his eyes graze over his superhero comforter and matching sheets. It's not like he's ever had a girl in here, but he should update to more grown-up furnishings for his new place. It's embarrassing that his room has stayed the same since he was thirteen, except for the comforter, which was new but not his. He can thank Orias for that pick.

Gideon looks down at himself and groans because he's not sure an hour will be enough to get all this lycan goo off himself. He stiffly shuffles to the bathroom in clothes that are now hardening and sticky and begins peeling them off. Nothing that he wore today survived, including his shoes. He looks back at the trail he left behind him and groans again. Grabbing a towel, he drops it on the floor and uses his feet to slide around, wiping the floor as he goes. Once satisfied, he laid the towel out, dropped his clothes in the middle, and balled it all up to throw them away.

Walking back into the bathroom, he flinches at his reflection; he gets why his parents freaked out. Blood coated and dried every inch of skin that wasn't covered by clothes. His eyes peered back at him from a blood-encrusted face, and he couldn't help but silently chuckle at himself. He struggles to pull a couple of faces and flexes his muscles, and Orias laughs, "This is why you're single."

Gideon sighs and stares at his reflection for a couple more minutes. That was definitely not why he was single. It was his face, or more accurately, his lack of physical emotions. It's not that he didn't have feelings. He felt all the same as everyone else did. Still, his face never cooperated with the corresponding emotions for some reason. Happy, sad, angry, delighted... none of those emotions ever reached his face. He had the ultimate poker face mixed in with a resting b***h face. It gave people who didn't know him the heebies. No female stayed with him more than a night, and he's been told by more than one partner his face made them uncomfortable.

He didn't even have a sour face to look at, with his tanned skin, sharp chiseled jaw, perfect white teeth, thick slashing brows, dark, brooding eyes slightly slanted on the ends, and if you pay attention, you'll notice they're more hazel with dark flecks and slashes of gold, full manly lips with the hint of pink and a flawless complexion. He is an almost exact replica of his dad, except his dad has long dark hair liberally peppered with grey and knotted with braids intricately pulled up and out of the way. In contrast, his own hair was medium-length and jet-black. His dad also had a beard, and while Gideon toyed with the idea of growing one, the upkeep seemed more work than he wanted.

He sighed again and headed to the shower. Turning the water on high heat, he climbed in, and both he and his lycan moaned and relaxed under the water. He scrubbed every inch of his skin, finding blood in crevices that made him flinch in disgust. Another man's blood was between his butt cheeks, and he wasn't all that thrilled about it.

He finished scrubbing himself down and stood in the shower for a few more minutes before turning the shower off and stepping out. He felt cleaner, but it might take a few more showers before he felt like he was back to normal.

He grabbed a fresh set of clothes and pulled everything on before silently padding his way to the living room, where he knew the family would be waiting.

Halfway to the living room, he felt his youngest brother jump on his back from behind. His legs went around him, and Gideon continued walking like nothing happened.

He would never say aloud that he had a favorite sibling, but his baby brother was definitely his favorite. Kai was the fourth child of the Harker family and was only sixteen years old. He was a gay omega but classed as a third-rank omega because he was born with a uterus. He was considered the bottom class, which pissed Gideon off. Third classes were rare but not uncommon, and it wasn't their fault that they were born that way, but society looked down on them for some reason.

His brother was beautiful and resembled both parents in the most delicate way. He had their mom's hazel eyes, straight classic nose, soft bone structure, high cheekbones, and full pouty pink lips. From their dad, he got his tan coloring, almond eye shape, and slashing brows. He also had their mom's intelligence; he was a straight-A student and a tech genius. He wanted to take over their mom's position as the pack's cyber security specialist someday. And on top of that, he had a handle on sarcasm with a quick wit and comedic timing. He was also the only sibling who could read Gideon or take the time to try to understand him.

The two brothers entered the living room where their twin siblings, Farren and Dade, were. Both had their birthday tomorrow, turning eighteen. As soon as they graduate from high school in less than a month, Farren will start Gamma training. She was the best candidate for it, and their pack's Alpha, Brodey, was delighted that his godchild would take over the rank. From the start, she's a dominant werewolf and has always shown potential as a leader. She's physically and mentally strong and intelligent, and then there was Dade, Dade...is Dade.

Gideon never understood how his brother could be so different from the rest of his siblings. They had the same parents and the same amount of love and attention, yet Dade was an ass. He was bitterly jealous that his sister was dominant and would take over the Gamma position. He was narcissistic and cold, and it killed him to admit he was wrong about anything.

Gideon loved his brother, Dade. He really did, but he also spent much time wondering if he could drop-kick his brother into the shadow realm and just leave him there.

He dropped Kai off on one of the couch cushions and sat next to him while they waited for their parents. Chances are those two pervs were making out. It was no secret that they were totally obsessed with each other, and on more than one occasion, someone walked in on them doing something dirty to each other. Gideon learned at a young age not to pop in on them through the shadows, and if their parents say, "Don't open the locked door," you do not open the locked door.

Dade mumbled something about his wasted time, and Farren glared at him while Kai twitched. Their parents have about five minutes before the twins try to kill each other, and Kai starts bouncing around. A few minutes later, their parents enter the living room, and Gideon sighs in relief. His mother's medium-length hair is tangled and on end, and Kai snorts in amusement.

Their dad sits on his recliner and pulls his mate onto his lap. They were still a striking couple; his mother was small and delicate, with bright hazel eyes and light streaks of grey framing her face. They had a relatively large age gap between them. Aldrick recently turned fifty-seven, while Emma was forty-four. It was love at first sight for them, and they have been together for over two decades.

Deep down, Gideon wished he could find a love like that, but chances are it will not happen. The original firstborn lycans didn't have bonded mates. They could choose their own and usually do it in each lifetime, but he didn't think it was a possibility with the way he was.

His mom cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "Gideon's moving out". Dade pumped his fist in the air, happy to get rid of his brother, while Kai started crying. "He will move downstairs to one of the three bedrooms. It's time for him to leave the nest".

Kai stops crying. "Oh. I thought he was going somewhere far." Gideon rolls his eyes. It's not like it's all that far from the nest. He may make it out of the building someday. Baby steps.

The family sat there for a moment in silence before Dade perks up. "Can we talk about my birthday tomorrow?"