Sometimes Jules really envied how well Liam could lie when he wanted to. His scent didn’t betray him at all, remaining steady, with an undertone of confusion. Jules had never been that good of a liar, but thankfully his suppressants made his scent faint, which made reading him difficult.
Eric was the one Jules worried about the most. Although Eric didn’t know everything about the Xeus, there were other things Eric did know, and Jules wasn’t sure he could trust his baby brother not to betray them with a clumsy lie.
So Jules cut in hurriedly, “If there was anything stolen, we didn’t hear a thing, Uncle. Eric and I were playing video games in his room until early morning—you know we get carried away when we play e-sports.”
Eric nodded and, thankfully, remained quiet.
“What happened?” Jules said, because it would have been stranger if he didn’t ask.
Uncle Wayne gave him a long, scrutinizing look.
Jules held his gaze, hoping his face didn’t betray him. He knew he would be his uncle’s main suspect: it was well known that Eric didn’t care for anything but his computer and books, and Liam had the reputation of a harmless, proper little omega. Jules was usually the one who had to bear the brunt of his uncle’s anger.
Uncle Wayne stepped closer and, looking him in the eyes, said, “Tell me the truth.”
Jules’s breathing hitched. Fuck. He hadn’t expected his uncle to use his Voice on him. For a moment, he panicked, fully expecting his body to obey the command, but… nothing happened. He didn’t feel the compulsion at all.
Jules nearly grinned in relief when he realized why: the Xeus had marked him. By putting his mark on Jules he had changed his body chemistry—making him Jules’s alpha and overriding any power an alpha related to him could have on him. Well, that was an unexpected upside.
“I’m telling the truth,” Jules said, holding his uncle’s gaze. “We played video games in Eric’s room well into the night and didn’t hear anything. We don’t know what you’re looking for.”
Uncle Wayne swore under his breath and turned away. He started pacing again. “There was a dangerous beast locked up in the basement,” he gritted out at last. “I thought someone might have let it out, but it seems the idiot guards simply forgot to lock the door, thinking it was safe because the beast was chained. Imbeciles. As if they don’t know magnetic locks can sometimes fail.”
“How careless,” Liam said distractedly, reading a fashion magazine on his phone.
Uncle Wayne grunted something and stormed out of the room.
Jules exhaled.
“Phew,” Liam said when their uncle’s footsteps receded. “He seems really pissed.”
“He is pissed,” Jules said, plopping down between his brothers and slinging his arms around them. “Thanks, guys! I couldn’t have done it without your help.”
Eric shot him a look. “You still haven’t told me everything.”
Jules pinched his cheek. “The less you know, the safer you are. You totally suck at lying.” Glancing at the door, he lowered his voice and whispered, “Did he get the message?”
Eric nodded, his eyes sparkling. “It’s easily the most impressive hack job I’ve ever done! Damn, I wish I could tell my online friends about it—”
“What are you two taking about?” Liam said suspiciously.
Right. Liam didn’t know about his plan.
Jules cleared his throat. “I asked Eric to hack into the phone network and send Prince Haydn a message about the Xeus’s whereabouts.”
Liam’s brows furrowed. “Prince Haydn? Why him?”
Jules shrugged slightly. “You know a feral Xeus will never be safe,” he said, looking at his hands. “He’ll be caught, sooner or later. So I just wanted to make sure he’s caught by the good guys. Mother always said how good and fair Prince Haydn was. If the Xeus is really the one who escaped the Kadarian Opal House, it’s very likely that Prince Haydn knows him. And the prince will be fair to him regardless of the Xeus’s nationality—he’s a Pelugian happily married to a Kadarian, after all. And most importantly, Prince Haydn isn’t prejudiced against Xeus alphas—his cousin is one, too.”
“Yeah.” Liam’s frown disappeared. “I guess it makes sense.”
Jules smiled faintly. He could only hope he hadn’t made a mistake. If he was wrong… If he was wrong about Prince Haydn being impartial enough to help his Xeus… well.
He wasn’t likely to ever find out, was he?
***
Eight days later, Jules woke up in pain.
Breathing raggedly, he stared into the dark ceiling of his bedroom, confused and freaked out of his mind. He hurt, but he wasn’t even sure where the pain originated from. Everything hurt, his entire being shaking with something terrible. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
He curled up into a ball and rocked back and forth, trying to suppress the violent tremors racking his body and make sense of his feeling of utter misery, the source of which he couldn’t explain.