Ezra Carter sighed heavily as he sank onto the antique couch in his home office. He had a few grey hairs owing to his age, but the very thought of tolerating his wife-to-be's tantrums for the rest of his life made him feel like every stand would be white within a decade. The woman had thrown a fit at the tailor's because the groomsmen's suits were not made of the material she had wanted - not that Ezra could figure out why it was any of her business in the first place. She hadn't cared tuppence about the male half of the wedding party until now. After the third glass of water emptied into an employee's face, Ezra had had to drag her bodily out of the shop and drive her screaming butt home.
"So much for getting through yesterday's work backlog," he complained. "I don't know if I can ever not have a backlog from here on out. How does Mircea get so much done in a day?"
There was a timid knock on the door, accompanied almost immediately by a whiff of the most heavenly scent to grace a human nose. Ezra sighed again, even more heavily this time. "Come in."
As usual, guilt flashed through him at the sight of the bronze-haired omega who was stepping into the room. The latter remained standing, shifting his weight from foor to foot and wringing his hands while keeping his gaze firmly fixed on the floor. Ezra hated that this wreck was what his family had turned an intelligent, spirited child into. "You can sit down, Evinori. Just pick a spot and sit."
"No, I just came in to ask a quick question."
"Yeah?"
"May I attend your wedding? Please?"
Ezra frowned. "Didn't you already have this talk with Dad?"
"He said no."
"Well, there's your answer."
Evinori fixed Ezra with the most pleading gaze the latter had ever seen. The Alpha had to look away so he wouldn't cave, eliciting a disappointed whimper. "But that's why I came to you," Evinori pressed. "It's your wedding. He can't refuse if you say I can come. Please, Ezra."
"You know why we're refusing, don't you?" Ezra rubbed his face tiredly and fixed Evinori with the sternest glare he could muster. "The fallout of anyone finding out the truth would be terrible. And between you and me, the one who will suffer the most from it is you."
"I'll work as staff! I'm begging you, Ezra. This isn't fair. I've obediently stayed out of everything else - every birthday, family reunion, Christmas party, everything. Can't I be allowed to attend just this once? I'm your brother!"
"Keep it down!" Ezra checked that the office door was locked before returning to his seat. His youngest sibling looked up at him with tearful accusation, the very picture of loneliness and misery. "Being my brother doesn't automatically give you the right to attend the wedding." His heart broke at the disappointment and hurt that flooded Evinori's face at those words. "You know why I'm doing this. Most people don't know that there are four Carter kids, not three. If you attend a gathering with so many people, someone is bound to notice the resemblance."
Evinori only clenched his teeth, accusation turning to anger. "I am your brother," he growled. "Just because Mum and Dad are embarrassed of me doesn't mean you have to be too."
"I'm not. But you know as well as I do that disobeying them is not an option. Besides, there's going to be so many Alphas there. I don't want my little brother getting harassed by them. I'd be powerless to stop it."
"You're powerless only because you go along with our parents' stupid charade," Evinori snarled, ripping his hands away. "And stop playing that brother card on me. I'm too old to believe that bullshit. I've read all the speeches, you know. Your vows, dad's speech, your best man's speech, everything. All that chatter about family this and family that, all the while blocking your own blood from attending just because I was born with a womb!"
"Stop yelling, Nori."
"Don't call me that!" Evinori suddenly deflated, crumpling to the floor and burying his face in his hands. "You call me by a nickname as if you actually love me, yet you won't even let me be a part of such a big day."
But Ezra did love him. He absolutely adored his baby brother, and had done so since the moment he'd laid eyes on him as a newborn. The twins didn't care much for him: they had been at an impressionable age when he was born, and their parents had succeeded in brainwashing them into ignoring his existence. But Ezra, who had been a precocious fifteen-year-old at the time, had been mature enough to know better. He had never stopped yearning to give Evinori the same brotherly love he gave the twins. But he had been foolish enough in his youth to believe that if he toed his parents' lines then, he could do as he pleased once the familiy's privilege and power had been handed to him.
So he had done as he was told, squeezing his eyes shut every time he had to push little Evinori away. It had been excruciating to see the innocent affection in Evinori's eyes turn to confusion, then anger, then resigned resentment and ultimately self-hatred as he grew older. It was excruciating to see that even now, after thirty years of the same result, Evinori kept hoping that he'd be able to experience a little of the close family bond the rest of the Carters shared.
"Please," Evinori begged once more. "I'll not even come inside the wedding hall. I'll watch from outside."
It was too late for Ezra to do anything now. There was too much at stake, and that included the lives of his own two children. He opened his mouth to refuse, but before he could engage his vocal chords, a memory flashed before his eyes - a memory of four-year-old Evinori sitting on his little butt and crying, having been knocked over after Ezra had to roughly shove him away upon being approached in front of his parents for a hug. That day was the first time Evinori had realized that he wasn't welcome around the rest of the family, and Ezra still remembered the silent "why" in those flooded brown eyes. The same pain was shining in the same flooded brown eyes all these years later, and even as a full-grown adult with teenaged kids, he still couldn't give Evinori an answer.
"Fine," he said, running his hands through his hear wearily. "You can come."
"Really?! You'll talk to Dad?"
"You know that would accomplish squat. I'll deal with Dad after the wedding. Just come-"
A delighted grin Ezra hadn't seen in decades lit up Evinori's face. "Yes!" he crowed, shooting to his feet and fist-pumping in celebration. "Thank you! I won't cause trouble I swear."
"-but."
"...Eh?"
"You can come, but only if you finish your assigned tasks for tomorrow morning. If I'm not wrong, you're supposed to clean out the ballroom fireplace before the reception - one of the kids threw their toy in and now half the ballroom stinks of burnt plastic."
"Gotcha!" Evinori positively bounced out of the room. "I'll be done with it tonight!" he called out behind him.
"No! Don't! Tomorrow morning, I said!"
But Evinori was already out of earshot. With a heavy heart, he called the head housekeeper. "Tonight, after everyone has gone to bed, I need you to light a fire in the ballroom fireplace," he said. "Make sure to use wet wood that smokes a ton. And tell the girl coming to make the flower arrangements that she needs to "fall very ill" tomorrow. She will be duly compensated."
*
Ezra was so hungover he could die.
It was the morning after the wedding, and he was still on the Carter estate. He'd spent the entire reception drowning his sorrows in Chardonnay, rendering him too drunk to drive to the house he was to be sharing with his new wife. Maya was nowhere to be seen, having made off after the reception to have an after-party with her bridesmaids. That was not how he'd imagined spending his wedding day. It hurt to be reminded of the fact that for all his love and care, his father still put his stupid Alpha hubris above his son's happiness.
Grumbling to himself under his breath, he staggered into the private parlor to look for coffee. It was a sizeable yet cozy room, fitted to accommodate the entire family as it gathered every evening to have their evening caffeine fix. It was the best part of every Carter's day, filled with jokes and stories and the sound of children's laughter as the youngest generation played around. The walls and the ornate mantelpiece was covered with family pictures dating back to the very infancy of photography. Despite his misery, Ezra smiled nostalgically as he approached the fireplace to gaze at them.
"Eep!"
Ezra nearly went face-first into the fireplace as he tripped over a figure curled up next to it. The bundle of black and white groaned and unwound a little to reveal a familiar bronze head.
Evinori. The omega was fast asleep, still wearing the tuxedo that he never got to put to its intended use. His eyes were swollen and red-rimmed, and the salt from dried-up tears glued stands of hair to his cheeks. He was covered in ash that he had smeared into big grey smudges as he rolled over and over in his sleep, and his hands were blackened with soot. His shirt and trousers were similarly stained from the time spent cleaning the ballroom fireplace, and his jacket was nowhere to be seen.
"Aw, Nori," Ezra whispered in despair. "Oh, no. I'm so, so sorry."
Curling up by the fireplace in the main house parlor was a childhood habit Ezra had thought Evinori had outgrown. Having grown up in an isolated cottage in the thick woods that occupied part of the Carter estate, Evinori would often sneak into the parlor once teatime was over. He'd sit by the fireplace and take in the lingering scents of people, tea and coffee, making conversation with imaginary relatives and trying to sneak some semblance of the experience the rest of the family got to have everyday. As he grew older, he started staying in order to eavesdrop on the conversations happening over dinner in the connected dining room. More often than not, he'd fall asleep by the fireplace, only to get caught and scolded the next morning for risking identification by those staff members who didn't know his existence was a secret. Ezra had, on occasion, carried little Evinori back to the cottage before his parents woke up. He had eventually grown old enough and bitter enough to stop making a nightly appearance, but Ezra had detected traces of his scent on enough early mornings to learn that he still slept by the fireplace when he was particularly sad.
His thoughts were scattered by the heat of a livid glare burning holes into his head. Evinori had woken up and was waiting for him to finish reminiscing, rage and pain dancing madly on his face. "Um," Ezra stuttered, going blank in panic. "I'm sorr-"
Pain exploded in the side of his face as Evinori punched him as hard as he could. The blow landed right on his cheekbone. He fell backwards as his brother shot to his feet, eyes blazing and fists clenched. Before he could say another word, Evinori raised his knee and drove it into Ezra's nose. The Alpha saw stars and momentarily forgot how to breathe as white-hot pain radiated from his now broken nose to spread all over his head.
"A simple 'no' would've been enough," Evinori snarled before marching out of the room.
Nobody had the courage to cross the cafe's famed attraction today.
The regulars had all seen their fair share of would-be sexual harassers getting their ass handed to them by the deceptively strong Evinori even on a good day (which they now knew included those days on which the cafe was visited by Mircea Quartz), and today was not a good day. The newcomers who didn't know to keep their distance and tried to be cheeky were quickly silenced by his searing glare. But angry Evinori was a sexy Evinori, and sales were good that day. The manager even promised him a bonus at the end of the month.
But a bonus couldn't do anything to reduce how much he was dreading the confrontation waiting for him at home. Not an hour into his shift he had received an angry summons on his phone from his mother demanding to know why he had sent his brother to the emergency room the day after his wedding. Well, there would be no meek explanations today. Evinori was livid, and his anger was rising with every step he took. There would be an all-out fight tonight.
His revision of his arguments and comebacks was interrupted by a startled "What the hell?!" and the heavy thud of a body hitting the wall. He stopped in his tracks and peeked into the alley housing the dumpster he had been approaching to throw the day's trash. A well-dressed man was shoved against the wall, hands in the air, with a gun pressed into his head. "You know the drill," said the assailant. "Give me everything you've got before I rearrange your pretty face."
"I don't carry cash," said a familiar voice, cool as a cucumber. "And whatever else I have isn't worth the trouble you'll go through trying to evade the men I send after you."
Mircea? What the hell was that fool doing in downtown Mericot's alleys at this time of night? "You can't send anyone if you're dead," the robber hissed. The click of the gun's safety being taken off echoed off the walls.
THWACK!
Neither criminal nor victim could even turn their heads before Evinori's foot connected loudly with the former's jaw. With the finesse of a movie spy, the omega caught the gun before it fell and accidentally went off. The robber could only sneak in one weak attempt at a punch before Evinori put the safety back on and rammed the gun's butt into the side of his head. The man cried out, stumbled and, with an undignified splash, fell straight into a suspiciously smelling puddle.
Panting as if he had run a marathon, Evinori turned to Mircea who was cowering by the dumpster. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.
"I was passing by this afternoon and you looked like you were having a bad day," Mircea answered in the meek tone of a child being scolded. "I brought flowers."
Despite his anger and sadness, Evinori's heart jumped in excitement. "Oh, you," he said rather shakily, unable to resist a smile. "So you know my-"
"Ah! Behind you!"
Evinori knew better than to just turn and look. He whirled, fist already clenched, and landed a jarring blow to the side of the robber's head. A knife and two teeth clattered to the ground. There was a brief second of silence as the robber realized what kind of demon he had just triggered, and then he was done for - blow after blow rained down on every exposed part of him. He didn't know where to put his arms: he'd cover one body part, only to get pounded everywhere else. "Wrong-fucking-place-and-wrong-fucking-time!" Evinori thundered, punctuating each word with a punch or a kick. Blow by vicious blow, he drove the guy all the way down the alley before, with an almighty shove, he threw the guy out into the street.
Body shaking and burning, head swimming, Evinori returned to Mircea, who had gone completely white. "I was trying to vent," the omega grumbled. "But I seem to have only become angrier."
"That's not anger." Mircea clamped a hand over his nose. "Evinori, you're in heat."
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