“You never thought about siring offspring of your own? Don’t you have this itch, this drive deep down, telling you that you need to prove yourself to her?”
Xylo gripped his arm and pulled him to the side, out of the way of the passersby. They faced each other, standing next to a food stall selling sweet and tart treats.
Odelm jerked his arm away from his nestbrother, not needing to be touched.
Xylo studied him, and his vines loosening their default hold, agitated.
“I am not your enemy, Odelm. No one in Selena’s bed is,” Xylo snarled, the anger from him rolling off in flames of red. “Selena has no Favored and never will. Get that through your head. You have nothing to prove! She is your nestqueen, and it is too late to sever her bond with you. She isn’t that useless luwsk that ished with your head.” Xylo tapped his forehead with two fingers and stared at Odelm pointedly. “I am happy just being in her clan, whether I share the center of her nestbed with her or get picked to have a chance to sire her next offspring—if and when she wants. Just because she offered herself to others doesn’t mean she cares any less about me. I know where I stand and don’t need her to worry about me like she constantly is about you. Think about what you are doing to her before you act on it.”
Xylo stepped away and took a few steps before glancing over his shoulder. “What hurts the most is that, for a moment, you thought I was the enemy, even though we share a nestbrother bond. You cannot hide that fact.” He left in the direction of Selena’s location.
Anger. Disappointment. Sorrow.
Those were the emotions flooding Odelm, grounding his feet, preventing him from moving to follow Xylo.
He was right.
Odelm could not help the fact his own personal insecurities had blinded him to what he already had.
He was accepted and loved for who he was. She did not care that he was a severed male, a musician, or was colored femininely. Selena saw past all of that and wanted him for him.
Odelm had a growing clan—with cubs—and she welcomed him to share the center of the bed with her, not caring if his tentacles roamed freely.
He had a nestbrother who sacrificed his privacy to share an additional bond with him, so they could work as a united front to provide for Selena.
And he’d failed him.
“Xylo!” he called out.
No reply met him. Xylo couldn’t block him. They were open to each other with no way to shield from each other, unlike Selena. He was ignoring him.
There was still a raging inferno of angry reds, worried oranges, and stressed blacks radiating from Xylo’s connection. His own connection with Selena was the opposite direction with her excited greens and peaceful blues. There was only a hint of worried oranges coming from her, and Odelm couldn’t stop thinking he’d caused it.
Odelm took off after his nestbrother, needing to catch up with him before he made it back to the group. He needed to fix this now before things got progressively worse. Today was supposed to be all about Selena and showing her a good time, not wasting time arguing with Xylo over his own issues causing problems.
Familiar violet petals turned the corner. “Xylo! Please!”
Odelm shoved his way through the crowd, not caring about the window shoppers he pushed along the way. His tentacles squeezed the sling filled with the precious gifts for Selena, securing them tightly against his body.
Right before Odelm was about to grab his shoulder, Xylo turned, facing him with annoyance clear on his face.
“Are you going to waste any more of my time away from our nestqueen? Or have you realized your error in judgment?” Xylo asked, crossing his arms.
“I am sorry, nestbrother.” Odelm breathed, glancing at the angry stares passing by. “I just… want to prove to Selena, to prove to everyone who said I wasn’t good enough—that no one wanted a pretty, severed musician for a nestmate—I am good enough. I want to say I am not someone who was shunned, and my nestqueen chose me to sire her offspring. That is the ultimate proof to the universe, I am normal.”
Xylo stepped forward and touched Selena’s mark on his neck, sending a shiver down Odelm’s body. Teal eyes met his and stared deeply at him, refusing to break contact.
“This mark? Remember it,” Xylo said, voice hard. “The universe can see it clearly. There is no reason why you need to sire offspring, not when you have this.” He tapped lightly on the mark, shocking him each time. “It is proof you have been claimed by another, and no one can take that away from you.”
“If Selena offered you a chance to sire her offspring, would you?”
“As I said, I don’t need to be a sire to be content.” Xylo pursed his lips and dropped his hand. “What if she decides taking care of the three cubs is enough? Am I going to hold it against her for the rest of our lives because she didn’t want more? Because there would be no option for her to offer me a chance?” He stepped back and peered over his shoulder, shuffling his petal wings. “Odelm, I am content. I am not you, but you have to ask yourself—in the end, if Selena gives the princes a chance to sire the next future leaders of Destima, are you going to be able to live with yourself?” He sighed and looked at him apologetically.
“I know what happened in the shower and heard what you begged her. She will give us both a chance to sire offspring—even though I don’t need it,” he gritted out. “If she ends up not being able to produce Circuli offspring or changes her mind about becoming pregnant once again, please don’t make her feel guilty. She has been through enough and doesn’t need one of her own nestmates to resent her over
