Jamue shook his head.
Holi bit his bottom lip worriedly, looking around. “Your father is going to kill me for this.”
Jamue grasped his hands. "Holi, please."
“Fuck, I’m dead anyway. Do you remember what I told you about claiming marks?” his eyes fell on his neck. They always looked at him there. Jamue touched the side of his neck.
Should something be there?
His breath hitched.
“Do you remember, Jamue?”
He told him his brother knew how to remove the mark. And he helped him.
“I remember.”
“I lied. It wasn’t me, Jamue…it was you.”
What? Jamue’s grip tightened on his hands.
“What do you mean it was me? Did an alpha claim me? Was I bonded to someone?”
Was it Hym? Jamue felt like he couldn’t breathe.
“Holi!” his father’s voice split the air. Holi jerked away from him. He looked terrified as his father got closer. “Keep your mouth shut if you know what’s good for you.”
“Sorry,” he bowed, backing away. Jamue wanted to go after him, but his father gripped his arm, holding him in place.
“Don’t listen to anything he says. He'll lie and cheat to save himself,” his father bit out. “I knew you would come out from hiding one day.”
“I wasn’t hiding,” Jamue said, looking at where Holi had disappeared.
“Oh really? I guess I didn’t go around the capital searching for you for days on end,” he said, unimpressed. “When will you stop acting like a child and take responsibility?”
“I can’t do this right now, father,” Jamue snatched his arm out of his grip and backed away. “Let’s talk later. Please.”
He turned and ran after Holi. His father called him. Jamue ran faster, weaving through the crowd, following other servers to a temporary cooking station. He looked around the chaos, searching for Holi.
He stopped one of the servers walking out and asked him where Holi was.
“He’s on a break. Try the garden.”
“Thank you.” Jamue ran down the hallways, hoping he was going the right way. He’d never been to the council office. He asked the guards, and they showed him where to go. He looked around the garden but didn’t find him.
Where was he? Jamue turned in place. He’d searched the entire length of the garden, and there was no sign of him.
Did he run off because of his father?
Probably.
Dammit.
How was he going to find him now?
He touched the side of his neck - right where an alpha would leave a claiming mark. It didn’t make any sense.
Wouldn’t he remember if an alpha claimed him? And besides, he got sick at the thought of being touched by an alpha.