(The Marriage Groups)Elian by Vicktor Alexander Read Free Book Online

again before he began speaking.
    “I am not angry or annoyed with you, my coração,” Nevin explained. “I am merely upset over the events that just transpired. I am upset that this happened while we were bringing you home.”
    Gaige grunted and Elian looked at him with raised eyebrows. The other man merely rolled his eyes in Nevin’s direction and Elian coughed to cover his chuckle. He knew in that moment that the rumors he’d been told about Gaige being a monster who never smiled were untrue and had no basis in reality. Gaige had smiled, laughed, and was even now teasing and joking with Elian. Perhaps the people who had the negative stories about Elian’s new husband had merely caught him on a bad day?
    It was possible.
    “Just tell him, Nev,” Gaige commanded, his tone frustrated, and Elian sat up fully in Corbin’s lap, aware of the way the older man’s arms stiffened slightly around him.
    “Tell me what?” he asked.
    Nevin sighed and looked beseechingly, first Gaige and then at Corbin, as if pleading with both men to let him off the hook from having to speak about what he knew. Elian glanced at Gaige’s stoic expression and then up at the implacable mask on Corbin’s face and knew that whatever it was, it was bad. Taking a deep breath, Elian turned back to face Nevin, hoping that his fear and nervousness were not as noticeable to Nevin as they were to him.
    “Tell. Me. What. Nevin?” he asked firmly.
    Nevin sighed resignedly and Elian steeled himself for the news. “Before one of the bandits died, he confessed that they were Zevinxians who had been paid to kidnap you and bring you to someone who had plans to…” Nevin swallowed thickly and Elian felt cold heat flash down his spine. “Dispose of you.”
    Elian’s mouth dropped open and he stared at Nevin in shock, his mind stuttering for a moment before he was able to squeak out a response. “They were coming after me? To take me to someone who wanted to kill me?” he asked.
    Nevin merely nodded and Elian sat back with a huff, fear and disbelief at war within him. On the one hand, the thought of anyone wanting to—much less trying to—kill him was so absurd that he was half-tempted to collapse onto the ground in a fit of giggles. On the other hand, he was so afraid of the possibility that he was torn between wanting to hide with his husbands or demanding that they return him to his parents, where he was sometimes overlooked, mocked mercilessly, and used, but was still safe.
    Squaring his shoulders, Elian stared intently into Nevin’s eyes. “Well I guess you better make sure that I at least get to the palace in one piece if you don’t plan to have sex with me in the carriage, because I absolutely refuse to die a virgin,” he said matter-of-factly, ignoring the looks of astonishment on his husbands' faces. He merely folded his arms and sat back into Corbin’s lap.
     

Chapter Six
     
    Corbin
     
    C ORBIN held Elian in his arms and tried not to gawk at the back of the younger man’s head. Elian was no timid and shy coração. He was a spitfire and had a mind of his own that he didn’t seem to be afraid to use. He’d been afraid, Corbin had seen the fear on Elian almost tangibly, but here he was now, going toe-to-toe with Nevin Cannington as if it were something he did every day.
    Corbin was in love. He was in love and not ashamed to say it…
    At least not to himself.
    Saying it to someone else was an impossibility. He was sure Nevin and Gaige would have him sent away to the asylum if he told them he was in love with Elian. Elian, who he’d only just met that day, though he’d been watching the younger man for a while. Something else he could never tell his lovers. Corbin had been keeping a close eye on Elian since the first time he’d seen the younger man. He’d told himself it was because he was protecting what would be to him, Nevin, and Gaige, a very valuable asset, but he knew what the truth was. He’d been keeping a close eye on