Captive Mate BL-Chapter 627: - - -

Gage was unfazed by his refusal, he expected it even. "You know, most Knight Mafia Kings quit before their fifties, yet they all died of old age. I’m not going to die." He repeated, and this time was with a macabre kind of certainty in his tone.

Jael’s expression chilled, Gage was plainly saying that his inability to die hadn’t come from a lack of trying.

"They all go mad eventually," Gage muttered, lifting his nearly empty bottle to eye level. "I’ve been staving it off these past few years..."

"Why... why...." Jael mumbled; he could say exactly what he was asking. If it was why this was happening, or why Gage hadn’t told Asher all this.

"It’s inevitable," Gage couldn’t hold his gaze, reaching out for another bottle, which he opened and simply stared at. "I wanted him to have some years to himself. The truth is as damning as the curse."

Jael kept his lips closed - if Gage was telling him this now, then it meant that... "We’ll find a way to cure you, Asher is..." He trailed off. He had been about to say that Asher was managing just fine, only to be reminded of the reason he had reached out to Gage.

What if the next time Asher went full-on homicidal, he didn’t recognize anyone, cutting down everything in his path? He would certainly go mad in the aftermath.

"Asher is the reason you called, right?" Gage completed his trailed-off words.

Jael didn’t keep anything from Gage, telling him in painstaking detail everything that had happened.

"Like a killing machine without orders, huh?" Gage slurred, his words barely audible.

"What?" Jael leaned closer, tempted to try to reach for the bottle again.

"Nothing important," Gage shook his head, his words regaining some clarity. Despite his diminishing sobriety, his eyes were still razor sharp, burning with a fervor to mimic the heat soaring through his veins.

"Asher can do whatever he wants," He said instead, his light tone heavy with regret. "He doesn’t want a child and..." He paused, swallowing thickly like his next words took a lot out of him to say. "...that’s good. To curse your own kid... that hurts the most."

Jael’s expression was grim. If it were anyone else, these admissions coming from them would mean death or something equally as bad in the near future, but for Gage...

"I don’t care about furthering this cursed bloodline anymore. Maybe that’s why it was a rule passed down to sire an heir early, before the realization of the heavy weight that would be on your child sank in."

Gage looked tired as he spoke, "But it’s inevitable. Mates don’t fix the curse; it kills them, that’s why there’s no need for one. There’s no fixing things, but Asher is a good kid, maybe he’ll be able to keep his mate alive, but that’s only a temporary fix."

The Alpha’s tired tone and expression were at odds with the fervor in his eyes. "Eventually, he’ll descend into madness. Can’t die but living is unbearable."

Jael hadn’t said a single word this entire time, and if one paid close attention, they would notice his pale fingers trembling.

"Maybe you could take over the Mafia House then," Gage managed one more smile for the grim-faced Beta staring up at him from where he was crouched. "You’re as much my kid as Asher is. It’s only right." He nodded seriously.

Crouched in that dingy alley, Jael felt his already fragile heart crack further. There was nothing he could do. Gathering information didn’t help, all it did was shine a blinding light on all the barbs previously shrouded in darkness.

Barbs that Gage and Asher had been born with, barbs that grew deeper in with each passing year.

They wouldn’t die, but some things could be equally as horrifying as death.

"I’m not going to black out." Gage spoke up after the longest stretch of silence. "You’d be better off going back to Asher," The Alpha sounded choked up, "I made you raise him, that’s not fair to you... but could you... could you keep an eye on him for a little while longer?"

Jael closed his hands into fists, "How long have you been drinking?" He asked in an equally choked-up voice.

Looking out for Asher was a given, it was no longer duty, and it hadn’t been for a long time. Gage and Asher were the only family he had left.

"Since the competition ended," Gage gave an honest answer, finally taking the first sip out of the bottle. "It ended about 2 or 3 AM."

Jael’s eyes widened, lips twitching. Gage had been drinking for 12 hours straight, and he didn’t look like there was an end in sight.

"Booze numbs the heat," He gave a flat explanation, "You should leave." He repeated again, he could never be this vulnerable with Asher, but he also wanted to be a sturdy figure for Jael, someone the other man could lean on sometimes.

Being seen like this, at rock bottom, it felt like sandpaper on raw skin - unbearable.

"I’m not going to do that." Jael doubled down. "Are you returning to Evercliff?"

"Yes," Gage sighed, Jael was far too stubborn. The kid took too much on, and asked for too little help. He couldn’t bear to chase him off.

Jael mimicked the expression of relief, looking Gage over. "Eaten yet?"

The Alpha glanced down at his bloody, booze-stained clothes. "Not yet."

He kept to himself that he hadn’t planned to eat at all, finally getting some respite from his bloodline curse. He had hoped to keep at drinking until he fell asleep.

"Let’s get you something to eat," Jael urged, speaking gently like he was addressing a spooked child. "Did you get somewhere to stay?"

Gage resigned himself to Jael’s meddling, "Yeah, a hotel in the better part of town."

Jael sighed silently at that, relieved that Gage still cared enough for the basic necessities. "My car is just a couple of streets down, I’ll drive over."

Gage didn’t refute, sitting back to watch Jael walk off. He should have left since, sticking around Evercliff had been as much for Layla as it was for Jael and Asher.