I didn't listen. I couldn't. I rushed inside and stopped dead when I saw something. Sixteen men were crowded into our small living room. They were tall, broad, and dressed in tactical gear. One of them held a sword, a real, sharpened blade pressed firmly against Kiko's throat as he lay helpless in his chair.
I threw myself in front of him, my arms spread wide. "Step away from my brother! What do you want? Who are you people?"
My eyes dropped to the symbol on the leader's chest. A unicorn. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird.
The King's men.
"Where is your father?" the leader asked, his voice sounding like grinding stone.
"I haven't seen him in years," I snapped, trying to hide the way my knees were shaking.
"Watch your tone, human. How dare you," one of the men growled, stepping closer.
I stood my ground, shielding Kiko. "I said I haven't seen my father in years! My mother just died and as you can see, my brother is sick! I am the only person he has!"
The leader didn't blink. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of thick paper. "I do not care about your story. We are here to take one of you as payment."
I took the paper, my hands shaking so hard I could barely read it. It was a blood agreement. My father had failed us again. He had taken a $10 million loan from the King's treasury and signed away his son as the guarantee.
"What? My brother is sick! You have business with my father, not with us or my brother! Get away from him!"
They didn't argue. They simply grabbed my arms and threw me aside. I hit the floor hard. "Get out of our way, you piece of trash."
One of the men looked down at Kiko, his eyebrows pulling together. "The boy is basically a vegetable. How will he be of any use to us?"
"I don't know," the leader replied. "I am only following orders. If he isn't useful, we kill him or keep him as a hostage."
The words sent a jolt of pure ice through my veins. "What? Please, take me instead! No, no, no... if you take me, who will take care of him?" I crawled back toward them, grabbing the bottom of the leader's clothes. "Okay, if you take me, please I beg you, will you send him to the hospital? I am eighteen. I can take over the debt."
"No, Kira!" Kiko sobbed from the chair. "Let them kill me. I am nothing but a burden to everyone."
"No, Kiko. I will save you. I promise. I will send you to a better hospital." I looked up at the leader, my eyes burning with desperation. "Please, sir, I beg you. I will do anything for you."
The leader looked me over, his eyes cold and clinical. "You are of no use. You are a fragile girl. You're too pretty, and it will be too risky for a girl to be at the palace, mostly with this your look we can't afford to get on the Luna's bad side."
"I can act like a boy, I promise!" I shouted, the plan forming in a split second of madness. "If I am caught, you can kill me or do whatever you want. I promise! But please, I know I have to pay my father's debt... please help me save my brother. I will serve you for life."
The men looked at each other. "You are too good-looking to serve the King," one muttered. They turned back to the chair. "Take the boy."
I dropped to my knees, burying my face against the leader's boots, my fingers locking around his ankles. "Please, I beg you, sir!"
"Get her off me," the leader barked.
One of the men reached down to pull me off, but I held on with all the strength I had left. "I won't let go! If you want to kill me, do it, but please help me save the only family I have left!"
The silence lasted for a long, painful minute. The leader looked at my grip, then at Kiko's pale face. "Okay, fine. We will take her."
He pulled me to my feet. Before I could even feel relieved, he pulled a jagged knife from his belt. My heart stopped as he grabbed the long, white hair I had spent years growing.
"What are you doing?"
"Shhh."
With one swift, rough stroke, he cut through my hair. My hair fell to the dusty floor in heavy, white clumps. As the weight left my head, my reflection in the window changed. I looked different. Sharper. Less like a girl, and more like a fragile boy but I still looked pretty.
"She still has the look of a lady" the leader said
"You don't have to worry, when we get to the servant quarter I will tell my wife to help me change her look"
"But where would she sleep, amongst all those boys??"
"You don't have to worry about that leader, she will be the king's personal servant, that way she can stay with the nanny family" the man said as he turned towards me I could see the glow in his eyes
"Come. We will take care of your needs. But if you are caught, you will be forced to drink the soup." The soup which simply means poison, I stood up properly rearranged myself as if I was about walking into paradise
"Yes, sir. I promise."
I followed them out, my heart breaking as I heard Kiko calling my name. I didn't answer. I couldn't risk looking back. I stood on the sidewalk and watched as a medical team, real doctors this time, loaded Kiko into an expensive ambulance to be taken to the best hospital in the city.
I knew the price. I knew that the chance of ever seeing him again was small. Today, I had lost everything. My step mother was dead, my father had stolen her body, and now I had traded my whole identity for a life of slavery.
One minute, I was cursing the royal family for their coldness and the death of my birth mother. The next, I was walking straight into their home to serve the Alpha King. I was a girl disguised as a boy, an omega hiding in a palace of predators.
How will I ever survive this?How will I survive in a place filled with predators who are always ready to lay down with a woman?