Felix acted like someone who decided to test reality’s limits to see what happened, consequences nothing more than interesting variables in an experiment of his own making.
It was ridiculous. The magic had lost its mind.
He cursed the absurd timing of it all.
Lander did not trust Felix.
A sharp knock cut through his thoughts. “Come in.”
Oren stepped inside, expression unreadable, features arranged in the careful neutrality of someone who had learned that emotions were information better kept hidden.
“Felix has been secured in a room in the south wing,” Oren reported, voice stripped of inflection. “Under constant guard.”
Lander grunted. “Good.” The word emerged more harshly than intended, betraying an investment he didn’t want to acknowledge.
“He won’t be moving freely unless Adam says so.” Oren’s gaze flickered over Lander. “And if he tries, we’ll stop him.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Lander asked, though even as the words left his mouth, he suspected he knew.
“You know why.” Oren’s voice remained neutral. “Adam asked me to update you specifically.”
The moment Oren had mentioned Felix’s name, something low and steady had started humming beneath his skin, a resonance that made his teeth ache. Lander’s jaw tightened involuntarily, his fingers gripping the edge of the tablet harder than necessary.
Not quite a demand. Not quite an urge.
Oren’s gaze sharpened, clearly noting the physical tells. “Something wrong?”
Lander forced his expression to remain blank, drawing on centuries of practice in concealing vulnerabilities. “No.”
Oren didn’t look convinced, but he let it slide. After a pause, his tone shifted, becoming less formal. “Your parents asked if you were coming to say goodnight.”
Lander groaned, dragging both hands down his face. “Tell them I died.”
Oren’s lips twitched. “Noted.” He turned, making his way to the door. “Get some rest.”
Lander barely registered his departure. He crossed to the tall antique mirror between the windows. The tablet’s glow cast elongated shadows across the room.
His reflection stared back with quiet accusation. Carefully, he unbuttoned his shirt, pulling the collar aside to expose the juncture where neck met shoulder, a gesture both defiant and resigned.
There, in that vulnerable hollow, was where Adam’s fangs had sunk deep—two faint punctures, barely visible even to his enhanced vision. Nothing like the bold, unmistakable claim that adorned Leo’s throat. These marks were easy to miss unless you knew precisely where to look.
Lander traced the outline with his fingertip. The physical sensation was negligible, yet the contact sent a mix of contradictory emotions cascading through him: resentment at being marked, a sense of belonging that eased his loneliness, frustration at his own response, and relief at finally having a place.
“Fuck.”
The marks violated everything he had been taught. One vampire, one claim. His parents had explained it with certainty when he was barely old enough to understand: the singular nature of the claim was what made it sacred, what separated mere feeding from true connection.
He let his shirt fall closed, refusing to look at his reflection any longer. The inconsistency raised doubts he wasn’t prepared to address.
Lander had spent centuries building himself into someone who commanded respect, who remained firmly in control. Then Adam had reached inside him with terrifying precision and located the one part that craved the opposite. Had unearthed a hunger for surrender that Lander had buried beneath layers of carefully cultivated authority.
He’d been raised to understand blood compatibility. His parents being who they were.... But they had never warned him about this. They hadn’t prepared him for how it would feel to have his carefully maintained autonomy dissolve beneath another’s touch.
Lander paced the length of the room.
And now Felix—that ridiculous, verbose, inexplicably intriguing human—had complicated matters further. That immediate recognition, that instantaneous pull... Lander could still feel it resonating through him, a secondary pull to the dominant note that tied him to Adam. Another claim on his autonomy, another threat to his control.
Another surrender waiting to happen.
