He tilted his head, baring the junction of his neck and shoulder. The tendon leaped under the skin.
"Mark me," he ordered.
Technically, Betas don't mark. We don't have the teeth for the deep, scarring claiming bite of an Alpha. But we can bruise. We can leave a sign.
I leaned in. For a second all I could think about was his scent, but then I opened my mouth and sank my teeth into the muscle of his shoulder. I bit down hard, hard enough to taste copper, hard enough to make him growl low in his chest.
I held it. I poured all my frustration, my love, my competence, and my fear into the bite.Mine. My wall.
When I pulled back, the mark was angry and red, weeping slightly. Mateo tried to look at it, his eyes blown black.
"Good," he ground out.
Then it was Stephen’s turn. He marked Juno. It was precise, surgical, right over the scent gland, marking the Omega asprotected, claimed, valued. Juno cried out, a sharp, sweet sound, shuddering as the Alpha saliva hit his bloodstream, sealing the bond chemically.
Then Juno marked me. He wasn't gentle. He bit the soft skin of my throat, a sharp nip that stung and soothed all at once. It was a chaotic, possessive little mark.My anchor.
And finally, Mateo marked Stephen. Alpha on Alpha. A challenge and a promise. A binding of brothers.
We stood there in the quiet, breathing hard, the room smelling of sex and blood and ink.
It wasn't a heat frenzy. It wasn't desperation. It was a chosen architecture.
"Well," Juno said, wiping a spot of blood from his lip with his thumb. His eyes were shining. "That feels significantly more permanent than a sharpie."
Stephen adjusted his cuffs, though his hands were shaking slightly. He walked over to a sideboard where a metal archive box sat. It looked out of place among the silk and crystal.
"I have a wedding gift," Stephen said.
"Is it a notarized duplicate?" I asked, touching the tender skin of my neck.
"Better," Stephen said. "It’s a disclosure."
He opened the box. He pulled out two documents. They were old, crinkled, stamped with the Vance Global internal watermark.
"I found these in the final data scrape of the Aegis servers," Stephen explained. "I’ve been saving them for today."
He handed the first one to me.
It was a memo. Dated three years ago. From Julian Vance to his Head of Strategy.
Subject: ROWAN QUILL - ASSESSMENT
Quill is a clean Beta. High competence, low ambition. She runs on rules. She is useful controlled opposition. Let her win the small battles on riders so she feels effective, andshe’ll keep the machinery running for us. She’s too rigid to ever be a real threat. Keep her busy with paperwork.
I read it. I read my former self, captured in a paragraph of dismissive arrogance.Controlled opposition.
Stephen handed the second document to Juno.
Subject: JUNO - THREAT ASSESSMENT
He's unstable. He’s hiding something. Medical records are redacted too heavily. He’s a rogue variable undermining designation stability with these 'empowerment' narratives. Recommend acquisition or neutralization. If we can't buy him, burn him.
Juno read it. He looked at the words, running his finger over the line that said,rogue variable.
We looked at each other.
Six months ago, these files would have terrified us. They would have been proof of the monster under the bed.
