“It doesn’t look like you do,” Ehlian countered, feeling the possessiveness of Hayce’s touch as his thumb moved again, tracing along Ehlian’s jaw until it reached the soft skin behind his ear. “You don’t have any claim on me. I don’t belong to your pack anymore.”
Hayce’s eyes flashed sharply before his face smoothed into a blank mask, though the tightness in his jaw betrayed him.
Ehlian’s lips parted. “You hate that, don’t you?”
Hayce said nothing.
“Yeah, you do,” Ehlian said, stunned.
The faint scar of the severed pack bond throbbed in his core as Hayce’s power unfurled, laser-focused on him. It filled the room, thick and heavy, stealing his breath.
Ehlian blinked slowly, lids heavy. “That’s how you see me… how you want me?”
No response.
“Want me to obey you?Ownme?” His voice cracked, barely more than a whisper. “Want me on my knees again—for you?Onlyfor you.”
Hayce’s eyes darkened, a shade deeper. No flames in them, but the ember flecks burned, steady and dangerous, all the more intense for it.
“I can do that,” Ehlian said, his voice low and throaty, thick with mockery. “I can get on my knees for you again.”
He started to sink slowly, sliding down the door—
Hayce’s fingers tightened against his jaw and throat, stopping the motion, holding him in place. A small shift, Hayce pressing closer, and then there was a soft kiss to Ehlian’s lips, descending and parting with a faint, wet smack.
And Ehlian thought his heart might burst out of his chest. The gentle touch burned his lips. He couldn’t breathe, his heart hammering wildly in his chest.
Hayce’s dark, amber-flecked eyes bored into his. “Me, or your soft alpha?”
“Hayce—”
“Me, or him?”
The word escaped before Ehlian could think, instinctive and immediate. “You.”
Hayce’s hand slipped lower, his thumb brushing over Ehlian’s bond point. “Yet always loyal to me.”
Something tipped and twisted in the air and their lips crashed together. The burning intensity of it left Ehlian’s mind blank. A shaky moan escaped as his lips instinctively parted, their tongues meeting in a heated swirl—hungry, desperate, raw. His fingers curled into Hayce’s hair, to steady himself, to drag him closer, to press against the solid body that wasn’t a cold, translucent hologram. Another moan slipped out when Hayce’s familiar hands clamped onto his hips, hauling him in. Gods, it felt so real. It wasreal, no longer the haunting echoes of memory.
Hayce broke the kiss, scattering soft kisses along Ehlian’s cheek as if reclaiming his territory, before trailing down to his neck. His lips latched onto Ehlian’s bond point, sucking harshly, making Ehlian whine and clutch his hair even tighter.
“Did you let him touch you here?” Hayce asked, voice rough.
“No.” Ehlian shook his head weakly. “I wouldn’t—”
“You can never let him,” Hayce interrupted, possessive. “This is mine.”
The wordyourscaught in Ehlian’s throat when Hayce found his mouth again, kissing him deep and rough, possessiveness burning into something hotter, more urgent.
Hayce’s hands slid beneath his shirt, dragging a palm across the curve of his back. “I can offer you more than him.”
Ehlian floated on those words for a moment. Something primal in the omega part of him found it unbearably appealing. “More?”
“Your soft alpha doesn’t know the first thing about what you need.” Hayce said, his blunt nails sinking into Ehlian’s back, like he wanted to carve his mark into him. Possess him, claim him, seize him from any rival. Anyone who dared stand in his way.
It left Ehlian gasping. He had never felt so wanted.
“That’s why you’re here?” Ehlian swallowed. “They didn’t satisfy you enough?”
