CHAPTER 137: CHAPTER 137: SULKING ALPHA

Victor pushed up slightly on one elbow, studying him with sharp, disbelieving focus. "You’re ignoring me." He sounded it out slowly, as though the concept itself were foreign, impossible. "Me."

Finally, Elias turned his gaze down, brown eyes gleaming with restrained amusement. "It’s very humbling, isn’t it?"

Victor’s jaw worked, lips curving in something halfway between a dangerous smile and sheer bewilderment. "Humble," he echoed, as though testing the word on his tongue. "You think you can humble a god by reaching for a remote?"

Elias tucked the blanket higher, perfectly calm. "Looks like it’s working."

Victor stared up at him, disbelief giving way to something sharper. "Working?" His laugh came low, incredulous, the kind that carried more heat than humor. "You kiss me like that, then aim your attention at..." His hand gestured toward the flickering TV. "This?"

"Yes," Elias said, deadpan, his thumb flicking over the remote to raise the volume a notch.

Victor sat up, the air around him bending like a storm testing its walls. With Victor’s shirt collar undone, he looked every inch the predator who could buy and burn half the city without blinking. Except now, his crimson gaze held the bewilderment of a man whose empire had just been usurped by a couch blanket and basic cable.

"You’re ignoring me." He repeated it as if the words themselves were an accusation. "Me, Elias. Your mate. Your god. The man who bent space in half to be here." His voice dipped, velvet-dark and entirely too petulant for someone who ruled boardrooms with a glance. "Do you understand how unacceptable this is?"

Elias tilted his head, feigning thoughtfulness, then said simply, "Perfectly acceptable."

Victor’s jaw tightened, his hand sliding against Elias’s thigh with unmistakable intent. "You think you can kiss me, turn away, and pretend I’m... background noise?" His grin curved sharp, equal parts danger and disbelief. "No, darling. I’m not background. I’m the whole goddamn show."

Elias’s lips twitched, traitorously amused despite the exhaustion still clinging to his chest. "You’re sulking."

Victor leaned closer, his breath brushing Elias’s jaw, crimson eyes lit with wicked defiance. "Sulking? No. I’m reclaiming what’s mine." His fingers tugged the remote neatly from Elias’s hand and tossed it onto the coffee table without looking. Then, with a deliberate shift of weight, he pressed Elias back against the couch cushions, his head lowering until his lips brushed the corner of Elias’s mouth.

"You’ll look at me," Victor murmured, voice dangerous and soft, "or I’ll make sure you never forget who you just ignored."

Elias let out a slow exhale, the faintest curve tugging at the corner of his mouth. He tilted his head just enough that Victor’s lips no longer brushed near his but squarely met them.

The kiss was warm, slow, each of them taking their time to savor it. Victor’s pheromones rolled heavier in the air, mingling with the expensive cologne Elias had already come to associate with late nights and power that bent the world. His chest eased against the weight of it, the bond pulsing steady where Victor’s hand pressed firm against his jaw.

When he pulled back, Elias didn’t look away this time. He met crimson eyes head-on, his own brown gaze steady, his mouth twitching with the smallest hint of humor. "Better?"

Victor froze for a fraction of a beat, and then his smile spread slow and dangerous, teeth glinting in the low light. "Much."

Elias huffed, sinking back into the couch, still half-covered by the blanket Victor had insisted on. "Good. Because I’d rather not be smothered just because you couldn’t handle losing to a sitcom."

Victor’s laugh came low, rich, vibrating through the space between them as he leaned back, satisfied now, his hand never leaving Elias’s thigh. "You gave in. That’s all I wanted."

"Mm," Elias murmured, eyelids heavy, though his lips betrayed him with another twitch. "You sound like a spoiled alpha."

Victor’s grin sharpened, smug and molten. "I am. Yours."

The words landed heavy, and Elias’s chest tightened with the warmth he felt for this impossible man. He let himself breathe in the warmth of pheromones and cologne, the dangerous comfort of a man who would tear the world apart just to sit here like this.

Victor’s hand lingered at Elias’s thigh, fingers brushing idly through the blanket as though claiming more of him inch by inch. The TV played on in the background, its light casting shifting shadows across the living room, but Victor’s attention never strayed.

"You’re smug," Elias muttered.

Victor leaned in, his grin curving slowly, his crimson eyes catching every flicker of lamplight. "I’m winning."

Elias rolled his eyes, but the sound that left him was closer to a laugh than a protest. "Winning what, exactly?"

Victor bent until his lips brushed the shell of his ear, the heat of his breath curling down Elias’s neck. "You," he said simply, velvet-dark. "Every time you stop pretending you don’t want me."

Elias swallowed, pulse hammering beneath Victor’s thumb where it pressed against his throat. The pheromones wrapped heavier, smoke and iron laced with warmth, seeping into his lungs until resistance felt more exhausting than dangerous.

His lips parted with a quiet exhale, and Victor was there instantly, mouth on his, warm, demanding, but with patience threaded through the hunger. Elias’s fingers, hesitant at first, slid into the silk-dark hair beneath his hand, tugging just enough to break Victor’s composure.

The low sound that rumbled from Victor’s chest sent a shiver down Elias’s spine. He shifted under the weight of him, the blanket sliding askew as Victor pressed closer, careful to not let his weight on him.

"Better," Victor murmured against his mouth, voice rougher now.

Elias huffed a laugh, breathless. "You keep saying that like you’re grading me."

Victor’s grin widened against his lips, feral and delighted. "Then pass the test. Keep kissing me."

Victor didn’t stop at just kissing him. Every time Elias thought he could catch his breath, Victor shifted, deepening it, coaxing his lips open until the taste of wine and smoke lingered thick in his mouth.

The blanket slid lower as Victor pressed him into the couch with the certainty of a man knowing what he wanted. His hand braced along Elias’s jaw, the other finding his hip beneath the layers of fabric, thumb stroking slow circles that made Elias’s pulse jump.

Elias let out a soft, helpless sound before he could swallow it back, his fingers tightening in Victor’s hair. He turned his head slightly, breaking the kiss just long enough to rasp, "You’re... relentless."

Victor’s grin curved against the corner of his mouth, crimson eyes dark and molten. "Good. Because if I stop now, you’ll drown in your thoughts again. And I’d rather have you drowning in me."

The words made Elias flush hot, his chest rising fast under Victor’s weight. He wanted to argue, to deflect, but the hand on his hip slid lower, tugging him closer, and the argument died in a sharp inhale.

Victor kissed down the line of his jaw, teeth grazing lightly at the pulse hammering beneath Elias’s skin. Pheromones rolled heavier, threaded with expensive cologne and the dark heat of devotion, until Elias felt boneless against him.

"Victor..." His voice caught, half-protest, half-plea.

Victor lifted his head, eyes locking on him, dangerous and soft at once. "Say it again."

Elias blinked, dazed. "What?"

"My name. Like that."

Elias groaned, dragging a hand down his face, but Victor caught his wrist, kissing the inside of it, tongue brushing where his pulse raced. Elias shuddered, his other hand still tangled in Victor’s hair.

"God, you’re impossible," he muttered, though his voice was wrecked, softer than he meant.

Victor’s grin widened, feral and reverent. "And you’re mine."

The next kiss left Elias sinking fully beneath him, the couch creaking under their weight, the world narrowing to warmth, pheromones, and the sharp, steady press of an alpha who would never let him go.