CHAPTER 139: CHAPTER 139: STARVED MAN

Elias’s body jolted as Victor’s hands dragged his pants lower, the cool air kissing heated skin. His pulse hammered, torn between panic and need, but then Victor’s pheromones hit him again, thick, grounding, and threaded with absolute certainty.

Victor freed himself, his cock heavy and flushed, brushing against Elias’s thigh. The slick press of precome streaked across Elias’s skin as Victor shifted closer, the promise of him enough to make Elias’s stomach clench.

"You’re already trembling," Victor murmured, amused and reverent all at once. His hand caught Elias’s jaw, forcing his gaze up until brown eyes met molten crimson. "Say it. Tell me who you belong to."

Elias’s lips parted, defiance flickering in his gaze, but Victor’s cock pressed against him, thick and demanding, sliding slowly against the cleft of his ass, smearing wet heat across sensitive skin. The words caught in Elias’s throat, breaking on a ragged exhale.

"You," he muttered, helpless. "Fuck, Victor, you."

Victor’s smile widened, feral and delighted. "Good."

He lined himself up, steady despite the way his body burned for it, and pushed. The stretch dragged a sharp cry from Elias, his nails clawing against Victor’s shoulders. But the alpha soothed him with his scent, heavy and inescapable, with a kiss that swallowed every sound and left nothing but fire between them.

"Breathe," Victor commanded, velvet-dark, as inch by inch he sank into him, filling him until Elias’s body bowed tight under the weight of it.

Elias gasped, head tipping back against the cushions, his chest heaving. Every nerve lit with pain edged into pleasure, too much, too full, and yet not enough.

Victor’s lips brushed his ear, his jaw, his mouth, murmuring low. "That’s it. Take me. You were made to."

When he bottomed out, Elias’s body shook, torn between a curse and a moan. His thighs spread wider without conscious thought, giving Victor everything he demanded.

"Perfect," Victor groaned, his control fraying as he drew back, only to thrust in again, harder, the sound of it raw in the quiet room. "So tight, Elias. Mine."

Elias cried out, one hand clenching the couch, the other gripping Victor’s arm like a lifeline. Each thrust tore sound from him, his body giving way, pleasure burning through the remnants of panic until nothing remained but surrender.

Victor set a ruthless rhythm, deep and relentless, every drive of his hips pushing Elias higher, stripping away thought until he couldn’t hold back the broken sounds spilling past his lips.

"Do you feel that?" Victor’s voice rasped against his ear, sharp with hunger. "Every time you let go, every time you stop fighting me, this is what you get."

Elias’s reply dissolved into a groan, his body arching as the coil of heat tightened low in his stomach. He was close, too close, the rhythm dragging him toward the edge again far too soon.

Victor could already feel it in his mate’s body clamping on him. His hand slid down, wrapping firmly around Elias’s cock, stroking in time with his thrusts until Elias was writhing beneath him, every muscle taut, his voice raw and helpless.

"Come with me," Victor ordered, lips crashing against his in a bruising kiss. "Now."

Elias wanted to laugh, to tell this smug alpha that his orgasm won’t come on his command, but against all of that, he shattered. His body arched hard, spilling hot between them, every sound swallowed by Victor’s mouth. The orgasm ripped through him, white-hot and unrelenting, dragging him under until he could do nothing but cling.

Victor groaned deep, thrusting once, twice more before he followed, burying himself to the hilt as he spilled inside him, marking him with heat and possession. His pheromones flooded the room, thick as smoke, branding the moment into Elias’s bones.

For a long moment, the only sound was their mingled breaths, harsh and uneven, filling the quiet.

Victor didn’t pull away. He kissed Elias again, slower this time, thumb brushing his jaw with uncharacteristic gentleness. "Better," he murmured, wicked smile softened by something far rarer. "Always better when you give in."

The storm of it left Elias trembling, his chest heaving against Victor’s as though he’d been dragged through fire and dropped into silence. For a moment he couldn’t speak, couldn’t think, just the burn of muscles, the pounding echo of his heart, and the heavy weight of Victor still inside him, anchoring him to something steadier than air.

Victor didn’t move to leave. He stayed pressed against him, his breath warm against Elias’s temple, his crimson eyes half-lidded but sharp, fixed wholly on his mate. One large hand smoothed along Elias’s spine, grounding each shiver with a steady, deliberate touch.

And then he caught it.

Faint at first, delicate, like a ghost winding through the heat of their mingled scents. Imperial iris.

Victor stilled, inhaling slowly, letting it curl in deeper. It was Elias; undeniably, Elias, his pheromones finally breaching the tight control he wrapped himself in, filling the air in shy threads of floral sharpness and clean dusk. A scent that matched no one else, one Victor had been starving for since the bond first burned itself into place.

His lips curved, soft but feral at the edges. "There it is," he murmured, velvet-dark. His thumb brushed over Elias’s damp temple, reverent, like he’d just touched something rare. "Your scent. My omega."

Elias blinked up at him, dazed, still flushed, lips parting as if to deny it, then closing again, silent. The faintest flush deepened across his throat where the bond pulsed hot, his own body betraying him more than words could.

Victor bent lower, pressing his mouth to the spot, kissing it slowly, inhaling again as if he could drink the faint imperial iris straight from Elias’s skin. The taste of it tangled with the aftershocks still rolling through them both, making Victor groan low against him.

Victor meant to hold, to soothe, to let Elias breathe through the raw edge of release. But the instant that faint thread of imperial iris thickened, winding sharper into the air, restraint burned out of him like paper to flame.

His hand that had been smoothing along Elias’s spine gripped instead, possessive, dragging him closer. The scent clung to his skin, bled from the bond, and threaded into Victor’s lungs until his pulse surged again, hard and demanding. Crimson eyes narrowed, molten with hunger as his mouth pressed hungrily down Elias’s throat, teeth grazing over the mark as if to coax the scent stronger.

Elias shuddered, his body jerking under the sudden intensity, a soft sound spilling unguarded from his lips. "Victor..."

Victor growled low in his chest, the sound vibrating between them, his lips dragging lower, tasting salt, heat, iris. "You have no idea what you’re doing to me," he rasped, his voice rough with reverence and need both. "You think I can stop?"

His hips pressed in harder, proof that stopping was no longer an option.

Elias’s breath hitched, his fingers clenching weakly against Victor’s shoulders as though torn between pushing him back and dragging him closer. His scent flared again, untrained, uncontrolled, blooming sharper in the air with every beat of his pulse.

Victor’s smile broke through, wicked and reverent, even as his hunger drove him. "That’s it. Give it to me. Flood me with it." His teeth scraped Elias’s jaw, his breath hot against his ear. "My omega. My mate. I’ll devour you until this room reeks so strongly of us, they’ll never wash it out."

Elias groaned, low and helpless, his body already betraying him as it arched up to meet the press of Victor’s.

Victor shifted, pulling the blanket aside, the couch protesting under his weight as he moved over Elias fully, caging him there. His hand slid down, firm and claiming, coaxing Elias’s trembling thighs apart.

The imperial iris rolled heavier through the room, intoxicating. And Victor bent his head like a starved man, kissing Elias deep enough to drown them both as he sank back into the heat of his mate.