CHAPTER 92: CHAPTER 92: HEAT (1)

The sting was sharp, but it was nothing compared to the flood that followed.

It hit him all at once, Victor’s scent surging through his head like a struck match in a closed room, the heavy burn of it catching on every nerve. His pulse kicked hard against the bite, each beat seeming to drive the bond deeper, stitching it into flesh and bone until it felt permanent in a way that made his chest tighten.

Elias had never been built for this, recessive omegas weren’t supposed to burn so hot, to feel their bodies answer so violently, but his control shattered the moment Victor’s pheromones hit full force. He barely had heats, maybe twice a year at most, his body quiet more often than not. But this... this was nothing like the muted cycles he’d known.

It was a rush, primal and immediate, making his hips jolt forward against Victor’s without conscious thought, the friction pulling a low, unguarded sound from his throat. His fingers tightened in the fabric of Victor’s shirt, knuckles whitening, searching for something to hold onto as his breathing fractured. Every inhale dragged more of that maddening scent into him until it felt like it was inside his veins, thick and warm, making it impossible to remember where his body ended and Victor’s began.

The couch dipped under them as Victor pressed in, keeping him pinned there with the full weight of his body. The bite throbbed, the ache melting into a molten pull that spread outward, through his neck, across his shoulders, down his spine, turning every nerve hypersensitive. The coarse weave of the couch cushions under his fingers, the heat of Victor’s palm spanning his hip, the faint rasp of stubble against his skin, it all landed sharper, heavier, until his chest ached from the overload.

Victor didn’t push, not yet. His hands moved slowly and deliberately, smoothing up Elias’s back in grounding strokes, dragging him closer until there wasn’t a breath of space left between them. His mouth eased from the mark, his breath hot and steady against the damp skin there, murmuring something low and satisfied, a sound Elias barely caught over the pounding in his ears.

He felt wired and unsteady, every muscle caught between pushing forward into the heat or pulling back from the overwhelming pull of it. But the bond had already wrapped around him, tightening with every beat of his heart, and Victor’s thumb brushing over the fresh mark was enough to make him shiver, caught in the knowledge that he’d never quite be able to step back now.

’Fuck.’

The thought cut through the haze for only a second before it tangled itself in the rest, hazy images of Victor’s body pressing him into the cushions, of being filled again like the other day, of giving in without a fight.

’I’ve made a mistake.’

He’d thought the bond would be manageable, that it would feel like nothing more than a sharpened thread of attraction. Something physical, maybe a little intoxicating, but still within his control. He’d told himself it was removable, breakable, dulled by distance, and easily erased by another’s teeth if it ever came to that.

He had been so terribly, irreversibly wrong.

The reality was nothing like the theory. It wasn’t a neat connection; it was a living, pulsing tether that drew him closer even when he tried to hold still, a constant, low hum of need vibrating beneath his skin. Every breath he took was thick with Victor’s scent, each inhale making his body answer in ways he couldn’t suppress. His hips shifting almost unconsciously, his fingers curling into the fabric at Victor’s side as if he could ground himself there.

Victor’s hand slid up his ribs, slow but sure, palm flattening over his chest as though testing the rhythm of his heart. His other hand stayed firm at Elias’s hip, holding him steady when his legs shifted restlessly on the couch. The alpha’s weight over him was warm and steady, his presence unshakable, and when his mouth brushed over the mark again, Elias felt the bond pulse in response, a hot, dizzy rush that made his breath stutter.

"You’re shaking," Victor murmured against his skin, not with mockery but with the kind of quiet satisfaction that said he’d expected nothing less. "Let it in."

"You..." Elias swallowed, trying to fight the cloying in his mouth. "What did you do?"

Victor’s lips curved against the fresh mark, the faintest graze of his teeth making the new bond flare like a live wire under Elias’s skin. "Exactly what you asked me to." His voice was calm, maddeningly so, even as his hand skimmed down Elias’s side, mapping every inch like he had all the time in the world. "You just didn’t know what it would feel like."

Elias’s breath hitched when Victor’s palm settled over his lower stomach, the weight of it soothing and yet impossibly suggestive. "Feels like..." He cut himself off with a sharp inhale, heat crawling over his skin as the bond pulsed again, drawing an unsteady tremor out of him. "Like I can’t think."

"You’re entering heat," Victor said, his voice low, matter-of-fact, though the faint curl of satisfaction in it was impossible to miss. "It’s a normal reaction after bonding." He paused just long enough for the silence to press in before adding, with dark amusement, "Don’t tell me your family never told you that even a recessive can be marked?"

Elias’s eyes flicked up to his, the heat in his face not entirely from the bond. "They didn’t tell me, but I’ve read papers about it," he said, though the words were tight and defensive, as if saying them aloud might keep Victor from seeing just how deeply the truth was hitting now.

"Ah... yes. The scientific work of people who, perhaps, never experienced it themselves," Victor murmured, his tone brushing dangerously close to mockery. His thumb traced the fresh mark again, deliberate, coaxing another sharp tremor out of him. "Did they also talk about the low rates of a bond tethering?"

"You..." Elias’s breath caught, the accusation stumbling over his tongue. "You lied to me."

Victor’s mouth curved, slow and certain, as if he’d been waiting for that. "No, I didn’t." His hand at Elias’s hip tightened just enough to keep him pinned to the couch. "I told you what you needed to hear so you’d say yes." The faintest smirk ghosted across his lips before his voice dropped, dangerously low. "We just happen to be very compatible."