The moment the word leaves her lips — "Mark me" — the air shifts.
It thickens. Warms. Like the very walls of the mating cabin are holding their breath, waiting.
Ace doesn't move. Not yet. He stares at her like she's a glass thread, one wrong step away from snapping. And Elsie does feel that way.
"Say it again," he murmurs.
Elsie swallows, her throat dry and aching. "Mark me," she repeats, quieter this time, barely a whisper, but it carries. Through her bones. Through his restraint.
Something ancient pulses between Ace and Elsie, maybe a silent call of the bond they are about to seal — a bond older than kingdoms, older than war.
Ace rises to his feet, sitting on the bed beside Elsie and slowly lowering on the mattress. As if approaching a wounded animal. Not his queen. Not his mate. Not yet.
"Look at me," he says.
She doesn't want to look him in the eyes in this state where all she can feel at this moment is the burning desire to be touched, to be held by her alpha. If she looks up, she might fall apart. She might beg him to hold her and touch her like no one does.
Still, her chin lifts and their eyes meet.
And she sees it. Not the monster they warned her about. Not the killer of the queen. But the man. Her alpha. The hollow ache in his eyes that mirrors her own.
His hand lifts to her neck, fingers brushing the burning skin just above her collarbone. Elsie shivers, not from fear, but anticipation. Terror and longing curled into one.
"I'll be gentle," he promises. But they both know the bond is not. And there's no way the bite won't hurt.
When his mouth moves toward her skin, Elsie closes her eyes — oh goddess she isn't ready for this. And maybe she never will be.
But it's too late now and the bond doesn't wait.
Doesn't matter how much her mind says she doesn't want it, her body aches with wanton. Her omega withers inside her in need, in need to be marked and bred.
Elsie's eyes go round as the first glop of slick gushes out of her trembling, aching flower.
Her body answers before her mind can. Heat pulses low in her belly, and slick gathers between her thighs like a secret her body can't keep.
There's no turning back. Not now. Not from him.
Ace doesn't hesitate.
He moves forward and his mouth brushes her skin — warm, trembling — and then as if testing his fangs grazes her heated skin. Elsie's hands clench tight around her mating robe over her thighs, slick won't stop oozing out of her heated flower desperate for touch.
The scent of her arousal fills the mating cabin.
Ace's sharp fags sink into her flesh. Deep. Claiming.
Elsie gasps, a sharp cry escaping her lips as pain sears through her neck like fire laced with lightning. Her knees buckle. The air leaves her lungs. Her hands fly to his shoulders, fingers digging into his shirt like claws. Trembling flower gushing out more and more slick.
It hurts. It hurts.
But beneath the sting, a flood rushes through her veins — a surge of heat, of something ancient, primal, and terrifyingly real. Her bond snaps into place like a chain made of stardust and blood, linking her to him in a way she doesn't fully understand yet. But she feels it.
Ace growls low against her skin, the sound more animal than man. Her scent, her slick, the wild thrum of her heartbeat — it all drives him deeper into instinct. But he pulls back. Forces himself to stop.
Because if he doesn't, he might lose control. And he promised her that he would be gentle. Even if his body screams to break that promise and ruin her for all. To mark her as his in all means.
Ace darts out his tongue and licks the wound, sealing the bond with a final touch.
Elsie sways.
The mark pulses — a living flame carved into her neck — and suddenly, her whole body is alight with need. It roars through her, dizzying, overwhelming. She clutches him, chest rising and falling like she's just been reborn.
Their eyes meet again.
And it's different now.
She sees herself in him. A reflection of her hunger. Her ache. Her surrender.
"Ace," she whispers, voice cracking.
His hands find her waist, grounding her. Steady, despite the storm inside him. "I've got you," he murmurs, voice raw. "You're mine now."
Her omega keens in her chest, a soft, desperate sound. There's no shame in it. Not anymore.
Only need.
Only bond.
Only him.
Elsie's chest heaves as the last shiver rolls through her. Her body feels too full and too empty all at once. She's trembling — not from fear, not anymore — but from the unbearable ache the mark has ignited inside her.
She's his now. Marked. Bound.
And yet… still untouched. Now he needs his touch more than anything.
"Ace," she breathes, drawing him closer to her by her hand on the back of his neck, eyes glassy with heat and confusion. "Please…"
His hand cups her cheek, gentle. But there's strain in his jaw and tension in his body as if he's barely holding himself together.
"I can't," he says.
The words are hoarse. Like they're dragged out from somewhere deep, dark, and unwilling. She stiffens, startled from the words that just came out of his mouth. She stares at him, scent flaring with disbelief.
Does he not desire her as she desires him?
Does he not feel this burning urge to be close to her like she feels?
"You won't?" she asks quietly, confused.
His blazing red eyes flicker, burning with restraint and regret. "No," he says. "I won't."
Elsie let go of him like she's been slapped, the space between them suddenly colder than before. The bond howls at the distance. Her omega recoils, confused and wounded.
"I just—" She swallows hard. "You marked me."
"And I would do it again," he says fiercely. "But not here. Not now. Not like this."
She wants to scream. Cry. Beg. The need clawing inside her is too loud, too wild. But his voice cuts through it, low and steady.
"I won't take you in a cabin made for mating rituals. They're waiting for us outside." he says. "Not when your body is raw from the mark. Not when you're trembling and aching and don't even know if you want me or the bond is just screaming loud enough to drown your mind."
Tears blur her vision — not from sadness, but frustration. From the burn of needing and being denied. Elsie wants him, wants his knot, wants this burning pain to go away.
"Then why mark me at all?" she whispers.
He leans down again, brushing a thumb under her eye, catching a tear before it falls. "Because that's what is to be done. We were set to be mated today, did you forget? Does your heat make you forget yourself, omega? Does it make you forget that you hate me too much and that you don't want me?"
Elsie stares up at him with eyes wide, heart hammering against her chest, silent tears flowing down her face.
Ace is her alpha now, they're mated for life. How can she hate her own mate?
For a moment, neither of them speaks. The bond throbs quietly between them from the pain of rejection Elsie feels.
And Ace, King of Lievca, takes a slow breath and lifts from the bed.
"I will take you," he says. "But not as a king. And not because our bodies demand it."
His gaze softens, turning almost mournful.
"When I do… it will be because you want it. Not your omega. Not in your heat. You."
Elsie stares at him, throat tight, heart louder than ever.
And for the first time since the ceremony began — despite the ache, despite the emptiness between her thighs — she wonders if maybe… he already has tamed her heart.