The water lapped softly at the edges of the tub, steam ghosting around them until the winter light was only a pale blur behind the glass. Elias's breathing had gone ragged and then slow again, the ache in his belly settling into a heavy throb. He floated against Victor's chest without really thinking about it, eyelids fluttering as if he were drifting in and out of a fevered dream.
Victor kept his palms flat over the omega's stomach, thumbs moving in the same slow, deliberate circles. The dark-spice scent of his pheromones had deepened, but it stayed leashed, a low hum beneath the sweeter, sharper iris now pouring off Elias's skin. It was thicker than it had been that morning, a sudden bloom of sweetness that hit the back of Victor's throat like sugar on fire.
He bent his head slightly, nose brushing damp hair at Elias's crown. "You smell it too, don't you?" he murmured, voice velvet-low. "Your body's changing."
