Rihan had locked himself in his room all afternoon, leaving Taeryn stranded in the sitting room, staring at the closed door like it personally offended him. He kept debating whether to break it down or not.
Every instinct in his Alpha body yelled go to him, but Rihan's scent... those heavy waves of pheromones rolling through the condo made thinking feel like walking through fire.
His skin felt too hot, his neck felt like someone had pressed a branding iron to his gland, and his thighs trembled each time another swell of Rihan's pheromones hit him.
He was painfully hard, restless, pacing like a caged wolf. All he wanted was to be close to his detective. To feel his hands. To hear his voice. Anything.
And Rihan was deliberately staying as far away as possible.
His mood soured the longer he waited, irritation prickling under his skin, but Taeryn forced himself not to smash the door down. Instead, he dropped onto the couch, tugging at the collar of his shirt, rubbing his neck to soothe the burn while he searched through his phone.
He looked up everything Ji-Hwan had said. Headaches, aggression, fear, arousal, sensory overload, instability. But every article was about Alpha ruts and Omega heats, none of which matched Rihan.
None of it explained him.
Annoyed and unsatisfied, Taeryn tapped a number on his screen. Gi-Hun, resident nerd and information hoarder, picked up immediately.
"Where have you been, Tae?" Gi-Hun snapped without preamble.
"Do you know another gender apart from Alpha, Beta, and Omega?" Taeryn asked, already rising to his feet as he headed toward Rihan's room again, phone pressed to his ear.
Silence. Then Gi-Hun's confused voice.
"What kind of question is that? Tae, what are you doing? Is this another stray job? Are you messing with something dangerous?"
Taeryn's expression flattened. "Just answer the question, Gi-Hun."
There was a pause, then a cautious sigh.
"Well… I don't really know much, but…" Gi-Hun hesitated before continuing, "Enigmas exist. They're rare though, really rare. Only one every generation. Stronger than Alphas, stronger than anyone else."
Taeryn stopped walking, his breath catching slightly.
Enigma… stronger than anyone?
It made a disturbing amount of sense.
"How do you know this?" Taeryn asked, voice tight as he reached Rihan's bedroom door. Every part of him was vibrating with the urge to kick it open.
"My mom's a gender researcher at that company that develops suppressants," Gi-Hun replied. "Why? Did you meet one?"
Taeryn opened his mouth to answer. But the door swung open first.
Rihan stood there shirtless. His toned body on full display with defined abs, hard chest, black sweatpants slung sinfully low on his hips. His waist-long raven hair was slightly tousled, his peach-red lips parted, and when his tongue flicked out to wet them, the color darkened to a devastating red.
His hazel eyes were narrowed, glazed, hungry.
He looked like sin incarnate.
And Taeryn forgot how to breathe.
"If you wanted to know," Rihan rumbled, his deep voice laced with annoyance and arousal, "you could have just asked me."
"Huh? Who's that? Tae?" Gi-Hun's startled voice shouted from the phone.
Taeryn hung up without a second of hesitation. He flashed Rihan a sharp, hungry grin.
"You didn't want to tell me, Detective… so I had to find out for myself so I can help you."
His gaze dragged down Rihan's body, shameless, reverent, thirsty. "You're an Enigma."
"Hm." Rihan grabbed Taeryn by the collar in one swift, impatient motion and yanked him inside the room.
Before Taeryn could process anything, Rihan fisted his hair, dragged him close, and crushed their mouths together in a desperate, searing kiss.
Taeryn groaned into the kiss as Rihan devoured him like a starving man. The Enigma's grip in his hair tightened, forcing a hiss from Taeryn that Rihan swallowed greedily.
Then... sharp pain.
Rihan bit down on his lower lip, dragging a moan straight out of Taeryn's chest.
Rihan pulled back. His hazel eyes were dark. No, feral lit with a hunger Taeryn had never seen directed at him before.
"Fuck me…" Taeryn breathed, tongue darting out to lick his bleeding lip which was close to his lip ring. His pulse thundered everywhere. His ear tips were burning, his fingers trembling, his throat dry, his cock was hard and straining from his pants.
Rihan's grin was slow, predatory. He grabbed Taeryn's jaw in one rough hand, forcing his face upward.
"You're so adorable… so flushed…" he murmured, tilting his head as if admiring a piece of prey that willingly walked into his jaws.
Taeryn shivered hard.
Was this what it felt like… to want to be claimed?
He was an Alpha built to dominate, yet ever since the first moment he saw Rihan, something in him bent, softened, yielded. Even before he knew Rihan was an Enigma, his body wanted him. Needed him. Wanted to be ruined by him.
And now?
Now he'd beg for it.
"On your knees, Tae," Rihan purred, voice thick with rut and command. "Take out my cock."
Taeryn dropped instantly, the sound of his knees hitting the floor muffled by the carpet. He didn't hesitate. He didn't even breathe as he hooked his fingers into the waistband of Rihan's sweatpants and pulled them down.
Rihan's cock sprang free. Thick, heavy, flushed an angry red.
Taeryn stared at it with pure wonder, pupils blown wide like a starstruck worshipper discovering his god.
Rihan slowly slid his fingers into Taeryn's soft brown curls, letting them curl around his knuckles. Taeryn looked up instantly, grey eyes blown wide, heavy with lust and devotion.
Their pheromones were already thick in the air, hot, suffocating, intoxicating and they hadn't even really begun.
Taeryn could feel it. His own rut being pulled to the surface, dragged out of him by the sheer force of Rihan's. It hit him like a punch, sharp and overwhelming, and his detective watched him with that dark, unblinking hunger.
"Your mouth, Tae," Rihan murmured, breathing unevenly. "Make me cum."
"Gladly," Taeryn whispered.
He leaned in, tongue dragging slowly, deliberately over the tip. Rihan's entire body shuddered, a visible tremor rolling through him.
Taeryn smiled at that, then opened wide and took him in.
Rihan was thick. Too thick and Taeryn barely managed half before he even adjusted. But before he could steady his breath, Rihan tightened his grip in his hair and pushed his head down, forcing his cock deeper.
Taeryn gagged softly as the tip hit the back of his throat.
Rihan groaned deep, low, and primal. "Fuck yes,"
And the sound alone sent Taeryn's eyes rolling back, heat twisting violently in his gut, because he could honestly, sickeningly, pathetically cum from just this.