Kia kicked the bedroom door shut with his foot, the soft thud echoing in the quiet room.
He placed Ryan gently on the bed, but the moment Kia tried to pull back—
Ryan's hand shot up and grabbed his wrist.
Hard.
Hard enough that it wasn't Ryan.
Kia froze.
Ryan's pupils had blown out completely, the brown swallowed by a deep, molten gold.
His wolf.
Ryan's wolf was awake.
And not just awake—
Claiming. Dominant. Territorial. Starving.
Kia's breath caught.
"Bunny…" he whispered carefully.
But Ryan wasn't listening.
His wolf moved first.
He sat up slowly, movements too smooth, too controlled, too primal to belong to a human body.
Then—
Ryan straddled Kia's lap in one slow, hungry motion, palms pressing against Kia's chest, pinning him slightly.
Kia sucked in a breath.
"Ryan—your wolf—" he tried, voice shaking slightly.
But Ryan's wolf only leaned forward, nose brushing Kia's throat.
A soft, deep rumble vibrated out of Ryan's chest.
Not a growl.
A claiming purr.
Kia's entire body shivered.
Ryan's wolf inhaled him slowly, deliberately, then pressed his forehead to Kia's neck—
Right over the spot where a mate mark should be.
Kia's legs nearly buckled.
"Bunny… please…"
His wolf was whining inside him, begging to push forward, to take control, to return the claim.
Ryan's wolf opened his eyes—and they glowed bright gold.
Then, without warning—
Ryan bit him.
Not a full mark.
Not a breaking skin bite.
But a claim.
A warning.
A promise.
A declaration.
Mine.
The rumble that followed shook Kia to his core.
Kia grabbed Ryan's waist instinctively, steadying him.
"Bunny… your wolf is—" he choked out.
Ryan didn't let him finish.
His wolf leaned close, lips brushing Kia's ear, voice low, raw, and not fully human:
"Don't… leave… me… again."
Kia's heart stopped.
His wolf roared in his chest.
And finally, for the first time in five years—
Kia let his wolf rise.
His eyes glowed bright silver as he pulled Ryan tighter, answering the claim with a trembling voice:
"I'm here…
I'm not leaving.
Not this time."
Ryan's wolf let out a soft satisfied sound—almost like a pleased growl—as he nuzzled deeper into Kia's neck, claiming him again.
This time slower.
More possessive.
More certain.
Kia's breath trembled.
His bunny's wolf had claimed him first.
And Kia had never felt more wanted…
More chosen…
More theirs…
in his entire life.