Arik's breath hitched, the sound caught somewhere between a laugh and genuine disbelief. The delight that had been simmering in his chest since the mention of Bastian finally spilled over, warm and bright and dangerously unguarded. Not the unbearable heat of an Alpha making a claim, but the quiet awe of a man who had just been given something he never thought he could keep.
"Perfect?" Arik repeated softly, his voice dropping lower, the sound vibrating straight through Liam. "Liam, I am currently being held hostage by a man wrapped in a blanket who keeps testing my restraint. I am far from perfect."
"You are," Liam insisted, stubborn even through the haze. The suppressant chill still clung to his skin, but a different kind of heat had started to replace it, creeping slowly beneath his exhaustion. "You're sitting there being noble about all this. And you're mine. And Bastian is mine. And you're just... taking it."
