The elevator ascended in a hum of vibration and expensive machinery, but to Elias, it felt like being hoisted toward a gallows. Every floor they passed was a countdown.
Julian's arms were like bands of heated steel. Even through the layers of his tactical gear and Elias's heavy wool coat, the contact was electric. Elias's head lolled against Julian's shoulder, his nose pressed into the crook of the Alpha's neck. Without the patches, Julian's natural scent… something cold, like ozone and mountain rain… began to filter into Elias's consciousness, filling the hollow ache in his chest with a terrifying, magnetic pull.
Ding.The doors slid open to a private penthouse suite that overlooked the jagged horizon of the Wastes. It was a brutalist masterpiece of glass, dark wood, and polished concrete. Julian didn't stop to let Elias admire the view. He carried him straight through the living area and into a bedroom that smelled of nothing but sterilized air. He dropped Elias onto the sprawling, king-sized bed. The mattress was firm, covered in charcoal linens that felt like ice against Elias's feverish skin.
"Stay there," Julian commanded, his voice tight. Elias let out a jagged breath, his fingers curling into the duvet. "The... the medication. In my trunk. There are emergency suppressants."Julian stood at the foot of the bed, his chest heaving slightly from the exertion and the sheer adrenaline of the moment. He looked down at Elias, the man who, hours ago, had looked like a warlord, now reduced to a shivering, flushed mess of tangled limbs."I'm not giving you those," Julian said.
Elias's head snapped up, his eyes wide and clouded with a mixture of pain and betrayal. "What?"
"I saw the tremors in the car, Elias. I saw your heart rate," Julian stepped closer, his shadow falling over the bed. "Those North Ridge chemists are poisoning you. If I give you a 'Red Zone' suppressant while your body is already in withdrawal, your heart will stop before the sun goes down."
"I don't care," Elias choked out, a single tear of frustration escaping and tracing a path down his temple. "If I go into heat... if I lose control... you'll see. They'll all see. I'll be nothing." "Nobody is seeing anything," Julian growled. He turned and walked to the door, his hand gripping the handle. "This floor is biometric-locked. Only I have the code. My staff is prohibited from entering this wing until I give the word."He looked back over his shoulder, his amber eyes flashing with an unreadable intensity."
I told you I liked a challenge, Elias. But I didn't realize the challenge was going to be keeping you alive."The sound of the heavy, soundproof door clicking shut was followed by the unmistakable electronic chirp of a deadbolt engaging. Elias was alone. The heat wasn't a sudden explosion; it was a rising tide. It started in his marrow, a dull, thrumming itch that made every inch of his skin feel too sensitive to exist. He clawed at his tie, ripping it away, his fingers fumbling with the silver wolf-head buttons of his tunic.
He needed the clothes off. He needed the air. He rolled off the bed, his knees hitting the floor with a dull thud. He dragged himself toward the ensuite bathroom, his breath coming in broken, rhythmic sobs.
I am an Alpha, he told himself, the mantra a lie he had repeated for twenty years. I am a Thorne. I am the heir to the North. But the biological reality of the Recessive Omega didn't care about titles. His body was shedding the 'Alpha' persona like a snake shedding skin. His muscles, usually tense and ready for combat, were softening, becoming fluid and heavy.
A sweet, cloying scent… the smell of crushed jasmine and wild honey… began to seep from his pores, filling the sterile room with a fragrance that would have driven any other Alpha in the world to madness. In the living room, on the other side of the door, Julian Vane was standing by the window, staring out at the flickering lights of his factories.
He couldn't smell it. To Julian, the air was still sterile. The silence was still absolute. But he could feel it. The air in the penthouse felt charged, heavy with a static electricity that made the hair on his arms stand up. His own wolf, usually a cold and calculating creature, was pacing behind his ribs, growling at the closed bedroom door. He sat on the leather sofa, resting his head in his hands.
Why did I agree to this? He had intended to use Elias as a shield, a way to pacify the Northern borders while he solidified his grip on the Southern trade routes. He had expected a broken Omega he could ignore, or a rival Alpha he could fight. Instead, he had a man who was both. A man who looked like a god of war but sounded like a broken prayer.
A muffled cry echoed from behind the bedroom door... a low, melodic sound that bypassed Julian's ears and went straight to his gut. It wasn't a cry of pain. It was a call. A summons. Julian stood up, his movements jerky. He walked to the door and pressed his forehead against the cold wood.
"Elias?"There was no answer, only the sound of something breaking in the bathroom… a glass, perhaps, and the heavy, wet sound of Elias's breathing. Julian's hand hovered over the biometric scanner. He knew he should stay out. He knew that for a scent-blind Alpha, the 'Heat' of an Omega was a dangerous, unpredictable variable. Without the pheromonal roadmap to tell him what Elias needed, he was flying blind.
"Elias, open the door," Julian commanded, his voice cracking."Go... away," Elias's voice came back, raspy and distorted. "Don't look at me. Please. Don't look at me like this."The "Please" was what did it.
Julian Vane had never heard a Thorne beg. He had never heard an Alpha use that tone. He pressed his thumb to the scanner. Access Granted.
The door slid open. The room was a wreck. The linens were stripped from the bed, piled in a frantic, makeshift nest in the corner of the room. Elias was slumped against the marble wall of the bathroom, his tunic discarded, his bare chest heaving. He was drenched in sweat, his skin glowing in the dim light of the moon. He looked up as Julian entered, his eyes completely dark, his pupils blown wide."I told you," Elias whispered, his voice trembling.
"I told you to stay away."Julian didn't stay away. He walked into the room, his boots heavy on the hardwood. He stopped inches from the "nest," looking down at the man who was supposed to be his greatest rival."
I can't smell you, Elias," Julian said, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. "I can't smell the honey. I can't smell the heat. All I see... is you."Julian knelt, his hand reaching out to cup Elias's jaw. Elias flinched, but he didn't pull away. He couldn't. The contact was like water to a man dying of thirst.
"Is this what you were so afraid of?" Julian asked, his thumb tracing the curve of Elias's lower lip. "Being seen?"Elias closed his eyes, a shuddering breath escaping him. "I'm a freak, Julian. A glitch. I'm not supposed to... I'm not supposed to want this."
Julian's eyes darkened. He leaned in, his breath warm against Elias's ear."Then let's be freaks together," Julian whispered. "Because I've wanted to break that mask of yours since the moment you stepped off that mountain. And now that it's off... I'm never letting you put it back on."Julian shifted, his weight pressing Elias back against the marble, and for the first time in his life, Elias Thorne stopped fighting his own blood.