✦ Chapter 08 ✦
The hand on Elian's shoulder tightened until it felt less like a grip and more like something cold seeping into his flesh—ice settling deep beneath the skin, unforgiving, claiming him without a word. A shiver crawled up his spine. He tried to turn, to see who had seized him, but the Alpha's hold locked him in place, steady and merciless.
The air around him shifted in a strange, uneasy way. The crisp winter pheromones he had sensed before—so sharp, so familiar—began to thin out. They didn't vanish all at once; instead, they drifted away slowly, like frost melting under a pale morning sun. The change was so gradual Elian almost doubted his own senses.
But then a new scent rose behind him.
Warm. Heavy.
Whiskey, dark and smoky, woven with the deep, earthen sweetness of rosewood.
It slid across his skin like heat blooming under cold fingers, wrapping the night around him until the fading winter notes felt like nothing but ghosts.
This wasn't Lucien.
And the realization hit him so suddenly it knocked the breath from his chest.
For a moment—just a foolish, desperate heartbeat—he wished it had been Lucien.
Another hand settled on his other shoulder, heavier this time, dragging him backward. Hot breath brushed the shell of his ear—uneven, unsteady, far too close.
"Omega…" the man whispered, his voice trembling as though pulled apart by restraint. "Are you an omega?"
The words drifted over Elian's skin like a warning.
The Alpha's head dipped, and Elian felt the man inhale against his neck. A slow, deliberate breath, warm and damp, tracing heat along the line where his pulse thundered.
Elian's heart slammed against his ribs so hard he felt each beat reverberating through his whole body. Panic clawed at his throat. He twisted, fought, dragged at the grip holding him, but the Alpha only tightened his hands, turning Elian's resistance into something hopeless.
His cheek hit the ground, cool dirt and crushed leaves pushing against his skin. The scents of soil, damp bark, and night flowers mingled with the Alpha's breath as rough fingers tore at the fabric near his gland. Cold air brushed the exposed skin a split second before warmth followed—breath, then the faint drag of a nose, the careful, hungry inhale.
Tears pricked his eyes. He was pinned, held down in a position that stripped him bare of every shred of dignity. His wrists were forced together behind his back, the pressure bruising, unrelenting.
"Beta…" the Alpha murmured, confusion threading his voice. "You're a beta… but how?"
A wave of relief washed through Elian, slow and dizzying—like warm water pouring into frozen veins.
But he barely had time to breathe it in before the Alpha rolled him onto his back and forced his thighs apart. The movement was so sudden Elian felt the world tilt.
Moonlight spilled across his body in pale streaks. His vision blurred with tears, but he could still make out the man looming above him—messy blond hair falling over sweat-sheened skin, brown eyes wide and darkened with something dangerous. His tanned skin held a faint rosy flush, breath heavy enough to brush Elian's lips.
Hot, calloused hands glided down the insides of Elian's thighs, the touch rough and deliberate. His muscles trembled beneath it.
The Alpha bit his lower lip as if trying to hold himself together. Then his gaze lifted.
And when his eyes met Elian's—those violet irises shining through tears under the softened spill of moonlight—something inside him fractured.
Completely.
His restraint.
His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard, and heat burst from him in a sudden wave—pheromones pouring out too thick, too powerful, washing through the air until the garden itself seemed to pulse with them.
"Mine," he breathed, voice breaking on the word.
Elian's breath caught. Heat flared through his body, cruel and uncontrollable. Why now? Why here? Why him, every time? Tears slipped down his cheeks, hot against his cold skin.
Then the Alpha's mouth pressed against his neck—warm, hungry, desperate. He felt lips, then teeth, a breath that trembled with want. His pulse stumbled.
He hated it.
Hated how his body reacted.
Hated that there was no stopping it.
Was this what it meant to be an omega?
Was this why people whispered that word with such disdain?
It felt like something thorned and living curled around his heart, tightening with every breath. The ache grew unbearable until a small, broken sob escaped him—sharp and high, cracking in the night air.
The Alpha mistook it for pleasure. His teeth sank harder into Elian's skin.
"Felix!!"
The voice split through the quiet garden like lightning.
Elian's head jerked to the right. His breath hitched.
Two golden eyes burned through the darkness—bright, furious, unmistakably focused on him. Long white hair, swept back from a sharp, elegant jawline, gleamed under the moonlight.
Cold winter pheromones swept into the garden in a sudden, chilling wave—clean, sharp, almost comforting.
Lucien.
Elian's heart whispered his name, soft and aching.
And the tears fell harder, helplessly.
✦ End Of Chapter ✦