CHAPTER 130: CHAPTER 130: MY ALPHA

Elias tilted his head, studying him as if weighing how far he could push. "Fine," he said at last, his voice carrying a thread of mischief. "Favorite season?"

Victor’s reply came without pause. "Winter."

Elias’s brow arched. "Because it’s dramatic?"

Victor’s grin curved slow, sharp. "Because it strips the world bare. Nothing pretends in the cold. And you..." his knuckles brushed the edge of Elias’s cheekbone, "look better wrapped in layers I get to take off."

Elias let out a breath that was almost a laugh, hiding it behind his wine glass. "So you are a horny god. Noted."

Victor’s eyes gleamed, crimson catching the candlelight. "Careful, Elias. You make it sound like you’re only just realizing."

Elias set his glass down with deliberate care, chin tilting as his mouth curved faintly. "I suspected. Now I have confirmation."

Victor leaned back in his chair, unhurried, the wicked curve of his grin softening into something far more dangerous. "Good. Then stop pretending you don’t like it."

Elias’s brows arched, amusement sharpening his expression. "I’m not going to entertain that. So let’s get back to questions. Do you have friends?"

Victor tilted his head, considering, as if the question itself amused him. He lifted his glass, swirling the dark red wine until it caught the candlelight like blood. "Depends on how you catalogue them, but yes, I do. I’m not some hermit. Connor, you met him a few days ago. Ashwin, though I doubt he would call it that. And others."

Elias blinked, skepticism plain. "Others? That’s vague."

Victor’s grin returned as he took a sip, his eyes never leaving Elias over the rim. When he set the glass down, his free hand slid across the table, brushing against Elias’s fingers, lingering longer than politeness allowed. "That’s intentional."

Elias shifted in his chair, the corner of his mouth twitching as if he refused to give Victor the satisfaction. "So, associates, soldiers, shadows... and one or two you actually tolerate."

"Exactly," Victor said smoothly, his knuckles grazing the side of Elias’s hand again before trailing upward, brushing the inside of his wrist as though tracing the line of a vein. "You see, you already understand me."

"Please," Elias muttered, trying for dry, though his voice came softer, his pulse betraying him where Victor’s touch lingered. "You’re not that complicated."

Victor leaned in slightly, the wicked curve of his grin tempered by heat. "No? Then what am I?"

Elias studied him, fork tapping idly against porcelain. Then he smirked, tired but cutting. "A demanding bastard with too much time and far too much confidence."

Victor laughed, low and rich, setting the sound against the flicker of candlelight as he lifted his wine again. He leaned closer as he drank, his shoulder brushing against Elias’s, casual as if they had always sat this way.

Elias tilted his head slightly, eyes catching on the black stone ring glinting against Victor’s glass. He wanted to say something, but the words caught in his throat when Victor set the wine aside and turned fully toward him.

The distance between them closed in a breath. Victor’s hand slid from Elias’s wrist up his arm, slow and steady, until it curved along his jaw. His thumb traced the corner of Elias’s mouth, catching the faint heat there before pressing lightly at his chin, tipping his face upward.

"You’re sharper when you’re tired," Victor murmured, crimson eyes burning with quiet amusement. "It makes you reckless."

Elias’s lips curved faintly. "And you like that."

Victor didn’t answer. He bent instead, brushing his mouth over Elias’s in a deep kiss.

Elias let out a quiet exhale against him, his fingers curling against the edge of Victor’s shirt as if on instinct. The taste of red wine lingered between them, sharp and dark, threaded through with the heat of something Elias hadn’t meant to give away.

When Victor drew back, it was only far enough to look at him, thumb still stroking along his jaw. "Better than questions," he said softly, wickedness sharpened by warmth.

Elias huffed, his mouth twitching as though he meant to argue, but his eyes betrayed him, dark and lit with something far less guarded. "You’re insatiable."

Victor’s grin deepened, slow and certain, the kind that made the air feel heavier. His thumb swept once more across Elias’s jaw before trailing down the column of his throat, lingering where the bond pulsed warm beneath his skin. "With a mate like you there is no way I would be some monk."

Elias gave a short laugh, low and disbelieving. "A monk? You? That’s the most unbelievable thing you’ve said all night."

Victor’s grin curved sharper, his thumb pressing just lightly against the pulse in Elias’s throat. "Then believe this instead: your very existence makes restraint impossible."

Elias’s breath caught, his pulse thrumming hot beneath Victor’s touch. For a moment he held still, studying him with that same calculating tilt of his head, as though weighing just how far he could push before Victor’s composure shattered.

Then Elias leaned in and kissed him first.

Victor went utterly still, his crimson eyes flaring as if lit from the delight of it. He didn’t rush, didn’t seize control like he so often did; he let Elias take it, let him press his mouth against his own, savoring the quiet truth of it: Elias had moved first.

His hand curved more firmly along Elias’s jaw, thumb stroking slowly against the skin there, as though committing the moment to memory. A kiss, just a kiss, yet it rang louder in him than battles won or kingdoms burned.

Elias pulled back barely an inch, enough for breath to pass between them, his expression unreadable save for the faint flush at his cheeks.

Victor’s smile unfurled, slow and dangerous, tempered with something far warmer. "You have no idea," he murmured, his voice velvet-dark but softened by wonder, "how rare it is for me to be surprised." His thumb brushed Elias’s lower lip, savoring the warmth left there. "And you delight me every time you forget to hesitate."

Elias’s eyes narrowed faintly, amused at how little it actually took to shake the man in front of him. "Well, you said I can demand everything, and it happens I like quiet dinners with my alpha."

Victor’s expression stilled, the dangerous curve of his grin tempered by something rarer, satisfaction, sharpened by reverence. His thumb lingered at Elias’s mouth before trailing to the edge of his jaw, the touch almost reverent now.

"Then demand it again," he said, voice low, velvet threaded with hunger. "Every night. Every hour. I’ll give you more than quiet dinners if that’s what you want."

Elias huffed, his lips twitching despite himself. "You’re making it sound like I’m the one who won something here."

Victor leaned in, his mouth brushing the corner of Elias’s in the barest ghost of another kiss. "You did," he murmured. "You won me. And I don’t lose."

The bond pulsed, steady and insistent, and for once Elias didn’t try to deflect with another quip. He just let himself lean closer, his head tipping slightly as though conceding the round, though his eyes still gleamed with quiet mischief.

"Careful, Victor," he said softly, almost amused. "You’re starting to sound like you enjoy being owned."

Victor’s laugh was low, dangerous, delighted. "By you? Always."