CHAPTER 95: CHAPTER 95: BOND

Victor stayed there a while, letting the last waves of heat ebb out of Elias’s body before easing his hips back. The bond still pulsed, low and steady now, the frantic edge gone but the tether undeniable. Elias’s lashes fluttered, the fight drained from his limbs, his breathing slow and uneven like someone drifting in and out of shallow sleep.

"Easy," Victor murmured, his hand smoothing over Elias’s thigh once before he reached for the discarded pants. He worked them gently back up over lax legs, fingers careful not to startle the omega as he covered him again. Elias made a faint, drowsy sound at the touch, one that pulled the corner of Victor’s mouth into something softer than his usual smirk.

The couch creaked as Victor leaned down, snagging the blanket from the armrest. He shook it out once and draped it over Elias, tucking it around his shoulders and hips with the same deliberate precision he’d used moments ago to strip him. Warmth wrapped around him, and Elias shifted instinctively into it, cheek pressing to the cushion, eyes already slipping shut.

Victor’s gaze lingered, the hard edges of earlier blunted by the quiet that had settled between them. Then, with a low exhale, he slid one arm beneath Elias’s knees, the other under his back, and lifted him.

Elias stirred, not fully waking, his head finding its place against Victor’s shoulder like it had always belonged there. Victor adjusted his grip, keeping the blanket tight around him as he crossed the short distance to the bedroom.

The door swung open with the barest push of his foot, and he carried Elias inside, the scent of heat still faint in the air but softened now by the clean linen and the muted light. He lowered him onto the bed slowly, easing the blanket so it stayed cocooned around him.

For a moment, Victor just stood there, watching the slow rise and fall of Elias’s chest, the faint crease in his brow smoothing as sleep pulled him under. Then he leaned down, brushing his lips over the mark at his neck, letting the bond hum one last time in acknowledgment before straightening and pulling the covers higher.

"You’re mine," he said quietly, though Elias was too far gone to hear it, at least consciously. The bond, however, carried it all the same.

—

Elias woke slowly, as if surfacing through layers of warmth that didn’t want to let him go. The first thing he noticed was the weight of the blanket tucked snugly around him, the second was the steady hum of the bond, no longer sharp or overwhelming, but settled deep in his chest like an ember that would never go out.

It took him a moment to realize something else... he felt... normal. Not the heavy ache he’d braced for, not the soreness he knew should have been there after the couch, after Victor losing every shred of restraint. Just a loose, weightless ease in his muscles, like every strain and sting had been swept away in his sleep. His brows knit faintly. That wasn’t possible... not without someone doing something.

The room was dim, curtains drawn to a soft wash of evening light, and the faint rustle to his right made him turn his head. Victor was there, seated on the edge of the bed, sleeves rolled, a glass of water in hand. His gaze was fixed on Elias with the same steady focus he wore when negotiating contracts or cornering prey, except now, there was nothing predatory in it.

"You’re awake," Victor said, voice quiet.

Elias swallowed, the dryness in his throat answering for him. Victor reached out, sliding an arm behind his shoulders to help him sit up. The movement was smooth, effortless. Elias expected at least a wince, but there was nothing. No tight pull, no bruised protest. It was almost unsettling.

"Here." Victor pressed the cool glass into his hands, his own fingers brushing briefly against Elias’s. "Small sips."

Elias obeyed without thinking, the water washing away some of the heat still lingering in his mouth and clearing the faint fuzz in his head. He set the glass back on the nightstand, but Victor didn’t move away.

"How long?"

"Hours," Victor answered, smoothing a hand down his arm in a gesture so absentminded it almost startled Elias more than the earlier intensity had. "You needed it."

Elias let his eyes fall shut briefly, then opened them again with quiet suspicion. "It doesn’t hurt."

Victor’s mouth curved, not quite a smirk, but close enough to carry the same quiet certainty. "No, you don’t."

"You did something."

Victor didn’t answer right away, leaning in instead to brush an unhurried kiss against his temple. "Sleep," he murmured, his tone leaving no room for argument. "I’ll be here when you wake again."

"That is even more suspicious," Elias said, narrowing his eyes as he shifted back, trying to put an inch more space between them. His body might have felt weightless and strangely comfortable, but that only made his instincts prickle harder, because comfort like this never came without a cost.

Victor let him move, though his expression didn’t so much as flicker. If anything, the faint amusement in his eyes deepened, the kind that said he could close that inch of space at any moment, but was indulging him for now.

"Suspicious?" he repeated, tasting the word like it was something decadent. "Are you surprised that you’re healed?" His smirk curved just enough to be infuriating. "Imagine how much better it would be if we were soulmates."

Elias shot him a look from under half-lidded eyes, the blanket still pulled tight around his shoulders. "Don’t push it."

Victor’s chuckle was low, unhurried, like a man with all the time in the world to test boundaries. "Noted," he said, though his gaze lingered in that way that suggested "noted" didn’t mean "obeyed."

—

Elias didn’t remember falling asleep again.

When his eyes opened, the room was dark, the curtains still drawn, the low hum of the bond threaded through his chest in that same steady way it had since Victor marked him. He lay there for a moment, breathing evenly, expecting the usual weight of fatigue to press him back down.

It didn’t.

Instead, his body felt... annoyingly awake. Rested, even. Muscles loose, no stiffness, no soreness, like someone had taken the time to smooth out every knot and leave nothing but warmth behind. It should have been a relief, but paired with the sharp pull in his stomach, it was just irritating.

Hunger.

It hit harder now that he noticed it, a twisting, empty ache that made his fingers curl against the blanket. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten, not before Victor, not before the bond, and now his body seemed intent on reminding him that sleep wasn’t going to be enough.

The bond pulsed again, low and grounding, brushing over his mind like the memory of a hand at his neck. His alpha was close. Victor was close.

Elias dragged a hand down his face with a groan, shoving the covers back and swinging his legs to the floor. The cool air bit at his bare feet, but the tether pulled gently, steady and sure, guiding him without words toward the other room. He didn’t hate it, but being hauled out of bed at whatever hour this was, just because his body had decided now was the time to demand food, was enough to put a scowl on his face before he even reached the door.