Chapter 5: Frustrated Alpha

 

The threat hung in the warm air of the bedchamber like a spark suspended over a powder keg.

Jace froze, all the air trapped in his throat, his wide grey eyes fixed upon the chiseled jaw hovering mere millimeters from his own.

His lips parted to speak, the forbidden word resting on the tip of his tongue before he violently swallowed it down.

Elias's smirk deepened, a wicked glint dancing in his clouded grey eyes.

"Smart boy," Elias murmured, his hot breath brushing over Jace's flushed earlobe. "You learn quickly when your pride is on the line."

The Alpha slowly straightened, stepping back from the mattress, though his towering presence continued to dominate the entire room. The firelight cast long, dancing shadows across the broad expanse of his bare shoulders, illuminating the faint battle scars etched into his bronze skin.

"Why were you so close to me?" Jace whispered, his voice trembling as he clutched the heavy velvet quilt all the way to his collarbone. "Were you... were you going to kiss me while I was sleeping?"

Elias exhaled a long, heavy breath, rubbing the back of his neck as he paced toward the stone hearth.

"I wanted to," Elias admitted without a shred of shame. "I've wanted to since the moment you crossed the threshold of this estate. You make me feel things I haven't felt in years, Jace. And I don't know what to do with that."

Jace stared at him in utter disbelief, his face burning a deeper crimson with every passing second.

"I am a man," Jace stammered, pulling the blanket tighter around his shoulders like a suit of armor. "And I'm straight. I am not attracted to men, Elias! I've always wanted a normal female mate from the southern packs!"

Elias stopped dead in his tracks.

He spun around on his heel, planting both hands firmly on his hips, his dark brow furrowing in absolute, unadulterated exasperation.

"Well," Elias said flatly, his voice dripping with dry sarcasm. "That was entirely too straightforward."

"I'm sorry, s..." Jace caught himself mid-syllable, snapping his teeth shut before the title could escape.

"You're straight?" Elias scoffed, taking two long, deliberate strides toward the foot of the bed. "The other night, you stood in this very room and told me I was 'unbelievably handsome.' You told me I looked like someone the moon would speak to! Did you think my ears failed to catch those words?"

"That was just an aesthetic observation!" Jace argued, his voice rising in flustered panic. "Anyone with functioning eyes would think you look like art, male or female! It was a statement of fact, not an invitation to lie in your bed!"

Elias turned toward the stone wall, lifting his heavy leather boot and kicking the baseboard with a solid, echoing THUD.

"Unbelievable," Elias grumbled under his breath, kicking the wall a second time. "I have Alphas, Betas, and noble ladies across all territories begging for my attention, yet the one creature I actually want treats me like a bad fever."

He kicked the wall a third time with all his Alpha strength.

CRACK!

A hairline fracture spiderwebbed up the granite plaster, dust drifting down onto the polished floorboards.

Jace flinched, shrinking back into the pillows, his heart skipping three beats in rapid succession.

"Alpha, please... don't break the masonry."

Elias turned back, crossing his arms over his broad, bare chest, his jaw tightly set as he stared in the direction of the bed.

"If you are so utterly straight, Little Wolf," Elias rumbled, his voice dropping into a low, smoky register that vibrated through Jace's ribs, "then why does your pulse hammer like a war drum whenever my fingers touch your skin?"

"Because you're terrifying!" Jace cried out, his cheeks on fire. "You threw a two-hundred-pound warrior through a boulder this morning with your bare hands! Any sane person would have a racing pulse around you!"

"You're not scared of my strength," Elias countered smoothly, his sharp ears picking up the erratic, telltale flutter in Jace's chest. "You're scared of what your own body wants. You're terrified that you might actually desire a blind Alpha."

Before Jace could form another indignant protest, the heavy oak door creaked open.

Beta Gavin stepped into the chamber, carrying an armful of fresh birch logs for the fire. He stopped mid-stride, his sharp dark eyes taking in the tense scene...Jace clutching the blankets like a virgin bride, and Elias standing shirtless with clenched fists beside a cracked wall.

Gavin raised an eyebrow, a knowing smirk touching his lips.

"Should I come back later?" Gavin asked dryly. "Or are you two finished reenacting a High Court tragedy?"

"Gavin," Elias warned, his voice dropping an octave into a low snarl. "Choose your next words with extreme care."

"I came to apologize to you, Elias," Gavin said, setting the birch logs neatly by the hearth. "For the border errand. I should have known the Eastern patrol was probing our lines. It was my mistake, and it won't happen again."

Elias exhaled, his rigid shoulders loosening slightly as he ran a hand through his dark hair.

"It's fine. The warriors were dealt with. Leave us."

Jace sat up abruptly, his hands gripping the sheets in pure panic.

"Beta Gavin, wait! Don't leave me alone in here with him!"

Gavin paused near the doorway, glancing between the frantic, wide-eyed boy and his brooding Alpha.

"Looks to me like you were the one doing the touching, Elias," Gavin remarked under his breath.

"Gavin, get out before I throw you through the balcony window," Elias growled.

Gavin raised both hands in mock surrender, chuckling softly as he stepped backward into the hallway.

"Understood, my Lord. I've heard enough poetic tension for one lifetime. Good night to you both."

The heavy door swung shut, and Gavin's boots faded down the corridor.

Silence settled over the bedchamber once more, thick, suffocating, and heavy with unspoken desire.

Elias walked slowly toward the side of the bed, his movements fluid, unhurried, like a great black wolf circling an enticing scent. He lowered himself onto the edge of the mattress, the wood groaning beneath his weight as his knee pressed lightly against the velvet quilt.

"You smell like home, Jace," Elias whispered, his voice saturated with raw, aching tenderness that disarmed Jace completely. "You feel like peace. Every time you leave this room, the air feels thin, like I'm suffocating in the dark. Tell me how to stop needing you."

Jace looked at the blind Alpha's handsome, earnest face, his own heart aching with a confusing, overwhelming warmth that terrified him to his core.

"I don't know," Jace breathed, his voice barely a wisp of sound. "I don't know..."

Elias reached out, his calloused fingers brushing against the back of Jace's hand.

The sudden electric contact made Jace flinch. His elbow jerked backward, accidentally striking the heavy brass candlestick resting on the bedside table!

The candlestick tipped over with a sharp metallic clatter.

The flame hit the wool blanket, hissed in protest, and extinguished instantly.

Darkness...thick, pitch-black, and absolute...swallowed the entire room.

Jace froze, unable to see his own hand in front of his face. He held his breath, the darkness making the room feel impossibly intimate, shrinking the distance between them to nothing.

In the dark, Alpha Elias was king.

He didn't need light to find Jace.

Jace felt the mattress shift as Elias leaned forward, the heat of the Alpha's massive body radiating across his chest. Elias's warm breath brushed against the sensitive skin of Jace's temple.

"You can hide from the daylight, Little Wolf," Elias murmured in the pitch black, his lips brushing the shell of Jace's ear. "You can tell yourself you're straight. But the dark knows the truth."

Jace shivered, his fingers curling into the sheets, completely helpless under the invisible presence towering over him.

" Please..."

Elias drew a sharp, shuddering breath, then slowly pulled back.

"You don't want me to touch you?" Elias said, his voice laced with a bitter, wounded pride that made Jace's chest tighten. "Fine. I will respect your boundaries. But don't you ever lie to me again about what your heart does when I'm near."

The rustle of fabric echoed in the dark.

Elias rose from the bed, his boots crossing the room with practiced certainty. The heavy oak door creaked open, spilling amber lantern light from the hallway into the room, before slamming shut with a resounding thud.

Jace let out the breath he had been holding for an eternity, collapsing back against the pillows, his head spinning and his pulse racing like a wild stallion.

Out in the drafty stone corridor, Alpha Elias leaned his back against the closed door, rubbing his palms over his face.

His chest heaved with heavy, frustrated breaths.

"He says he's straight," Elias muttered into the quiet, a faint, determined smirk returning to his lips. "We'll see how long that lie lasts, my sweet Little Wolf. I will make you mine if it's the last thing I do on this earth."

Suddenly, Elias's posture locked like iron.

His sharp ears twitched.

From the dark alcove near the eastern service staircase...barely fifteen feet away...came the faint, almost imperceptible scrape of leather against granite.

Someone had been standing in the shadows.

Someone had been watching Jace's door.

Elias snapped his head toward the darkness, his aura flaring in a terrifying, suffocating wave that rattled the iron sconces on the wall.

"I know you're standing there," Elias snarled, his voice dropping into a lethal, predatory growl as his claws unsheathed from his knuckles. "Step into the light before I tear your throat out!"

A low, sinister chuckle echoed from the shadows of the stairwell.

A tall, hooded silhouette stepped forward into the dim lantern light, a silver dagger gleaming at his belt. It was an emissary bearing the crest of the High Council...one of Lord Blackwood's personal scouts.

The man raised his chin, his voice dripping with venomous mockery:

"The fearsome Blind Alpha... brought to his knees by an unmarked southern Null servant. What an exquisite little weakness we've just discovered. Your father will be thrilled to hear how low his defective son has fallen."