MasukThe sound followed me into sleep and dragged me out of it.
Low, guttural, it was the sound an S-CLass Alpha made when control snapped and instinct took over. I sat up in bed, heart hammering, the guest room door was closed but it did not matter. His scent was bleeding through the vents, thick and aggressive, laced with depression. My body reacted before my brain could catch up, heat bloomed low in my stomach my glands eched. Enigma, we did not get the normal ruts, we got the opposite, when an alpha lost control we feel it like a command, submit, soothe. I shoved the feeling down and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, staying was stupid but leaving him like this in this building with task Force sniffing around, he would kill someone or get himself killed. I moved before I could talk myself out of it. The hallway was dark, silent except for the sound, it was coming from the Master suite, the door was a little bit opened but I did not go inside I stood by the door. "Lucien?" I whispered. I was stupid again using his name, no answer just a low growl that made my knees weak I pushed the door open. The room was a mess, glass scattered on the floor, furniture overturned and in the middle of it, Lucien was on his knees, hands fisted in his hair, shirt torn open, his eyes were cold and unfocused. He looked dangerous and feral, he look like he was in pain. "Get out, Rian leave". he gritted out through clenched teeth. I should have left, but inside i stepped inside and closed the door behind me . "Your suppressants failed, I know". I said quietly. "Don't -", he caught himself off with a choked sound. His head dropped. " Don't say you can fix this". "I can, but not if you keep fighting it" I said. His head snapped up. "Don't say it like that, don't make it sound like I want this". "You do, parts of you does, that's why it hurts". I said softer now. His scent spiked, overwhelming, the room tilted, my knees hit the floor before I realize I had more. "Rian if you stay, I want to be able to stop". he said. My name on his lips sounded wrecked, I wasn't offering myself not really I was offering a choice. "Let me help or lose yourself completely". For three seconds, he did not move, did not breathe, then he crossed the room in one fluid motion and knelt in front of me. His hands covered over me, shaking, he didn't touch. "Consent", he said, voice raw, "say it". I swallowed hard, "Help me help you Lucien". That was enough, his control shattered, he did not throw me on the bed, he did not manhandle me. He was careful, two careful like if he moved too fast he would break me and regret it forever. His hands cupped my face, thumbs brushing over my lips like he couldn't wait any longer, his scent surrounded me. "Look at me". he murmured and I did. Cold eyes, wild and focused only on me. "Rian". He called my name like saying it out loud kept him tithered to sanity. "Yeah, I am here". I whispered back. His lips found mine, it wasn't gentle, it wasn't romantic, it was desperate, messy, like he had been starving and I was the first meal in years. His teeth grazed my lower lip and I made a sound I did not mean to make. He groaned into my mouth and that sound undid me. His hands moved under my shirt and removed it, I arched into the touch without thinking. He was putting on only his shorts, his body was so built in the way I couldn't help touching and dipping my fingers into his back. "Fvck", he muttered against my neck. "You smell good". Burying his face in my throat instead, his nose dragged against my scent gland and i shuddered . "Don't bite, not yet ". I said, voice shaky. "Not yet", he repeated it like he was memorizing the words. His hands slid down, gripping my thighs pulling me closer until there was no space between us, I could feel him hard and desperate against my hip. "Bed". my managed to whisper, he didn't need to be told twice. He took me to bed without us breaking the kiss, he was still kissing me so desperate and deep, the next thing we were both n*ked, he kissed me down to my lower body, he turned me over and continued kissing my back down to my hips. His hands slid down gripping my legs pulling me closer and his lips found mine, I felt him hard against my back, he moaned so loudly, I could not help it, I moaned with him, he held me by the neck and continued. Later, I was not sure how much time had passed. The room smelled like sweat, sex and his scent mixed with mine, my body ached in a good way, my mind was quiet for the first time in months. Lucien Ley beside me, propped on one elbow, watching me like I might disappear if he blinked. "You are still here". he said softly. "Yeah, don't sound so surprised". I said. "I am". He reached out, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. The gesture was so careful, so unlike the ruthless CEO the world knew, that made my chest tight. "Thank you", he said. I snorted, "Don't thank me, I did not do it for you. "Then why?" he asked. " Because if I did not you would have hurt someone, because part of me needed to know I could stop you and because you asked", I answered trying to give an excuse. His expression shifted, something softer. "Rian", he started. My phone buzzed on the night stand, loud, I sat up fast grabbing it, I felt a sharp pain but tried all my best to ignore it so Lucien won't notice. I saw an unknown number. Message: We have your friend come alone or he dies. My blood ran cold, Lucien show my face change. "What is it ", he asked. "They have Theo", I said already swinging my legs out of bed, "Kael's task force, they want me". " you are not going alone". He said with an angry and dangerous voice. "I have to, if not my friend dies", I said "I am coming with you", "No", I wore my clothes quickly, "If they see you, it's a war and Theo will be collateral". Lucien stood, grabbing my arm, " I am not letting you walk into that". "Trust me, just this once". I said meeting his eyes, he held me for a long moment, then let go. "Text me when you are safe or I am burning the city down to find you", I said. I managed a weak smile. "Dramatic much?". He did not smile back. As I slipped out of The penthouse, I knew one thing for certain, this was not over.For one second, he simply looked down. Then up. Then at me. "Oh," Lucien said. I went white. Theo froze with a spoon halfway to Aria's bottle warmer. Kael stood so fast his chair nearly tipped. Three guards appeared at the doorway as if summoned by instinct. Lucien inhaled carefully. "No one panic." I turned toward the hall and shouted, "Doctor!" I had already lifted him from the chair. "Rian, the maternity suite is upstairs, not across an active battlefield." "Doctor!" Kael moved toward the comm panel. "Medical team already alerted." Theo stood, clutching Aria. "Is this too fast? Should Aria be in the room? Should I be in the room?" Lucien pointed weakly at him. "I said don't panic." I carried Lucien toward the stairs. Lucien clutched my shoulder as a contraction began, stronger than the ones from the night before. He buried his face in my neck and breathed. I stopped halfway up the stairs. "What? What is wrong?" Lucien groaned. "If stopping on stairs becomes the p
KAEL POV The hospital doors opened before the convoy fully stopped. Medics rushed Ilyana through first. Eli followed as far as the trauma doors before two nurses stopped him. He stood there in blood-stained clothes, shaking, watching through the narrow window as doctors surrounded Ilyana. "She needs the antidote monitored," Eli said hoarsely. "It was administered in the facility, but she needs serum stabilization every four hours. Damien kept the dose intervals irregular to make withdrawal worse. There's a second vial in the case. Third one too. They have to test liver markers, neural response, cardiac rhythm—" A doctor took the black medical case from me and opened it beneath the lights. "Who administered the first dose?" "I did," Eli said. The doctor looked at the injection log, then at Ilyana through the glass. "Then it bought her time." Eli gripped the back of a plastic chair and bowed his head. Across the hall, Lucien was being wheeled toward the maternity wing un
RIAN POVThe shot struck Damien in the center of the chest. Damien staggered backward. His eyes widened, more offended than afraid, as if death itself had no authorization to touch him. The remote fell from his hand and clattered against the floor. His pistol slipped from Eli's grip and landed near the broken desk. I kicked it away before anyone else could move. Damien tried to speak. No words came. He just stared at Eli with disbelief. He couldn't understand why something he controlled would choose someone else.Then he collapsed onto the black floor and did not move again.Silence.Then the building seemed to exhale around us. The alarms still wailed. Gunfire still echoed faintly in distant corridors. Smoke still curled at the shattered doorway. But Damien Voss was dead. Finally. Lucien made a sound halfway between a sob and a gasp. I turned to him. The relief that tore through the bond was so violent it became pain. Lucien buried his face against my chest, tre
RIAN POVThe gun came out fast. Aimed at me. The room snapped into motion. Kael fired, but Damien jerked sideways at the same instant, the shot striking the black desk in a burst of splinters and sparks. Damien's pistol flashed. A white blur crossed the doorway.Ilyana.Somehow free from the monitor room, she threw herself between Damien's gun and me before anyone could stop her. The shot cracked through the office. Ilyana cried out. Blood sprayed across her pale hand. She staggered, clutching her wrist, the bullet tore through the flesh of her palm instead of my chest. The force spun her sideways, and she dropped hard to one knee on the floor. For one suspended heartbeat, no one breathed. Then Lucien screamed. "Ilyana!" He tore away from me. I caught him, but Lucien was already moving, propelled by panic, pain, and the impossible stubbornness that had kept him alive through every trap. He gripped the edge of the chair he had been tied to moments before, then pushed onward
RIAN POVKael went still. The name passed through him like a bullet. Damien's voice went quiet. "Careful." I did not stop. "Elio D. 16 years old. Your first son. Weak lungs. Unstable scent receptors. Inconsistent pheromone development. A child treated as failed material because his body did not satisfy Black Crown's expectations." Eli stared at Damien in horror. Damien's mouth curled. "Sentiment ruins accuracy." "Elio died in the north facility during an illegal stress trial," I said. "Not an accident." Kael's breathing changed. For years, guilt had lived inside him like shrapnel. A dead boy. A falsified security failure. A whispered accusation never fully proven, never fully erased. My next words opened it. "Damien, you killed your first son and framed Kael for it." Kael's eyes shifted slowly to Damien. The rifle remained raised, but something behind it fractured. "No, how can Elio be his son." Kael said. My voice was merciless. "Access logs altered. Internal cameras
RIAN POVThe monitor bled cold light across the black office.On the screen, Eli knelt on a concrete floor with his hands bound behind his back, blood drying at the corner of his mouth. His coat was torn, one shoulder sagging. He looked smaller than he ever had at the estate, stripped of sarcasm, stripped of his careless cruelty, left with only the consequences of every bargain he had made.Beside him stood Ilyana.A guard held her by the arm while another pressed a gun to the back of her head. Her white dress made her look ghostlike beneath the harsh overhead lights. Trapped in yet another room built by Damien's will.Lucien's breath caught against my chest.I felt the fear through the bond before the sound reached me. It tore through the labor pain, sharp and bright. Lucien's body was already shaking from the last contraction, one arm gripping my vest with white-knuckled force.Damien stood near the black desk, one hand wrapped around the slim remote, expression bright with satisfac
The safehouse smelled like bleach and blood. I knew that smell, it meant someone had tried to clean up a mess but had not been fast enough, my hands were bound behind my back with zip ties that bit into my skin, but i did not struggle, struggling only made it worse and I was expecting this. Two
The alley smells of wet trash and ozone. Rain started falling in thin, cold needles, plastering my hair to my forehead, I hate it how Lucien's body blocked the rain from heating me.I hated how safe is made me feel. "Let go". I said keeping my voice flat. His hand did not move, if anything his
I didn't go home. Home was the 12th floor studio with a window that didn't open and a landlord who asked too many questions, if Voss Biotech was already tracking my scent, going there was suicide. Instead I took the underground to the red petal, an illegal club no scanners, cash only if I was
The Voss gala wasn't meant for people like me. Crystal chandelier bled light over marble floors, men in tailored tuxedos and women in gowns that cost more than my rent, moved like the own the air, I hate it but hate didn't pay the rent and Voss Biotech paid triple for off the- books medic. "stay







