Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Riven did not raise his voice.

He didn’t need to.

The moment the words left Kai’s mouth—I didn’t choose this—the air in the clearing changed. Conversations died. Even the rejected Omega’s family went still. Every wolf present felt the shift in their Alpha’s energy: the sudden, lethal quiet that always came before Riven decided someone had pushed too far.

His hand stayed on the back of Kai’s neck, thumb resting over the claim mark like a warning.

“Say that again,” Riven said, soft enough that it should not have carried. It did.

Kai’s pulse slammed against Riven’s fingers. He could feel the pack’s attention pressing in from every side. The oversized shirt clung to his skin. Come and slick had dried sticky between his thighs. He was sore, marked, and still carrying the unmistakable scent of three days locked on the Alpha’s knot. And still, the stubborn, furious part of him refused to look down.

“I didn’t choose this,” Kai repeated, louder this time. “You decided. You bit me. You kept me. That isn’t the same thing.”

A low murmur rippled through the wolves.

Riven’s eyes were almost black.

For a long second he simply looked at Kai. Then he moved.

One smooth step closed the distance until their chests nearly touched. His free hand came up, gripped Kai’s jaw, and tilted his face up for the entire pack to see. The hold was firm enough to bruise.

“You want a choice?” Riven asked, voice still terrifyingly calm. “Fine.”

He turned his head just enough to address the clearing without releasing Kai.

“My Omega claims he did not choose the claim. So I’ll give him one now, in front of every wolf here.” His thumb stroked once over Kai’s lower lip. “You can walk away. Right now. No one will stop you. Not me. Not the pack. You leave this clearing, return to your old life, and I will not follow.”

Shock moved through the crowd.

Kai’s breath caught.

Riven leaned in until his next words brushed Kai’s mouth.

“But if you stay…” His voice dropped into something darker. “If you take one step toward me instead of away, then you are choosing. Fully. Publicly. And I will never let you take it back.”

The clearing was so quiet Kai could hear his own heartbeat.

Every instinct screamed at him to run. To prove he still could. To show the pack—and Riven—that the claim had not rewritten him completely. His legs were unsteady. His body still ached from being stretched and filled for days. The bond tugged at him like a living thing, whispering safety and possession and mine in a voice that sounded too much like Riven’s.

He took one step back.

Riven’s hand fell away from his jaw.

The Alpha did not move. He simply watched, expression unreadable, and waited.

Kai took another step.

The rejected Omega’s father made a small, satisfied sound. Someone else whispered. The bond between Kai and Riven pulled tight enough to hurt, a sharp, protesting ache under his ribs. Riven’s scent still coated his skin. The claim mark throbbed like a second pulse.

Kai’s bare feet stopped in the dirt.

He stood there, breathing hard, caught between the open path behind him and the man who had ruined every plan he had ever made for his life.

Riven’s voice carried across the space between them, quiet and final.

“Choose.”

Kai’s hands curled into fists.

He hated him.

He hated the way his body still softened at the sound of that voice. He hated that the thought of walking away made the bond twist in protest. He hated that part of him—small, traitorous, and growing—already knew what it wanted.

Slowly, against every furious thought in his head, Kai took a step forward.

Then another.

He did not look at the pack. He did not look at the rejected Omega or the elders. He looked only at Riven as he closed the distance and stopped directly in front of him.

Riven’s eyes burned.

“Say it,” the Alpha ordered, low enough for only Kai to hear. “Out loud.”

Kai’s throat worked. Shame and something hotter tangled in his chest. When the words finally came, they were rough.

“I choose it.”

Riven’s control snapped.

He caught Kai by the back of the neck and dragged him into a kiss that was all possession and heat—deep, claiming, and utterly unconcerned with the audience. Kai made a broken sound against his mouth. Riven swallowed it, free arm banding around his waist and hauling him up until Kai’s toes nearly left the ground.

When he finally pulled back, his voice was rough and loud enough for every wolf to hear.

“You all witnessed it. He chose. The claim is sealed twice over—by bite and by word. Anyone who still has a problem with my mate can take it up with me directly.”

No one spoke.

Riven didn’t wait for further challenge. He bent, hooked an arm under Kai’s soft thighs, and lifted him clean off the ground. Kai’s face burned as the oversized shirt rode up, but Riven only adjusted his hold and started walking back toward the den without another glance at the pack.

The moment the heavy door shut behind them, Riven pinned him against it.

“You made me wait,” he growled against Kai’s mouth. “You made me offer you an exit in front of the entire pack.” His hand shoved the shirt up roughly, palm sliding over the soft curve of Kai’s stomach and then lower. “I should edge you until you’re sobbing for it.”

Kai’s head thudded back against the wood. “You said I had a choice—”

“And you made the right one.” Riven’s fingers found him already slick again, still sensitive from the days of heat. He pushed two inside without warning. Kai’s hips jerked. “Now I’m going to remind you what choosing me means.”

He fucked him right there against the door—hard, deep, and relentless—one hand braced beside Kai’s head, the other gripping his thigh to keep him open. Every thrust punched small, helpless sounds out of Kai’s throat. The bond surged between them, thick with Riven’s dark satisfaction and Kai’s unwilling, burning need.

When Riven’s knot began to swell, he didn’t slow down. He forced it inside with a low snarl and locked them together, coming in heavy pulses while Kai shook apart in his arms.

They stayed like that for a long time, foreheads pressed together, breathing the same air.

Riven’s voice was quieter when he finally spoke, but no less absolute.

“You don’t get to take it back, Kai. Not after today. Not ever.”

Kai closed his eyes.

The worst part wasn’t the knot still throbbing inside him.

The worst part was that, for the first time, a small piece of him didn’t want to.