Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 56786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Aksel’s eyes were glowing. They were still blue, but the glow was supernatural now. Predatory. The eyes of an alpha.
“Aksel,” he whispered. “You’re presenting. Your first rut.” But it should have been impossible. The Xeus moon wasn’t full. In fact...
Aksel shook his head. “Not a real rut,” he said hoarsely, looking at Lucien in an odd, fixated manner. “A false one.”
A false one? Lucien wracked his foggy mind, trying to remember his biology books. Right. Alphas could have false ruts, or sympathy ruts, when a compatible omega they were close to was in heat.
But.
Lucien shook his head. “I can’t—I can’t be in heat,” he whispered, panic making his heart pound. It was true that the Dainiri moon was close to being full, but... “I’m on suppressants!”
“You must have missed a dose or two,” Aksel said absently. “I’ve noticed that your scent has been stronger lately.”
“No, I can’t—I can’t be—” Lucien gasped, panic clogging his throat. His first and only heat had been the stuff of nightmares, utterly ruining his life. He wouldn’t—couldn’t—have another heat.
“Shhh,” Aksel said soothingly. Lucien breathed him in, his panic receding as Aksel’s strong, familiar scent washed over him, making him feel wonderfully safe.
“I’ll take care of you, love,” Aksel said. “I promise. No one will hurt you.”
And just like that, Lucien relaxed, his thighs falling open. He gasped when a hard bulge pressed against the apex of his legs, and a dull ache started between them. He wanted to grind against it. He wanted to hump his cock against Aksel’s hard thigh. He wanted to have something inside him. A hard cock. A thick, hard knot.
Lucien whined, gyrating his hips.
God, what were they doing? This shouldn’t be happening. This was Aksel. The son of his late husband. He didn’t care. This was Aksel. His Aksel. Aksel would make him feel better, as always. He wanted Aksel inside him, as deep as possible. He wished there was nothing between them, not even skin. Fuck, he was so empty.
“Please,” Lucien moaned.
“Yes,” Aksel ground out, positioning himself between Lucien’s spread thighs.
He lined up his cock—
And then the door opened, and Royce was looking at them with wide, alarmed eyes.
“What the hell?” he growled, and yanked Aksel away from him.
There were growls and claws and punches, but Lucien barely registered it. He keened, needing. Needing Aksel back.
But Aksel wasn’t there anymore.
Lucien didn’t know yet that it would be almost eight years before he saw him again.
Part III
Chapter Six
7 years and 8 months later
“Aksel messaged me!” Belinda blurted out the moment she entered the dining room. “He’s finally coming home!”
Lucien froze with his spoon halfway to his mouth. His ears were suddenly ringing, and it felt like he was watching the proceedings from very far away. He could barely hear Vagrippa and Belinda discussing the happy news. Apparently, Aksel’s deployment had ended, and he was being reassigned to the capital.
He was coming home, for good.
Feeling Royce’s watchful eyes on him, Lucien smiled, said how pleased he was, and promptly changed the subject. He was quite good at smiling and looking fully engaged in a conversation even when his mind was elsewhere.
And it was.
Aksel was coming home.
The thought drowned out all the others in Lucien’s head for the next few days.
To be fair, it wasn’t as though it was a truly surprising piece of news. Ever since the war between Kadar and Pelugia had ended, it had been a forgone conclusion that Aksel would finally return home. But still, expecting something and being told it would happen within days were two different things.
Aksel was coming home.
Lucien wasn’t sure how that made him feel. There was elation and excitement, but there was also apprehension. He was scared. He was elated. And scared.
Looking back, with the perspective of distance and time, Lucien could see that the relationship between him and Aksel had been odd at best—and more than a little unhealthy at worst. It had definitely been wrong. The lack of boundaries, both physical and emotional, had been, quite frankly, disturbing.
As a grown man of thirty-five, Lucien could only shake his head at how utterly dependent he’d been on Aksel for his emotional and physical needs. That was a lot of pressure to put on any teenager, much less on a teenage Xeus alpha on the verge of presentation. Xeus alphas were all about instinct; of course Aksel had latched onto a hurt omega in need of protection and comfort.
Lucien could only cringe as he remembered how he’d behaved...
God, they had been so lucky that Royce had smelled his heat and interrupted them that night years ago. They had been lucky that Royce had managed to incapacitate Aksel long enough to shout for help. Later, Lucien had been told that it had taken three adult alphas to subdue Aksel, and Royce had a nasty scar on his shoulder left by Aksel’s claws as a souvenir from that night.