Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Curses

[Viewer discretion advised. Sexual content and implied consent for the next two Chapters.]

Rafael leaned back against the leather, breath still uneven, pulse loud in his ears. The adrenaline hadn’t burned off yet. Neither had the fury. His body was still riding the edge of what he’d started and without quite meaning to, without even noticing the exact moment it happened, his pheromones drifted into the car.

It unfurled slowly and insidiously, threading its way into the confined space of the car.

Gregoris felt it immediately.

It slipped beneath the lingering taste of anger and restraint, something soft and sweet cutting through the violence coiled under his skin. It wasn’t loud or demanding, not the overwhelming rush of an omega losing control, but it was intimate. Warm. Inviting in a way that made his breath hitch before he could stop it.

He took a shallow breath. Then again, deeper.

The reaction was instant and vicious. Heat flared low and sharp in his gut, tightening his grip on himself far more effectively than rage ever had. His jaw clenched, and muscles tensed as his instincts reset, latching onto the scent with alarming urgency.

Desire.

Gregoris shifted in his seat, the movement restrained, one thigh angling closer to Rafael’s without quite touching. His control remained intact, but it was strained by something far more dangerous than provocation.

Rafael noticed the change.

His eyes flicked toward Gregoris, pupils slightly blown, breath catching as awareness snapped into place. He hadn’t meant to do that. He was sure of it. But his body, still wired from danger and defiance and the rush of being taken, had answered on instinct.

“That’s…” Rafael started, then stopped, swallowing. “That wasn’t intentional.”

Gregoris let out a slow breath through his nose, the sound controlled but tight.

“I know,” he said quietly.

That didn’t make things better.

The scent deepened just a fraction, settling, wrapping around Gregoris’s senses with infuriating temptation.

His silver eyes darkened as he turned his head, gaze locking onto Rafael with something far less restrained than before. The violence was still there, but now it was threaded through with hunger.

“You’re playing with things you don’t understand,” Gregoris said, voice lower, roughened despite his effort to keep it even.

Rafael’s lips parted, a shiver running through him that had nothing to do with fear. “You dragged me into your car,” he shot back softly. “I think we passed ’understanding’ a while ago.”

The corner of Gregoris’s mouth twitched.

He exhaled once and decided, for the second time that evening, that patience with Rafael was no longer an option.

His hand moved without hesitation, fingers brushing the armrest as he pressed a recessed control. There was a soft mechanical hum, almost polite, as the privacy screen slid up between the front compartment and the back. The driver’s silhouette vanished behind tinted glass, the world outside reduced to motion and light.

He turned fully toward Rafael. The space between them disappeared as Gregoris reached out, catching Rafael by the front of his coat and hauling him closer, then shoving him into the seat. Rafael’s back hit the leather with a muted thud, breath knocking loose as the scent between them thickened, heat rising fast in the confined space.

Gregoris followed, closing in, his knee pressing between Rafael’s legs, claiming the narrow distance with his body.

Rafael’s hands came up instinctively, gripping at Gregoris’s sleeve, then his shoulders. His pulse was loud in his ears, his breath still uneven, the aftermath of adrenaline and defiance humming through his veins.

“You’re going to regret this,” Rafael said, though the words lacked conviction.

Gregoris leaned in, close enough that Rafael could feel the heat radiating off him, the barely leashed tension vibrating under his skin. His silver eyes were dark now, focused, stripped of anything resembling amusement.

“No,” Gregoris said quietly. “I’m done pretending I’m nice.”

The scent curled tighter, soft and treacherous, wrapping around Gregoris’s senses like a promise his instincts were far too eager to accept. His jaw clenched as he forced himself to pause, to breathe through it, one hand braced beside Rafael’s head, the other firm at his waist.

“You don’t get to pull me apart in public,” he continued, voice low and roughened, “and then act surprised when I decide to finish the conversation in private.”

Rafael swallowed. His chin lifted despite himself, defiance still flickering, though he was as turned on as Gregoris.

Gregoris’s mouth crashed into his.

Rafael gasped into it, the sound swallowed by the Alpha’s hunger. Gregoris’s lips were hard, demanding, moving against Rafael’s with a bruising pressure. His tongue forced its way past Rafael’s teeth, a hot, invasive sweep that tasted of salt, leather, and pure, undiluted dominance.

Rafael’s hands, still gripping Gregoris’s shoulders, tightened. He pushed back instinctively, a muffled sound of protest vibrating in his throat. Gregoris only deepened the kiss, one large hand sliding from Rafael’s waist to his hip, fingers digging in through the thin, expensive fabric of his white pants.

The sound of tearing fabric was deafening in the sealed cabin.

Gregoris wrenched his mouth away, his breathing harsh, eyes fixed on his own hand. The delicate linen had split from hip to thigh under his grasp, parting like tissue paper. And beneath it…

Nothing.

Just smooth, pale skin, the sharp cut of Rafael’s hipbone, and the shadowed dip of his groin.

Gregoris went perfectly, utterly still. The rage that had been a steady flame in his gut twisted, merging with the hot, predatory hunger Rafael’s scent had ignited. His gaze traveled the length of the torn fabric, up Rafael’s torso where the coat hung open, the bare chest he’d flaunted for the world to see, and down to the ruined pants that revealed everything.

A low, animal sound rumbled from Gregoris’s chest. “You really did come to ruin me, didn’t you?”

His voice was gravel and smoke. His thumb stroked a brutal, claiming path over Rafael’s hip bone, then lower, tracing the crease of his thigh. Rafael shuddered, his own breath coming in ragged pants, the fury in his veins now entirely eclipsed by a deep, humiliating, dizzying want.

“Fuck you,” Rafael breathed, but it was a whisper, stripped of its power.

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