The moon had long since dipped below the trees, casting the forest in that eerie, dreamlike gray between night and dawn. Noah stood still, back pressed against the tree where Theron had taken him legs shaky, skin raw, the bite mark on his neck burning with possessive heat.
He could feel it pulsing, like a second heartbeat. A reminder. A promise. A curse.
Theron stood only a few steps away, shirt hanging off one shoulder, blood drying on his forearms and chest. He didn't look like a king anymore. He looked like a man who'd tasted something forbidden and didn't know how to live without it.
Noah wrapped his arms around himself, the sudden cold making him shiver. "You didn't even hesitate," he whispered, voice hoarse.
Theron looked up sharply. "I didn't want to," he said, too fast. "I...I couldn't."
"That mark… it's not just sex, is it?"
"No," Theron said, his voice deep and low, like he feared the answer even more than Noah. "It's a claim. A bond."
Noah's throat tightened. "So I'm yours now. Just like that?"
"You always were," Theron said, stepping closer. "Since the day you crashed into my world."
Noah's laugh was dry and bitter. "You mean since you dragged me into it. Since you made me your prisoner."
Theron winced like he'd been struck. "I didn't mean for it to happen this way."
Noah turned to face him, arms still crossed, his eyes bright with unshed tears. "Then why did you let it?"
There was silence between them thick, suffocating. The only sound was the rustling of leaves, the quiet distant howl of a wolf too far to matter.
Theron stepped forward again, slower this time, every movement cautious. "Because I'm selfish. Because every time I touched you, I lost a piece of myself. And now after tonight I don't know who I am without you."
Noah looked up, startled. He hadn't expected honesty. Not like that. Not from him.
"I thought I hated you," Noah whispered. "I thought I could resist you."
"You still can," Theron said, stopping just short of touching him. "But if you stay… if you let that mark bind us… then I'll fight for you. Every damn day. Against every enemy. Even myself."
Noah's heart stuttered.
The wolf inside him stirred not the weak, silenced part he'd learned to hide, but something bolder. Something louder. He wasn't just prey anymore. He was power wrapped in softness. And he could feel it through the mark Theron's raw, aching need to protect him. To belong to him just as much as he wanted Noah to belong to him.
"I'm scared," Noah admitted. "Of what this means. Of what we are."
Theron reached out, finally, brushing his thumb over Noah's jaw, gentle where he'd been brutal hours ago. "Then let's be scared together."
Noah leaned into the touch, just slightly.
Then he whispered, "Take me home."
And just like that, the Alpha lowered his head in surrender, pressing his lips to Noah's temple like a vow. He pulled off his torn cloak and wrapped it around Noah's shoulders before lifting him with practiced ease, arms cradling him like a prince from a bloody fairytale.
But this wasn't a fairytale.
This was their story written in claw marks, kisses, and the scent of blood that still clung to their skin.
And it was only just beginning.