Chapter 19 #2
“I also have money. More than you could spend in several lifetimes.”
“Oh, well, why didn’t you lead with that?” Sky asked. “I would have agreed to the claiming bite from the beginning if you had.”
“Really?”
“No, asshole,” his gaze darkened, but at least he was meeting Kian’s eyes again. “Do you really think I’m that shallow?”
“Survival instincts aren’t shallow. Neither is wanting to live a comfortable life. But no. If I had thought at the beginning that I could have coaxed you with money, I would have tried it. I like the idea of you needing me, even if it is just to pad your bank account.”
“I don’t need you.”
“Someone is forgetting the last time we were here.”
“Yeah,” Sky agreed. “It’s you.”
“You couldn’t have made it through your heat without me.”
“I definitely could have. The toy did all the important work, and I could have held that on my own.”
Kian’s eye twitched, but he kept his tone even. “It’s a good thing I tossed that then, huh?”
Sky bristled. “What?”
“I threw it away.”
“Why the hell would you do that?”
“I believe that’s fairly obvious.”
“What gave you the right? That wasn’t yours!”
“You’re my omega,” he reminded. “Everything that belongs to you belongs to me.”
“No.”
Kian sighed. “Do you really want to debate this one point, Sky? Or do you perhaps want to continue voicing this proposal while I’m still being generous and willing to listen?”
Sky glared. “You’re humoring me.”
That’d also been pretty obvious, but Kian didn’t bother pointing that out.
“You’re such an asshole, you know that?” Sky looked like he was about to toss the heated blanket and climb out of the nest.
“Stay,” Kian ordered darkly. “There’s nowhere for you to storm off to at this time of night, and if you think I’m letting you take more than two steps toward the door, you’re sorely mistaken.
Speak, omega, or I’ll call an end to this discussion altogether, and we’ll spend the rest of the evening in a way that satisfies me instead. ”
“I really wish you would stop saying stuff like that,” Sky told him bitterly.
“That would be disingenuous.” He reached out carefully and took Sky’s empty mug from him. “You already admitted you like that I’m honest.”
“There’s still such a thing as being too honest.”
“If I told you everything I’ve dreamed of doing to you, all the plans I have for your future, you wouldn’t just try to run,” Kian confessed, moving to place the mug in the sink. “Believe it or not, I’m going easy on you because I care. I really do.”
He reheated the water and tore open a tea bag while he waited, allowing the silence to stretch between them momentarily while he worked and his omega processed his words.
Unless it was about them and his feelings, Sky was also the forward type. He was upfront about most things, direct in that way typically associated with kindness. That was how he’d missed the signs with Kenta, had foolishly believed he was a “nice” guy.
The dead alpha’s exes never had a bad thing to say about him, because they’d been paid off. Sky might not consider taking other people's money, but practically everyone else on the planet had a price tag. That was simply a fact, and not something Kian ever judged anyone for.
They were all just trying to survive in this fucked up hell called life. Some people took money.
Some took other people.
Kian had taken his omega.
What did Sky want? If money wouldn’t do the trick, what would?
“You’re thinking about how to entice me,” Sky finally broke the silence, just as the kettle began to whistle.
The corner of his mouth quirked, though the omega at his back couldn’t see. Sky might be na?ve, but he was smart. Now that he knew who Kian really was, he’d start seeing him.
Finally.
A rush of relief chased off the lingering anger and tension, and when Kian returned to the table with the steaming cup of tea, his mood was a thousand times better than it’d been only a few minutes ago.
How dangerous that he could be so easily affected by another person.
If it’d been anyone other than Sky, he would have killed him to rid himself of that unnecessary vulnerability.
“Does that bother you?” Kian smiled when Sky took the mug.
“Not really.” He blew on the surface and then decided not to try and sip it just yet, setting it down between them. “There’s no reason to waste energy guessing, that’s all. I’ll tell you how to do it.”
Kian quirked a brow. “You’ll tell me what you want?”
“I’ve already told you,” Sky said. “We can’t undo the claiming marks, but we can hit the reset button. Go back to how things were the night we were trapped in here.”
“I’m not buying you another toy.”
He rolled his eyes. “While I’m pissed you threw it out, I can’t say I don’t understand.”
“Really?”
“You were jealous of a piece of plastic.” Sky shrugged like it was no big deal, but the teasing look on his face told Kian clearly what he really thought of that.
“Next, you’re going to excuse yourself by saying something cringy and cliché like, ‘The only thing allowed inside of you from here on out is my cock’. ”
“I’m glad we’re on the same page, omega.” Though he could do without the taunting.
“Are we? I’ll forgive you for the toy, and I’ll work on coming to terms with how you claimed me against my will—”
“You chose the bite,” he reminded, only for Sky to snort at him.
“I didn’t have a choice. You were flooding my system with alpha pheromones and threatened not to stop unless I submitted. You didn’t leave me any other option, Kian.”
“Why would I give you a way out?”
“Right, well, it’s done. It happened. I’m stuck with you now, and I’m seriously trying to get over how fucked up all the shit you’ve done thus far is, but you aren’t making it easy for me.
You want to persuade me? Let me go back to my life.
Classes end the day before All Hallows’ Eve.
That’s only two weeks. I want to finish out my last year as a university student without worrying about any of this. ”
Two weeks wasn’t a long time compared to the years Kian had already waited, and yet…
“You said you wanted to live here after.” He didn’t like it. “For how long?”
“I don’t know,” Sky admitted, and when that earned him a growl, he sighed. “We can discuss that after my graduation, how about that?”
“As in, you’re willing to revisit and come to an agreed-upon timetable then?” That gave him time to come up with a way to force Sky’s hand. He wanted him with him, at home in Caelum. In his bed.
“Yes.”
“And then you’ll come to me of your own volition?” Kian asked. “You’ll yield?”
“Yes, alpha,” he didn’t even hesitate before responding, seemingly so sure about his answer.
Sky leaned forward and took one of Kian’s hands in both of his.
“Please. I’m not just asking for this for myself.
Since there’s an us now, I’ll do everything in my power to ensure we thrive. Are you unwilling to do the same?”
“Are you trying to manipulate me right now?” If he continued to touch him like that, Kian might just let him get away with it if so.
“How badly do you want me?” Sky held his gaze.
“If it’s just my body, sure, you could take it.
You could do so right now, and every day until the day I either find a way to escape you, or I die.
” When Kian growled again, Sky smiled at him.
“Yeah, I got the feeling you wanted more than that. Plenty of hotter omegas out there that I’m sure would kill to be made your Possessio. But I’m the one you want.”
“I want you,” he confirmed.
“So then treat me right. Give me this, alpha. Give me time.”
“You’ll give me a chance?” Part of Kian wanted to lock him up and throw away the key.
Sequester him away like the rare jewel he was and ensure he was protected and exactly where he wanted him at all times.
But at the end of the day, Sky was right.
It’d never been about the sex for him. He loved the feel of Sky’s body clenched tightly around him, yes, but it was Sky he was truly after.
Sky he coveted most. Not just a wet hole to stick his cock into.
“You’ll learn to accept my claim and come home once it’s done? ”
He nodded. “I’d really like to get to know you. The real you.”
“Even if who I am scares you?”
“Even then.”
If this was what he wanted…Kian had already bitten him. Sky was his. What harm could giving the omega an adjusting period bring?
“You aren’t allowed to hide my mark.” If he was going to agree to this, he had some conditions of his own. “I want everyone well aware that you’re mated now. That’s not up for debate.”
“All right.” Sky pursed his lips and then added, “Can I leave the second skin on though? The scabbing was really bothering me.”
The marks would heal by the end of tomorrow, no doubt. That wasn’t long at all. “I’ll allow it.”
“What else?”
“You can’t ice me out,” Kian said. “You can go back to your classes and your regular routine, but I’m a part of your life now, and I won’t be pushed aside. Find a way to adjust to my presence. That is the point of this, is it not?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“You won’t argue?”
“About that?” Sky shrugged. “I didn’t intend on ghosting you, if that’s what you were worried about.
I don’t want to go no contact or anything extreme.
I just want breathing room. I don’t…hate you now, Kian.
I just don’t feel like I know you anymore, and waking up and finding myself tied to a stranger for the rest of my life? Anyone would find that daunting.”
“You don’t know me in my entirety,” he disagreed, not liking the way that sounded, “but that doesn’t make me a stranger.” There were a few other stipulations to get through, so he didn’t bother leaving room for discussion there either. “No one else is allowed to touch you. If I find out—”
“I’m not interested in anyone else,” Sky cut him off. He didn’t sound happy about that admission, but he didn’t sound too angry about it either. “I never was. No matter how hard I tried to be. You aren’t the man I imagined, no. And this may not be the life I always dreamed of, but…”
“What is it, little omega?” Kian was admittedly hanging on his every word. “Say it.”
Sky glanced off to the side, his cheeks staining pink. “You’re the alpha I always envision standing by my side. If I can’t have the fantasy, if it was all an illusion anyway, I’ll settle for getting the alpha I’ve always wanted. No matter what form he comes in.”
That momentarily blindsided him.
“I can’t ignore you.” Sky’s embarrassment seemed to grow at Kian’s silence, and he rushed on. “I can’t hide the bite. I can’t flirt or be flirted with. Is there anything else?”
“Yes, actually.” Kian hoisted himself up onto the table, careful not to knock over the tea as he settled in front of Sky and captured the surprised omega around the waist. He hauled him closer, ignoring the way Sky’s eyes went wide, relishing when his hands came to his shoulders to brace himself.
His eyes drifted down to the plush mouth that was the star of all of his oral sex dreams. “Kiss me, omega.”
“What?”
“Isn’t that how it’s done?” he challenged. “Kiss me, and I’ll consider it a done deal. Why? Don’t want to?”
Sky didn’t take the bait. “It’s just a kiss…you swear?”
“Our past agreement still stands.” Though he loathed that he’d made it now. “I won’t fuck you again until you tell me you want it.”
“Even if it means this might turn into the type of relationship where you only get laid when I’m in heat or you’re in a rut?”
“That won’t happen.” Kian grinned. “You just admitted you like me, Sky, remember? You won’t be able to resist for long.”
He clearly wanted to argue but thought better of it. Sky bent forward instead, hesitating once his mouth hovered over Kian’s. When Kian gave no reaction, he finally closed the gap between them.
For all his complaints, Sky kissed him like a man obsessed, quickly taking control.
His tongue traced the seam of Kian’s lips before darting past to stroke against the roof of his mouth and tangle with his tongue.
He sucked and nibbled, sliding forward until he was practically straddling Kian’s lap, the only thing preventing him from actually doing so the cooling mug of tea still on the table.
Kian let him take the lead, and Sky didn’t even seem to notice, too caught up in claiming the mouth of his alpha.
So this really was all it took? All he’d had to do was agree to two weeks to make his omega pliant? It appeared Kian could get further with compromise than he’d believed.
How…fascinating.