Chapter 5
Two months into Ehlian’s imprisonment, a torn package was waiting for him in the cell. It had already been opened, likely searched by the guards to make sure no weapons had been smuggled inside.
Ehlian sat down in the armchair and flipped open the paper lid. Inside was a small cake, cut in half with a crooked candle poking from the top.
It was for his birthday.
There was a letter beside the cake. Ehlian immediately recognised the familiar handwriting of his best friend below a picture of a sunny beach: We’re going there once you’ve been released. Already booked.
Ehlian swallowed hard, fighting back tears.
Gods, he missed Willian. His best friend had always grounded him, anchoring him when he felt like he was drifting into nothing.
Ehlian had asked him not to visit, but in this moment he regretted it more than anything.
He longed for the familiarity, the care, and the love that only Willian could offer.
He gently fit the two halves of the cake together and straightened the candle. There was nothing to light it with, but he still closed his eyes and blew out the phantom flame, silently wishing for happiness.
When he took the first bite, the soft sponge and sweet icing melted on his tongue. A quiet hum of appreciation escaped him.
Ehlian glanced at Hayce, sprawled on the bed barefoot, a familiar book open in his hands.
For a moment, Ehlian had nearly forgotten he was there with him.
Hayce’s silence and calmness were unearthly, almost infectious.
Ehlian couldn’t quite put his finger on it…
on him. Hayce was guarded most days, impossible to read, rarely giving Ehlian much of his attention.
Rarely, except when they were in the lounge, like he wanted everyone to know Ehlian belonged to him. Yeah, right. As if that was true.
Hayce didn’t seem to care about Ehlian’s birthday, the cake, or even the letter he’d received. Or who had sent it.
Why would he care? None of it meant anything to him. Ehlian meant nothing to him. Hayce only wanted one thing, and for all Ehlian cared, he could keep wanting it. He would never get it.
Still, their deal felt a little… odd. Weeks of sharing the same bed with Hayce, and he had never once tried to touch him, seduce him, or unleash the full force of his allure—the kind of telepathic pull that could drive any omega mad.
Hayce simply existed beside him. Ehlian wondered what he got out of it. Wondered if Hayce was just waiting for him to break.
He could wait an eternity.
Ehlian would never break.
Taking another bite of the cake, his eyes wandered toward Hayce again, raking over his figure.
The bare skin his tank top left uncovered, the firm lines of muscles shifting with every slight movement.
His gaze stopped at Hayce’s bare feet. They looked…
relaxed, at ease, as if he were lounging at home.
Maybe he was, in some way. Maybe this cell replicated something, albeit a poor imitation of the mansion he must have grown up in.
Ehlian wondered if Hayce ever received packages like this one. A cake, a letter from someone who loved him, any sign that he was missed. In the three months they’d shared this cell, Hayce hadn’t had a single visitor. Not his elder brother. Not his sister. Not a friend.
Ehlian chewed another bite slowly, licking the sweetness from his lips as his eyes wandered to the dip of Hayce’s tank top, tracing the subtle curve of his well-defined muscles.
Hayce grew still in the middle of turning a page, the crisp sound of paper halting. He lowered his book, lifting his head to meet Ehlian’s gaze. His eyes were dark, unreadable.
Ehlian held his stare, chewing at an unhurried pace, unflinching under Hayce’s scrutiny. Slowly, he licked the remnants of icing from his lips, but this time, the sweetness burned.
Hayce’s eyes flicked downward, locking on Ehlian’s mouth.
He stared a moment too long, then his gaze rose again to meet Ehlian’s.
A sudden heat unfurled deep in Ehlian’s belly, spreading lower, igniting nerves he hadn’t even realised were raw.
He shifted in his chair, gripping the armrest tightly as his pulse spiked.
His heat wasn’t due for another three months—so it couldn’t be that. Omegas were supposed to have a private cell during their heats, but who knew if any of the spineless guards actually followed through. The place was a lawless shithole.
He could suppress his heat with a telepathic Block Seal, but Arox omegas rarely resorted to such measures.
Tampering with their telepathic core disrupted the natural flow of life energy and came with its own risks.
Being a telepath had its downsides. Mental damage was all too common when these abilities were manipulated or overexerted.
In a place this barren and hostile, it was entirely possible his heat might never bloom at all.
But if it did, he would have no choice but to use a Block Seal.
Unable to endure Hayce’s unbroken gaze any longer, Ehlian tore his eyes away. Cheeks flushed, he chewed another bite with a rigid jaw.
Yeah, Hayce was an attractive son of a bitch, Ehlian admitted to himself, but that didn’t matter. It would never sway him.
A few moments passed before Ehlian dared to glance back. Hayce had returned to his book, the casual, detached aura slipping back into place as though nothing had happened between them at all.
Ehlian cleared his throat a moment later. “This cell is ridiculous.”
“Glad you have a sense of humour.”
Ehlian ignored the dry remark. “How can you afford to pay off the guards? I thought you were disowned.”
“We’ll get on much better if you stay out of my private life,” Hayce said, glancing up from his book briefly. “Especially where my family is concerned.”
Ehlian snarled. “We don’t get on well either way.”
And what private life? They had none in prison. The only window of privacy Ehlian ever got was when Hayce went to the gym. But after Grasson had passed their cell once or twice while Hayce was away, Ehlian had started following him there too.
He could still scarcely believe he was seeking protection from a cold-blooded killer.
That part… unsettled him. He couldn’t even comfort himself with the false belief that Hayce might be innocent.
Behind that composed mask, he was a fucking maniac.
His father had barely clung to life when he was found, his mind and core shattered, memories fragmented beyond recovery.
Hayce’s unique telepathic signature had been all over the damage.
Core signatures could not be overwritten or perfectly replicated.
No Low-Class telepath was capable of such a thing, and with barely any exceptions, everyone on Arox belonged to that class.
There were only a couple of hundred known High-Class telepaths, born with exceptionally dense cores.
And even a High-Class telepath did not possess enough power to perfectly imitate another’s mark without leaving traces of their own behind.
“I mean…” Ehlian spoke again. “I haven’t seen you get a single letter. No one ever writes to you?”
Hayce’s voice had a hard edge to it. “Why do you want to know?”
Great. Now Ehlian felt outright accused of something he shouldn’t be doing.
“I don’t,” he shrugged. “Just an observation, is all.”
There was a pause before Hayce replied. “I asked the guards to throw them all away.”
“All of them?” Ehlian blinked. “Why?”
“Too much noise and no substance.”
Too much noise? Was he here on holiday or something?
Maybe most of the letters came from his little ardent fans. Hayce had been one of the most eligible alphas until two years ago, when he was charged. There had to be unhinged omegas who still craved his attention. Some probably even more now that he had that wicked appeal.
“What if one of them is from your family?”
Hayce lowered his book again, his eyes settling flatly on Ehlian. He didn’t need to say a word for Ehlian to understand that family was really where he drew a very hard, uncrossable line.
“No family. Got it,” Ehlian said at last. “Can I talk at all?”
Hayce dropped his eyes back to the page. “You’re welcome to entertain yourself.”
What an asshole.
That was how it usually went with his other omegas? No talk. No questions. Nothing. Just pure sex?
Honestly, what had Ehlian expected? This was prison, not a ballroom.
This calmness Hayce exuded was fake. An act. A way to lure Ehlian in so he could get what he wanted.
Ehlian would never fall for it.