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)
It wasn’t about the fetish for him.
But.
He’d always liked Aksel’s Xeus side. Even when he’d been a fourteen-year-old kid, Lucien had never felt disgusted by the fur on Aksel’s face, by his sharp canines and nails. He had been proud that Aksel had never been self-conscious about them around him. Even as Aksel had aged and his preliminary Xeus features disappeared, Lucien still remembered how nice Aksel’s furry cheek felt against his throat as the little alpha scented him with adorable aggressiveness. Lucien kind of... he missed the feeling. He associated Aksel’s fur with acceptance, with his first sense of home after being kicked out of his pack.
The truth was, he wouldn’t mind feeling it again. He knew Aksel could partially shift into his Xeus form outside the full moon, and Lucien could sense him struggling with the urge to do so while they had sex. He wished he could tell him to stop doing it, stop fighting his nature so badly, but he didn’t know how to say it without making it sound like he was fetishizing him. It wasn’t a fetish or curiosity to him. It was just part of who Aksel was, and Lucien had always loved him the way he was, fur and all.
But he knew Aksel would never suggest it. He would never think that Lucien might welcome it. To be fair, it wasn’t even about Lucien’s past experience with rough sex; most omegas wouldn’t find the idea appealing. Most omegas—normal omegas—wouldn’t get uncomfortably hard imagining their stepson taking them in his beastly form, either.
Lucien had come to accept that he wasn’t a very normal omega.
And maybe, just maybe, that was okay.
With that in mind, Lucien went in search of Aksel as soon as dinner was over.
But it seemed Aksel was determined to avoid him.
At long last, Lucien found him in the gym on the ground floor, running on the treadmill at such a high speed he was nearly a blur.
“I can’t see you right now,” Aksel said, wiping the sweat off his forehead without looking at Lucien. His voice was pained, low and husky, his scent thick with pheromones. “The moon is nearly full. It’s not safe for you, Luce.”
Lucien stepped closer. “Aksel—”
Aksel’s scent spiked. Alpha. Obey.
The urge to bare his neck hit Lucien deep in the gut, his cock twitching.
“Go,” Aksel ground out, his eyes glowing a supernatural blue. Switching the treadmill off, he averted his gaze and covered his nose with his hand. “We can’t today. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to scare you.”
And he stalked away, putting an end to the conversation before it could even properly start.
Except Lucien refused to accept it.
Aksel would never hurt him. He was absolutely certain of it. He wasn’t scared of him. He could never be scared of him.
And he was going to prove it.
Chapter Twelve
Xeus was very bright and nearly full in the night sky, its hue coloring the clouds red.
Lucien stared at it for a long moment before taking a deep breath and punching in the override code to the interior garden Aksel locked himself in during the full moon.
The lock flashed green, and the door clicked open.
Swallowing, Lucien slipped into the garden and let the door lock again.
Aksel might be angry with him.
But there was no real alternative. He knew Aksel. Aksel would never ask to risk Lucien’s health by spending his rut with him. He wouldn’t want to put him in danger or scare him, or some other protective bullshit like that.
If he wanted to prove to Aksel that he wasn’t a fragile, broken flower, Lucien had to take matters into his own hands. He had to take the initiative for once.
Lucien had thought about it long and hard, wondering about the consent issues of what he was about to do. The last thing he wanted was to take Aksel’s consent away. But he knew Aksel wanted him. Aksel did fuck him every day. His desire wasn’t in question. Aksel just thought it was too dangerous—too unsafe for Lucien—to do it during his rut. His protectiveness was endearing, really. It made Lucien feel so damn warm on the inside. But he was tired of being treated like a fragile, breakable thing. He knew his own limits better than Aksel did, no matter how well-meaning and honorable Aksel’s attitude was. And the moon wasn’t actually full yet despite looking so. Lucien had calculated that there was still enough time for Aksel to actually talk to him and consent to spending his rut with him before he could no longer control his transformation.
A branch snapped.
Tensing up, Lucien looked around the dark garden, his heart beating faster. “Aksel?” he said softly, stepping forward.
There was a blur of movement—and then he was slammed against the tree behind him, something heavy and growly pinning him hard to it, a clawed hand wrapping around his throat.