Spoiled

by Much_Ado_Abt_Novels

Summary:

Silco loves to spoil Viktor. Viktor loves being spoiled. It's a match made in heaven.

Or, the Modern Day AU, A/B/O sugaring fic no one asked for.

Notes:

• For SeaBaroness.

Many, many thanks to SeaBaroness for giving this a beta read and screaming with me about Viktor.

Chapter 1: Meet Cute

As soon as Silco set foot through the cafe door, he clocked a Zaunite boy in the corner. Amid the bustle of Pilties, this quiet, solemn boy with a cane and an asymmetrical coat seemed to glow—different, set apart. It was an unspoken rule that if you met a countryman abroad, you introduced yourself and commiserated in your foreignness together. The young man noticed Silco, too, and was already taking out his earbuds. Silco approached him. It was as natural, as unquestioned, as seeing a family member in public and walking over to say hello.

“You’re from Zaun, aren’t you?” the young man said in an accent. “Please, have a seat.” The invitation was immediate; the boy must not need the question answered.

Silco answered it anyway. “I am. And yourself?” He sat across from the boy, and Sevika took a seat a table away. The boy didn’t react at all to her presence, so Silco really didn’t need his question answered either. Only Pilties would balk at the sight of a bodyguard.

The boy nodded. “Viktor,” he said, offering his hand to Silco over the top of his laptop.

“Silco.” They shook. If Viktor recognized the name, he didn’t react, but then, why would Viktor have heard of a gangster?

“How long have you lived here?” Silco asked. A waitress stopped by, and Viktor gestured for Silco to order before he answered. “I’ll have a coffee,” Silco said. He glanced over his shoulder. “And one of the scones in that case.” He nodded to Sevika. “She’ll have the same.”

The waitress scribbled in her notepad with a cheap ballpoint pen. “Okay!” she said brightly. “I’ll have that right out for you.”

When she was gone, Viktor said, “I’ve lived in Piltover for a few years. I moved here to attend Piltover Academy. And yourself?”

“I’m here on business.” Silco didn’t specify which kind. Chances were that a kid from Zaun wouldn’t balk at the prospect of crime, but you never knew.

Viktor nodded. “Will you stay long on this visit?”

“A couple more days. I have an apartment here that I use when I’m in town.” Silco leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and flicked a finger toward Viktor’s laptop. “What are you working on?”

Viktor spun the laptop so Silco could see some sort of graphical design program open. “A 3D print model. It’s a part for a machine I’m building.” Viktor grinned ruefully. “Or it would be if I had filament to print it with.”

Silco didn’t know what he was looking at, some odd, mechanical shape drawn in contour lines; he didn’t immediately discern its function, but that made sense if it were part of a larger device. “Impressive. An engineer?”

“Trying to be.”

“What’s the purpose of your machine?”

“Air purification. Lots of the filters that clean dust from the air down in Zaun don’t also scrub scents.”

Almost without helping it, Silco inhaled through his nose, trying to catch a whiff of Viktor’s scent. He couldn’t be certain (the cafe contained a cacophony of scents), but he smelled omega and guessed the smell emanated from the boy in front of him. So Viktor’s work stemmed from a selfish desire to better things for the underdog, which Silco could respect.

The waitress returned with the coffee and scones, setting one before Silco and one before Sevika, who was dutifully silent, letting Silco enjoy his conversation. She added a sugar packet to her coffee.

Viktor spun the laptop back to face himself and closed it.

Silco asked, “Do you have a 3D printer?”

“I do.”

“But no filament?”

There was that rueful grin again. “I forgot how expensive filament was when I stole the printer from the academy.”

He wouldn’t balk at crime, then. Silco’s interest in this boy grew exponentially with every moment spent in his company. “You stole it from the academy? Just walked off with it, or what?”

“I removed a small piece, and it stopped working, but no one could figure out how to fix it, so the professor let me take the whole printer. When I got home, I just put the piece back.”

Silco was a little bit in love, he thought. He sipped his coffee and picked at his scone. This visit to Piltover was turning out far more pleasant than he’d anticipated. “You are fascinating.”

“As fascinating as a Zaunite gangster?” Viktor asked.

He kept his face blank. “What makes you think I’m a gangster? Prejudice?”

Viktor’s grinning face tilted to the side, bold and unapologetic. “A businessman who travels with a bodyguard is a gangster.”

“Maybe I’m just paranoid.”

“Maybe you’re perfectly sane.”

“You don’t seem frightened,” Silco said with curiosity. What kind of omega was this? Bright, mischievous, and daring, Viktor held Silco’s attention like few others could.

“Should I be?”

“No.”

“Then I’m not.”

“That easy?”

Viktor nodded.

“How much do you need for filament? Enough to last a while.” Silco pulled his wallet out of his pocket.

Viktor rested his hands on the table. His scent went all sweet and interested. “You don’t have to give me money. We just met.”

“I want to. How much?”

Viktor searched his face. “Is this some kind of trick?”

“If it were, would I tell you?”

“You might. You seem to like me well enough.”

That was true. “It’s not a trick. Or an exchange. I want you to keep building things. Maybe I’ll see your name in the papers someday.”

Viktor still looked unconvinced. His hands didn’t move from the table.

“And you’re cute,” Silco added. “Can’t a man spoil a cute boy every once in a while?”

That, somehow, seemed to convince him. Viktor relaxed and said, “Can I have a hundred dollars? That will buy me plenty to get started.”

Silco gave him two hundred dollar bills. It wasn’t as if he would notice their absence.

“Thank you so much.” Viktor tucked the money away in his jacket pocket. “You sure you don’t want anything in return?”

That almost sounded like a lewd offer, or at least, Silco’s mind took it that way, imagining all the lovely ways Viktor could thank him. But Silco shook his head. “You’re worth more than two hundred dollars.”

Viktor shrugged. “I’ve given blowjobs for less.”

Shocked, Silco laughed. “You’re fascinating,” he said again. But he stood, and Sevika followed suit. He set some money on the table to pay for his, Sevika’s, and Viktor’s tabs. “Take care of yourself,” Silco said. “Don’t give blowjobs for less than two hundred dollars.”

Viktor’s cheeky, lopsided grin would live in Silco’s mind until he could rub one out. “I can’t make any promises,” he said. “It was nice to meet you.”

“You as well.” Silco left the cafe, and Sevika followed. He peeked through the window to see Viktor stick his earbuds back in and return to work.

Chapter 2: Looking For…

Silco thought about that moment where he handed Viktor the hundred dollar bills. He thought about it a lot, in fact, as the days passed and he had time to reflect on his chance encounter with the peculiar Zaunite omega. As he listened to subordinates drone on in meetings, as he fell asleep to the sound of a ticking clock, he deciphered what, precisely, appealed to him about giving Viktor money.

Something primal had stirred in him, whether alpha or a trait more particular to himself. He wanted to return that shocked, open look to Viktor’s face. He wanted to dote on him until he was spoiled rotten. He wanted to take Viktor out on the town so everyone could see Viktor laughing with Silco, satiated and content.

Silco knew he wasn’t alone in this desire; he wasn’t the first alpha to have thoughts like these. But the urge to find a sugar baby was new to him, and he wrestled with it. Should he give in? Should he bite the bullet and search the internet for a partner to fulfill this whim?

There was something so appealing about spending his money on an omega, someone young and handsome who would appreciate being spoiled. He pictured taking someone like Viktor home—someone too smart for him and too young for him. If Silco met Viktor again, he would wrap Viktor in his own coat so Silco’s cologne and natural scent rubbed off on him. He would ply Viktor with gifts and fine food until Viktor was pleased and drunk and soft under his hands. Then Silco would indulge in his body for hours.

His life needed a companion. An obscene amount of money sat in his accounts, yet Silco had no one to spend it on. He had neither mate nor children, and in his off hours, he had nothing to do and no one to do it with. Hiring pleasant company might be just the solution. If the relationship were a business transaction, and no one would get their heart broken, it could end whenever Silco or his partner decided.

He should just do it. Just ask someone. He wandered around his apartment above The Last Drop, fiddling with objects that needed no fiddling. He picked up and set down a book, a cigar, and a takeout menu before thinking, Fuck it, and grabbing his laptop.

Now came the undertaking of sourcing a sugar baby, which seemed the awkwardest obstacle to the fulfillment of his desire. He wished he’d gotten Viktor’s number before parting— But no, he didn’t want to disrespect Viktor by asking Viktor to prostitute himself. Silco needed to find someone with experience, who knew what they wanted and what they were worth.

He opened his laptop. After half an hour of reading site reviews, he settled on a popular app that matched potential sugar daddies and babies. (Gods, was he really doing this?) He downloaded the app on his phone. Set the phone down. He shouldn’t be doing this.

He took a shower. He returned to bed, towel around his waist, picked up his phone, and made a profile on the app.

Looking for. What was he looking for? “Discretion,” he typed. He would meet his partner in some third place, like a hotel, and keep them away from his businesses. “Someone who wants to be spoiled.” But maybe that was obvious. He didn’t know.

Men, women, or any? the app asked, prompting him to select what kind of partner he was searching for. He chose men. Alpha, beta, omega, or any? He clicked omega.

He kept his profile bare-bones and took a glance at the page for available babies. It was his job to send an inquiry to anyone whose profile he liked. A dozen scantily-clad young men leered out of photos; the pictures were mirror selfies mostly, highlighting jaws and asses. Silco scrolled through the page. Crass, cringy profile taglines accompanied each photo. “I’m almost in heat and looking for a partner,” said one tagline. “Be my daddy?” said another, followed by emojis.

Some of the boys were devastatingly attractive. How was Silco supposed to narrow down his search? None of the profiles sparked much interest beyond the physical. Some of the pictures across profiles looked nearly identical: same poses, same overly salacious language.

Silco almost closed the app. He almost gave up and went to bed and forgot about this slip-up in his control.

And then Silco saw him: Viktor. Silco peered at the phone, but the photo was unmistakable. Viktor wore a soft smile as he tapped a pen to his lips, drawing attention to them. The angle flattered his cheekbones.

Viktor, the young man whom Silco had met by chance and who’d sparked this whole endeavor, was on the dating app. He sugared. He was looking for someone like Silco to enter into an arrangement with. Silco clicked on the profile and read the name and tagline. “Alexandr,” it said: an obvious lie. “Looking for cash if you’re looking for company.”

Fuck, Silco could already see himself bending this omega over a table and fucking him until he knotted. He scrolled through the pictures. Viktor, shirtless, a hand in his hair. Viktor, on his knees in front of a mirror, wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt. That quip about blowjobs hadn’t just been a quip; Viktor fucked men for money. He might have fucked Silco, if Silco had asked.

Silco glanced through the rest of the profile information. Age: 22. That might be true. Occupation: student. That probably was. Viktor had mentioned stealing his 3D printer from the academy. According to Viktor’s About Me section, he was trans and had a sweet tooth.

Too young for Silco. Too attractive for Silco. Viktor wouldn’t give Silco a second glance if Silco didn’t have money to bribe him with. The whole situation was downright barbaric, but Silco couldn’t find it in himself to care about the fate of his immortal soul. The exact omega upon whom Silco had built this fantasy was available. He opened the direct chat between them and typed an initial message.

S: I believe we’ve met.

Did you get the filament you wanted?

Silco waited, watching the screen. A little green dot appeared on Viktor’s profile photo, showing he was online. Silco waited some more. Three little “typing” dots cycled at the bottom of the screen. Then Viktor wrote:

V: Silco?

Silco’s name wasn’t in his username, so Viktor had remembered it.

S: Yes. This is inappropriate, isn’t it? But I can’t stop thinking about you.

He waited with baited breath again. Viktor took his time with his reply. He must be thinking, considering his safety and guessing after Silco’s intentions. Silco knew his real name; that was different from most cold texts he got from potential patrons. Daddies. Whatever he called them.

Tired of waiting, Silco left the chat and returned to Viktor’s profile. At the bottom was a Cash App link and a wishlist. Items purchased through the dating app wishlist would be sent straight to Viktor, apparently. He explored it. There were tame items, like flowers and nesting pillows, and raunchier conversation-starters, like a ball gag and a dildo three inches thick.

Was this junk what Viktor really wanted? Could Silco win his way into Viktor’s heart by buying him nesting pillows and a ball gag? According to the tagline, Viktor was looking for cash. These wishlist items might simply exist to elicit generosity from stubborn sponsors, but Silco was already feeling generous. He sent Viktor $300 over Cash App to prove his dedication. He would just keep sending Viktor money until Viktor replied.

The three dots reappeared, and Viktor texted back.

V: I would have replied if you waited just a minute. 😜 I’m making dinner.

message me here

Viktor sent a phone number. Eagerly, Silco copied the number and opened a new chat in his messaging app. He texted the number.

S: This is Silco

And then he deleted his profile and the dating app itself. He wouldn’t need it anymore; he had who he wanted.

V: Are you a total creep? Be honest. Did you track me down somehow?

Viktor had weighed the possibility of Silco being a stalker and still decided to share his number. Silco’s heart raced. This was just the sort of distraction he’d been craving, a hobby to get his mind off the day-to-day monotony of meetings and paperwork. He poured himself a glass of whiskey and texted back drinking it in bed.

S: Didn’t track you down. I joined that app thinking of you. You can’t imagine my delight that you’re on it.

V: You’ve never had a sugar baby?

S: You’d be the first. If you’re amenable.

Is your name Alexandr or Viktor?

V: It’s Viktor

Good. Silco preferred Viktor.

V: Why don’t we meet and hash out what you’re looking for to see if we’re compatible? When are you available?

S: Can you meet tomorrow?

He didn’t want to give Viktor any time to change his mind.

V: Yes. how about 5:00 at the coffee shop where we met?

Bring condoms😉

S: Sounds perfect

Viktor didn’t reply, so Silco let his screen fade to black. He might have Viktor in his bed as soon as tomorrow. He took another swig of his whiskey and set it aside to grab his cock. He should have saved one of those photos from Viktor’s profile. No matter. He could remember them.

He stroked himself thinking of Viktor kneeling in front of a mirror, phone in hand, wearing nothing but a large shirt. His hair had been messy, and the shirt had barely brushed his thighs. Silco would set him just like that, pry his mouth open, and fuck his throat while those amber eyes peered up at him.

He was so intelligent. He could’ve gotten another job, Silco was sure. A boy who designed and built air purifiers at twenty-two could find an internship somewhere. He must do this because he liked it.

Twenty-two. Silco groaned, sliding his fist faster along his dick. Twenty-two and already selling his body to creeps like Silco. How many men had he fucked? Had they all been alphas? Had he ever spent a heat with a client, cockdrunk and desperate?

Silco would have Viktor to himself. He would say and do whatever it took to have this strange, captivating boy eating from his hand.

Not long after he started tugging his dick, he came. Tissues wiped the mess enough for him to make it to the bathroom for a more thorough cleaning. Tomorrow, he might have his first sugar baby. What, oh, what would Vander say if he knew to what new low Silco had stooped?

The whole situation—paying a kid for his company—would make Vander hurl, but Silco took pleasure in desecrating things that Vander loved, like romance.

He stuck a condom in his wallet and set an appointment in his calendar that said simply “V.”

Chapter 3: The Contract

Viktor checked his phone again. It was still ten minutes to five; Silco had plenty of time to show up, if he were going to. There was no reason to be nervous.

Well, there was some reason. Viktor had gone and had the bright idea to flirt with a gangster (alleged), whom Viktor was attracted to (bad for business), who actually knew Viktor’s real name (amateur mistake). Viktor licked his lips remembering Silco’s coal-bright eye and the bodyguard with a gun. He’d slept with rich people of all kinds but no one as outwardly dangerous as Silco.

And yet, Viktor didn’t feel afraid. When he’d met Silco, he’d liked him. It all depended on how Silco conducted himself at this meeting, now that their circumstances had changed and Silco wanted more from Viktor than a minute of friendly conversation.

He texted Silco.

V: I’m here. Back table

S: Arriving now

Just a minute later, Silco’s head swiveled as he stepped through the door, followed by the same woman bodyguard in dark clothes and shades like a plainclothes cop. Her left arm was a prosthetic. Viktor had procured the spot of their last meeting: the corner, with an extra table between him and the rest of the coffee shop, where the bodyguard could sit.

Like before, Silco took the seat across from Viktor. Like before, he lounged in it casually, as if he owned it and owned the building and owned Viktor. His ember-eye glinted, red with interest.

“Hello, again,” Viktor said.

“Hello.” Silco’s voice held that gravel that had haunted Viktor’s wet dreams. He smelled like tobacco, sharp cologne, and beneath that, a certain alpha something that was purely him. “Thank you for meeting with me.”

“Thank you for reaching out. Are you really—”

The waitress’s arrival interrupted him. She asked, “What can I get you, sir?”

“Coffee for me. Muffin for her.” Silco pointed to the bodyguard, who raised her hand. She still wore her sunglasses, even inside. Viktor hadn’t heard her speak once. Silco asked Viktor, “Do you want anything?”

“I’m good,” he said. He’d ordered a coffee already, and he was wound too tight for food.

The waitress left.

“Are you really new to this?” Viktor repeated.

“To the whole sugar thing? Yes. But you’re an expert.”

Viktor nodded. “First time with an audience, though.” He waved to the bodyguard.

Silco said, “Ignore her. Tell me how this works, then.”

“Well,” Viktor shifted. “Usually our first meeting is about feeling each other out and deciding if our goals align. I can introduce myself to start. You already know more about me than anyone else, so I guess I’ll stick to truth. I’m a mechanical engineering major with a minor in chemical engineering. I’m in my last year at the academy. I’m a scholarship student. Oh, and I snuck my way in.”

“What do you mean, you snuck your way in? Is this another stealing a 3D printer story?”

“Basically.” Viktor took a drink of coffee to hide his smile. “I bought a uniform and started attending classes, claiming I was auditing them. I just wanted enough knowledge to take back to Zaun. The degree didn’t matter as much as the education, you know?”

Silco looked shocked at the sheer audacity of this move.

From the table beside them, the bodyguard said, “Respect,” her first word within Viktor’s earshot. Her voice was low and rumbling like a river. As the waitress set a muffin before her, the bodyguard said, “Thank you.” So she was listening, then.

Silco waited for the waitress to leave before he hissed, “You crossed the river without paperwork? You could have been arrested!” Zaunites were not allowed within Piltover’s city limits without the appropriate documentation. Piltover feared Zaunites would contaminate their population and their values.

“I got paperwork on my first day. I told a clerk at the academy that I’d lost my student ID, and they replaced it for me. They were very helpful.”

“What if you were caught?”

Viktor turned serious for a moment. “I was caught. By Cecil Heimerdinger.”

“The head of the council?” Silco asked in a loud whisper.

“Yes. But he didn’t turn me in. He saw potential in me and had me enrolled at once, staying by my side through the entire process so I didn’t get in trouble. My only penance for my dishonesty is that I have to work as his assistant a few hours a week, which is a privilege as much as a punishment. I owe everything to Professor Heimerdinger.”

“I don’t know if you’re brave or insane,” Silco said with admiration.

It was strange to give a potential daddy this much information about himself. Viktor’s guts squirmed in delight at another risk, another cross of the bridge without paperwork. “Tell me about yourself,” Viktor prodded to put the focus on Silco for a minute. “I’m interviewing you as much as you’re interviewing me.”

Silco picked up his coffee and sipped it while he spoke. “I’m a businessman and a one-time revolutionary,” he said. “I own a nightclub. I haven’t had a relationship in a while, and I didn’t want one before I met you. You intrigue me. I also have a lot of money and nowhere to put it. Pampering a young man seems like a pleasant pastime.”

“What do you want out of our relationship?”

Silco gestured vaguely. “Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

Viktor needed a little more to go on. “Do you want sex? Someone to talk to? How often would you like to meet?”

“Once a week would be nice, with texts in the meantime. Do you do that?”

“I can.” Viktor let his tone turn flirty. “I’ll send cute pictures. Dirty pictures cost extra.”

“Fair enough. And I’d like sex, if you’re comfortable with it.”

Viktor put his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands, blinking and smirking at Silco. This part was familiar, comfortable, slipping into a persona and laying it on thick. Flirting with Silco wasn’t difficult. He was polite, for a daddy. He was handsome, full stop. Viktor hoped this would become a running engagement. “I like sex,” he said.

Silco was curious. “Do you enjoy having sex with your clients?”

“Eh,” Viktor tilted his hand in a so-so motion. “Depends on the client. Depends on the day.”

“Do you think you’ll enjoy having sex with me?”

“Legally, I’m required to say yes.”

Silco seemed like the kind of person who could bear to be the brunt of a joke every once in a while, and Viktor was proven right when Silco laughed, flashing sharp alpha fangs. They both knew there was little legal about what they were doing.

The venom in those fangs would make Viktor woozy. They would push into his skin with a numbing, chemical apology, soothing the wound as they inflicted it. Viktor had been bitten before by an alpha, just the once, on his back. He wondered what being mated felt like.

“As long as we’re talking desires,” Silco said, “I want to spoil you. I want to kiss you and take you on dates in public and fund your gadgets.”

“My gadgets?” That wasn’t part of the typical arrangement. “What do you mean?”

“You’re an inventor, aren’t you? You want to make things for Zaun?”

Viktor stared at him, dropping his arms to the table. Just how much funding was Silco talking, and what would he expect of Viktor in return? Did he want to sell Viktor’s inventions? They were meant to benefit the people, not to make money. “This sounds like two separate contracts,” he said. “If you want to invest in my spare-time tinkering, let’s keep a distinction between that and the sugaring, at least for now.”

“We can do that.”

“As your baby, I’m happy to fuck and go on dates with you. As for my compensation, are you thinking of paying per meet or paying an allowance that covers as many interactions as you want?”

“I think an allowance would be simpler.”

Viktor nodded. “And just for the sake of clarity,” (here was where he normally lost clients, if he were going to) “you have to wear a condom, and I have other daddies.”

“That’s all right. That’s your prerogative.”

Viktor exhaled a puff of air. “Thank you.” He felt the need to explain himself. “It’s just, men often promise the world and then drop you after a week or two, so I don’t want to cancel any of my appointments in case it doesn’t work out between us.”

“I understand. Though I can’t imagine why anyone would drop you.”

“Why, thank you.” Viktor grinned. “I think you and I are going to have fun together. Just keep the compliments coming, and you’re golden. What did you have in mind as far as an allowance?”

“How about five thousand a month?”

Viktor’s jaw dropped. His hands slid off the table and into his lap. That was more than he made juggling three daddies. “Are you serious?”

“What?” Silco shifted. “Is that not enough?”

“It’s more than. Fuck, for five thousand dollars a month, I’ll be exclusive with you, and if you’re exclusive with me, you can skip the condom. Just send me a clean bill of health, okay?”

Silco’s mouth curled upward, and he smelled pleased. The omega in Viktor wanted to make him happy and keep him pleased. Silco said, “Do it now, then. If you’re going to break up with your other partners for me, then do it now. I want to see.”

Five thousand dollars. Plus Silco wanted to invest in him, whatever that meant. Viktor didn’t hesitate to pull out his phone, type a generic goodbye message, and paste it into several chats. His phone buzzed, and Viktor told Silco why, since he seemed to be getting off on making Viktor all his. “I sent it, and one of my partners said he is going to miss me.” A green notification popped up at the top of Viktor’s screen. “Another just sent me a gift.” Another notification. “And a message begging me to stay.”

“How much was the gift?” Silco asked.

“Fifty dollars.”

Silco took out his phone, and a few seconds later, Viktor received another Cash App notification for $100, double the bribery gift. He glanced at the bodyguard, who maintained a professional, neutral expression, as if she weren’t listening. Was this real? “Thank you,” Viktor told Silco.

“I want your attention on me, not them.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Is Cash App a good way to send you money, or do you prefer physical cash?”

“Either is fine by me.”

“I’ll do that sexual health exam, like you want, and send you the results.”

“Okay.” And then Silco could fuck him raw. Scent him. Leave his smell all over his body and his cum leaking out of him. Viktor glanced down, but the table hid Silco’s crotch, and Viktor couldn’t begin to guess his size. How long was he? How thick was his knot? “And I’ll get an exam, too.”

“Good. Send me the receipt and the results when you finish. Can you travel to Zaun to meet me? I’ll cover gas. Or an Uber if you don’t have a car.”

Piltover’s sister city was a forty minute drive away. Viktor could manage that, for what Silco was paying him. “I have a car. I can meet you in Zaun. Fridays would work best for me, and that way I can stay the night if you want.”

“We’ll take it visit by visit on sleepovers. Are you on the pill?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll cover that, too. Send me a picture of your receipt the next time you pick up your prescription.” Silco tapped his middle finger on the vinyl table, looking at Viktor. “I still can’t believe you’re willing to make this agreement with me. I wanted you. I didn’t want anyone else.”

Viktor was used to grandiose statements from men paying to fuck him, but something about Silco’s sounded sincere. He couldn’t believe any of this was real; Silco was the dream client, handsome and generous with his money. Viktor wouldn’t have to pry or cajole cash out of his hands. “So what’s the deal with being my patron of the arts?”

“You’re intelligent. Anyone can see that. Are you making your air scrubber in your spare time? Do you have a production deal with anyone?”

“Production deal?” Viktor shook his head. “No. That’s a hobby.”

“Well, it’s a hobby I want to invest in.” Silco lifted a cautious hand. “Only if you’re willing. And you can back out of either of these arrangements whenever you wish. Give me a list of materials you want, and I’ll pay for them.”

“Why?” Viktor had to ask. “Do you think you’re going to make money off of my air purifier?”

“Maybe. Maybe it’ll amount to nothing. Or maybe it will improve Zaun’s air quality and make public spaces safer for omegas with strong scents.”

Silco’s interest in the invention wasn’t purely financial, then. He wanted to put them to use. “You have yourself a deal. Two of them.” Viktor drained the rest of his coffee, and he felt ready to consummate the contract. He buzzed with afternoon caffeine and the thrill of securing the alpha of his dreams. “Do you want to take me home now, Daddy?”

Silco froze. His nostrils flared. “If that’s allowed. I have an apartment close by. We can go there.”

“Perfect.” Viktor reached across the table and dragged a teasing finger across the back of Silco’s hand, touching him for the first time. “Get the check, then, Daddy.”

Chapter 4: Consummation

Notes:

Uh, in case for some reason this needs to be said, this story does not accurately portray sugaring. It's not like this in real life. Stay safe, and don't try this at home! 😂

Viktor watched as Silco signaled the waitress and paid the check. He would pay and pay. Five thousand dollars, at least in theory. (Really, he’d only given Viktor four hundred—plus two hundred more if you counted the gift of his first meeting. But that four hundred was a promising beginning.)

Silco led Viktor out of the cafe with a hand on the small of his back. Proprietary. The bodyguard opened the door of a black sedan.

“What’s your name?” Viktor asked her.

“Sevika.”

How did Sevika feel about watching her boss pick up a sugar baby? “Let me guess: you don’t get paid enough to deal with this shit.”

“He pays me plenty,” she said and waved him into the car.

Viktor climbed inside, slid across the bench seating, and put his bag at his feet. His cane rested against his leg. Silco climbed in after him, and Sevika shut the door.

She took the driver’s seat. “The apartment, then?” she asked Silco.

“That’s right.”

Off to their first secondary location. Now Viktor would either get fucked or murdered. Perhaps both. If someone asked Viktor what appealed to him about sugaring, he might say something about it forcing him to live entirely in the present moment. There came with his work an awareness of each small detail of the setting—the leather seat and the glare on Sevika’s sunglasses and a clean car smell, as if it had recently been disinfected. Viktor was aware of every inch between his body and Silco’s. He was acutely conscious of his breath and how each angle of him would appear to his observer. He let a blank, neutral mask slip over his face to hide how his pulse shuddered.

And there was something dirty, dangerous, wrong about getting in a car with a man Viktor didn’t know, a man who had thought about fucking him, who was probably thinking about it now.

Silco touched Viktor’s hand as the car pulled out of the lot, and Viktor threaded their fingers together. He flashed Silco a smile before looking out the window. Sevika’s pheromones were faint, like she was wearing scent blockers, but in the enclosed space, Viktor caught a whiff. She was an alpha, too. Made sense.

The car drove to an elegant, downtown neighborhood where sentinel trees stood at perfect attention. Sevika parked the car in a covered lot.

Silco gestured for Viktor to stay where he was, and he exited the car first so he could walk around and get Viktor’s door.

“Thank you.” Viktor accepted a hand up, and then he got his cane under him and was fine without the support.

Silco leaked pheromones like he was trying to scent Viktor up without touching him. Viktor inhaled the pleasant, claiming fragrance and leaned in a little. Now came the part where he played at being seduced, but he didn’t have to play very hard. Sevika shut the door behind him with a thud and locked the car. Silco said, “This way,” and walked Viktor into the building—not touching him but strongly projecting his intent to.

The apartment building had a lobby and a doorman. It was Piltovian in every detail. Velveteen chairs lounged by the window. Viktor’s cane tapped on the tile. Lights in glass shades turned the white marble golden. The man at the front desk nodded to Silco and went back to looking at his computer.

Silco pressed the button for the elevator. While they waited, he touched Viktor’s spine, tracing his fingers down ridge after ridge. He stood close enough for his pheromones to make Viktor loopy.

Viktor wasn’t typically this affected by scents. What was going on?

Sevika followed them into the apartment, locked the door with three locks, and took off her shades at last, tossing them on a counter. She made herself at home in the living room, plucking a book off a shelf and settling on the couch to read. She was staying, then, while Silco and Viktor got to it.

“Watch your step,” Silco said. The door opened on a dais, and two round stairs led down into the apartment.

It was lavish. Floor-to-ceiling windows, hardwood floors, and kitchen cabinets painted charcoal. The decor was straight out of a magazine, all dark, as if Silco had hired a decorator and docked his pay every time he thought the word “yellow.” The rooms Viktor could see were done in warm, deep purples, reds, and blues. The overall effect was luxurious yet cozy. Sevika’s couch was cushy like a nest. A piece of modern art—broad brushstrokes of black and red—hung in the entryway.

There was no clutter. No kitsch. Nothing that turned this magazine spread into a home. “What do you think?” Silco asked, hanging his coat on a standing rack.

“I visit places like this all the time,” Viktor joked. “You’re not impressive.”

“We’ll see if I can change your mind.” Silco led Viktor down the hall and into the bedroom. When Viktor was inside, Silco shut the door.

The bedroom continued the living room’s gothic color scheme. Navy rug. Plum comforter. Textured black modern art on the walls. Viktor peeked around. A walk-in closet half-stocked with clothes. A fancy watch box on the dresser.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Silco asked.

“I’m all right.” He set his bag on the dresser beside the watches and approached Silco. Viktor tugged Silco’s tie out of his vest. His scent was stronger now that they were alone in his bedroom, breaking free of the dampener of cologne. Viktor nosed against Silco’s cheek. “Is kissing okay?”

Silco nodded, face turning to follow him as Viktor cupped the back of Silco’s head and leaned in. The first kiss was soft and anticipatory. Silco’s lips were dry. Viktor licked him open. Then Silco kissed him again, grabbing his arms to hold him still as his tongue invaded Viktor’s mouth.

Viktor moaned. Heat flared in his core. This alpha was rich and strong and unsafe—just what Viktor liked. “Again,” he demanded, tilting his face to the other side. Silco didn’t need much encouragement to press his lips to Viktor’s and lick over Viktor’s tongue, Viktor’s teeth. Viktor shuddered.

Silco broke the kiss. “Do you want your money now, or…”

Viktor shook his head. He trusted Silco to pay up. “Later. Kiss me again.” He backed toward the bed.

Silco followed, reeled in. He shucked off his vest and tie and unbuttoned the top of his shirt. Then he drew Viktor into his arms and mouthed at his neck. “Omega,” he murmured. Silco kissed him right where his scent was strongest, where Silco would bite if he wanted to mate Viktor. His scar was a pleasant friction on Viktor’s jaw as Silco kissed him long, slow, and steady.

The window light flashed bright and dark and bright again as clouds flirted with the evening sun. Silco’s hands were hot on Viktor’s waist, burning through his clothes.

Viktor broke Silco’s hold on him to hop up on the bed and pull his shirt off. Silco stepped between his legs and kissed his mouth again, working him over with expert care. Viktor unbuckled Silco’s belt and unfastened his pants before cupping his bulge through the fabric. “You’re big,” Viktor gasped, and he didn’t even have to lie.

Silco leaned Viktor’s cane carefully against the bedside table, within Viktor’s reach. He flipped it over, looking at the stickers Viktor had placed along the metal, before returning his attention to Viktor. “Lay down,” he ordered, pushing his pants off his legs.

Viktor hadn’t been murdered yet, so he scooted up the bed and arranged himself in the middle, head on a pillow. He reached down to unlatch his leg brace. “Can you put this somewhere?” he asked.

“Certainly.” Silco helped him out of the brace and leaned it beside the cane.

Viktor wiggled out of his pants and underwear and kicked them off the edge of the bed.

Silco climbed on top of him, naked. A lock of hair hung onto his forehead, escaping the product that slicked the rest back. He tore open a condom wrapper and rolled it on.

Viktor had brought condoms, too, but he was happy to let Silco waste one from his own stash. He was happy also that he wouldn’t have to fight to make Silco wear a condom this first time, before Silco showed him a clean bill of health.

Silco settled on top of Viktor and rubbed himself against Viktor’s sex. He was long. Hard as concrete. Silco said, “You’re wet.”

“You’re handsome.” Viktor trailed fingertips up Silco’s back and spread his legs so that Silco fit more comfortably between them. Viktor was warm all over but especially in his core, which flashed hot every time Silco’s cock nudged his own. “And you’ve spent so much money on me. I love alphas who spend money on me.”

Silco just ground himself against Viktor’s folds, speaking into Viktor’s neck. “Was anything else on your profile a lie, besides your name?”

“Remind me what it says.”

“Are you twenty-two?”

“Yeah.” Viktor stroked lazy patterns on Silco’s back. Silco covered him, smothered him, and the folds of the pillow were blinders, narrowing Viktor’s field of vision to a strip of ceiling. He thought about lying—Actually, I’m twenty. I’m eighteen—just to see how Silco would react. The sunlight fluttered off and on.

Silco changed his angle, and his cock pressed against Viktor’s own. “You have a sweet tooth?”

“That’s true as well. I love being fed, but especially sweets.”

“You smell sweet.” Silco kissed his pulse point. His voice was gravelly in Viktor’s ear. “You smell aroused. Is that some sugar baby trick, or are you actually turned on right now?”

“I’m turned on. Though I suppose I could be lying, and you would never know.”

Silco reached between their bodies to guide his dick to Viktor’s entrance, and he found it without delay, pressing just the tip in before settling on his arms and using his hips to force it in the rest of the way.

Viktor made a breathy sound and held tight to Silco’s shoulders. A three-minute countdown started to tick in his mind. (Alphas did not bother to get Viktor off, but they wanted to think they’d gotten Viktor off, so Viktor had to fake an orgasm before they finished. He’d experimented, and three minutes was about the shortest length of sex that could believably bring him to orgasm without risking the alpha coming first and resenting Viktor for having to put extra work in to get him off. If the alpha lasted longer than three minutes, Viktor could always fake a second orgasm.)

Viktor let any and every little noise escape his mouth, whining with each press of Silco’s cock. Good, it was so good.

Silco rested his body weight on him, heavy as a promise. Silco filled him. He was all Viktor could smell, all Viktor could feel. He reeked of arousal and desperation.

He wants me, Viktor thought. He wants this.

“You’re… Fuck,” Silco growled. His hips snapped into Viktor’s. His breath grew loud with exertion, right near Viktor’s ear.

“Come on, Alpha. Come on, Daddy.” Viktor scratched Silco’s shoulders. “You can knot me, if you want.” Silco could fill Viktor even fuller, stretching him to his limit.

He’d paid for Viktor. He’d bribed Viktor with $300 just to text him. He would squander five thousand dollars on the chance to have Viktor a few more times. Maybe Silco would grow bored of this new waste of money eventually, but for now, he was all-in.

“Fuck.” Silco’s voice was a whisper, barely more than a fricative and a vowel breathed against Viktor’s skin. His scent caressed Viktor’s senses, arousal so sharp it stung Viktor’s nose. Oh, Silco ached for this.

Viktor’s subconscious responded to that smell. Good. Blissful. Just take his cock. It’s what you were made for. Viktor bared his throat.

Silco pushed himself up to brace against the headboard, and the bed thudded against the wall. His cock pounded the soft flesh of Viktor’s insides, bruising it better every time.

Viktor lost track of his countdown. He lost track of pretending. “Silco!” He stared at Silco’s cock where it disappeared inside him, shiny with a condom and his own fluids. “I need… I’m going to…”

Viktor shut his eyes as he came, arching off the bed in pathetic little pulses. He grabbed the sheets. He grabbed Silco’s ass, tugging him closer so Viktor could come with that big, beautiful cock as deep as it would go.

Silco fell on top of him again, and he dug one arm under Viktor to clutch him to his chest as he pounded his cunt. “You smell so good,” he groaned. He was firm and hot and panting, and his dick made obscene wet noises with every thrust. Silco’s teeth gnashed together near Viktor’s neck, scraping his scent glands like a knife.

Viktor’s vision went white with fright and the last adrenaline of his orgasm. Silco was too heavy, his mouth too close. He pushed Silco’s chest. It didn’t move. “Don’t,” he choked.

“I’m not going to mate you.” Silco kissed Viktor’s cheek and then his hair. “It’s all right, Omega. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Not going to hurt him. It’s all right, Omega. Silco would never hurt him. Silco smelled like a dream and fucked like a god. Slowly, Viktor’s body stopped being afraid, untensing in waves. This wasn’t just a client—just some jerk paying for the privilege of jacking off into Viktor’s pussy—this was his alpha. Viktor was okay. He could trust Silco.

Silco nipped at Viktor’s collarbone. “I just need—” Silco’s teeth dug into Viktor’s shoulder, muffling his groan as he came. His hips pressed bruising-tight to Viktor’s, and the pressure inside Viktor swelled. Silco made a torn, punched-out sound into the flesh of Viktor’s shoulder, biting like he was trying to mate Viktor here and now.

Would that be so horrible? Viktor’s mind went knot-fuzzy, and he couldn’t inhale enough against Silco’s weight to catch his breath. His shoulder throbbed dully with the venom from Silco’s fangs—anesthetizing Viktor’s wound and lulling him into a stupor. Loopy, Viktor tilted his head away from Silco to expose his throat. Again. Bite him again, this time where it mattered.

A kaleidoscope of pinprick colors swirled around the edges of the room.

Silco was saying something. His fangs were gone from Viktor’s shoulder, and he was tapping Viktor’s cheek. Viktor’s name—he was saying Viktor’s name. “...Viktor? That’s it. There you are.”

Viktor blinked swimmers from his vision.

“Are you all right?”

Viktor tried to sit up, and then he moaned and Silco cursed. Viktor had a knot inside him. He fell back onto the sheets. He blinked some more.

“Shh. Be still,” Silco ordered, and Viktor obeyed. “I should have asked before I bit you. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it would be that intense for you.”

“It’s all right. I liked it.” Viktor looked at his shoulder, but the needle marks from Silco’s fangs hardly looked big enough to have caused such a fuss. A small smudge of blood rimmed one of them.

He’d almost begged Silco to mate him. Besides a cock, what had gotten into him?

Silco said, “Does everyone bite you?” He leaned down to kiss the mark on Viktor’s shoulder. “Gods, I’d needed it.”

Viktor shook his head no. It was never like this. Viktor was never affected like this, had never passed out from a knot like this. His daddies were never overwhelmed enough to put their fangs in him, like they wanted to mate him by accident.

“I don’t believe you,” Silco groaned, pushing his knot farther into Viktor’s cunt. “I bet everyone is just this mad for you.”

Viktor drifted in Silco’s scent—tinged with satisfaction and worry. Silco shouldn’t be worried; Viktor was right where he was meant to be. “I liked when you came,” Viktor said. “Felt so nice.”

Silco’s cock twitched inside him. Silco kissed his bite mark and left his lips there, warm and soft. One of his eyes was half-lidded; the other was just a shadow.

Eventually, his knot eased, and he slipped out of Viktor and tied off the condom.

Viktor rolled onto his stomach. Silco was free with his hands now that the first fuck was through, a tissue paper barrier of civility shredded, but that always happened. What was a pat on the ass after a daddy’d had his cock in Viktor?

Silco ran a hand down Viktor’s back and palmed his butt. He was relaxed, open and relieved, like he’d gotten away with something. “Are you hungry?” he asked Viktor. “You didn’t eat at the cafe.”

Viktor’s nerves, too, had eased now that the first fuck was finished. He didn’t know all of Silco’s secrets, but he knew much more clearly what he was in for—Silco’s size and strength and stamina. The coil of his gut that had twisted all evening relaxed. “I could eat. Can we get something delivered? I don’t want to go out again.”

“Of course.” Silco rubbed Viktor’s ass. “What would you like?”

“Asian.”

Silco grabbed his phone and pulled up DoorDash. He handed it to Viktor.

Viktor found a nearby restaurant, added spring rolls and a cup of soup to the cart, then clicked out of the app to pull up Silco’s contacts. Silco’s eyes were on Viktor, but he didn’t stop him. Viktor found his own contact and changed the name to “baby💖🍒✨.” Then he took a photo of himself, not obviously naked (but Silco would know) to serve as his contact photo. Only then did he pass the phone back to Silco.

Silco huffed his amusement. He added his own meal to the DoorDash order, threw some pants on, and then left the bedroom, presumably to ask Sevika what she wanted for dinner.

Viktor climbed out of bed and limped to the dresser. He stood on his left leg to grab his phone charger out of his bag. He always brought a bag of supplies with him—condoms, snack bars, pepper spray, etc. He felt more naked without it than he did stripped down. He plugged his phone in and returned to the bed.

Viktor relaxed into the comforter, mind wandering. He had to help Heimerdinger tomorrow after class, probably sorting through the stacks of junk in his office again, but Viktor liked the work. Heimerdinger would talk at him a million miles a minute, and Viktor would nod along and add smart commentary while chipping away at the clutter. Sometimes Viktor would uncover an interesting document, and then he and Heimerdinger would spend the rest of Viktor’s hour talking about it.

Silco crawled into bed with him again, and Viktor pulled him into a kiss. They made out, limbs entwined, for long minutes before Silco pulled away and cupped Viktor’s cheek. “Did you add your address to your contact info? Where do I send flowers?”

“You don’t have to send me flowers.”

“I know I don’t have to. I don’t have to do any of this. I didn’t get a sugar baby just for sex. Spoiling you is part of the appeal.” He sat up and pulled out his phone, a motion Viktor was beginning to associate with good things happening. “Speaking of.”

Viktor’s phone vibrated across the room. “What was that?” he asked.

“Your first month’s allowance. I’m a man of my word.”

Viktor crawled into Silco’s lap and kissed him again, reinforcing his good behavior. “Thank you, Daddy. I’ll send pictures of what treats I get myself.”

“I’d like that.”

Sevika knocked on the door sometime later, as they lazed together in bed. “Food’s here.”

Silco fetched it and returned to Viktor’s side, and they ate sitting up in bed, with the quiet intimacy of strangers who knew each other’s moans. Viktor was still naked. He was pretty comfortable being naked, and Silco seemed to like it.

Silco asked, “When can I see you again?”

“Friday is just a few days away. Would you like to meet then?”

“As soon as possible. Friday will do.”

“Am I staying the night tonight? I can, but I’d have to be out early for class.”

Silco shook his head. “I’m heading back to Zaun tonight. Can you come to Zaun on Friday and stay the night then?”

“Sure. Text me your address.” Viktor purposefully hadn’t given Silco his own; Silco already knew his name and school, which was more than any other daddy and was already bordering on too much. Viktor liked Silco, but he’d already crossed too many lines for him.

When Viktor finished eating, Sevika drove him back to the cafe so Viktor could pick up his car. She was silent the whole way, so Viktor was too.

Chapter 5: Pleasure

“Viktor, my boy!” Heimerdinger called when Viktor knocked on the doorframe of his office that afternoon. “Come in, come in!” The Yordle professor sounded even more excitable than usual, which was saying something.

Viktor stepped into the room. “What’s the matter?” he asked, squinting in the sunlight streaming in through the window. One would think that years living in Piltover would have accustomed him to sunlight, but he still needed sunglasses except on the cloudiest days. Then he saw the elephant in the room—or in this case, the giant vase of flowers. Viktor wanted to crawl into a hole and decompose, or text Silco something scathing, or maybe blush. “Who are those for?” Viktor asked, though he had a guess.

“For you!” Heimerdinger said. “Aren’t they delightful? Primroses are my favorite. They arrived this morning with a note.” Heimerdinger ran over and clapped an envelope into Viktor’s hands. The envelope was already open. It said “Viktor” in type.

He pulled out the letter. Printed on the card was a simple message: “From an admirer.” Viktor let out a sigh of relief that Silco hadn’t written anything too mortifying to accompany his gift. Viktor was still going to kill him.

Heimerdinger bounced on his toes. “Well?”

“Well, what?” Viktor slid the note back into the envelope and tossed it in the trash. “Did you go through my mail? Shame on you. You know better than to open a letter addressed to someone else.”

“It was delivered to my office,” Heimerdinger said promptly. “That makes it my mail, from a certain point of view. Well? Do you know who your secret admirer is? Do you have any guesses?” He hopped in place in a circle. “This is so exciting. We should do a matrix to narrow down our hypothesis space. We’ll plot out a dimension for who has interacted with you in the last several weeks and another for who knows you work with me.”

“And who doesn’t know where I live,” Viktor said, unable to help himself from finishing Heimerdinger’s analysis. “Otherwise, he would have sent the flowers directly to me.”

“He?” Heimerdinger quit spinning. “You know the admirer is a he? Or are you guessing?”

Crap. Viktor was caught. He sat in the chair in front of the professor’s desk. What lie would sate Heimerdinger’s curiosity without inviting further questions? “I may,” Viktor said, “have a secret boyfriend. Sort of. It’s new.”

Heimerdinger was stunned speechless for a solid three seconds. Then he inhaled as if he were going to scream.

Viktor cut him off. “I don’t want to talk about it. Like I said, it’s new, and I don’t even know if it’s going to work out.”

“Right, right.” Heimerdinger spread his hands, palms facing Viktor. “We certainly don’t want to jinx this budding romance by putting too much pressure on it. Not that I believe in jinxes, to be clear. I’m a man of science, myself. But there is something to be said for at least a cursory correlation between pressure and romantic fallings-out. I wonder if anyone has ever studied such a thing.” Heimerdinger went to his computer and opened a tab. “Hmm.” He appeared to be searching the library’s database of research.

“Can I get on with my work?” Viktor asked.

“What? Oh, yes, of course.”

Shaking his head, Viktor picked up where he’d left off yesterday, sorting through a stack of last year’s lesson plans.

—

Silco finished typing out an email to the managers of one of his factories:

Glad to hear that we have a solid plan for making up the deficit next week. I want a production report next Friday. Keep me in the loop.

Then another to his team of attorneys:

Any word on getting Josiah out on bail? Yes, you have my permission to take his bail money from the account ending in 8124. Let’s meet soon about what his trial or plea is going to look like. I’m free mornings for the next three days. Send back a date/time that’s good for you.

Silco received a text. He checked it, hiding a smile at Viktor’s contact name.

V: You don’t need to send me flowers if you’re giving me an allowance. The point of the allowance is that I can pick out my own treats. If you’re ALSO sending me gifts, then I’m double-dipping

Silco typed a reply under the desk, hiding his phone from Sevika.

S: What if sending you gifts makes me happy? Are you going to deny me the pleasure of spoiling you?

I can’t wait to see you again. Been thinking of you

V: Me too ❤️

Silco quit looking at his phone and returned his attention to his email, but no new messages had appeared in the last few minutes, so he glanced around the room for another distraction. His spacious office was empty except for Sevika, who was always around.

Silco asked her, “Don’t you have a life? How many hours are you working this week?”

“No, I don’t.” She sat on one of the room’s couches and flipped through a magazine. “Since I have no life outside of you, I’m covering a couple of Vese’s shifts. Her kid’s sick.”

“The little one? The boy?”

Sevika nodded without taking her eyes off the magazine. Silco knew she was still attentive to the room, and if anything or anyone threatened Silco, she’d be by his side in an instant.

Silco would put together a small gift for Vese to help her cover doctors’ expenses. He was getting into this generosity thing since striking up an arrangement with Viktor.

What else could Silco send Viktor? He had a sweet tooth, but chocolates would be too banal. Silco had already done flowers, and if he sent chocolates next, Viktor would think he had no imagination.

“What are you smiling about?” Sevika asked.

Was Sevika dense? She’d watched him pick up and take home a sugar baby the other day. Silco drawled, “I’ll give you three guesses.”

Sevika snorted. “When are you seeing him again?”

“Friday.”

“You have a meeting with Singed on Friday. Just a reminder.”

Right. “I can do both. I don’t know what time Viktor will be arriving. Can we have someone meet him at the door to escort him through security?”

Sevika pulled out her phone, presumably to text one of the other bodyguards. “Done. Trace is on it.”

“Good.”

Silco received another text from baby💖🍒✨—a screenshot of STI panel results, all clear. Silco thanked Viktor and let him know that his own appointment was the following morning. Silco hoped to have his results back by Friday so he could slip into Viktor uninhibited by latex.

In just a few days, Silco could finish in him, pull out and see Viktor dripping. Silco longed to smell himself between Viktor’s thighs, to pry him open and bury his face in Viktor’s pussy after they’d fucked, to eat his own release out of him.

What would it take to make Viktor purr? Could Silco get him there with enough orgasms? With soft blankets and nesting pillows? What did Viktor’s nest look like at home? Should Silco make up his own bed like a nest to make Viktor comfortable while he stayed the night?

When was Viktor’s next heat? Silco froze at that thought, staring off into the middle distance. Surely Silco wouldn’t be invited to share Viktor’s heat with him. Heats were too vulnerable, too personal to be transactional. Silco could afford Viktor some dignity while he was unconscious with lust.

After how much time together would Viktor start to smell claimed? Silco tapped a pen on the desk. Once a week meetings might not be enough to mingle their scents and inform every stranger that Viktor was off the market. Viktor was accommodating, though. If Silco sent him home with a blanket that smelled like Silco, Viktor would probably sleep with it, so bits of alpha pheromones could linger on Viktor, and his body would know it had a long-term partner. Silco fantasized about marking Viktor’s neck up with bruises and sending him back to Piltover reeking of Silco. Mine.

“He probably works with alphas,” Silco announced out of the blue, “doesn’t he? At the academy?”

“You sound like a crazy person,” Sevika said.

Silco knew it, and he didn’t care. “This can’t be the first time.”

“You’re right. It’s not.” She flipped to the next page of her magazine. “Are you going to butcher me if I brush against him and accidentally scent him a little?”

“No.” Sevika’s smell on Viktor wasn’t a threat to Silco’s claim; Sevika was an extension of himself. “You’re family.”

“Honored.” She sounded bored.

His lawyers emailed back a few paragraphs and a calendar invite; Silco returned to work.

—

Viktor pulled up at the address Silco had sent him and spent five more minutes driving around looking for parking. He was deep downtown, down in the understory of Zaun, which was dense with development. He triple-checked the address of the building. Silco had said he owned a nightclub, but Viktor hadn’t known what to picture; this place was massive and bustling. A neon eye glowed above the entrance. A line of people a block long waited for entry. The building was at least four stories tall, and graffiti burst along the wall and spilled onto the sidewalk.

A rowdy group moved down the street, holding signs and chanting, “No more checkpoints,” and “Our city, our rules!”

He chewed on some mint gum. Unbuckled his seat belt. He was wearing baggy pants and a tank top cut open at the sides. He’d applied thin eyeliner too and stacked some leather bracelets, not sure what constituted “nightclub” attire.

He reread the text from Silco.

S: A bodyguard named Trace will meet you at the front entrance. He has black, shaggy hair and a snake tattoo.

Okay, Viktor would find Trace. He got out of the car, swung his bag over his shoulder, and wandered to the entrance of the building, bypassing the line. He tried to look lost so that Trace would rescue him.

“Excuse me,” said a beta man, approaching Viktor. “Are you Viktor?” The man had a snake tattoo.

“Trace?”

“That’s me. Come this way.”

The nightclub was as dim as a cave, lit by flashing pulses and shaded lamps. Music blared so loud Viktor’s ears hurt. Waitresses and bartenders were dressed in matching sets of red lingerie. Guests smoked delicate shimmer pipes, and a purple miasma faded out the ceiling. Here and there, Viktor saw eye tattoos matching the sign outside. Viktor could guess who the symbol stood for.

The club was two stories. A couple of young women danced on a stage, bumbling drunk and falling out of their dresses. Stairs led up to a balcony where more people danced.

Even with his escort, Viktor got a few catcalls on the walk through the nightclub.

“Hey, Omega.”

“You don’t have an alpha?”

“Hey, let me buy you a drink!”

Viktor ignored them.

Trace led Viktor through a door and up two hidden flights of stairs. The music was muffled, now, and the lights brighter, all fluorescent. Not much sunlight reached this far down in Zaun. They passed a bouncer heading downward and a tattooed guard, both of whom nodded at Trace.

Trace knocked on a final door as Viktor glanced back down the hallway. The upper levels of the nightclub were walled in polished shiplap. It smelled only faintly of shimmer, here. Someone said, “Come in,” and Trace pushed open the door. Viktor followed him inside.

“You may go,” Silco said. He was seated at a stately wooden desk. A half-smoked cigar rested between two fingers. There was no mistaking who controlled the nightclub and whatever went on in the stories above it and those people with eye tattoos. Two days ago, he’d let them draw blood at a clinic just so Viktor could feel safer fucking him.

Trace nodded and left the room, and Silco and Viktor were alone.

Confidence was nine-tenths of sugaring. Viktor chewed on his gum and wandered closer. The rug muffled his cane. “Your building doesn’t have disabled parking,” he said.

Silco said, “That’ll be fixed by tomorrow.” He pulled out his phone and sent someone a message. When Silco spoke, change happened. He set the phone aside again.

Viktor paused a couple of yards away. The room was spacious, with a bar of its own (though it was untended, now), several couches and chairs, and a poker table. Turkish rugs delineated different sections of the room. Statuary and potted plants filled the blank spaces, such as a likeness of a queen chess piece on Silco’s desk. “I like your nightclub.”

“Oh, the nightclub is a front.”

Viktor blinked. He’d said that so brazenly. “A front for what?”

Silco leaned back in his chair and took a puff of his cigar. “Gambling. Shimmer. Smuggling. Councilmen in Piltover crave foreign spirits that they can’t acquire legally. I provide a service.” Silco cocked his head. “You look startled. You said you thought I was a gangster.”

“I guess I didn’t think it, you know?” Viktor tapped his way down the office, looking at the baroque paintings on the walls. Unlike in the club below, the office decor was expensive and clean. The paintings hung in gilded frames. He shot at Silco, “You’ve seriously never had a sugar baby?”

“No. I never considered it before you.”

Viktor smacked his gum again. “No girlfriend?”

“No boyfriend, either.”

“Mate? Kids?”

“Does this have a point?” Silco asked.

Viktor wandered up to Silco and perched against his desk, and Silco spun the chair to look up at him. Viktor leaned down and brushed his lips against Silco’s. Viktor smiled. “No one I have to share you with?” Silco cupped Viktor’s face and kissed him until Viktor said, “Hold on a minute,” found a trash can, and spit out his gum. “Okay,” Viktor said, climbing onto Silco’s chair, kneeling over him.

Silco set his cigar in an ashtray. He pulled him deep into a kiss, opening his mouth to let Viktor lick inside. Silco smelled just as good as Viktor remembered. He kissed just as well. Viktor would have fucked Silco even if he hadn’t been paid for the privilege.

Silco slid his hands up Viktor’s legs and under the tank top, teasing against his ribs. “I looked forward to this,” he said, a breath away from Viktor’s lips.

“So did I.”

A knock sounded on the door, and Viktor and Silco broke apart. Silco glanced at the door.

Viktor raised an eyebrow at Silco. Smirking, he ground down into Silco’s lap. Any visitor would see Viktor all over Silco like a rash.

Laughing under his breath, Silco shushed and stopped him.

“You can let whoever it is in,” Viktor said. “I don’t mind an audience.”

Silco stole another brief kiss. “All right.” Eyes on Viktor, Silco said, “Come in,” in a carrying voice.

Viktor didn’t imagine the visitor could be anyone important. He was proven wrong when the door opened and a familiar voice said his name.

Chapter 6: The Skirmish

“Viktor?” Singed asked.

In Silco’s lap, Viktor spun around, hands on Silco’s armrests. “Singed?” There was shock on his young face, and his smell soured like a peach left in the sun.

Silco’s hands were still under Viktor’s shirt, but Viktor pushed them out. “What?” Silco asked, looking between the two men. “You know each other?”

Singed’s expression was difficult to read under all the scarring, but he seemed startled. “What are you doing here?” Singed asked Viktor. His eyes slid over to Silco. “With him?” He said him with cool disdain and Viktor’s name as if it were precious.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Viktor said.

Silco coughed into his fist, hiding a laugh. “Just how do you two know each other? Catch me up.”

“How do you two know each other?” Viktor countered.

“I was his alpha before you,” Singed said in reply to Silco.

“You were not!” Viktor said. And then, somewhat inconsistently, “And you never will be again!”

Obviously, the visitor had shaken Viktor. Obviously, there was something between the two men. Silco gazed from Viktor to Singed, confused. His blood warmed with a flicker of jealousy. Had Singed had Viktor? Carefully, Silco responded to Viktor’s question of how Silco knew the chemist. “Viktor, Singed formulated shimmer.”

Eyes wide and wild as an owl’s, Viktor stumbled out of Silco’s lap. “You don’t just smuggle shimmer,” he said like he was realizing the truth as he spoke it. “You originated shimmer.” He looked at Silco like Silco had betrayed him, but Silco didn’t know what he’d done. Panic leached into Viktor’s voice as he glanced between the two alphas, moving back toward the wall. “What is this? You two are partners?” He limped, favoring his good foot, caneless. He demanded of Silco, “Did you track me down for him?”

“I didn’t even know you two had met!” Silco said. “Viktor, what’s wrong?”

Viktor braced himself against a bookshelf. “You’re a little more important than I realized,” Viktor said sickly. He nodded to Singed. “And he took care of me when I was a young teenager. That’s how I know him. I was his student and assistant, and then we had a falling-out.”

“Took care of you.” Silco turned his eyes on Singed.

“He was on the streets. He became my apprentice. Brilliant child.” Singed rasped, “Viktor, look at you. You’ve grown so much.”

“You knew him when he was a teenager?” Silco asked. “What do you want of him now?”

“He’s no longer a child,” Singed said, releasing pheromones to calm and subdue. It was a malign move, underhanded, pretty poison in the air to lull an omega into submission. A perfect betrayal—it would only work on an omega pre-inclined to heed that alpha’s scent.

Silco watched Viktor meld against the bookshelf. His body still remembered its old master. Gone were his liveliness, his cheer, his cheek.

Singed begged Viktor in his gentle, grating voice. “Omega, think of all we could do together. Come home.”

Silco stood. He didn’t like the sinister, measured approach of Singed toward Viktor, cornering him like a wounded animal. He didn’t like the miserable cast to Viktor’s expression. Silco growled.

Singed paused and faced the threat, the competitor. “You’ll let me take him, won’t you? As a token of our partnership all these years.” Viktor’s sudden, visceral response to the authoritative pheromones should have been proof enough that he belonged to Singed; the chemist expected Silco to relinquish his claim.

But Silco resisted. “He doesn’t seem like he wants to go,” Silco said, his voice dangerous. And now they were both putting off pheromones, aggressive and territorial.

Viktor had accused Silco of tracking Viktor down. Viktor thought Silco had lured him out of hiding just to, what? Fuck him a few times before dumping him at his ally’s feet for Singed to mate by force?

If Viktor feared he were stranded in a room of enemies, Silco would prove him wrong. Viktor belonged to Silco alone, and Silco would fight to keep him. “Do you want to go, baby?”

Viktor shook his head.

Silco said, “That’s it, then. Just try and take him from me.”

“You can have any omega you wish,” Singed said. “This one is mine by right. You’re a reasonable man, Silco.”

“You’re mistaken.” The fire in his veins and ache in his teeth suggested anything but reason.

They could battle it out here; Silco was ready. He didn’t know Singed’s precise intentions with Viktor, but he smelled like he wanted to mate him. He thought Silco would pass this omega off like a used toy. Silco glanced at Viktor. Slumped against the bookshelf, still. Wilted. Not running, not fighting. How could he? He could mount no resistance.

For all the world’s innovation—democratic councils and solar-powered cars and brain surgery—for all that Piltover bragged of progress, Silco knew how things really got done. A handshake in an alley, a knife against a throat, an omega cornered and bitten in the neck. The same ruthlessness that drove Zaun drove Piltover, too; the Zaunites simply masked it less.

Singed and Silco stared one another down, surrounded by the accoutrements of civility while engaged in a standoff as primitive as sex. The AC clicked on. Crows leered down from oil paintings, feathers askew. Singed said, “I’ll buy him from you.”

“He’s not for sale.” The words were chalk in his throat. Viktor was for sale. Silco had appraised him at $5,000.

“You’ve known him, what, a few weeks? Months? I’ve known him for years.” A playground argument. I saw it first.

“Viktor is mine,” Silco said. “You won’t change my mind on this. Back down, and we can still part on good terms.”

Silco was firm in his refusal, and Singed knew it. He stepped toward the door, and his flood of pheromones cut off. “Fine. But you can’t be everywhere at once.” Singed shrugged. “And who’ll notice a Zaunite omega going missing?”

Silco growled again, crossed the space between them, and punched Singed in the face.

Singed’s head whipped to the side, and he stumbled backwards. Another punch, and he went down. Blood dripped from his nose.

Not enough. Silco picked up the dense chess piece statue from his desk. He knelt over Singed’s torso and hit him in the face with it.

Viktor belonged to Silco. Singed should have cut his losses and found himself a different omega to play master and apprentice with. Silco would release Viktor to no other alphas, least of all this freak, no matter how long or productive their partnership had been.

Singed tried to push Silco off his body. Silco struck again and again. Bone cracked, and Singed screamed. Silco stood, and he kicked Singed in the ribs; then he stamped hard into Singed’s abdomen, just for good measure.

The door burst open, and in ran Sevika and two other bodyguards. “We heard—” she started, and then she took in the scene: Silco, and the bloody statue, and his ally and partner laid out before him with a caved-in face. “Everything good here?”

“It’s been taken care of,” Silco said. “Now you take care of this.” He kicked Singed again, making him moan. His face was a mass of blood.

Sevika took the weapon from Silco. She told her men, “You heard him. Take out this trash.” They picked up Singed under the shoulders and carried his drooping form to the door. This wasn’t Silco’s first body, nor was it theirs. Silco wondered who would make the final cut, if Singed even lasted that long.

Fuck. Silco had just beaten a man half to death in front of an omega. With trepidation, he looked at Viktor, who had last been huddling against the wall.

Viktor was perked up, and it was difficult to tell over all the blood, but he smelled… pleased. Interested. Certainly not scared. Not sour, like he’d smelled when Singed walked in.

Silco plucked a handkerchief from his pocket, shook it out, and dabbed at the blood on the backs of his knuckles. “Are you all right?” Silco asked.

“Yes. Thank you.” Viktor had a faraway focus in his eyes, like he did when Silco flooded him with his scent. Silco supposed his scent was rather strong right now, and the omega seemed to like it.

To the victor, the spoils.

An ancient instinct animated Silco. No one stood in his way as he ushered Viktor out of the room and up the stairs to the residential floor. Silco locked the door to his flat, a penthouse at the top of the building. The music didn’t reach them up here.

Drunk on triumph, drunk on Viktor’s licorice scent, Silco kissed Viktor into the bedroom. He kissed him out of his clothes. And then he bent Viktor over the edge of the vast, circular bed. “I can fuck you raw, can’t I?” Silco asked, gripping Viktor’s trim waist. He pressed his clothed hips against Viktor’s naked ones.

“I said you could, didn’t I? Fuck me, Daddy.”

Silco massaged Viktor’s back. Then he unbuckled his pants and got them and his underwear down far enough to work with. Silco pushed into the tight, wet heat of him, forcing him open over the course of several thrusts. Then Silco snapped his hips into Viktor’s, hands on his waist for leverage. Viktor never needed any other alpha, any other cock. He might be safe from the claws of Singed, and he might have dropped his other daddies, but he hadn’t sworn absolute loyalty to Silco. “I’m jealous-minded,” Silco said, and the scene in the other room was proof. Even now, Viktor didn’t smell enough like Silco’s—he needed to smell unavailable, totally and unequivocally. (Singed had thought Viktor was ripe for the picking.) Silco bent down and licked Viktor’s neck over both scent glands, dragging his tongue in wide circles. “No one else gets to have you, understand? No one I have to share you with.”

Viktor’s body shuddered. “All right.” He smelled happy. “You’d just kill them anyway.”

“That’s right.” Silco pounded into Viktor’s body. “How long do you think you’d smell like me if I rubbed my cum on your neck?”

Viktor made a small noise in his throat.

He was either a skillful actor or he was enjoying this as much as Silco, and Silco could never know which because a skillful actor could lie. The age-old wisdom—don’t fall in love with the prostitute—had seemed like common sense until the first time Silco had to put it into practice.

All that slick, was that for Silco? All those little moans—that gentle Ah, ah, ah—were those pretended? “Is this good?” Silco asked.

“Yes, Alpha.”

“You’re not scared?” Silco asked.

Viktor shook his head, panting. “Now we know truths about each other.” Viktor knew what kind of man Silco was. “By the way, I live on Willow Lane, the yellow building. Apartment 1 on the ground floor. You can send your gifts there.”

Viktor trusted Silco, even after witnessing Silco’s violence. Silco bent over him and sucked his neck until it was bruised up and down the side with mottled, purple patches and Viktor was whimpering. Silco marked his territory with scent and spit and teeth.

Protect him, fuck him, satiate him.

“I need to bite you again.” Silco needed his fangs embedded in Viktor, needed Viktor going limp and breathy again. He needed it, he needed it.

“Just,” Viktor gasped, “just not my neck.”

Viktor wanted to be mated. He wanted Silco to bury his teeth in him and hold him down and breed him. Silco dug his canines into the meat of Viktor’s shoulder, on the opposite side of his first bite mark.

Then again, maybe Viktor was telling the truth about sex never feeling like this before. He said his other partners weren’t in the habit of biting him, and if he were lying, he’d have scars to prove it. The unmarked flesh of Viktor’s back and neck was a love letter to Silco’s possessive envy.

Like before, he came when his teeth pierced Viktor’s shoulder. Viktor cried out and went stiff, squeezing Silco’s knot as it formed. He was so tight: a nailed-shut coffin. Here was where Silco would be buried forever, and here was where Silco would die.

Viktor relaxed, panting.

Silco extracted his fangs as carefully as he could. He’d left a few uneven imprints in Viktor’s flesh, spotted with blood. “Did you come?” He licked the metallic taste from between his teeth.

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to come the next time on my fingers or my mouth?”

Viktor whined. “Next time?”

“You’re staying the night, aren’t you? You don’t need to walk.”

When Silco could move again, he replaced his cock with two fingers, pushing them in and out of Viktor in a slow, stabbing fuck. Viktor’s leg twitched. Silco set his free hand on Viktor’s lower back to steady him.

“You’re going to smell like me,” Silco said, “so everyone else fucks off.” Silco pulled cum out of Viktor and stuck his fingers into Viktor’s mouth.

Viktor’s head turned back until he could make eye contact with Silco. He held his mouth open even as Silco fucked his fingers down his tongue, even as his golden eyes watered. He gagged once, and Silco stuck his fingers into Viktor’s leaking pussy instead, collecting more cum. He painted cum and saliva on either side of Viktor’s neck. Then he finger-fucked Viktor until Viktor was writhing.

“Singed ever fuck you?”

“No.”

Good. “He ever kiss you?”

“No, no, he didn’t touch me.”

Silco knelt behind Viktor and replaced his fingers with his mouth. His thumbs held Viktor’s thighs open so Silco could bury his face between and lick long, slow circles around Viktor’s cock.

Viktor rocked his hips into Silco’s mouth and moaned.

Silco dug his tongue as deep as it would go into Viktor’s entrance, and then he licked up the whole thing over and over, brushing Viktor’s cock each pass. Now Viktor was chanting Silco’s name. Silco closed his mouth over Viktor’s cock and sucked. Silco’s name was broken off, and Viktor gushed onto Silco’s chin. Now Silco had made Viktor come both with penetration and without.

When Silco was done licking Viktor clean, he helped him to the bathroom and then back into bed. He was pliant, moving where Silco put him. Ripe for the picking. Picked by Silco.

Viktor pulled the covers up to his chest and relaxed. His hands splayed out on top of the comforter.

Silco guided Viktor onto his side and curled up around him. Silco’s arm went over Viktor’s middle, keeping their naked bodies pressed together. Silco almost asked, again, if Viktor were satisfied, if he were afraid, until Silco felt Viktor purring—faint, rumbling vibrations as he breathed. The purr was barely noticeable. Silco was mute to listen to it.

Viktor’s purr paused. “I liked it without a condom,” he said.

Silco was filthy rich on drug money and would beat a man to death for threatening Viktor, and the lack of a condom was the change he commented on? Silco laughed. “Me too.”

Chapter 7: Boredom

Silco’s real apartment was even larger than his apartment in Piltover and even more richly furnished. A solid piece of rough, striated stone mantled one wall. Another solid piece of stone, polished on top, made up the first dining table. The second dining table was tucked in a nook of five arched windows overlooking the underground development of Zaun. There were separate televisions in separate living areas—one with a modern black couch and one whose couches had scrolled, old-fashioned arms.

The chandelier in the entry hall was silver, as were the kitchen appliances. Each bathroom was done in a different jewel tone. Gold detailing accented the green marble master bathroom. The morning after Silco fucked Viktor for the second time, Silco and Viktor sat in the tub.

“You use a maid service,” Viktor said. His back was pressed to Silco’s chest, and Viktor could feel him breathe.

Silco drew nonsense patterns on the inside of his knee. “Obviously.”

“I can’t imagine trying to clean this place ourselves.” Viktor pulled the tray of pastries and fruit (delivered from a restaurant) closer on the wide lip of the tub. He took a bite of a cherry danish and took his time licking pastry flakes off his lips because Silco was watching.

“I want to knot you in this tub,” Silco said.

“Doesn’t sound very sanitary.”

“I want to knot you everywhere.”

This bathroom’s chandelier was a swirl of beaded strings, and the beads glowed like jellyfish. “So knot me everywhere. Every room in this house is beautiful. I’m sure I won’t get bored.”

Luckily, the lip of the tub was rounded because Silco bent him over the edge to do just that. Water splashed, but none of it spilled. Viktor studied the layers in the tub’s emerald marble as Silco fucked him from behind.

“You could just keep me,” Viktor mused.

Silco froze for a moment.

“Like Singed tried to.”

Silco resumed his movement, hands on Viktor’s waist to steady him against his thrusts.

Viktor traced an iridescent vein. “No one would notice if a Zaunite omega went missing.”

“Your professor would notice,” Silco said.

That might be true.

Viktor had been so terrified last night, when Singed had appeared like a ghost and suddenly, Viktor was outnumbered by alphas older and more powerful than him. Presently, he was at such peace that his terror felt like a bad dream.

In all the times he’d imagined reuniting with Singed, Viktor had never pictured Singed begging for Viktor’s forgiveness and telling him to come home, voice as soft as a threat. Singed had betrayed Viktor so thoroughly; he’d known how much Viktor cherished the first friend he’d ever had, and still he’d killed Rio to use her body for raw material.

Singed had prowled like a predator, at home in Silco’s office. His smell was familiar and the glint in his eye when he looked at Viktor’s body was decidedly not. Viktor had neither family nor alpha—no one to protect him. If Singed bit Viktor’s neck, then Viktor would belong to him by law, and not even Heimerdinger could have prised Viktor from Singed’s clutches.

Viktor shivered, remembering the damp, dripping cave where he’d lived as a boy, inhaling fumes. He remembered the crunch of Silco’s statue against Singed’s jaw.

Did Viktor even have a birth certificate? Besides his enrollment at the Academy, did Piltover know he existed? If Singed chained Viktor up in a secret laboratory among vials of specimens, Viktor doubted anyone would care to find him.

Viktor said, “I thought you were going to give me to him.”

“Never. I would never.” Silco kissed Viktor’s back. Warm water lapped at Viktor’s skin. “And if I kept you, I would be so good to you, Omega. I would give you everything you wanted.”

“I know you would.” Viktor braced against Silco’s thrusts, helping Silco fuck him faster. He’d never trusted an alpha this absolutely, but Silco was already more partner than client. “Fuck me and feed me all day,” Viktor demanded.

“Anything,” Silco said.

“I just want to lay around all day and be spoiled.”

“Perfect. Now you’re getting it. Are you going to stop protesting when I send you gifts?”

“Yes.” Viktor smiled and closed his eyes, better to feel Silco’s cock inside him.

“Do you want to go out for lunch? I want to take you out.”

Viktor had a change of clothes in his bag, so he was prepared for this. He would let Silco spend money on him until Silco ran out of steam or cash, and with his drug empire, that might take a long while. “Yes. Let’s go out,” he said. “Just keep pampering me until you grow bored.”

“I won’t get bored,” Silco said.

“That’s a big promise.”

“I mean it, though. I can’t imagine ever growing tired of you.”

“In for life, then.” Viktor smiled. “When do I get my gang tattoo?”

Silco waited a moment to answer, fucking Viktor in silence. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret. Tattoos are permanent.”

“What, you’re allowed to make grand pronouncements, and I’m not? You’ve already killed a guy for me. That’s pretty permanent, too.”

Silco’s hands tightened around his waist. Silco’s scent spiked, rich as molasses. He didn’t speak again until he’d made Viktor come and added another bite mark to the collection.

—

Viktor watched Silco dress from the bed, watched him roll up the sleeves of a crisp shirt and fasten a watch around his wrist. Soft, dark hair dusted his forearms.

Silco brought Viktor to a downtown district he hadn’t even known existed, a playground for the upper echelon of Zaunites. The complex was one massive structure of restaurants, shopping centers, and a hotel; although the sections attached to one another, they were built with different materials and designs. The ground floor—the top floor—sported the only windows and a restaurant with a glass roof. Each layer below, accessed by escalators, was artificially lit.

Viktor and Silco ate at the above-ground restaurant, but the sky was overcast, so it still felt like home. A bodyguard (not Sevika) accompanied them and sat a few tables away, out of earshot.

Polite chatter and the clink of silverware surrounded Viktor and Silco. A uniformed waiter handed them menus and asked if they’d like to see a selection of wines. Silco said, “I’ll have whiskey.” He asked Viktor, “Do you want to see the wine list?”

“No. You pick what I should drink.”

Silco liked that. He smirked at Viktor and told the waiter, “Something sweet. Do you have a Moscato?”

“We do.” The waiter carded Viktor, and then he brought them their drinks and left while they perused the food menus.

Viktor was sugaring with an alpha he liked and trusted, like sugaring was supposed to be. He barely glanced at the options, and then he set the menu aside. “You pick my meal, too. I don’t care.”

“All right. I’m going to order you a lot of food. Don’t argue.”

Viktor pouted. “I can’t argue even a little? I so love to argue.”

“You’re skin and bones. What have you been eating up in Piltover?”

“Hot pockets, mostly.” Viktor sipped his Moscato, laughing to himself at the unimpressed look on Silco’s face. The waiter returned, and Viktor let Silco speak for them both.

Silco ordered a pasta dish for himself, and for Viktor, three courses of soup, artichoke hearts drenched in butter, and chunks of lamb on skewers.

Viktor tucked in with enthusiasm. He hadn’t had a meal this delicious since Heimerdinger took Viktor out to celebrate his scholarship approval.

“Are you happy?” Silco asked. “Is it good?”

He was happier than he’d ever been. Viktor said, “Can’t you tell? I’m about to start purring.”

“Good.” Silco flashed sharp canines, and Viktor’s shoulders ached with memory.

“I have a question,” Viktor said, “but I don’t want to bring down the mood.”

Silco wiped his fingers on the napkin in his lap. The backs of his knuckles were scabbed-over. “Ask away.”

“Were you close with Singed?” Viktor pushed sauce around on his plate of lamb. That was the closest he could get to asking if Silco regretted killing him.

“We were business partners. He made the chems, and I distributed them. We both profited.”

Business partners, not friends. “Who is going to make them now? Did I ruin your business model?”

“You didn’t ruin anything. He did.”

Still, “Do you have the recipes?”

“Yes. So I can keep making product. I suppose if I want to release a new formula, I’ll hire another chemist.”

“I can help,” Viktor volunteered. “I’m familiar with his work.”

Silco looked interested. “That’s right. And your minor is in chemical engineering, isn’t it?”

Viktor nodded.

“I might have you play around in his lab someday—see what you come up with. I would pay you, of course.”

“Those are my favorite words.”

Silco smiled. “What do you want for dessert?”

“I changed my mind,” Viktor said. “Those are my favorite.”

—

Viktor drove back to Piltover at a reasonable hour that afternoon so he could take a nap and do some homework. He crossed the river on one of the drivable bridges and pulled up to the checkpoint. Cars without the Zaunite sticker drove freely past.

The guard waved Viktor’s window down nonchalantly. “Paperwork?” he said.

Viktor handed him his academy ID. It marked him as a good Zaunite, a university student, with a reason to cross the river. Ahead of him, the golden city glittered in the sun.

The guard glanced at it and handed it back. “Carry on,” he said. “Have a nice day.”

Viktor put the ID back in his wallet, adjusted his sunglasses, and drove on.

—

“So did Singed try to scent him, or what?” Sevika finally asked one day.

“Kidnap him,” Silco replied.

Sevika was silent for a beat. Then she said, “Ah. I would have done the same thing.”

—

Life went on. Viktor went to classes and finished decluttering Heimerdinger’s office and started reorganizing Heimerdinger’s bookshelf. He paid that month’s rent in full out of Silco’s allowance money. Every Friday, he drove across the river to spend a night and part of the next day with Silco. Every week, gifts arrived at his door.

First it was a selection of hand-crafted Turkish delights, their labels in Arabic. Gooey, pomegranate candy rolled in pistachio crumbs. Chewy chocolate dusted with sugar.

Then it was a singular diamond stud for Viktor’s singular piercing. Viktor was pretty sure it was a real diamond.

Then a large box arrived, and Viktor opened it with palpitations in his heart, wondering what over-the-top present Silco had sent him this time. He was confused to find a normal-looking, albeit silky, blanket until he lifted it and smelled Silco all over it. Viktor pressed the blanket to his nose and inhaled, missing Silco suddenly and fiercely. Friday couldn’t come quickly enough.

A note fell out of the blanket folds. It explained that Viktor could refuse the blanket for any reason, but in case he kept it, Silco hoped Viktor would fall asleep thinking of Silco the way Silco fell asleep thinking of him. Viktor spread the blanket over his bed.

The next gift was a dildo Viktor vaguely remembered adding to the trashy little wishlist on his sugaring app. Viktor laughed when he saw it. He pulled up the app, untouched these past weeks, and compared the dildoes. Yep, same color, same conical shape, broadening to a three-inch diameter at the base. Viktor texted a photo of the dildo to Silco.

V: Got your gift 🍆Anything in particular you want to see me do with it?

Then, as long as he had the app out, Viktor deleted his profile. Silco had him well under care.

S: Can you actually fit that inside you?

Viktor almost sent a confident affirmative, but then he doubted himself. He tried to close his fingers around the base of the dildo, but his fingers didn’t touch. He’d better check before he made Silco a promise he couldn’t keep.

Naked in the bathroom, Viktor slicked up the dildo with lube, set it on the tile, and worked himself down on it gradually.

The dildo’s slope, textured with gentle bumps, pressed his entrance wider a bit at a time. Viktor was halfway down before he realized that the biggest challenge might be taking the dildo’s entire length, not its girth. Viktor was determined to do it, though.

He made himself aroused on the memory of Silco’s knot, filling him so thoroughly he had no room for thoughts.

Three quarters of the way. Viktor paused, breathing hard like he’d climbed a long staircase, but he was no quitter. He slid back up the dildo to fuck himself with the tip for a bit until he relaxed. Then he sank down once more, and his bodyweight helped gravity pull him until Viktor sat flush against the tile floor.

He grabbed his phone and texted Silco.

V: Want to see?

S: Yes

Viktor snapped a picture of the base of the dildo peeking out between Viktor’s legs. He sent the picture with a caption.

V: I like it. Thank you, Daddy. This will make nights less lonely without you.

Silco didn’t reply for a few minutes. Then Viktor received a Cash App gift and a photo from Silco. Eagerly, Viktor opened the text. Dick pic, he prayed.

The gods heard him. The photo showed Silco in a bathroom cubicle, hand around his cock.

S: I’m supposed to be working.

V: Crime can wait five minutes.

To fuel him on, Viktor sent another photo of the dildo between his legs, this time with a few inches exposed at the base, and from a new angle. That Cash App gift covered a few dirty pictures.

S: I’m not going to last five minutes

Can you send a video?

His wish was Viktor’s command. Viktor set the phone against the wall, recording just his lower half. He clicked record. He let his moans echo around the bathroom as he raised and lowered himself on the dildo. The silicone glistened with lube and Viktor’s own, natural arousal. He sent Silco the video.

In another minute, Silco told Viktor that he’d come. Viktor finished himself off and went on with his day, content.

So Silco had not grown bored of spoiling Viktor yet. Viktor kept waiting for his interest to decline, but if anything, it ramped up. Silco texted him throughout the day, and the texts weren’t limited to sexting. Viktor called him a few times at night to chat before he fell asleep. Silco asked after Viktor’s course of study, and Viktor told him all about his classes.

Two months into their arrangement, Viktor deleted the sugaring app entirely.

Three months into their arrangement, Viktor smelled like he had an alpha, and catcalls all but disappeared. Take yesterday, for instance. An alpha passing him on the quad had smirked, glanced down Viktor’s body, then gotten close enough to smell Viktor (and alpha all over him), and his interest had dropped like snow from a branch. He’d walked on without another look at Viktor.

Silco was good for Viktor’s health, too. Viktor had gained a little weight from all the snacks Silco sent him.

With his generous allowance, he bought himself gifts, and he sent Silco pictures. For example:

V: New headphones!! I love them so much!

S: I bought those?

V: Yes, thank you, Daddy!❤️

S: Good. They’re cute on you. No more earbuds, then?

V: Nope! No more tangled cords! And the sound is so good

S: Do you need them in any other colors?

Viktor laughed. Silco was always doing that: nudging Viktor to accept more money and gifts. Viktor never wanted to leave.

V: You’d better be careful. I’m getting used to your generosity.

S: That’s how I want it. Wear something cute on Friday. I’m taking you out to dinner and a movie.

V: I always wear something cute.

Viktor sent a photo of his current outfit as proof. High-waisted black business pants, fitted tank, and an undone button-up.

S: True

You’re so hot. Come over today. Come over right now.

Viktor laughed again, alone in his tiny apartment. He smiled at his phone like a crazy person. Silco made him crazy.

V: I want to, but I have to help the professor again today.

S: Fine. I’ll miss you.

V: Me too

—

Viktor snacked on Silco’s latest present while he graded papers for Heimerdinger: kettle corn drizzled with dark and white chocolate. Viktor heard Heimerdinger coming down the hall, chatting with someone in his typical, exuberant fashion.

“I’ll look over your proposal right away,” Heimerdinger said. “My time is yours, since these are office hours. I imagine I’ll finish in a jiffy, and you can start your experiment tomorrow.”

Heimerdinger and a man around Viktor’s age pushed open the office door and entered. The man was handsome, chiseled, and bulging out of his dress shirt. He was an alpha, of course. He said, “Thank you so much, Professor.”

“Ah, Viktor,” said Heimerdinger. “Meet Jayce.”

“Nice to meet you,” Viktor said.

Jayce stared at Viktor like he’d never seen a college student before. Then a sheepish smile spread over his face, and he said, “Hi,” far too shyly for a person that built.

“What is the professor looking over for you?”

Heimerdinger answered, sliding into the seat at his desk and opening a folder. “Oh, you blow up one tiny lab, and suddenly the Council and the school board make you get all your experiments approved ahead of time.”

Jayce blushed. “I didn’t blow up a lab! I caused one little fire, and it only damaged a single piece of equipment.” He said this nervously to Viktor, as if Viktor were his judge and jury. “No one even got hurt, I swear.”

“Why did the Council of Piltover get involved?” Viktor asked.

“The piece of equipment was donated by a councilor. Now I have to get my research approved and do some time as Heimerdinger’s assistant.”

Viktor smiled. “You’re joining the club, then.”

“I have a feeling you’ll be seeing a lot of each other as my captive assistants,” said Heimerdinger. “Viktor, how’s the grading coming?”

“Almost done. The grammar of your students is atrocious.”

“That’s always been the case. Am I permitted to enquire after the fare of your relationship? Or is your mystery partner still a secret?”

Jayce glanced at Viktor, probably looking at the hickies all over his neck. He glanced away.

Why did Heimerdinger do this? Why did he feel the need to bring Silco up here and now when Viktor was just meeting some random student? “It’s going fine,” he said. “Really well. He just sent me this, in fact.” Viktor held up his bag of popcorn. He peeked at the label again. “I didn’t even know they made artisan kettle corn.” Silco could never send him normal food.

“Good.” Heimerdinger tapped the papers inside the folder into a neat stack. “You seem very happy these days. That makes me happy, too.”

The professor was so odd—embarrassing and then sweet. Viktor could never stay mad at him for long. “I am.”

“Excellent,” Heimerdinger said. And then, “You two should go walk somewhere and get to know each other. Now that I think about it, you can deliver this to Mindy.” He handed Jayce a book from his desk, and then he waved them toward the door. “When you’re done, Viktor, you can have the rest of the day off.”

“Thanks,” Viktor said. He closed his laptop. He gathered his things and followed Jayce into the hall, snacking on kettle corn.

“Who is Mindy?” Jayce asked when the door was shut and they were wandering toward the elevator.

“Another professor. She works at the other end of the building. I’ll take you there.”

“Thanks.”

Beside Viktor, Jayce was massive. He looked less like an engineering student and more like a football player. Or at least like he worked out regularly, which was uncommon in this department.

“It’s really nice to meet you,” Jayce said. His smell was pleasant. Sometimes, the smell of alphas grated on Viktor’s nose.

“You too. What’s your research in?”

“Okay, you’ve heard of alternating current and direct current? Well, I’m working on a third kind. It pulses, and it’s pretty powerful.”

He played with electricity. “Wow. I can’t believe you’ve only started a single fire.”

“Ha, ha,” Jayce said.

“What are you calling this mysterious third current?”

Jayce perked up like he’d heard a barista call his name. “I’m glad you asked. I’ve been workshopping it, actually, because, you know, I need a catchy name to entice investors. I was thinking InCur.”

They stepped into the elevator, and Viktor pushed a button. “You should keep workshopping it.”

“Like intermittent current?” Jayce tried to explain, as if Viktor’s misunderstanding were the only mark against the name. “It’s one word, but the I and the C are both capitalized. And to incur means to make shit happen.”

Viktor patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t give up. You’ll get there.”

Jayce huffed, but he was smiling, and he smelled pleased.

Viktor ate more kettle corn. He offered some to Jayce, but Jayce declined.

Chapter 8: The New Normal

Silco arranged a meeting with his pet chief of police. A coded message instructed Marcus to meet him in their usual spot at the usual time.

Marcus paced in an alley between two buildings. Five steps, then a turn. Five steps, then a turn. Silco heard his footsteps tapping on the tile as he climbed up a ladder to their meeting place. Sevika climbed behind him.

The crevasse was barely bigger than shoulder width, and the alley floor was the roof of another building. A ladder led to this roof, and a ladder of a different style and color led to the next tier up. Welcome to Zaun.

When Marcus caught sight of Silco, he halted halfway through a turn. “Silco.” He grimaced like he smelled old fish.

“Marcus,” Silco said smoothly. He clasped his hands behind his back. “I have a favor to ask of you.”

“An order, more likely.”

“True! But I was being polite.”

“Save your politeness,” Marcus snarled. “What do you want?”

“Some cops stumbled upon a few of my men crossing the river with contraband. It must have slipped your mind to inform them that you’re in my pocket and my operations are to remain untouched.”

“If we don’t arrest your guys every once in a while, it’ll be obvious that we’re playing favorites.”

“If you never arrest my men, no one will know who I am or what I’m up to. And if you hadn’t gone out of your way to set up a trap, you wouldn’t have caught them.” Silco tsked. “I don’t like this rebellious phase you’re going through. I thought we had an understanding. I promote you and line your pockets, and you look the other way as I go about my business. Is your cut not high enough? Is that the problem?”

“We’re not in business together, so quit talking like we made some deal. You killed my boss and blackmailed me.”

“We are in business together. All of this is business.”

Marcus’s eyes flicked over his shoulder to Sevika, then back to Silco.

Silco said, “If you can’t cooperate, I’ll get a new partner. Who will inherit the title of chief if you die, by the way?”

Marcus spat into the tile at Silco’s feet. “What do you want? I can’t just undo those arrests.”

“Sure you can. Evidence goes missing, paperwork gets lost. Threaten whomever you need to threaten. And if my men walk free—and if you stop fucking arresting them—I’ll give you a raise. How does that sound? You could take your lovely wife on an expensive vacation.”

Marcus crossed his arms. He shifted his weight from foot to foot and tapped his arm with a finger. A loose tile clicked under his feet. “I need to keep one guy to pin the smuggling on. I’ll let the other go free.”

Silco stepped forward and patted Marcus on the shoulder. “Now you’re talking! See? We’ll make a businessman of you yet.” He released the glowering cop and signaled Sevika that it was time to leave. “When I get my man back, you’ll get a duffle bag of cash in the locker at Shelby’s. Good talk.”

—

As Viktor wove through the crowd under the pulsating lights of The Last Drop, a waitress offered him a tray of test tube shots. “Lemon drop?” she asked brightly. She wore a short skirt, matching with the bartender, Vernessa. “They’re three dollars.”

Viktor could barely hear her over the music, so he was shocked when Vernessa leaned over the bar to catch her partner’s attention. Her shirt said “Cunt” in block letters. “Hannah, honey! That’s Viktor. He gets whatever he wants, no charge.”

“Oh,” Hannah said. “Sorry!” She offered him the tray of shots again.

“She’s still training,” Vernessa said in apology to Viktor.

“That’s all right,” he said. He took a shot and downed it. The lemon drop was so sweet, it was almost like drinking candy. “I’ll do one more,” he said. Enough to get him buzzed before hanging out with Silco.

“Take as many as you’d like!” Hannah said. She winked. “Or I’ll get in trouble again.”

Viktor stopped at two and rode the new elevator to the floor of Silco’s office. Inside the office, the lights were dim, and Silco was at the card table, in the middle of a game of poker with some other alphas in suits whom Viktor didn’t know. Two of them were women. A different two were smoking. A few guards with earpieces leaned against the wall.

The last time he’d visited this room, Silco had murdered a guest. Viktor wondered if all of these people playing cards would still be alive by the end of the night.

“Viktor.” Silco reached out and drew Viktor to his side, settling with his hand on Viktor’s ass. “How was the drive over?”

“Not too bad.”

“You coming from Piltover?” asked one of the other alphas, plucking his cigarette out of his mouth to speak. “Did they give you trouble on the bridge?”

“Not really. They don’t mind Zaunite cars leaving.”

He and the man sitting beside him grumbled together. He shook his head. “Damn border guards.”

Silco rubbed Viktor’s ass. “Baby, these are some of my business associates. Gentlemen, this is Viktor.”

Around the table, the alphas nodded or gave their names. Chross, a man in a wheelchair, told Silco, “Now I know why you installed that elevator. I knew it wasn’t for me.”

“You caught me,” Silco said.

A woman named Margot asked Viktor, “What’s a cute thing like you doing with a guy like him?” She pointed at Silco with her hand of cards, keeping them face down.

Viktor shrugged. He walked a thin line, just bold enough to be charming but not enough to offend. “He makes me feel young.”

The alphas around the table, including Silco, laughed, and they invited Viktor to join the game. Viktor sat at the empty chair on Silco’s left, and Silco pushed him a stack of chips with which to bet.

He glanced around the room. A crow on an oil painting met Viktor’s gaze, in the process of pecking out the eye of a man tied to a pole. Both man and bird held their mouths open in silent screams.

One eye gone.

Maybe that was Silco’s idea of humor: to dare an inappropriate, intrusive comment on the obvious connection and punish the poor soul caught in his trap. Viktor ignored the painting.

Later, in the pulsing dark of the nightclub’s balcony story, in a VIP section of velvet benches, Silco pulled Viktor into his lap. Margot and a man with a gold jaw sipped drinks on nearby benches and chatted with each other and two girls from the nightclub. One of the girls wore a fluorescent green dress, glowing in the blacklight like a lightning bug.

Music and strobe lights pulsed, drowning out their respective senses, but the VIP section was private, and no one but those inside could see what Viktor did. Viktor kissed Silco’s mouth and then Silco’s neck. “I want to give you a blowjob,” he said into Silco’s ear.

“Here?”

“Here.” Who cared what two random partiers and Silco’s business associates thought of him? “I would fuck you in the middle of the street.”

Silco guided Viktor onto his knees in front of him. The man with the gold jaw, whose name Viktor had logged as unimportant then forgotten, laughed and raised his drink to Silco; then he returned to his conversation with the girl in the bright dress. Silco said, “I know you’re filthy, but you won’t do this.”

“Won’t I?” Viktor and Silco were drunk enough to be daring. Viktor kissed Silco’s bulge over his pants. What was the worst that could happen? A stranger caught a glimpse of Silco’s cock in his mouth? Silco’s colleagues would think he was a slut? He wanted to make Silco feel dirty and reckless far more than he cared about anyone’s opinion of him.

Silco dragged a hand through Viktor’s hair. Silco didn’t guide him to unbuckle his belt, but he didn’t stop him, either.

Viktor held eye contact with Silco in the dark as he tugged the belt free of the clasp. Then he dropped his eyes to focus on extracting Silco from his pants and underwear while preserving his privacy from the onlookers. Viktor held his body between Silco and the other little group in the VIP room. He put Silco in his mouth without delay.

If Silco didn’t pop his knot in Viktor’s mouth, he would have to zip his pants up over it, and that wouldn’t be as comfortable as letting it sit somewhere warm, like it wanted to be. Viktor neither hurried nor pushed himself farther than he could handle as he worked Silco deeper. If he choked and frightened his body with a lack of oxygen, Viktor couldn’t let Silco knot his throat.

“Shit,” Silco said under his breath, under the music, just for Viktor. “Baby, you actually did it. Look at you.”

Viktor slid slowly up and down. All sorts of things he wanted to say floated around in his head, but he couldn’t speak because of the cock taking up space in his mouth. He settled for humming a reply. Yes, Viktor had done it; he’d actually gotten on his knees for Silco in his nightclub, in public.

“You give head like a dream,” Silco said. “I’ve never had it this good.”

Viktor couldn’t help himself; he needed to yap. He pulled himself off Silco and held the cock in his hand to say, “Who did you have it from before?”

Silco dragged his fingers through Viktor’s hair. “My last boyfriend.”

“An omega?” Viktor asked jealously.

Silco shook his head. “An alpha.”

So Silco was attracted to alphas, too. Viktor imagined his last partner, a strong, confident leader-type, like Silco. Someone who could keep up with Silco, who could match his violence.

“You’re unhappy,” Silco said.

“I don’t like that you had partners before me.” Viktor licked around the tip of Silco’s cock. That was a crazy thing to say.

But Silco said something crazier. “I don’t like that you’re gone most of the week. Out of my sight.” He pushed the back of Viktor’s head, forcing him down on his cock.

Viktor fought his way back up to say, “You think I’m fucking other alphas between classes? I’m all yours, Silco. I swore it.”

Silco ordered, “Get back to it.”

Viktor sucked him obediently down, into his throat. That alpha lover’s memory couldn’t satisfy Silco like Viktor could. His throat stretched, and Viktor paused, relaxing until he could breathe again. Then he rocked deeper in small pulses until his lips were pressed against Silco’s pubes.

Silco grabbed a fistful of Viktor’s hair. He knew, from previous blowjobs, that Viktor could handle a little roughness. He forced Viktor to stay there, taking all of it, for long seconds before he let Viktor up for air.

“Did your boyfriend let you knot in his mouth?” Viktor asked.

Silco stared at him. “You don’t mean that.”

Viktor kissed his tip. “I’ve done it before. I can take it.” Viktor pushed back down, and Silco slipped in easily. A knot wouldn’t be that much bigger than this, and Viktor was managing this fine. Silco pulled Viktor up and pushed him down, faster and faster, and Viktor focused on keeping his breathing steady and his mouth open. He would let Silco do anything to him. Here in Silco’s realm, Viktor felt untouchable. Silco took care of him. Silco cherished him.

Terrifyingly, Viktor was having thoughts of how it might feel if Silco mated him. Not how it would feel physically (amazing, Viktor knew it), but what his life might become. Viktor imagined climbing into Silco’s bed every night and bathing every day in an emerald tub.

“You’re my first omega, really,” Silco admitted so quietly that Viktor had to strain to make out the words over the music.

Special, wanted—Viktor was Silco’s first. Fuck the previous partner; he didn’t matter. Silco was here with his cock in Viktor’s mouth. Viktor pulled up again and heaved a little for breath. His heart raced. “Have you ever spent a heat with anyone?”

Silco’s grip tightened in Viktor’s hair. “No.”

“Do you wish I were an alpha?”

“Baby, no.”

Viktor stroked Silco’s cock with his fist. “Would you ever consider mating me?” He closed his eyes and pushed back down, swallowing Silco to the base.

“Oh, fuck yes,” Silco groaned. He tipped his head back. “Just be my mate. Spend all my money. We can skip the allowance.” He fucked Viktor’s mouth with little thrusts of his hips. “You can live here, with me, and I can fuck you as much as I feel like.”

He was possessive, like a starving wolf over a carcass, and it made Viktor squirm. His cock was heavy, present, in Viktor’s mouth, and Silco was all Viktor could think of, all Viktor could smell.

“No one will look sideways at you with my bite on your neck.” Silco gripped Viktor’s hair and forced his cock to stay deep, so Viktor had to breathe around it or suffocate. He held him there for a minute before he loosened his grip enough for Viktor to move again, and Viktor focused on pleasuring him with his tongue until Silco took control of Viktor’s face again and pushed him down.

A bite on his neck. Belonging to Silco. Belonging here, in the dark, dirty underground, where sins hid from the sun. Silco had already proven that he would kill with his hands to keep Viktor safe, a bloody love letter beyond anything anyone had ever said or done for Viktor. No one else could possibly live up to Silco. Why would Viktor mate any other alpha?

Viktor whined. He felt that Silco was close, so he went still, deep on Silco’s cock and determined to show as much generosity to Silco as Silco showed to him. Silco held Viktor’s head down through a quiet orgasm, and Viktor swallowed Silco’s cum around his knot.

Music blared. Strobe lights flashed. Viktor closed his eyes and breathed around Silco’s cock, lodged deep in his throat. His mouth ached from being stretched so wide, but he ignored the ache.

Silco sighed and petted Viktor’s hair. Drunk, with an orgasm freshly pulled from him, he sank into the velvet bench. “That’s it, just stay there for a while.” He scratched the back of Viktor’s neck with his nails. He said, “When I can get you off my cock, I’ll take you upstairs and suck your cunt.”

Viktor whined and lost his breath for a minute before relaxing and finding it again. His tongue slid along the base of Silco’s knot.

He held him there for half an hour. Viktor listened to the music and the footsteps of someone leaving the VIP section. The experience was meditative, in a way. He couldn’t leave, and he didn’t want to, compelled by force to stay exactly where he wanted to be. If Silco bit his neck, that would be the same.

When he surfaced at last, wincing his jaw shut, Silco fixed his pants and then pulled Viktor onto the seat beside him. Then the man with the gold jaw passed Viktor another shot, and, pleased with his own performance, he knocked it back. The alcohol burned.

Viktor had just warmed Silco’s knot in front of an audience. He knew what they thought of him and what they thought of Silco. The big, bad boss with his pet omega.

He tucked himself into Silco’s side, and Silco slid an arm around him. Viktor asked, “Would you actually mate me?”

Silco’s arm stiffened. His smell went odd and reserved. “Viktor, of course I want to…” Silco said.

Viktor’s cheeks heated with confused embarrassment. Had he demanded too much? Had he finally asked Silco for something he wouldn’t give?

“If I kept you, I would be so good to you, Omega.” “I wanted you. I didn’t want anyone else.” “Just try and take him from me.”

No, his embarrassment was stupid and unfounded. Silco was devoted to Viktor. Viktor sat up and frowned at him. Viktor asked, “...But? Why am I hearing a but?” Silco should’ve been jumping at the thought. What about everything he said when his dick was in Viktor’s mouth?

“You have so much of your life ahead of you. You don’t want to be tied down to me.”

“I do want it. I think you want it, too.”

Silco stroked Viktor’s thigh, and he ended the conversation. “Don’t decide now. Think on it.”

Viktor wouldn’t have to. He knew what partner he wanted with him forever. No one else came close.

Chapter 9: Location, Location, Location

On Silco’s next trip to Piltover, he took the opportunity to visit Viktor’s apartment. He’d never been. Silco was in town for a couple of days to meet with a smuggling contact on the golden side of the bridges, but first, he dropped by Viktor’s place.

Tucked away on a back road was a squat, mustard-yellow building. External stairs led to the apartments on the second and third floors. On the second-floor balcony, a bicycle rusted. Yellow paint peeled from the siding in strips like stretch marks. Silco told his bodyguard to stay in the car, and then he knocked on Viktor’s door, marked with a faded number one.

Not all of Piltover was posh, Silco observed with perverse satisfaction. The city hid her shameful poor in dirty little corners like these. The apartments along this street were shrines to Piltover’s hypocrisy; its perfection was a farce, a facade. According to Piltovians, the river neatly delineated the haves from the have-nots, but Zaun had its share of proud and wealthy denizens, and Piltover had its share of embarrassments.

That didn’t mean he wanted Viktor living here.

Viktor answered the door, wearing his leg brace over a pair of slacks. A baggy band t-shirt dripped from his shoulders. “Silco! Come on in.” He stood to the side.

Silco entered the apartment and tucked away his shades now that he was out of the severe sunlight. He glanced around the one-room apartment without bothering to hide his distaste. A door opened on a bathroom, and every other activity of life—sleeping, cooking, eating, fucking—was squished into a single space. The kitchenette had a microwave but no dishwasher. Boxes were crammed under Viktor’s twin bed. The infamous 3D printer sat on a shelf beside a tub of print scraps and stacks of filament.

Silco wandered the length of the room, looking around and sniffing, trying to identify what was so off-putting about the space. Viktor lived cleanly. Neither dirt nor mildew were issues. He passed his blanket on Viktor’s bed, and then the problem clicked. “It doesn’t smell like me in here.”

“Well, you’ve never visited,” Viktor pointed out. “And that blanket used to smell like you, but it’s been through the wash a few times, so it doesn’t much anymore. I still sleep with it, though. It reminds me of you.”

A lack of Silco’s scent wouldn’t have aggravated him if a competing scent didn’t flavor the air. A growl built in Silco’s throat. He homed in on the rival aroma and picked up a trophy off Viktor’s counter. He sniffed it. Someone else had touched this trophy recently, an award from a robotics competition, and released enough pheromones to linger. “Who do I smell?” Silco demanded. “What other alpha has been here?”

Viktor sniffed a few times, like he was used to the smell and had to double-check what was peculiar about it. “Oh, that’s just Jayce.”

Jayce. Who the hell was that? A classmate? A secret lover?

“He’s a friend.” Viktor soothed Silco like he feared a repeat of the Singed Incident. “He’s doing penance with Heimerdinger, too.”

Silco scowled and, leaving the trophy behind, walked Viktor into the edge of the bed. He pinned his baby with his hips and gathered his wrists into a hand. “Why was he in your apartment?” Why the fuck did Viktor have other alphas over? Had this friend stayed the night?

Viktor rubbed their cocks together, unconcerned by the display of possessive energy. He mused, “I just know you want to keep me forever. Look how offended you get at the thought of another alpha anywhere near me.”

Silco snarled. Obviously, he wanted to keep Viktor. He craved nothing more than sinking his teeth into both sides of Viktor’s neck, one after the other, so he would have Viktor forever and no one else could ever have him. But giving in to that urge would be a violation. Viktor only kept Silco around because Silco was paying him to.

Viktor continued, “He came over to get advice on a project of his. And I had him look over the blueprints for my air purifier. You know, the one you’re funding? He’s an engineer, like me.”

Silco nipped at Viktor’s ear. “You’re a Zaunite, like me.” He kissed Viktor’s pulse point. “Don’t let that Piltie spoil the good thing we have going.”

“I won’t.” Viktor smelled aroused.

“You know he wants to fuck you, right?”

“Why do you think that?” He asked it so innocently, like he really didn’t know.

Silco knew what it meant that Jayce had leaked pheromones all over Viktor’s living space. “Please. Does he think I’m a fool? He scented your whole apartment.” Jayce was moving in on Silco’s omega, trying to charm and coax him away.

Viktor was quiet for a moment. “Hmm,” he considered.

Silco raised a brow. “Well?”

“Now that you mention it, he was kind of weird when he came over. He asked why he didn’t smell you in here.”

“He knows about me?” What had Viktor said?

“He knows that I have a boyfriend.”

Silco sucked a new mark onto Viktor’s neck, high, where anyone could see it. “Good,” he said when he finished.

“When he first came in, he sort of prowled around territorially, picking stuff up to ask me about it.” Viktor laughed with realization. “Like you just did.”

“Except I have a right to,” Silco replied, squeezing Viktor’s wrists in his grip. “You’re mine.”

“He’s not going to steal me from you,” Viktor said earnestly. “I won’t let him. He’s been respectful of my relationship so far—”

“Except for scenting up your apartment like his den,” Silco cut in.

“That could have been unintentional. Either way, if he tries to make a move on me, I’ll stop being friends with him, okay? I don’t want to be around someone who would make me a cheater.”

Strange, how quickly Silco’s jealousy melted away in light of Viktor’s easy dismissal of the other alpha. “It’s hard,” he admitted. He nosed Viktor’s cheek. “Having you so far away.”

“You can trust me, Silco,” Viktor said, eyes honey-warm.

“I do.” Silco smiled and pecked Viktor’s lips. Then he helped Viktor lay back on the bed with his legs hanging off it, pulled down his pants, and fucked him until the apartment reeked of them both. Let Jayce smell that on his next visit.

—

Laying together after, cuddled up on the twin bed, Silco said, “Your apartment is far too small.” What the hell did Viktor nest with? Two blankets and a pillow? Was this asceticism born of a lack of funds or a disinterest in his own comfort?

“It’s what I can afford,” Viktor said.

Silco stroked Viktor’s back. Then he had a brilliant idea. “Just move into my place in Piltover,” Silco said.

Viktor pushed himself up and twisted to face Silco. “What?”

“It sits empty the vast majority of the time. Just live there.” Silco’s place was four times the size of Viktor’s. It would be far more comfortable than this one, and Viktor wouldn’t have to pay rent anymore. (And if living in a flat drenched with Silco’s scent would help him smell claimed, well, Silco wouldn’t complain.)

Viktor gaped at Silco. There was that open, stupefied look that Silco was going for, a sign that Silco had defied Viktor’s expectations once again.

“And when I drive in for visits,” Silco added, warming up to the idea, “you’ll already be here. It’ll be perfect, like living together.”

“That’s too much, Silco,” Viktor said. “I can’t accept.”

Silco put an arm behind his head and dragged the fingers of his other hand up Viktor’s side. “Why not?” How was accepting an apartment a step too far, but mating wasn’t? Viktor was smart, and this was a good idea, so Silco was sure he could convince him. “The building is safe. It’s convenient to your college. It’s not currently being used. I’ll be glad to have a person there keeping an eye on the place, and your apartment is shit. No offence.”

“You know none of that is the problem,” Viktor said. “That’s a really nice apartment.”

“You deserve something nice.” Viktor deserved every luxury. He deserved to be spoiled ‘till his teeth rotted and he turned into a demanding brat. He deserved to be doted upon.

Viktor gazed around his one-room apartment—at the kitchenette with the plastic dishes, the secondhand couch, and the coffee table that doubled as a dining table. Silco imagined him comparing it with the size of Silco’s apartment, or figuring out where his belongings would go. “What if you kick me out?” he asked.

Silco comprehended his worry. What if Silco ended their arrangement out of the blue and Viktor had to scramble to find new housing? The more Viktor relied on Silco, the higher he climbed on Silco’s ladder, the more he risked with a fall. Silco joked, “I probably won’t,” to put him at ease.

Viktor shoved him, but he was smiling now, ducking his head.

Silco cupped his face to look him in the eye. “I won’t kick you out. I promise.”

“All right, then.” Viktor was easily appeased. “When can I move in?”

“As soon as you’d like.” They could carry a first round of his belongings over today.

“Can I have guests over?”

“No roommates, but you can have people over.” Then Silco added a caveat, “Just not when I’m in town. I’ll give you a heads-up when that will be.”

“Fair enough.” Viktor grinned wickedly. “Can I have Jayce over? What if I want his opinion on my math?”

Silco clenched his jaw. Calm. He trusted Viktor. “Invite whomever you want. But after they leave, you have to call me so I can talk you to orgasm in my bed.”

“Our bed,” Viktor corrected. “If I’m living there too, then we share it.”

Even better.

—

One Friday evening, during Viktor’s regular visit to Zaun, Silco received a phone call from Sevika. Silco was in the middle of cooking dinner, so he told Viktor to watch the stir-fry while he took the call.

Viktor hopped off the counter and poked at the stir-fry with a spatula, dressed in nothing but one of Silco’s shirts.

Silco answered the phone. “What is it?”

From the city noises filtering through the speaker, he could tell that Sevika was outside. “Did you order someone to graffiti up a bridge?”

“What?” Silco stepped away from the sizzling food, better to converse. “No, I did not. Why do I get the feeling that bad news is coming?”

“Someone slapped an Eye of Zaun on one of the bridges, along with the usual Our city, our rules shit, and then he and his buddies resisted arrest or something. I don’t know. The TV is saying that a cop got hurt, and now Piltover is mad as hell.”

Silco found his remote and switched on the TV. The first local news channel he checked was covering the story, displaying an image of mediocre graffiti on the support pillar of one of the bridges between Piltover and Zaun. “I’m looking at the news now,” Silco said into the phone. “That’s an Eye of Zaun, all right. But people flash my symbol everywhere. Doesn’t mean I had anything to do with this.”

“Should we claim we did?” Sevika asked. “People might rally around it. They’re angry about the bridges closing.”

“The what?” Viktor mouthed at Silco, brows knit together with worry.

“Hold that thought,” Silco told Sevika. “I’m watching the story.”

A pretty anchor woman said, “The suspect struck Officer Colson with some kind of weapon. Doctors say that Officer Colson is injured but stable.” The screen showed a headshot of a uniformed cop. “For those of you just tuning in, Colson was injured while apprehending an Undercity resident named Rak, whom police suspect of planning a terrorist attack against Piltover. Bomb paraphernalia was discovered on his person after he was taken into custody for painting inflammatory and threatening remarks on one of the bridges over the river Pilt.”

Bomb paraphernalia. That could mean anything. Any junk could be used to make a bomb if you had some imagination.

“While the authorities investigate Rak and his affiliates for terrorist organization, Piltover has temporarily shut down the bridges between the Upper and the Undercity. Police call this a ‘necessary measure to ensure public safety.’ Officials have not yet released information on when the bridges are expected to reopen for public use. For now, citizens are urged not to cross the river…” The anchor woman carried on, but Silco lost interest.

“Let’s just keep our mouths shut about it,” Silco said into the phone. “One idiot with a paint can probably isn’t going to jumpstart a revolution, but just in case the bridge closings spark enough outrage, we can always retroactively take credit.”

Sevika’s motorcycle revved in the background of the phone call. “Got it. What do you want me to do now?”

“Tell our people to lay low, answer no questions, and don’t get arrested. Official story, if pressed, is that this Rak person is acting alone. Have you ever heard of him?”

“Nope.”

“He’s not one of ours, as far as I know. He must’ve seen the sign somewhere. He might never even have heard of me.”

“All right. I’ll make sure our guys stay out of trouble tonight.”

“Be safe.” Silco ended the call. He muted the television, and then he relieved Viktor at the stove.

“The bridges are closed?” Viktor asked. “All of them? How am I going to get home?”

He looked so sweet and handsome in Silco’s shirt, face pinched with worry and hair mussed from sex. New bruises stained his wrists and thighs. Another bite mark marred the inside of his leg; Silco had gotten a bit carried away.

He removed the pan from the heat, shut off the stove, and touched Viktor’s shoulder. “It’s all right,” he said. “They’ll reopen the bridges eventually. For now, you can stay here.” The travel restriction couldn’t have come at a better time; Viktor already had his toothbrush and pills with him, prepared to stay the night.

“What about my classes? I have a test Monday.” Viktor’s voice was despondent, which made Silco fond. Every setback felt like the end of the world at twenty-two.

“Surely your professors will understand that you’re missing class because you’re stuck behind a blockade.”

Viktor frowned. “Maybe.” He wandered to the dining room table, sat down, and pulled out his phone. The table was carved from a solid slab of gray rock, as austere as it was expensive. Viktor’s severe expression matched the gray granite. While Viktor typed out emails, Silco plated the food and brought it over.

Viktor thanked Silco and took a bite of his dinner, focused on the screen in front of him.

Silco scrolled through his own phone as he ate, checking updates on the news story. Every bridge between Zaun and Piltover was shut down, and people on both sides of the river were annoyed by the inconvenience. More mentions of bomb paraphernalia and suspected terrorist activity against the bridges. “They say the roads into Piltover might be closed to Zaunites for several days,” Silco told Viktor.

He nodded and kept typing. Eventually, he finished sending his emails and ate the rest of his food. “Okay,” Viktor said, checking his phone once more. “I told my teachers that I might have to miss class because of the bridge closings. The professor of the class with the Monday test said I could take it online from here, since it’s open-book anyway.” He frowned again. “But I don’t have my laptop with me.”

“Can you use mine?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“There you go! See? It’s all going to be fine.”

A small smile cracked onto the granite of Viktor’s face. “I suppose so.”

“You suppose correctly.” Silco cleared their dishes away and put them in the dishwasher. “Now we get an entire weekend, maybe more, to enjoy one another’s company.” He poured Viktor a glass of wine and brought it to him at the table.

Viktor sipped it, relaxing bit by bit.

“What would you like to do this evening,” Silco asked, “to kick off our weekend together in Zaun?”

Viktor smirked over the lip of his wine glass. “We already kicked it off pretty spectacularly.” His foot tapped Silco’s under the table.

That was true. Silco recalled Viktor’s moans as Silco pounded him into the mattress. Later, they could repeat the occasion. “What else would you like to do, then?”

“Watch a movie?”

“Perfect.” Silco and Viktor moved to the big couch, and Viktor curled around Silco and his glass of wine, tugging a blanket over both their legs. Silco let Viktor flip through the movies, and when Viktor picked one, Silco paid to rent it and clicked play.

He buried his nose in Viktor’s mink-soft hair and inhaled the smell of home.

Chapter 10: Tasting Menu

Silco slid awake slowly, warm and content. A body was beside him, and Silco tugged it closer. Viktor made a tranquil breathy sound and cuddled into Silco’s arm, wrapped around his torso. Silco inhaled the aniseed scent of him, nosed into his neck, and licked lazily over his pulse point.

In his arms, Viktor squirmed. He complained, “Silco, you’re getting me all wet!”

Silco didn’t care. “Mmm. Just how I like you.” He licked straight up Viktor’s neck, and Viktor released a burst of scent—satisfaction and desire. Silco pushed Viktor onto his front and rolled on top of him.

“Yes!” Viktor breathed, pushing down his boxers to give Silco access.

“Always so good for me,” Silco said. “Always so ready.” Silco felt between Viktor’s legs, and he was wet, so Silco notched himself at Viktor’s entrance and pushed inside.

Viktor groaned.

Silco fucked him lazily, half-asleep.

Viktor’s fingers curled and relaxed, an instinctual twitch as Silco fed him a particularly firm punch of his hips. He said, “It doesn’t feel like a job when I’m with you.”

“What doesn’t, baby?” Silco asked. As always, Viktor’s pussy was heaven. Silco could fuck no one but him for the rest of his life and want for nothing.

“Sugaring. It was just a job. But now it feels like a real relationship.”

With a surge of affection, Silco draped himself over Viktor’s back and buried his face in his neck, where his scent was strong and sweet. He wrapped his arms around Viktor’s torso to hold him close while they fucked. “It’s real for me, too.” He kissed Viktor’s cheek. “You’re everything.”

He felt Viktor smile and wiggle happily in his arms, settling into a more comfortable position. He didn’t speak again, but Silco smelled his pleasure mounting and mounting until he came like a burst of light.

Silco held him down to finish inside him. While his knot tied them together, Silco lay on Viktor’s back, stroking his arm.

“I’m going to fall asleep again,” Viktor said.

On his knot? Silco would enjoy that. “Go on. We have all day to spend together.”

“Don’t you have work to do?”

“Not today. I’m all yours.” That was as true every day as it was at present. Silco belonged to Viktor as much as Viktor belonged to him.

“All right,” Viktor sighed, and he closed his eyes.

Silco kissed the side of his neck, where his bite would go if he made Viktor his for real. Viktor was sweet to tell Silco pretty lies about what Silco meant to him, but Silco knew that one day, when a richer daddy came along or Viktor got too busy for sugaring or he met a partner who he liked even without being paid to, Viktor would bid Silco a polite goodbye.

Maybe all Silco would get was a text, like Viktor had sent his other partners when their arrangement began. A text goodbye. An apartment cleared of Viktor’s belongings.

The knowledge of Viktor’s eventual departure didn’t stop Silco from wanting him fiercely. He nibbled at the skin of Viktor’s neck, flirting with it between his front teeth. He didn’t bite. He had no right to.

He wanted so badly to bite.

—

They took a bath together, and then Silco made omelets. According to the TV, the bridges were still closed. Silco shut the news off.

While Viktor studied for his test, headphones on, Silco called a Zaunite restaurant and reserved a private wine tasting.

Then he dropped by the office where Viktor worked and kissed him on the head. “Do you want to know what we’re doing this evening,” Silco asked, “or do you want it to be a surprise?”

“Surprise me,” Viktor replied. “Just tell me what I should wear.”

“Something formal. You can borrow my clothes if you have nothing suitable.”

“I might have to.”

Silco kissed his head again and answered a few emails, working quietly nearby. When Viktor closed Silco’s laptop, Silco said, “Finished?”

“Yes.”

He looked as tempting as a pastry in a patisserie window. He leaned crossed arms on Silco’s desk and rested his chin on top. His honey eyes glowed. “Do you…” He trailed off.

“Do I what?”

Viktor shook his head. “Never mind.”

Silco didn’t push it. No tough conversations today, just pleasing company. Viktor deserved a distraction from the stress of the bridge closings. Silco crossed his legs. He said, “What do I get in return for taking you out tonight?”

Viktor brightened with mischief. “What do you get? You get the privilege of taking me out on the town. Isn’t that enough?”

“Not tonight, it isn’t. I’m feeling greedy. I plan the evening, I pay the bill, and I give you an allowance to boot. Don’t I deserve something in return?”

Viktor grinned. “You love doing all of it. Spoiling me should be a reward in and of itself.”

It was. Silco was just bantering with him for the heck of it. He fought to keep his features neutral for the negotiation. “What about a blowjob when we get home?”

Viktor mused, “Will the evening be worth a blowjob? I don’t even know what we’re doing. How about I decide afterwards what it’s worth?”

“Oh, no. I’m not leaving that loophole open. You’re going to say the evening was a bust whether it was or not to worm your way out of sex.”

“Is sex all you want?” Viktor tapped his chin. “I guess I can lay there and let you have your way with me.”

“No,” Silco countered, “you’ll get off your lazy ass and thank me like I deserve. On your knees.”

Viktor pouted (remarkably effectively). “I have bad knees, though.”

“Laying back on the bed, then, with your head dangling off so I can fuck your throat.”

Viktor coughed daintily into his fist. “And I have a sore throat, too. I’ve only just noticed.”

Silco couldn’t hold his smile back any longer. He rolled his eyes, pushed himself to his feet, and trapped Viktor in the chair with hands on his armrests. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Take me out for sweetmilk and cake.”

“Right now? You haven’t even had lunch.”

“Yes, right now.” Viktor tilted his face up, smelling happy. “Unless your mystery outing involves dessert already. Actually, even if it does, I want dessert now.”

“Brat.”

“You like me bratty.”

“I do. It means I’m doing my job right.” Silco kissed him for long minutes, dipping his tongue into Viktor’s mouth to taste. He was sure he smelled happy, too, which made his attempt at severe bargaining all for naught. He didn’t mind. He liked when Viktor was proud and confident and walked all over him as much as he liked when Viktor sweetly capitulated to his whims. When Silco was finished exchanging saliva with Viktor, he said, “I’ve decided what I want in return for our outing.”

“What do you want?” Viktor’s eyes were half-closed. He smelled close to purring.

“I’m going to spread your legs and taste you for as long as I please.”

Viktor sighed in a dramatic fashion. “If you insist.”

“I do. Let’s go get you dressed.”

Silco put Viktor in his own clothes, which fit well; Viktor was roughly Silco’s height. Viktor wore dark slacks and a red button-down open at the top, no tie. Silco wore a vest and a coat, which matched Viktor’s outfit so he could lend Viktor the coat if he got cold later.

First stop was a coffee shop, where Silco ordered Viktor a slice of cheesecake and anijsmelk flavored with sugar and star anise. “I drink this all the time,” Viktor said, sipping his sweetmilk. “It’s my favorite.”

“That’s why you smell like licorice?”

“Do I?” Viktor laughed. “It must be.”

They went to a concert hall after the coffee shop. Piltover boasted the most opera houses and theaters, but Zaun claimed a few. An orchestra played Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with a selection of violin-heavy pieces to fill up the extra time. Viktor held Silco’s hand through the performance, and Silco rubbed his palm idly with his thumb.

He was going to miss this, when it ended. He was going to miss the careful attention he paid to Viktor’s scent, noticing when it went pleased and when it soured with distaste. He would miss having someone to pay attention to.

Viktor was pleased now. He watched the concert with rapt attention. He shifted a few times throughout the performance, but the chairs were soft, and during intermission, when Silco asked if his leg was all right, Viktor said, “It’s just fine, thank you. I really like the music.”

“Me too.”

And then Viktor kissed him, right there in the line for the men’s room, where anyone could see. Silco’s heart was a wildfire, crackling fiercely and at random.

Next, Silco brought Viktor to the restaurant where he’d made a reservation, and the maitre d ushered them to a private table in the back. On the semicircle of booth seating, Viktor sat so close to Silco that their legs touched. Silco rested a hand on Viktor’s thigh, smoothing over the fabric of Viktor’s pants as the waiter spoke. Viktor was bright, young, and energetic, listening to the waiter explain the tasting menu with the same diligence he paid the musicians.

“I don’t understand,” Viktor whispered to Silco when the waiter left. “It seemed like each course would have its own glass of wine.”

“Yes. That’s how a wine-tasting works.”

Viktor frowned. “But there’s seven courses? Seven small courses, so the food is portioned correctly—but then we’re also expected to drink seven glasses of wine? You’ll be carrying me out of here.”

Silco wouldn’t mind that. But he corrected Viktor softly. “They don’t expect you to finish all the wine.”

“What a waste. They’re just going to throw all the extra away.”

“Drink it, then,” Silco challenged. He would take care of Viktor; who cared if the omega got sloppy drunk?

Their booth was walled on three sides and as private as possible while still affording the waiter access. The waiter dropped off the first course—a soup—and explained the first bottle of wine before pouring Viktor and Silco their glasses.

Viktor finished the entire first glass.

“You liked the wine selection, then?” asked the waiter excitedly upon his return.

“It was delicious!” Viktor said.

“The Cabernet is one of my favorites, too. I hope you like the others as much.” The waiter scooped up their soup bowls and handed them their next course: a small salad plated in a half-circle. The second wine was a white. The waiter left.

Viktor stared at his glass.

“Already doubting yourself?” Silco teased. “Come on, seven glasses isn’t that many. I’m looking forward to carrying you home.”

Viktor took a sip. “This one is really good, too.”

“It better be, for what I’m paying for it.”

Viktor sipped again. “Don’t say that. Now I feel even more pressure to finish.”

Silco laughed. He picked at his salad and sipped his wine, but mostly, he watched Viktor. He hadn’t known how delightful having a sugar baby would be—carting a handsome boy around to imbue his life with a fresh perspective.

Viktor finished most of the second glass.

“Before you get too drunk to function,” Silco said, “can you give me consent to fuck you after this?”

“Oh, certainly. Even sloppy drunk, I would love having sex with you.”

“Hmm. You enjoy it, then?”

“Can’t you tell?” Viktor asked wondrously. Soft golden eyes peeked at him under dark brows.

“I never know. Because of the whole…” Silco gestured vaguely to imply the money tying them together.

Viktor laid a hand on Silco’s arm. With sincerity in his voice, he said, “I really enjoy everything we do together. I like watching movies with you and going out with you and, yes, fucking you. You’re really good, Silco, and I’m not just saying that because you’re paying me.”

Silco glowed. Viktor must be practiced at laying it on thick, but the praise was still nice to hear.

Viktor shivered, and Silco passed him his coat.

Over their third course—bruschetta—and their third glasses of wine, Silco felt Viktor’s tongue was loose enough to answer some dirty questions. “How do you feel about sex toys?” Silco asked.

“I like them,” Viktor said. “I use a dildo during my heats.”

Silco sat up straighter. “You don’t have a heat partner?”

“Not until now.”

He meant Jayce, probably. Or maybe he was offering his heat to Silco, conditional upon payment, but the thought of giving Viktor money to knot him during his heat disgusted Silco in a way their arrangement didn’t ordinarily. Heats were special circumstances. Viktor would be catatonic, or needy, or pathetic with lust. He didn’t also need to be working, sucking up to a strange man. Silco didn’t respond to the implied offer and instead changed the subject. “How about bondage? You like being tied up and fucked?”

Viktor made a high-pitched, interested noise. “I love it, Daddy. Do you have rope? Or cuffs?”

“I’ll get some,” Silco promised. “Anything in particular you like?”

Viktor shook his head. “As long as it’s dirty and easy on my leg, I’m in.”

Good to know. In his mind, Silco made plans for the second spare bedroom in his apartment. Silco never had guests over, so why would he need two spare bedrooms? He could strip that room and turn it into an adult playroom. How long would renovations take? Would Viktor stick around long enough to see them finished?

“I am a little drunk,” Viktor said on his fifth glass of wine. He hadn’t finished every glass, but he’d imbibed heavily from all of them. He held up two fingers close together to indicate “a little” and squinted. His cheeks were red.

“I can tell,” Silco said. “We should do this more often. I’m going to have fun with you tonight.”

“Tasting me?”

Silco returned his hand to Viktor’s thigh under the table. His voice went low and intentional. “That’s right.”

Viktor swayed into his side, leaning on him shoulder to waist. The waiter smiled at them when he returned to serve the next course.

“Can we get some water?” Silco asked.

“Of course, sir,” said the waiter.

Silco made Viktor drink the entire glass of water before he touched his next glass of wine, and then he let Viktor loose to get even drunker.

—

That night, Silco fulfilled his promise. He stripped Viktor and laid him out in the large, round bed, a bright moon amid black sheets.

Viktor fidgeted, and his head lolled to the side. He was plastered. Silco had worried about him making it through the building, but he’d managed, and now he didn’t have to walk anymore, or think.

Silco parted Viktor’s legs. He inhaled the scent of Viktor, nosing at his stomach and thighs.

“You don’t have to,” Viktor said, pushing himself up to an elbow.

“This is my reward, remember? I get to taste you,” Silco licked Viktor’s center, “for as long as I want.”

Viktor fell boneless back to the mattress.

Silco licked a long, slow stripe up Viktor’s sex, dragging his tongue back and forth on the downstroke. Viktor let out a shuddering sigh. Soft curls covered his thighs and pointed inwards toward the sweet, tangy treat Silco indulged in like wine.

“Love this pussy,” Silco said. He licked around Viktor’s cock. He used two fingers to spread Viktor’s folds and give himself better access as he dove in for a round of licking.

Gods, he needed it. He needed the whiny little sounds Viktor made. He needed the taste—tart as fresh strawberries. He needed the way he lost time, buried in the pretty cunt of a handsome boy, swirling his tongue and drinking in every sense.

Viktor smelled ripe as a fruit, juicy and bursting. He leaked onto Silco’s tongue. He covered his face in silent apology, but Silco wasn’t lying when he said he loved this. Viktor smelled so strong from down here. If his body language hadn’t convinced Silco he was enjoying himself, his scent would—going all sweet like when Silco bought him anijsmelk and cheesecake at the coffee shop downtown.

Viktor could have whatever he wanted for as long as he wanted it. Silco would stock anijsmelk packets forever, even when Viktor left, so Silco’s house would smell like home if he ever chose to return.

Viktor came after just a few minutes of licking. Then he pushed at Silco’s head with no weight behind it.

“I’m not done,” Silco growled. Silco wrapped his arms around Viktor’s legs and dove back in, licking up and down his slit and pressing his tongue in as far as it would go.

“Silco,” Viktor stuttered, his head listing to one side and then the other. “I can’t…”

“Shh. Just relax, baby.” Silco spoke into the flesh between Viktor’s legs. “I’ve got you.”

Viktor went quiet.

Silco buried his face in Viktor’s cunt and ate him to another orgasm. This one took longer than the first.

And the third took even longer, but Viktor was writhing in little stops and starts, and whining deep in his throat, so if he wanted Silco to stop, he needed to quit acting so damn appealing. Silco dug two fingers into Viktor’s hole and curled them until Viktor lifted his hips off the mattress and moaned.

“I can’t,” he said. “Silco, I…”

“Don’t worry about coming. Just let it happen if it’s going to. This isn’t about you, remember? This is my reward.”

Viktor’s lashes fluttered as Silco finger-fucked him and sucked his cock. His fingers curled. His chest heaved. Was he like this during his heat: floating, accommodating?

They might have spent half an hour there, Silco breathing in Viktor from the source—or perhaps it was an hour. Silco didn’t know. He just knew Viktor was a mewling mess by the end, and Silco was in something of a trance, licking and eating until his jaw ached and his fingers were wrinkled from being buried inside Viktor.

Eventually, Silco tugged off his clothes and climbed on top of the whimpering, drunk body of Viktor and slid easily inside. Viktor was wrung out like a towel, limp and listless. He was so wet, Silco’s cock squelched with every thrust.

Silco laid his body down, pressing Viktor like a weighted blanket, and shushed his whimpers away. “Don’t worry, Omega. I’ve got you.” He kissed Viktor’s pale throat. “Just let me knot you now.”

Silco needed barely any friction to finish. He was wound up from getting Viktor off, and after a few minutes inside that sweet pussy, he came, filling Viktor tighter and wetter than ever. He groaned. He pushed his hips as deep as they would go, and Viktor was willing, loose, receptive, taking his knot without so much as a flinch.

Silco caught his breath. His chest pressed into Viktor’s, and their breathing slowly synced. Silco pressed his forehead to Viktor’s and then his lips. Viktor barely reacted.

“Do you need anything?” Silco asked. Not that he could get up with his knot locking him inside Viktor. “Water?”

Viktor shook his head. “Can it be like this all the time?” he asked.

“Yes,” Silco promised and promised and promised, and he kissed Viktor’s sugar skin.

Chapter 11: The Heat

The bridges reopened on Sunday, so Viktor made his Monday test, after all. He caught up on homework, missing Silco. He fell asleep in Silco’s Piltover apartment wishing he’d kept some of Silco’s freshly-scented clothes or something to cuddle with: that coat, maybe. He could have worn it to class and dipped his nose into the collar whenever he wanted to remember Silco’s hand on his thigh under the table, Silco’s teeth digging into his shoulder, Silco’s tongue licking over his cock.

He fiddled with his air purifier prototype. He masturbated on a phone call with Silco Tuesday night.

He didn’t realize something was off. He was a bit tired, maybe, a bit cranky and a bit horny, but nothing out of the ordinary. Then, at the end of Wednesday’s final class, as students were filing from the lecture hall, a group of alphas swaggered up to him.

Their leader leaned on Viktor’s desk, and the others took up positions around him. The professor was already gone, so Viktor would receive no aid from that quarter. The alpha said, “So is this why you’re at the Academy?” He bit his lip and glanced down Viktor’s body.

“Is what why?” Viktor asked. He didn’t know what the alpha meant.

“You’re not here for a degree. You’re here for a mate.”

Viktor scowled and packed up his belongings faster, wishing they would leave him alone. He smelled taken, didn’t he?

“Your plan is to waltz around campus in heat until somebody bites you, is that it? Couldn’t catch a mate on your own?”

“Let me through,” Viktor said. He stood and, thankfully, the alphas made way for him.

They were grinning, though—wicked, knowing, hungry grins as they eyed Viktor up like a free meal.

Was he in pre-heat? He was due sometime within the next few weeks, so it was possible. Fuck, he should have insisted on talking heat plans over with Silco the last time they were together. He’d wanted to, but he thought he had more time.

One of the alphas said, “Let me walk you home, Omega. You shouldn’t be out and about smelling like that.” He inhaled through his nose. “Something might happen to you.” His buddies laughed.

Viktor pushed through the small crowd and walked determinedly out the door.

He was not at the Academy just to find a mate. He’d risked everything for this education, and he was not about to let his designation spoil his chance at a degree, not when he had less than a semester left.

Technically, omega students received heat leave, no questions asked, but Viktor should inform Heimerdinger in person rather than via an email that he was going to miss their appointments for the next week. Viktor owed the professor that courtesy. At least Jayce was there to pick up the slack.

Viktor knocked on Heimerdinger’s office door and then opened it. The professor and Jayce were both inside.

“Viktor, my boy! Come in!” called Heimerdinger. “I have papers for you to grade today. Mr. Talis here has already made a dent in them. Lucky you!”

“I’m very sorry,” Viktor said, “but I have to beg out of grading papers… and the rest of our office work this week.”

Jayce looked up from his seat at the table by the window. “Is something the matter?” he asked.

“It’s, eh, delicate.” Viktor addressed Heimerdinger, who was a beta and therefore safely civil. “I’ll be on sick leave for the next week or so. I apologize for the late notice.”

Jayce inhaled visibly, like that other student had done, and Viktor saw the moment Jayce clocked his scent. Jayce’s pupils dilated. He set down the paper and pen in his hands. He zeroed in on Viktor like a hunting dog.

Alphas.

Viktor ignored Jayce. He would turn affable again as soon as Viktor left and took his pre-heat smell with him; it must be pungent for Jayce to be so worked up from a whiff across the room. Viktor resisted the urge to sniff himself and check.

“Take all the time you need,” Heimerdinger said cordially. “I hope your professors don’t make you do too much work when you get back. If they’re tough on you, send them my way.”

“Thank you, Professor.” Viktor wouldn’t. He could handle makeup assignments. He didn’t want to appear like he was whining or trying to use his designation to weasel out of work. Just a couple more months, he told himself. A couple more months, and he would have his degree, and all the taunts of alpha students and glares of xenophobic professors would be worth it.

Jayce stood up. His chair scratched the floor. “Let me walk you home,” he said.

“No need. I’ll take the bus.”

“Let me come with you. You shouldn’t be traveling alone.” Jayce realized belatedly how condescending he sounded, and he scratched the back of his neck. “Please?” he asked with more timidity. “I just want to make sure you get home safe.”

His heat must be coming upon him faster than he’d realized because the thought of having an alpha he trusted near, someone to lean on and growl at annoying strangers, suddenly sounded like the sweetest indulgence. Viktor sighed and ran a hand down his face. He said, “All right. Just until I get home. Then you come straight back here to help Professor Heimerdinger.”

“Take care of yourself,” Heimerdinger said, and then Jayce packed up his backpack and escorted Viktor out of the office.

“Thanks,” Viktor told Jayce after a few minutes of walking in silence.

“Please don’t thank me. I’m glad you let me come along.” Jayce smelled good, potent and powerful to Viktor’s sensitive nose, but his scent arrived in flashes, like he was trying to hold it back and periodically failed. The little bursts of scent were almost worse for Viktor’s sanity than if Jayce hadn’t been stoppering himself at all, but Viktor appreciated the attempt at courtesy.

Viktor and Jayce waited at the bus stop then sat side-by-side on the ride to Viktor’s apartment.

In his mind, Viktor walked through the next few hours, making preparations before he was too horny to think. He would email his professors that he’d be out for the next week, call Silco and tell him to come over, build up his nest, then… No, scratch that. He would call Silco first, before anything else, and when he was on his way, then Viktor could take care of the other shit.

What if Silco couldn’t get to Piltover fast enough? What if there were a traffic jam or some work emergency or he didn’t pick up his phone?

Viktor told himself to stop freaking out. He was only freaking out because his hormones were in overdrive. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed his pre-heat all morning.

Viktor lifted the collar of his shirt and sniffed it, checking. Yeah, he definitely smelled submissive and breedable. No wonder those alphas had harassed him. “I’m pretty much asking for it, aren’t I?” he asked Jayce.

The comment was meant as a joke, but Jayce frowned and clenched his fists. “Don’t say that. You should be allowed to exist in public without assholes feeling like they can…” Jayce shook his head. “Forget it. Anyway, that’s why I’m here.”

Viktor tapped his fingers on his cane and stared out the window.

Jayce picked up Viktor’s backpack along with his own when the bus came to a stop. “Let me,” he said before Viktor could protest.

“All right. Thanks.” Viktor followed him onto the sidewalk. “It’s this way.” Jayce hadn’t been to the new apartment, so Viktor took the lead.

Jayce smelled obscenely good right now, like strength and safety and sex. Viktor kept a few feet between them. If he got too much alpha on him, Silco was going to freak.

Well, that might be fun. In his head, Viktor drooled over a possessive, sneering Silco, holding Viktor down and filling him up and giving him babies. (It was just the hormones talking. Viktor didn’t actually want to be pregnant, ever, but he could get off on a daydream, okay? He was allowed.)

“It’s this one,” Viktor said, pointing out the building.

Jayce walked Viktor inside and into the elevator. One would hope that Viktor wouldn’t be attacked in his own building between the lobby and his front door, but with alphas, safe was better than sorry.

“I am grateful,” Viktor said. “In case I forgot to say so. Thank you for walking me home.” Now, Viktor was going to collapse onto that squishy couch and call Silco. No, email his professors. No wait: Silco, then couch, then professors. Yes, that was it.

Silco, Silco, Silco. His brain buzzed like a microwave, rotating a single thought. How had he not noticed his heat approaching?

Outside the apartment door, Jayce stopped and frowned.

“I’ll take my bag back, now,” Viktor said. He reached a hand out.

Jayce didn’t move. A muscle worked in his jaw. He was not making any efforts to dampen his scent anymore, and the territorial, potent smell of him clogged the hallway.

“Jayce?” He reached his hand again, like maybe Jayce had missed it. “My bag?”

Jayce was slipping. Perhaps sitting beside Viktor on that bus ride and standing beside him in the elevator had put too much pressure on his self-control. Viktor was sympathetic. If an alpha—an alpha Viktor knew and cared about—had been going into rut a few feet away, Viktor might have acted like a fool, too.

“Jayce,” Viktor said gently, “I think you should go. I think you should go before I unlock my door, to be honest.” Viktor pictured Jayce trying to invite himself inside, and that picture didn’t end well. A few more minutes drunk on the scent of virile alpha, and Viktor might be making some stupid decisions.

“Viktor,” Jayce said, and his voice was thick with repressed need. He still didn’t hand Viktor his backpack; it was slung over one shoulder beside his own. “This is a really nice apartment building.”

Viktor dropped his hand. “Yes.” Where was this going?

“Is this your boyfriend’s place? Did I just bring you to your boyfriend’s place?”

“Sort of. He’s not here at the moment, though. It is his place and my place. I live here, but he also has another place.” Whew, Viktor was already at the incoherency stage of pre-heat. He blinked Jayce’s scent out of his eyes and refocused. “This is my apartment. He lets me use it, since he has a more permanent residence elsewhere.”

A growl built in Jayce’s throat and then cut off just as suddenly. He shifted from one foot to the other. He stared down at Viktor. “Viktor, I need to say something.”

Oh no.

“And I’m not just saying this because you’re about to go into heat, okay? I’ve felt like this for a long time. You’re the smartest, kindest, funniest person I know. I would do anything for you. Do you understand? Anything. Just ask it of me.”

He wanted Viktor to invite him to be his heat partner. Viktor shook his head. “I have a partner, Jayce.”

“I know.” Jayce made a fist and touched it to the bridge of his nose. “I know. It’s just, I’ve never met him. I don’t know him or if he’ll take care of you like you deserve. I would pray you were making him up all this time for some reason, except I can smell him all over you, and he leaves those marks, and it drives me nuts.” Jayce dropped his hand and moved suddenly closer to Viktor, backing him against the door.

Oh no.

Jayce’s chest heaved with restraint. His palms were flat on the door on either side of Viktor. His smell was rich with interest. He didn’t touch Viktor, but he hovered close enough, staring at Viktor’s lips, that Viktor knew he needed to get out of this conversation before Silco smelled a competitor on him. Viktor turned his face into his own shoulder to avoid the stinging, claiming alpha smell in the air. “Please, Viktor,” Jayce grit out. “Just consider me. Please. I would be so good for you. I would make it so good for you.”

“You need to leave before you embarrass yourself any further,” Viktor said as sternly as he could with his nose in his shoulder, cowering and smelling like he wanted to be held down and knotted. Behind him, the door was locked—a nonexistent passage. The key was in Viktor’s bag.

Jayce’s arms were prison bars six inches thick. “I just need to know that you’re taken care of.”

“You know that I’m taken care of,” Viktor shot back. “I have hickies on my neck, as you pointed out, and I live in a really nice apartment, and he sends me snacks all the time. You just want to be the one taking care of me.”

“Yeah. I do.” Jayce’s eyes were pupil-dark, and he smelled so fucking aroused, was that all for Viktor?

Viktor whimpered. And then he got a grip. He pushed against Jayce’s chest. “Give me my bag, and then leave.”

To Jayce’s credit, he let Viktor push him a few paces back. He closed his eyes, sighed in defeat, and dropped Viktor’s backpack to the ground. “All right. All right. I’m sorry.”

“Thanks to you,” Viktor scolded, “now I have to wash a competing alpha scent off me.” He shook his arm out as if to dispel drops of water.

“I know.” At least Jayce looked remorseful, even if he still smelled turned-on. “When will your boyfriend get here?”

“It’s not any of your business. None of this is! You’re not my alpha. Go away, Jayce, please.”

Viktor waited. Jayce watched him wait. Jayce bit his lip and trailed his eyes down Viktor’s neck, his body. “I could be,” Jayce said. “I could be your alpha. Your boyfriend isn’t here yet, right?” He licked his lips hungrily. “I could be your boyfriend.”

If Jayce didn’t leave, Viktor was going to turn from frustrated to needy like a ball racketed to the far side of a court. Tears welled up behind his eyes. Was he going to have to fight Jayce off of him? He reached for the doorknob behind him. Futile. He wouldn’t be able to do much more than slap at Jayce if Jayce decided to take him. If his heat crashed upon him in full force, he might not want to.

Desperate now, Viktor tried again. “Go away! Why are you doing this to me right now? You think I’m going to cheat on my boyfriend just because I’m going into heat? You think I’ll just bend over and present for whichever alpha is nearest?”

“No, Viktor, it’s not like that. I just want—”

He interrupted Jayce. “I don’t. I want you to leave.” He clutched the doorknob.

Jayce took a step back like it pained him. “Okay.” He took another step. He hit the button for the elevator.

Viktor didn’t catch his breath until the elevator doors had closed on Jayce’s form. He slumped into the door. Gods. Heats turned everyone insane.

Now what?

He decided he wasn’t going to forgive Jayce for scaring him. He considered texting Jayce to tell him so and then thought better of it. Then he decided to open the door. He pushed off of it, used his cane to help him down so he could fish around in his backpack, and pulled out his key. He picked up the backpack, unlocked the door, entered the apartment, and locked the door behind him. There. No more wayward alphas.

In another life, in another universe, perhaps Jayce would be the alpha for Viktor. But in this life, all Viktor wanted was Silco.

Viktor left his backpack on the top step and descended into the apartment, letting the familiar space and its familiar scents wash over him.

Maybe he needed to make a pocket-sized air scrubber to carry around with him. Maybe he needed to listen to his body’s signals better and apply scent blockers the moment he felt a tinge of heat.

He was home now. He was safe now. All he lacked was Silco. He pulled out his phone and dialed Silco’s number.

As the phone rang, Viktor wandered to the kitchen and opened the fridge, looking for a cool drink. He chose a can of cherry coke, wet with condensation.

“Hello?” said Silco through the phone. “What is it, baby?”

“I’m starting my heat.” Viktor put the phone between his shoulder and his ear and hooked his cane over his arm to pop the tab on the soda.

He expected immediate joy, immediate promises. What he got was Silco saying, “...And?”

The fridge door swung shut. Viktor froze with the soda sizzling in his hand. Viktor said, “...And, what? How long before you can get here?”

Silco’s side of the phone crinkled with static. The line was silent for a few breaths before Silco said, “Heats weren’t part of our arrangement. You don’t have to give this to me.”

He did not have the patience right now. His eyes watered again. He set the coke on the counter to hold the phone. “I assumed you would be my heat partner.”

“I don’t expect it, Omega.”

“Silco, what are you even saying? Don’t you want me?”

“Of course I do.” Silco’s voice was measured, businesslike. “But you’re under no obligation to sugar during your heat. I’m sure there are partners you’d be more comfortable with. I’m sorry we didn’t have a chance to discuss this beforehand, but you aren’t breaking our deal or cheating or anything of the sort by taking care of yourself during this difficult time. What about your little engineering friend? Have him help you out.”

Help him out, like Viktor was having trouble with a math problem. Viktor didn’t want Jayce. Viktor had just commanded Jayce out of his sight. His lip trembled.

“Do what you need to do. Call me when it’s over.”

“Wait!” Viktor could just picture Silco hanging up the phone and turning it off, leaving Viktor alone, alone. “Don’t go! Silco, you’re my alpha. Nobody else! I need you!”

Silco snapped at someone on his end of the line, “Watch her for a moment.” Who else was there with him? What was he doing?

“Silco,” Viktor whined. His eyes prickled.

Silco was quiet again. On the other end of the line, a door closed. Then, with emotion cracking into his voice, he said, “This is different, Omega. I won’t pay you for a heat.”

Pay him? Viktor was offering Silco his heat, and Silco was fretting over the cost? “I don’t care! Keep your money. Just come over, please.”

“You’re only saying this because—”

“I’m not in heat yet. I know what I want and who I want.” Did Silco think Viktor was stupid? That he couldn’t consent? The tears dripped down Viktor’s cheeks, released at last. “Are you saying you won’t come? I have to be alone?” He shuddered through a breath. “You don’t want to have sex with me if it’s real?”

Was it all fake, all this time? The doting attention, the gifts, the apartment, Viktor’s name on Silco’s lips as he finished inside him, knotting him in the dark—was all of that kink devoid of any true feelings? Viktor had been played. He’d let Silco into his heart when all Silco saw in him was a business transaction.

Viktor had thought he would be spending a lovely, blissful heat with his alpha, but Silco thought Viktor’s heat was too inconvenient to bother with.

Silco said, “Baby, Viktor, no.”

Viktor’s voice came out small. “If you don’t want me for real, I want to be done.” He lifted the cool soda can to his forehead, suddenly burning up. In his fragile emotional state, he couldn’t stand another second of Silco paying for Viktor’s company when Silco’s company was all Viktor desired. “Actually, we’re done regardless. No more sugaring. I just want you.”

If Silco were playing with Viktor’s feelings, professing how much he cared just for the sick thrill of leading Viktor on, then Viktor was out. He couldn’t bear Silco’s disinterest. Viktor would lose his meal ticket and his apartment, or he would gain a relationship; either way, the transaction ended here.

Viktor said, “If you want to be my boyfriend for real, then come over. Please.”

“I’ll be there in thirty-five minutes.”

The line went dead.

Chapter 12: Exhaustion

With quick, quiet footfalls, Silco returned to the basement. Three cronies waited, surrounding a cop chained to a chair. The cop’s long black hair was frazzled. She scowled at Silco through her gag.

A single, straight staircase led out of the basement of this abandoned cannery. The concrete floor sloped toward a drain. The drain, as well as the remote location, made this building a favorite haunt of Silco’s when he had nasty business to conduct.

A single light bulb dangled from a cord. Every so often, it flickered like a light from Silco’s nightclub, turning the basement into a mass of shadows. Blood dripped from the cop’s leg. A fly landed on her to sip.

Leaning against the wall with crossed arms, Sevika raised an eyebrow at Silco. It wasn’t every day he took a phone call in the middle of an interrogation.

“I have good news and bad news,” Silco told the cop. “Well, it’s the same news, and whether it’s good or bad depends on you. Something’s come up, and I have to run, meaning this will be a far shorter torture session than I’d planned.” Silco tapped the points of his fingers together and angled them toward his prisoner. “Here’s the rub: either you tell me if Smeech is a plant, or I kill you right now, no torture required.” He stepped forward and tugged her gag out of her mouth.

A new drug lord was making a name for himself reselling shimmer, and he’d been asking probing questions about who was really in charge of the Lanes. Either Smeech was an informant trying to weasel out information to feed to the cops, or he was just plain stupid. Both options were bad for business. Silco had captured this cop to tell him which was true. They’d picked her because she had a history of handling spies, and her operations had led to the deaths of several of Silco’s crew.

The woman spat at his feet. “You’re not getting anything out of me.”

Silco said, “That makes things simple, then.” A crony handed Silco a hunting knife.

“Wait,” Sevika said. “Just because you have to run and take care of your omega, that doesn’t mean we have to trash her now. Let me handle the interrogation.”

The cop sneered at the floor between her legs, bound to the chair’s. A trickle of blood slowly drained.

“Are you certain?” Silco said.

“Yeah,” Sevika said. She took the knife from Silco. “Go get your boy.”

The latex of Silco’s gloves snapped as he removed them and tossed them in a corner. “All right. Let me know what you find out.”

“We will.”

“Keys?”

Sevika tossed them to Silco. She took Silco’s place in front of the cop while he hurried up the stairs.

In the cannery’s parking lot, surrounded by a viny chain link fence, Silco dashed to the driver’s seat of one of the cars and started it. Thirty-five minutes, he’d told Viktor. He checked his watch. That had been three minutes ago. He had thirty-two minutes to make a forty minute drive. He pulled out of the parking lot.

Silco might have broken a few speeding laws on the way to Piltover, but if a cop pulled him over, Silco would just shoot him.

Viktor was all alone. What if his heat started now, before Silco arrived? What if he were in agony?

Fuck, Silco had nearly given up the chance to share Viktor’s heat with him. He’d nearly lost Viktor. His baby had sniffed over the phone like Silco had betrayed him, and only at the sound of Viktor’s tears had he realized how badly he’d fucked up. Viktor thought Silco didn’t want him. How could Silco ever let him think that?

Silco didn’t bring a bodyguard because he wanted no other alphas anywhere in Viktor’s proximity. He growled and urged the car faster with a foot on the pedal.

—

He parked the car in the covered lot of his apartment building. He sped through the lobby and into the elevator and pushed the “close doors” button a half dozen times before it finally obeyed. As the elevator rose, he tapped his foot, impatient. He checked his watch. He was on time.

The key turned in the lock. Silco slid inside and locked it behind him. The apartment smelled so much of Viktor that Silco got a headrush.

Viktor popped his head up over the back of the couch.

“Viktor!” As Silco walked down the two steps into the entryway, he stumbled over Viktor’s backpack. But he caught his footing and hurried to his omega and knelt before him.

Viktor was wrapped in at least two blankets, bundled in a soft mass on the couch. His smell—it made Silco’s teeth ache. It made him yearn to push Viktor down and fill him with cum. Poor omega, having to wait to get a knot in him. He needed a knot. He needed it now. He needed Silco’s teeth and his cum and his cock. Silco would hold him down and stuff him nice and tight until he whined…

Were omegas’ heat smells always this intense? Silco had no experience.

Viktor said, “Silco,” in a meek little voice, face a mess of tears and anxiety.

Silco had done that. Silco cupped Viktor’s face and wiped fresh tears away. “I’m here, baby. I’m here.”

Viktor relaxed into a smile. “I thought you weren’t going to come.”

“Of course I came. I just didn’t think you wanted it.”

Viktor’s face nuzzled into Silco’s hand. “I’ve never felt like this. You’re it for me, Silco.”

He sat on the couch and pulled Viktor into his lap with their chests facing. Silco buried his face in Viktor’s neck as Viktor knelt, legs to either side of him. They held each other tightly, entwined like a tree growing through a fence. Silco reacted on instinct to the omega’s pre-heat, soothing him and rubbing his claim all over his body. He mouthed at Viktor’s neck and dragged his wrist on the other side, smearing Silco’s pheromones all over Viktor. “You’re it for me, too.”

Viktor’s hair was damp. When Silco had entered, Viktor had smelled clean, like he’d recently showered the day’s lingering scents away. Now he smelled like Silco, like Silco’s, like he always should for the rest of time.

Silco growled and pulled Viktor’s hips down against his own, rutting against him through their clothes. “You’re mine. I never should have told you to sleep with anyone else. All mine.”

Viktor sighed, pleased. “Good. And no more deals between us. Just have me.”

Silco kissed Viktor on the mouth. It couldn’t be real. It was too perfect. Viktor wanted Silco like Silco wanted him—eternal, unguarded. Silco’s tongue dug into Viktor’s mouth, and Viktor whined.

Viktor tugged Silco’s pants open as Silco helped with his. No metal brace impeded Viktor’s clothing. Now that the blankets had fallen, Silco could see that Viktor was dressed in sweatpants, a fabric compression brace up one leg, and a t-shirt. No underwear. Once the sweatpants were off, Silco could slide right into him, there in his lap.

Silco groaned with fervent relief. Viktor was tight around his length, moaning too and rocking their hips together.

Silco said, “You’re all I think about. All I eat. All I drink. All I dream.”

Viktor moaned and lifted and dropped himself a few inches again and again. “I want it to be real. Everyone should know I belong to you.”

“They will.” Silco kissed his neck, and Viktor tilted his head away, freeing more space for Silco to suck. The charge in the air—this current between them—was as real for Viktor as it was for Silco. Viktor had bet his future with Silco on it, gambling his allowance and his apartment that Silco wanted more than the money-for-sex deal that had carried them this far. Yes, Silco wanted him. The knowledge that Viktor wanted him back was like gold in his veins.

Warm, wet, tight: Viktor was fantasy made tangible, his smell so potent, Silco could drink it.

Viktor was off like a shot, coming on Silco’s cock and moaning into the sex-drenched air. He held Silco by the shoulders, still rocking his hips. Silco pushed up into Viktor and held there to come as deep as possible. Then Viktor slumped into Silco’s arms.

Silco petted his back. Viktor was sleepy and still, except for his panting breath. “Tell me what you need,” Silco said. He kissed Viktor’s hair. “Anything. I’ll do anything.”

“That was a good first fuck,” Viktor mumbled. “My head is clear for the first time in a while.”

“Are you in it?”

“No. But getting there. This is your first experience with a heat, right?”

“That’s right.” Silco had no room for mistakes. Viktor was too important. “Did you notify the school that you would be out?”

“Yeah.”

“During your heat, are you able to tell me what you need, or should I guess?” He needed Viktor’s advice now, while he remained coherent.

“You should guess. Mostly it’s food and water and cock and sleep.”

Silco could handle that. He continued petting Viktor’s back, and Viktor began to purr louder than he ever had before. He rumbled like a cat against Silco’s chest. Silco said, “I’ll take care of you.”

“I know you will. I’ll try to say something if I want something, but… Just, yeah. Make sure I’m still drinking and keep me knotted as much as possible.”

Silco groaned. Viktor, on his knot, for days. “How long do your heats usually last?”

“Anywhere from four days to a week.”

Christ. Silco tipped his head back. Viktor’s smell was going to drive him mad. Days upon days of fucking him as he leached breed me pheromones into the air. How did any alphas stand it? How had Silco lived before this? “You’re perfect,” Silco said.

Viktor’s purring redoubled, and he nuzzled into Silco’s shirt.

Silco’s hunger was an ugly thing, like the hunger of that fly sipping blood. But of the two bottom-feeders, Silco was the worse sinner because he knew his hunger was wrong. Viktor was young and sweet and good. Silco wanted to sink his teeth into him and tear, to leave cum dripping down his leg, down his chin.

Viktor’s forehead was as hot as a fever, and instead of monitoring his temperature, Silco was daydreaming of making a mess of his body, writing his name across it in sharpie, leaving it trembling like a rabbit.

Silco should release him to be with a safe, stable alpha his own age. He didn’t.

—

A little while later, the knot slipped out of Viktor, and Silco brought him to the bedroom. A ring of pillows dressed the bed, all covered by blankets. Silco helped him climb into the nest and then covered him in the remaining two blankets from the couch.

Silco found his phone in his pants and placed a grocery order. He didn’t know what kind of food Viktor had this place stocked with, but knowing Viktor, it was all nonperishables. Silco was not feeding Viktor hot pockets and granola bars on his heat.

Viktor said, “I’m tired.”

“You don’t want more sex yet?” That made sense, if Viktor were still in pre-heat. Rest was the best thing for him right now, rest and the certainty of Silco’s presence. Silco bent down and kissed him.

Viktor hummed. He breathed quietly for a bit and then said, “I think I’m going to take a nap.”

Silco smoothed a hand down his back, over the blankets. “Sleep well, Omega.”

Minutes later, Viktor was out like a light, and Silco took the opportunity to prepare for the heat.

He brought water bottles and snack bars to the bedroom. He browsed a Reddit thread titled, “It’s my first time helping an omega through their heat. What should I know going in?” Advice on the thread directed him to keep Viktor cool and comfortable and let him be needy without judgement. If Silco were a close friend or romantic partner, the advice said, then scenting the space might help make the omega feel safe.

Silco qualified; Viktor was Silco’s partner now. Forever, if Silco had anything to say about it, but they had years for dates and engagements. Silco rubbed his wrists on the doorposts of the bedroom and all over Viktor’s nest.

He felt Viktor’s forehead, and Viktor was burning up, so Silco traded Viktor’s heavy blankets for a single, lighter one and wiped his forehead and neck with a wet rag.

“That feels nice,” Viktor said.

“Good. Rest now. Call me when you want me.”

Viktor mumbled a reply.

Silco left him in the bedroom to sleep. He cracked the door to keep an ear out for Viktor and waited for the DoorDash order in the living room. It arrived in a few grocery bags on the welcome mat: some fruit, some candy, some carbs. Silco could order hot meals delivered as needed.

He called Sevika and asked quietly how the interrogation went.

“Badly,” she said. “Either that cop didn’t know Smeech was an informant, or she wasn’t telling.”

“That might be good news,” Silco said. “That means no one will come looking when he disappears.”

“That’s true. How’s your omega?”

Silco turned to glance at the bedroom door and the crack of darkness. “Asleep. He just wants company right now.”

She grunted an acknowledgement. “Take care of him. I’ll talk to you again when it’s over.”

Sevika would keep operations running in his absence. She would dispose of the cop’s body and maybe even eliminate Smeech, all without being asked. “Thank you,” Silco said. He ended the call.

He put away the groceries. He read a little about heats on his phone until Viktor called his name. Then he slipped into the bedroom to satisfy whichever of Viktor’s needs arose.

Chapter 13: The Heat, For Real

Viktor dreamed of embers and tobacco and teeth in his shoulder. He woke with one thing on his mind.

He called Silco’s name.

Silco stepped into the room, bathed in light from the hall. “Anything else I can do?” Silco asked in his thin, gravelly voice.

Viktor smiled and blinked lazy eyes against the light. “Hi,” he said. Nestled in a soft mound of bedding—a nest of Silco’s sheets, marked with his scent—Viktor was comfortable and content. He’d never had a nest so luxurious. So soft, gentle.

Silco approached Viktor’s nest. “What else do you need?”

Viktor stretched. He pulled his shirt off and tossed it over the edge of the bed. Apart from the fabric brace, he was naked now. A wave of nausea and raw desire rolled through him. His abdomen burned with need. “You. Get in here.”

“Are you ready for sex? Are you hungry?”

“Stop fussing,” Viktor told Silco.

Silco, Silco, Silco.

His pre-heat pangs of arousal were nothing compared to this. “I want your cock. I’m pretty much in heat, now, I think.” Viktor slid a hand between his legs. “Just fuck me good like you always do.”

He rubbed himself and waited for Silco to cover him with his body and make love to him. And slowly, Silco climbed into the nest. He undressed and let his clothes fall over the edge of the bed.

Viktor tugged a blanket over them both and held his legs open. His pulse ripped through his body, and Silco was spicy, heady, strong in his nose. When Silco dragged his cock along Viktor’s entrance, Viktor thought the agony of separation was over.

But Silco didn’t push inside, just grinded against Viktor’s core.

Silco didn’t understand. Viktor was going to die if he wasn’t mated. “Please,” Viktor said, trying to guide Silco’s cock inside him. “I’m so empty, Silco.” He was drunk, high, intoxicated on instincts all screaming to be smothered and filled and mated. Come into me. Silco’s teeth, tongue, fingers, and cock were good for nothing unless they were inside Viktor, plugging every crevasse until Silco was all Viktor could feel and all he could breathe.

“You smell divine.” Silco nosed at Viktor’s cheek. He inhaled shakily. “I need to be inside you. It’s like nothing I’ve ever…”

“Silco, please. I’m losing my mind. Please, put it in me, please!”

Inch by inch, Silco slid into Viktor, cursing all the way.

Viktor tugged at his hips, helping him along faster. At last, Silco was inside him. Now he needed to come and to mate Viktor. “I want your bite,” Viktor whined.

“Viktor.” Silco’s eyes squeezed shut, and his cock twitched where it was buried inside him. “You can’t just say things like that.”

“But I do want it.”

Silco started to move, started to fuck him, and the rhythmic, familiar and foreign feel of it was pure sin against Viktor’s sensitive insides. Something primal kindled in him, an urgency that built with every stroke of Silco’s cock.

Some part of him knew he was wrong to beg for Silco’s bite so soon. Some part of him knew he wasn’t being polite, being easy to deal with. He wanted to be good for Silco. Only, Viktor needed it.

But what if Viktor were too demanding, too much of an inconvenience, and Silco left?

He felt anew his terror that Silco would refuse to fuck Viktor through his heat, and fresh tears slid down Viktor’s cheeks, carving through tracks worn by an afternoon of crying as he waited for Silco. He hiccuped through a few gulping inhales of breath.

“Omega?” Silco’s face was pure distress. “What is it?”

Viktor shook his head. He shouldn’t ask for a mating bite. Silco had told Viktor What about your little engineering friend? and Call me when it’s over. Silco hadn’t jumped on the chance to fuck Viktor through his heat; he’d needed convincing.

“Please, Omega,” Silco said, propping himself up over Viktor’s body. “Tell me what’s wrong. Does this not feel right?”

“It feels right,” Viktor sobbed. “It’s so good.” Viktor groaned, and he felt slick leak out of him around Silco’s length. “Don’t stop, please.”

Silco resumed the delightful press of his cock. It made a slick sound every time it entered Viktor anew.

Since the moment Silco beat in the face of Singed in front of Viktor—for threatening Viktor—he knew there was no other alpha for him. His gifts, his cock, and his elaborate dates only drew Viktor further in. He’d spoiled all other alphas for Viktor.

“Won’t you tell me what’s making you cry, darling?” Silco asked.

Viktor shook his head. If he were too needy, then Silco would leave him to work through his heat alone on his fingers and toys. Or worse, Viktor would have to call Jayce and prove him right; Viktor was just a stupid whore who would bend over for anyone if the agony got to be too much.

“Baby,” Silco said in his gentlest voice, the one saved just for Viktor. “Please. I hate to see you in pain.”

“You’ll leave. It’s too much. I’m too much.”

“Never.” Silco pecked him sweetly on the lips. Viktor grabbed his face and deepened the kiss, opening Silco’s mouth and letting their tongues slide together. Silco’s breath stuttered, and then his hips picked up their pace, fucking into Viktor good and hard like he felt the same white-hot heat in his veins as Viktor. He untangled their mouths to say, “You feel incredible. Your smell can’t be described.”

“Do you want to keep me?” Viktor asked. “Like Singed tried to?”

Silco grit his teeth and pounded Viktor without mercy. “Yes. Just like he wanted. All mine. I’m going to keep you right here in this nest, naked and full of me, until I’m through with you.”

Yes, yes. Full of Silco, for always. Viktor’s pulse was a strobe light, flashing. He felt it in his temple and his fingertips. “Bite my neck,” Viktor begged, baring his throat for his alpha. “Don’t you want to mate me? Don’t you want this to be forever?”

“I…” Silco’s mismatched eyes both went wild. “You’re just saying that because you’re in heat.”

Viktor shook his head. “I told you I wanted you to mate me when I gave you that blowjob, when you knotted my mouth.” He meant it. He was burning. He would burn away to ash unless Silco tethered him with a bite.

Silco groaned and dropped his head to Viktor’s shoulder. The sweat of exertion shone on his shoulder and slid between their bodies. “I can’t. I shouldn’t.”

Viktor would convince him. He had all heat to persuade Silco that Viktor meant his words.

Viktor slipped deep into a fog. Time passed unnoted. He knew he was safe. Silco’s scent and body surrounded him.

Silco came over and over. He got Viktor off with his cock and his mouth and his hands. Afternoon stretched into night, and Viktor faded in and out of focus like the film from a shaky, handheld camera.

Nothing mattered except being full, and when Viktor was full, the swirling haze settled. When Viktor was empty, he panicked, scrambling for Silco, mind woozy.

Like now. He reached between his thighs, half-asleep from a nap, and Silco’s knot was gone. Viktor cried out. Where was his alpha?

He searched the nest in soft, pathetic stretches of his arms, patting and feeling around in the dark. Viktor’s vision went fuzzy at the corners, and he keened.

“I’m here! I’m here,” Silco said, climbing back into the nest and pushing Viktor flat. “Shh. It’s all right.”

“Silco, put it in me!”

Silco’s cock notched at his entrance and then slid home. Silco and Viktor both groaned.

Viktor went limp, panting with exertion from his search. Silco was back. He was fucking Viktor. All was well. “Bite me, please!” Viktor begged. “In my neck.”

“I won’t be able to resist much longer if you keep saying that,” Silco groaned. His hips pounded into Viktor’s. His smell was potent enough to let Viktor read his mind: desire, desperation, amazement. “Is it always like this?”

Viktor knew what he meant. Were heats always this intense? Were the feelings this forceful, the sensations this sharp? Viktor nodded. Silco must be out of his mind, but anyone would be; Viktor’s heat smell had made a monster of Jayce, too. Just because it was Silco’s first time with a heat—just because it was Silco’s first true experience with an omega—that didn’t mean Viktor was special. That didn’t mean he was the one.

Silco gave a shuttering exhale, leaned over Viktor, and fucked him from close. He echoed his words from their first fuck. “I don't  believe you.”

Maybe Viktor was the one; maybe it wouldn’t be so easy to beg if Viktor had any other alpha on top of him. “Please!” Viktor whined. They were perfect for each other; didn’t Silco see it? “Bite me.”

He sank his teeth into Viktor’s arm, and pure bliss pulsed out of his fangs and into Viktor’s bloodstream, turning his insides into lava. Viktor came.

—

Later, Viktor snarled when Silco pulled out of him. “Come back,” he demanded. He tried to grab Silco’s arm, but Silco grabbed Viktor’s wrists and held them.

“Fuck,” Silco groaned, catching his breath. “I’m already hard again. Fuck.” He rolled Viktor onto his belly and tugged his hips up. “Look what you do to me.” His cock found Viktor’s hole and slid inside. “You’re so wet. You’re such a mess. Look at you.” He fucked Viktor harder, until it hurt, but Viktor loved the brutality of it, the futility of struggle. “Cum all over you,” Silco said wondrously.

Viktor closed his eyes and hid his noises in the pillow. That explained Silco’s scent everywhere. He clawed behind him to get Silco under his nails, under his skin.

“You’re so tense,” Silco said, gasping. “Relax, Omega.”

Viktor was thrashing without meaning to. He pushed at Silco’s leg. “Mate me.” Silco should mate Viktor. Bite him. Bite him now.

“This again.”

Yes, always. Until Silco put his teeth in Viktor. Viktor salivated over it. He dragged his nails across Silco’s leg, reaching behind him to pull Silco down on top of him and bite!

Silco’s pheromones turned heady and authoritative at the same time as he said, “Be still and quiet.”

Immediately, Viktor went limp. His breath sounded loud in the sudden silence. Silco paused his movement.

Viktor’s body hadn’t let anyone scent-bully it like that since Singed. Silco was Viktor’s alpha; didn’t he understand?

“Now,” Silco said, his voice silky smooth. “I’m giving my cock to you. Isn’t that what you want?”

Viktor nodded against the pillow he’d been using to muffle his whines. A little spot of drool decorated it.

“Good. Then behave, or I’ll stop.”

That would end him. He could be good. He kept his mouth shut and his hands still and let Silco fuck another knot into him from behind.

—

He was deep in heat now. Deep like water, like sleep.

He remembered a styrofoam takeout container placed in his lap. A meaty, umami smell made his mouth water, and Viktor dug into the rice dish with the plastic fork that had appeared in his hand somehow.

He remembered movement—hands tugging him to the edge of the nest—and Silco saying, “Shh, don’t fret. I’m just taking you to the bathroom. You haven’t had a bath in two days.”

And then, as far as his memory went, he was in the clawfoot tub, smaller than the emerald tub back in Zaun, and the water was heat-warm, and Silco dragged a washcloth over Viktor’s body. Strong fingers lathered soap into his hair, and Silco said, “Tilt your head back for me.” Viktor obeyed. Water poured over his scalp. Silco’s hand protected his face from the stream.

Viktor’s eyes closed again, and then he was on his side in his nest, and Silco was toweling dry his hair… and then…

Silco’s breath on the back of his neck. Silco’s dick inside him, pounding with a vengeance. A hand on his hip. Words in his ear, soft like down, at odds with the manhandling. “So sweet,” Silco said. Skin slapped against skin. “Look at you. So young.” Silco licked into Viktor’s ear.

Viktor didn’t make a sound. He drifted in a pleasurable daze, eyes closed. A claiming, stinging smell tickled his nose. Silco was the breath in Viktor’s lungs and the red in his blood. His cock moved powerfully inside Viktor.

“You would mate with me,” Silco rasped. “Wouldn’t you?”

Viktor nodded. Groggily, Viktor realized what was going to happen. He bared the side of his neck.

Silco pressed his mouth there. He sucked like he sought to layer another bruise into the skin.

Once, Viktor had fallen asleep on the couch in the middle of a group of friends. As he slowly lost consciousness, the voices of the others had floated, dreamlike, and he couldn’t remember in the morning which words were real and which were products of a sleeping mind.

This moment felt like that. Unreal. Silco was whispering in Viktor’s ear (Need you so badly. Fuck, ask me one more time. I’ll do it if you ask), but Viktor could’ve been hallucinating.

Yes, he wanted it, he tried to say, but his tongue was too thick for words.

He didn’t hallucinate Silco’s knot, squeezing his insides tighter and tighter. He might’ve come just from the delicious fullness, but then a sharp pain stung his neck, and Viktor’s eyes snapped open. He snarled and writhed, more out of shock than pain as adrenaline flooded his system.

Silco made a sound deep in his throat that Viktor’s body interpreted as a command to be still. Combined with a sudden tightening of his arms around Viktor, the message was irrefutable.

Viktor froze. Silco’s venom numbed the wound now, and Viktor had been bitten by Silco enough times to recognize the pleasurable rush through his body.

It was so much more intense than any other bite. Orders of magnitude beyond anything Viktor had ever experienced. Viktor had tried psychedelics at a party, once, and this transcended them.

He came in little pulses and starts, clutched tight to Silco’s body. Wind rushed through his head and his mouth fell open in a silent scream.

Then Silco was grunting, locked around Viktor and biting deeper into Viktor’s neck and Viktor felt better than he had in his life, maybe, as he was knotted and mated.

It went on and on. Viktor had known Silco wasn’t the gentle type, but he hadn’t anticipated his bite to be this savage. How long was he going to keep his fangs embedded in Viktor’s skin? Viktor was afraid to make any sound and jostle the teeth in his neck, lest something tear.

At last, Silco unlatched, and he groaned over the wound he’d just inflicted. “Oh, Viktor.” He licked over the mark with a few swipes of his tongue. “You’re all mine, Omega, aren’t you?”

“Yes, Alpha, yes,” Viktor whispered. Fuzzy aftershocks numbed his mouth, his guts, his toes. How had this happened? When had Silco changed his mind?

Silco rolled Viktor onto his front. He pinned Viktor to the bed by his arms and his hips. “You’re so good. Gods, look at you. Mine? You mean it?”

Viktor had wanted Silco’s bite with such length and such ferocity that he didn’t know how to parse the fulfillment of his desire. “I meant it.”

Elation. That’s what he was feeling. Viktor purred.

“You’re happy.”

“Yes.”

Silco gave Viktor a couple of loose pushes of his hips. Cum leaked out of Viktor. “Fuck, you smell good.”

Viktor pushed back his hips into Silco’s. Joy tingled in his extremities like they’d fallen asleep. More. More! He demanded, “Give me another.”

“I’ll fuck you again the moment I can get free.”

“No, another bite! Do the other side.” Viktor tilted his head.

Silco’s hands squeezed Viktor’s arms. “Viktor. I couldn’t.”

“Do it so no one else can have me.”

Silco needed no further encouragement to lean down and sink his teeth into the other side of Viktor’s neck, leaving no place for another alpha to bite him. As before, Silco left his teeth in Viktor’s flesh for long, thudding heartbeats of pleasure.

When Viktor’s and Silco’s orgasms had both faded to gray, Silco removed his teeth. Viktor’s ears rang. The room didn’t stop spinning before Viktor slipped back under the water.

—

Viktor surfaced again when Silco helped him to the toilet. Then Silco wiped the mating marks on Viktor’s neck with antiseptic. He hissed at the sting, but Silco merely released a soothing scent to calm him, smiling in satisfaction when Viktor went drowsy immediately.

“Only you get to do that,” Viktor insisted as he steadied himself against the bathroom counter and stared into space. Everything was pleasant, muffled, soft like cotton.

Silco kissed him and helped him into the nest, and then Silco fed him chocolates and candy fruit slices. Viktor drank water infused with lemon, and his alpha had never been more touchy nor more affectionate. He held Viktor in his lap and fed Viktor bite by bite.

Viktor touched his bite marks with unabashed wonder. He had a mate. Silco was Viktor’s alpha via a contract of blood.

“You were right about Jayce,” Viktor said later, sitting on Silco’s knot after riding him. “He wanted to fuck me.”

Silco’s hands on his waist tightened. He growled, “You’re only telling me this now, why?”

“Because I didn’t want you to mate me out of jealousy.” Viktor couldn’t bear an asterisk or a caveat to their fledgling mating bond. If Silco had mated him just to stick it to Jayce, Viktor couldn’t bear that.

Silco softened. “I didn’t,” he said. “I mated you solely for myself.”

Viktor tipped forward and sighed into Silco’s chest hair.

Silco ran fingers through his hair, petting him. “I didn’t expect how lethargic you would be. And how demanding. How do you manage both at the same time?”

“It’s a talent,” Viktor mumbled. “Is there any more food?”

He heard the smile in Silco’s voice when he said, “What do you want: sweet or savory?”

“Sweet.”

Silco reached for a package of cookies, and Viktor sat up to eat. Silco asked, “What were you even buying with my money? Not food, certainly. There was hardly any here.”

Viktor shrugged. He nibbled his cookie. “Tuition. Rent. Expensive coffee.” Most of the time, he wasn’t spoiling himself on his daddies’ money; he was caring for his basic needs.

Silco cupped his face. “I’m handling that now. All of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re my mate, aren’t you? Don’t think you’re paying a cent toward your care ever again.”

Viktor’s cheeks were as warm as Silco’s knot. “I told you the sugaring was over. You don’t have to take care of me. Monetarily, I mean.”

“The sugaring deal is over,” Silco agreed. “But now I’m going to take even better care of you. Don’t fight me on this, Omega.”

Viktor finished his cookie. He laid down on Silco’s chest and let the lethargy tug him back under.

Chapter 14: Next Steps

Silco sat up beside the sleeping form of Viktor and put his head in his hands. Six days into a marathon of fucking, and Viktor’s heat was finally settling down. He needed more sleep and less sex. He was coherent enough for short conversations with Silco, though every conversation ended with him begging to be dicked down.

Raw, angry red marks marred his neck, where Silco had lost control and bound Viktor to himself irreversibly. By the gods, what had he done?

Around him, the nest was cushy with layers of blankets. Silco ran his palm over the blanket underneath him, watching the fibers stick up like a snail trail following his hand. Too much needed doing. Too much needed thinking about: plans to move Viktor in with him and pay whatever tuition fees remained and arrange for an armed guard while Viktor wandered Piltover and refurbish the Zaun apartment to make it comfortable for an omega. And yet, Silco’s mind was occupied with relative trivialities like whether or not he should have mated Viktor in the first place.

He shouldn’t have. He really, really shouldn’t have.

Silco scrubbed his hands down his face. He peeked at Viktor, sound asleep, naked but made modest by a sheet. This omega was too good for Silco—too bright, too handsome, too young. Whatever cosmic karma balanced the universe should have intervened before Silco stole this omega’s freedom and future.

The world wasn’t just; Silco knew better than anyone. He simply wasn’t used to injustices working in his favor.

Silco certainly didn’t mind having Viktor as a mate. In fact, when he let himself contemplate Viktor and forever in the same sentence, his heart grew conspicuous in his chest, fast as a hare. Viktor belonged to Silco—by law, by tradition, by blood. He’d won. The race had ended, the victor declared and the spectators sent home.

It shouldn’t have been so easy. Silco’s heart pounded faster in imagined fright. Viktor had slept with other alphas. What if one of them had bitten Viktor in a moment of madness, like Silco had? What if Viktor were bound forever to an alpha who didn’t care about him?

No point worrying about what ifs. Viktor was safe. Viktor was Silco’s.

Viktor couldn’t leave. What if he wanted to leave? What if he shook off his heat daze and was horrified to find that the alpha he’d invited into his bed had taken advantage of his weakness to force a mating mark on him? Not just one mating mark, but two?

Silco could vividly picture Viktor backing away with fear in his eyes, accusing Silco. I trusted you, he would say in the same tone he’d said, What is this? You two are partners? Did you track me down for him?

The worst part was that Silco might have been able to cajole Viktor into a mating bite if given more time; he could have plied Viktor with gifts and promises until Viktor was accustomed to Silco’s presence in his life. He should have taken his time. Viktor deserved better in his mating than a fit of passion and possessiveness. He deserved better in his alpha than a miscreant like Silco who’d paid to dip his cock in him.

Fuck. He deserved so much more than this.

Viktor stirred, and Silco watched him awaken with dread. Now Viktor would revile Silco. Now Viktor would bemoan ever inviting Silco to chat with him in that cafe.

He stretched out a sleepy hand. “Silco,” he said.

“I’m here.”

A hand on Silco’s leg verified his presence, and then Viktor smiled. He opened his eyes. “Good morning.”

“It’s afternoon.”

“Good afternoon, then.” Viktor stretched. He didn’t start screaming at Silco yet, which was a good sign.

“How are you feeling?” Silco asked.

“Good. Horny. Fuck, I’m still so horny. Can I have your knot again?”

Silco wasn’t a good enough man to deny him. He eased the sheet aside, crawled on top of Viktor, and tugged his cock a few times to harden it. He inhaled the smells of sex, heat, and mated omega—his omega, mated and his forever. He pushed into Viktor.

So Viktor was still too deep in heat to comprehend what violence Silco had done to him. Silco would keep fucking him as long as the heat lasted, and he would deal with the fallout when Viktor could think clearly enough to hate him.

—

He rehearsed what he would say. Viktor, I didn’t mean to mate you. That was a lie. Silco had meant it like he’d never meant anything in his life.

Viktor, I’m so sorry for doing this to you. You begged me and begged me, and I wasn’t strong enough to resist. That sounded like Silco blamed Viktor, when in truth, the burden to protect the omega in heat was on Silco, the partner who’d promised to care for him through his trial.

We’ll figure this out together. You have every right to be angry with me, but I’ll spend every second of the rest of my life making it up to you.

—

When Viktor awoke a final time with the light of clarity in his eyes, Silco prepared himself for their first real conversation in days. He kept his hands to himself and waited for Viktor to remark on his new reality.

Viktor sat up, wincing. Was he sore? Was he tired? He touched the marks on his neck with wonder. He looked at Silco. “We’re mates?”

“I’m so sorry.” Silco tugged the blanket farther up his hips. He should have put some pants on.

Clouds came over Viktor’s expression. “You didn’t want it?”

“Of course I wanted it. But I should have…” Silco shook his head. “I shouldn’t have done it when you were deep in heat. We should have talked about it first. For taking advantage of you, I’m deeply sorry. You have every right to be angry with me.”

Viktor shuffled closer. “I’m not angry with you. I begged you for it, didn’t I? I remember begging.”

He had, but Silco had promised to take care of Viktor, and instead, he’d taken advantage of him.

“Thank you for staying,” Viktor said.

“Thank you for trusting me with your heat.” Silco winced. “And again, you can’t know how sorry I am.”

“Stop saying that, or I’ll think you don’t want me as your mate.”

“I do,” Silco hurried to add. “I do want you. Viktor, I want you like I’ve never wanted anything.”

“Then nothing is wrong.” Viktor scooted down the bed and laid down, pulling a blanket up to his shoulders. “What now?”

Silco didn’t quite believe Viktor that all was forgiven, just like that. Where was Silco’s penance? Where should his guilt go? And what now? “We’ll figure it out together.” Silco touched Viktor’s neck, tracing the scabs that would scar a permanent mark of Silco’s claim.

“Can I finish school?” Viktor asked, timid.

Silco stared down at Viktor’s hesitant expression. “Absolutely. Why wouldn’t you?”

“Some people are old-fashioned like that.”

True, some alphas were controlling. And as Silco considered their next steps, visualizing his own return to Zaun and Viktor’s return to college, discontent rose inside him. Letting Viktor out of his sight was going to be a challenge. “Separating from you might be hard,” Silco admitted. “But I’m not your jailer. I want that to be clear. I’m jealous. I’m possessive. But I also admire your independent spirit, and I don’t plan to stifle it now that we’re mates. Do you understand?”

“I understand. And, fair warning: you’d have a hard time keeping me in a cage even if you wanted to.”

Silco smiled. He believed it. No man nor man-made law could keep Viktor from what he wanted.

“Can you hold me?” Viktor asked.

Silco slid under the covers beside Viktor and pulled him into his arms. They lay there in a quiet embrace for a while, until the shuttered light turned dim.

“It’s night?” Viktor asked. “It feels like morning.”

“Our sleep schedules are out of whack. You were up at all hours.” He kissed Viktor on the mouth. “Needy little thing.”

“I plan to take all of tomorrow to recover. Will you stick around?”

“For as long as you want me.”

They dozed off and on through the night, and in the morning, Silco brought Viktor breakfast on the couch. He would have brought him breakfast in bed except Viktor insisted that he’d spent enough time in his nest.

The rest of the apartment smelled enough like heat that Silco didn’t mind the slight location change. “I’m not ready for you to leave the building yet, though,” he said.

Viktor grinned. “You’re not ready? I get to decide where I go and when. What happened to not keeping me in a cage?”

Beside him on the couch, Silco scowled at the ground. His mate shouldn’t leave his sight, not with the bond bleeding-fresh. The ugliness inside Silco reared its head. He needed Viktor beside him, where Silco could protect him.

Viktor kissed his cheek. “Don’t worry, Alpha. I’m teasing. I don’t want to part with you so soon, either.”

“I feel like I’m going mad.”

“That’s normal, I think.” Viktor nuzzled into his side, and Silco put an arm around him. “The bond is so new. My body keeps remembering it and freaking out again.”

“Freaking out?”

“In a good way. Getting excited.” Viktor demonstrated with a tremor of his hand. “Tingly.”

Silco would do far more to his body if given the chance. Silco had done more. His freshest memories were of Viktor whining and coming on his cock. “Let’s just stay here forever.”

“Don’t you have a criminal empire to run?”

There was that.

“And I have school.” Viktor’s smile dropped. He picked at lint on his blanket. “I guess I’ll have to see Jayce again.”

Silco growled at the other alpha’s name on the lips of his omega. He probed, “What did you mean when you said Jayce wanted to sleep with you?” Depending on the answer, Silco might have to take another trip to the abandoned cannery.

“He walked me home when my heat started. Don’t freak out.”

The remainder of this story couldn’t be good if it required such a caveat.

“He didn’t leave at first when I told him to.” Viktor glanced at Silco’s face. “I said, don’t freak out. He did leave, eventually. He never touched me.”

He may not have touched Viktor, but he’d distressed him, which merited a death sentence anyway. “I’m going to kill him,” Silco said.

“No, you are not. Silco, leave him be.” Viktor pursed his lips. “I don’t want him dead. I just don’t want to see him again.”

“You wouldn’t have to see him again if he disappeared under mysterious circumstances.”

Viktor hit Silco’s arm, now smiling to himself. “Quit that.”

“I’m only saying, I can handle this problem for you.”

“How romantic.” Viktor paused. Then he said, “Would you come with me? Not to kill Jayce, just to be around when I visit Heimerdinger, in case I run into him?”

Silco would do anything Viktor asked. “Just say when.”

“Tomorrow.”

—

Viktor brought his new mate to campus the following afternoon. He’d needed until then to recover from the most intense heat of his life. Viktor hardly ever spent them with partners, so that was new, and on top of that, he’d been mated. He was frazzled and fuzzy and buzzing when he emerged, and he wanted to socialize about as much as he wanted to drink glue. The only person whose presence he craved was Silco.

Silco, Silco, Silco. His name was a refrain in Viktor’s heartbeat. When Silco was near, his whole body responded with chemical fireworks. Just a whiff of Silco could put him at ease; just a glance from Silco warmed his insides.

Viktor walked so close to Silco through campus that their arms brushed every other step. Viktor didn’t stray from the comforting bubble of his mate’s scent.

His mate. Viktor had a mate. He would feel guilty about tricking Silco into mating him if not for how happy Silco’s presence made him. Maybe Silco regretted biting Viktor, but Viktor regretted nothing.

When Viktor pushed Heimerdinger’s door open, Jayce was there at the back table like he’d never left. Viktor’s pulse pounded in his ears, and he took Silco’s hand. Jayce could do nothing to him. Jayce couldn’t force a bond on Viktor even if he tried; no room remained on Viktor’s neck for another bite. Viktor had an alpha, had Silco, for eternity.

With his typical exuberant politeness, Heimerdinger said, “Viktor! Welcome back. Who’s this?”

Unlike Heimerdinger, Jayce possessed an alpha’s sense of smell, so he caught on first and stood whip-fast from his chair, glaring at Silco. He ignored Viktor. “Who are you?” Jayce demanded.

Silco’s voice was measured, his tone casual, and the gravel that suited him to the bone in Zaun seemed out of place in the shining academy and the fresh air—a crocodile had crawled out of the river to wander a suburb. “I’m Viktor’s mate,” Silco said.

“Mate?” Heimerdinger asked, and Viktor watched him realize what had happened during Viktor’s heat. “Oh, well, congratulations, my boy.”

Now Heimerdinger knew that Viktor’s mystery boyfriend was an older Undercity man. Now Jayce knew.

“Thank you, Professor,” Viktor said.

Jayce’s face was as sharp as his teeth as he grit them through a, “Congratulations.”

Viktor ignored him. Silco was firm at his side and warm in his hand, lending support. Silco stood under the inspection of these academics proudly, unabashed. His watch and his pointed shoes shone. Designer sunglasses were tucked in a pocket.

Viktor let the alphas stare one another down and fill the office with pheromones, and he addressed Heimerdinger. “Professor, I came to request that my mandatory office hours be moved, or Jayce’s moved, so that they no longer overlap. I don’t want to collaborate on any projects with him, and I don’t want to be around him.”

“He’s requesting,” Silco added. “I’m insisting.”

A dent of anxiety formed between Heimerdinger’s eyebrows. “Whatever has happened? You two were such good friends. Have you had a fight?” Heimerdinger glanced at Silco, and Viktor knew he worried that Viktor’s new mate was behaving territorially, limiting Viktor’s contact with his friends.

So Viktor explained. “No, we didn’t fight, exactly. When Jayce walked me home last week, he acted uncouth, and I don’t trust him anymore.” Jayce had spoiled his friendship with Viktor all on his own.

Now Heimerdinger turned beady eyes on Jayce. “What does he mean by ‘uncouth’? Actually, never mind. You can tell me later, if you’re going to. Viktor, I approve your request, of course. Jayce can do his office hours on different days than you. I’ll talk scheduling with him now. Go home and get some rest.”

“Thank you.”

Jayce crossed his arms. He leered down at Viktor. “So this is what does it for you, huh?” he taunted.

Heimerdinger’s eyebrows shot up. “Jayce!” Even if he’d had the same thought—his perception of Viktor altering with the added data of his type—he would never say so aloud.

Silco’s hand in Viktor’s tightened. Viktor interpreted the motion as an offer: I can handle this, or I can leave it to you. Your choice. In reply, Viktor took half a step behind Silco.

“Don’t be rude,” Silco said smoothly.

“Rude?” Jayce scoffed. “You’re the one parading an omega around with two bites in his neck after fucking him in the apartment you bought him.”

Heimerdinger gasped. “Jayce.” His face bounced between the alphas like a spectator in a gladiatorial fight to the death.

“Viktor,” Silco corrected. “I’m parading Viktor around with two bites in his neck after fucking him in the apartment I bought him.”

Jayce’s scowl deepened. Aggressive pheromones flowed from both of them, but this was a fight Silco had already won.

“Let’s just go,” Viktor said. “Come on, Daddy.” He threw it in just for the look on Jayce’s face, which was worth the price of Heimerdinger’s tarnished opinion. Viktor only had a couple of months left in Piltover, anyway. With one last glance at Jayce, he tugged Silco out of the office.

Viktor didn’t release Silco’s hand. So this was what having a mate was like.

“Do you wish to go home?” Silco asked. His voice rumbled like a summer storm. “We could return to Zaun. You can cut the rest of your classes this week. Claim you’re still in heat.”

“No, I should go back before my workload gets even bigger. But tomorrow.”

So. He’d called off the sugaring arrangement, spent a heat with his daddy, and mated him. Enmity had risen between Viktor and Jayce, with Heimerdinger caught in the crossfire. How had it all spiraled out of control so fast?

What came next? Did Silco have family whom Viktor needed to meet? What did Silco expect from his mate? Silco would let him finish the semester, but what came after graduation?

“It’s a lot to think about,” Viktor said. “The next steps. I don’t know how to be a mate.”

Silco and Viktor walked close together, like they shared a secret. Silco kissed the back of his hand. As a group of Piltovian students passed by, shooting odd looks at the pair, he ignored them. “Neither do I,” Silco said. “We’ll take it day by day.”

“Okay.”

Chapter 15: Hangover

“Day by day” amounted to basically what they’d done before. Viktor went to class. He made a long list of all his assignments and dove in, ticking them off one by one. He drank expensive coffees and lived at the library. He sent Silco dirty pictures from the library bathroom when he needed a brain break.

V: Can I see you Friday?

S: I’d like that a lot. Will you come to Zaun? Will you stay the night?

V: Yes.

S: Good. <3

Viktor was in the library now, in one of the studying cubicles, with his books and notebooks spread around him. He tossed an empty coffee cup in the garbage can and rubbed his temples. A headache had plagued him for the past hour, and the bite marks on his neck itched. He wanted Silco.

His mate’s absence was easier to ignore in public, when Viktor was busy. When Viktor returned home, however, to an empty apartment and the lingering smell of sex and no Silco, Viktor was going to throw up.

He was supposed to be reading a textbook chapter, but instead, he pulled out his laptop and searched “post-heat symptoms” and then “post-mating symptoms.”

Apparently, you could get bond hangovers from spending too much time apart right after mating. Ants were crawling under his skin and into his brain because, basically, he was lonely. Stupid omega body. Stupid mating bites. Viktor tried and failed not to scratch the marks on his neck. Was he alone? Was Silco in physical distress too, or were alphas immune from the pangs of bond hangovers?

Viktor pulled out his phone to text Silco and ask, and then he put it away. He didn’t want to appear whiny. Silco would be busy, too, reacclimating to his life. Viktor could handle this. He took some ibuprofen, put away his laptop, and got back to reading.

—

Silco returned to a mountain of paperwork. The week of unreal sex was over, and the nightclub, the factories, and the drug operation all required his attention. He met with his people over Zoom calls and in person in his office, working from eight in the morning to ten at night.

His phone was never on silent so Silco wouldn’t miss a text from Viktor, who texted with an infrequency that fueled Silco’s paranoia. What was Viktor doing? How was he feeling? Did any pain linger in his neck? Did he miss Silco with the fervor with which Silco missed him?

Silco checked his phone again, but he had no new messages, so he reread their latest conversation.

S: What are you up to?

V: Studying

S: Your teachers didn’t overload you with work, did they?

V: It’s all right

That was all. He put away his phone, answered another email, and then went to meet Trace about some problem with the nightclub’s plumbing.

Wasn’t this what managers were for? Why did Silco need to attend to plumbing concerns himself? What did he even pay these people for?

Later, he sent Sevika out to fetch dinner for them both, and she brought takeout to his office. “Here,” she said, setting a savory-smelling plastic bag on his desk. “It’s from that Italian place down the road.”

“Thank you,” he said. He tore open the plastic bag and separated the boxes, one for Sevika and one for himself. He opened his and returned to his email.

“Take a break,” she said.

“I’ve been gone for a week. There’s a lot to catch up on.”

“It can wait. Eat.”

Silco obeyed her order. His stomach had been in knots all day, so he took an antinausea pill before stabbing at his food. He wondered what Viktor was having for dinner, if he were taking care of himself without Silco there to remind him. He asked Sevika, “What’s the latest on Smeech?”

“He’s trying to carve out a slice of territory for himself north of Fifth. What do you want to do about it?”

“He needs to go,” Silco said.

“I agree. He’s a loose cannon. Want me to handle that?”

“What would I do without you?”

“Die, probably. I’ll do it tomorrow. Take some of the boys with me.”

Silco relinquished the fate of Smeech into her capable hands and dug into the food.

Where was Viktor now? Was Jayce leaving him alone? Silco couldn’t sit still. He couldn’t think past his worry.

“I’m going crazy,” he told Sevika. “I need him.”

“Well, you mated and then abandoned him.”

He pushed his chair away from the desk and put his head in his hands. “I did, didn’t I? I abandoned him. He’s all alone up in Piltover, and the blood hasn’t even dried on his neck. He should be here, with me.” He should be in Silco’s lap, in Silco’s bed, in Silco’s mouth. Silco’s hands itched to clasp Viktor close. His teeth ached to gnaw on Viktor’s skin until it was purple and black with bruises and Silco could lick the taste of him from his own gums.

Sevika took her takeout to one of the smaller tables and sat to eat. “Woah, there,” she said calmly. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant you probably have a bond hangover.”

A rational explanation for Silco’s anxiety did not ease it in the slightest. Now that Silco realized Viktor was in the same boat as him, his lack of texts was even more concerning. If Viktor missed his alpha, why didn’t he say so? Viktor thought he could wait to see Silco until Friday, a full twenty-four hours hence? Was Viktor not feeling the separation as keenly as Silco, and if so, what did that mean for the future of their relationship?

Despite having fucked Viktor nonstop for days, Silco’s body craved him. Silco needed his omega under him, whining, coming. Locked on Silco’s knot was where Viktor should remain for the rest of time, not scampering about Piltover and doing homework.

He had to let Viktor finish college. He was close to graduating, and then all would be well.

Silco texted Viktor.

S: Will you move in with me after graduation?

The reply was immediate.

V: In Zaun?

S: Yes, in Zaun.

Silco watched the dots cycle at the bottom of his screen with baited breath. Then Viktor said,

V: I’d really, really like that.
I miss you.

Silco exhaled his relief. He didn’t want Viktor to be in pain, per se, but the knowledge that he missed Silco was a balm to Silco’s anxiety. Viktor craved him, too. He was affected. His body ached without its partner.

S: I’m coming over tonight. Are you at the apartment?

V: The library.

Still? Viktor was still studying?

V: I’ll head home now. I’ll be there when you arrive.

Silco left his dinner steaming on the desk, left Sevika lifting her arms in a What gives? gesture, and grabbed his coat. He snagged one of the guards to drive, in case Silco needed to text Viktor along the way. Or call Viktor. In the backseat of the car, Silco pulled up a picture of Viktor and zoomed in on it. He would update Viktor’s contact photo as soon as possible to a picture featuring the mating marks on his neck.

Silco’s mate. Silco’s omega.

The moment he opened the door and locked eyes with Viktor, the two came crashing together like breakers. Arms around bodies. Mouths open and churning, pushing apart and pushing together again. Physical relief rushed through Silco like a drug, and every brush of Viktor’s skin—every twist of his tongue—was a subcutaneous shot of pleasure.

Silco lifted Viktor by the legs, and the cane clattered to the floor. Viktor wrapped his limbs around Silco and let him carry him to the bedroom. Silco kicked the door closed behind him and deposited Viktor gently on the bed.

Viktor latched onto Silco’s tie to maintain contact between them as he scooted up the bed. “Alpha,” he named Silco, golden eyes glowing like sunset.

Silco followed him onto the bed and eclipsed him; Viktor’s eyes shut.

“Every minute without you was torture,” Viktor said. “Like pins and needles in my skin and rotten food in my gut.”

“I know, baby.” Silco kissed him everywhere. “It was the same for me.”

At last, Silco was inside him, and he came in five minutes, spilling hot, thick cum into Viktor’s body. At last, Viktor was trapped on his knot; only then did Silco’s pulse slow and his suffering quiet. He breathed relief into Viktor’s neck.

Viktor traced idle patterns on his back. Silco’s omega was pleased and comfortable, as he should always be, his scent like sweetmilk. Viktor mused, “It’s going to get bad again, isn’t it, as soon as we’re apart?”

“Most likely.” Silco rocked his hips in little pulses, pushing his cum deeper into Viktor. When they separated in the morning and Silco returned to Zaun, all the symptoms would come rushing back. Silco said, “This isn’t sustainable. We can’t live our separate lives in separate cities with our bodies throwing fits whenever we’re apart.”

“I thought I was going to die,” Viktor said. “I actually googled can you die from a bond hangover this afternoon. I needed you so badly.”

“You have how long left?”

“Six weeks, then finals.”

That was far too much time. Mated couples clearly weren’t meant for long distance, at least not in the immediate aftermath of bonding. “We can take turns living at this place and The Last Drop. We can spend the weekends in Zaun and the weekdays here, so you can go to class.”

“What about your work?”

“I can work remotely. Or drive back to Zaun for meetings.” It would be inconvenient, but not as inconvenient as crawling out of his skin, unregulated without his mate.

“What if I commute?” Viktor suggested. “I can stay in Zaun and drive to Piltover for classes. Forty minutes isn’t so long.”

“I’ll hire a driver for you. You can do homework or take naps in the car.”

Viktor was quiet, thinking. Then he said, “I’ve never needed someone like this. Like I can’t bear life without them.”

“Does the sensation offend you?” To lighten the mood, he added, “It offends me some. What do you mean my mind won’t calm down unless one specific omega’s around?”

Viktor laughed. “I guess this is strange for you too, huh?”

“The strangest.” Silco pecked his nose. “Incomprehensible: all of it. I can’t comprehend you.”

Viktor’s pleased smell was lovely and familiar by now. He beamed up at Silco from amid a halo of rumpled hair.

“Hold on,” Silco said. “Let me get a photo of you.” He reached for his phone, tilted Viktor’s chin to the side to expose a bite mark, and snapped a picture.

“It is a little bit nice,” Viktor said, “to have someone whose presence makes me so calm.”

Silco warmed. He set the phone aside. Indeed, the sudden and total beatification incited by Viktor’s proximity was enjoyable. If Silco could only keep Viktor at his side at all times, that would be ideal. He understood the motivations of alphas who ended their mates’ social and educational lives the second the bond set in; he didn’t respect those motivations, but he understood them.

One day soon, in six weeks or so, Silco would have Viktor’s undivided attention. Well, possibly. He asked, “What are your plans for after college?”

“I don’t have plans, precisely. I’ll come to work for you, I imagine. Work on shimmer. Or any engineering problems you have. Do you have engineering problems for me?”

Not off the top of Silco’s head. He liked the thought of Viktor working nearby, but he wouldn’t give Viktor busywork for the hell of it.

“What do you do, anyway?” Viktor asked. “I mean, what’s the end goal of shimmer and the rest of it?”

It was a good question, and as Silco’s mate, he had a right to know. “Shimmer brings me money and power,” Silco said. “Both are useful.” But as for the end goal… Silco had been a revolutionary in his youth. When Sevika had sworn into his operation, she’d called Silco a visionary, but recently, his focus had leaned more toward growing his own influence and less toward gaining Zaun’s freedom. “I suppose the end goal is consolidating power and resources in Zaun.”

Viktor narrowed his eyes. “You suppose? Are you lying to me, or do you really have no master plan? I got the impression that you had schemes brewing beneath the surface.”

The calm vanished. Silco bottled up his smell so Viktor could sense neither his unease nor his annoyance. His knot was loose enough to pull out of the omega, so he did, rolling off Viktor and tugging the sheet up over his hips. “Is money and power not enough for you? What else do you want of me? I tried rebellion once. People died. Other people gave up and left.”

Viktor sat up too. He didn’t bother covering his nakedness. “I didn’t mean to insult you, Silco. I’m sorry. There’s certainly no pressure from me to mount armed resistance against Piltover. I just thought… I don’t know. Sorry.”

Silco pulled a knee up and set his arms across the top. “Don’t apologize to me. It was a valid question.” Once, Silco had had a clear goal for his life: to free Zaun. And that goal still shone strong in his mind, but somewhere along the way, he’d gotten distracted, more focused on the steps than the destination. “Consolidate power in Zaun,” Silco said, naming his objectives aloud. “Consolidate money under my direct control because I don’t trust any other hands dipping in the rebellion’s cookie jar. Partners and co-conspirators can turn on you in a second. I learned that the hard way.”

Viktor watched him, waiting for more.

“Build an armed force. Again, organized under my control, disciplined and used to working together and used to getting their hands dirty—that’s the gang.” The more he talked, the more each step seemed to fuse into a staircase. “Find some advantage to hold over Piltover, and make one if there’s none to be found. That’s what shimmer was, in the beginning. It made strong, directable soldiers. Sevika’s been experimenting with doses to improve her fighting. If we can get all my people accustomed to working with shimmer rather than just riding the high, we could build a formidable army. Or at least the impression of one, and impressions matter.”

“You want to rule Zaun,” Viktor said. “Free it, then rule it.”

“Would that be so bad?” He searched for judgement in Viktor’s voice. “Who else, if not me?”

“I don’t know, Vander? People seem to like him.”

Silco growled. Even his omega, mated with vicious marks on his neck, thought Vander more capable of uniting the underground than Silco. He climbed out of bed and tugged on his underwear and pants. Never mind that Vander had abandoned the rebellion. Never mind that Silco would have made Vander king, would have died for him, and then Vander had just given up.

“Sorry,” Viktor said like he didn’t understand what had offended him. “I was just brainstorming. Obviously, I support your bid for the throne. You’re my mate, after all.”

Silco buttoned up his shirt. He didn’t look at Viktor.

“Silco?” Viktor asked. “What did I do? What did I say? You don’t believe in kings, is that it? You could be president. But I’m pretty sure Zaun would be thrilled enough by independence to give you a crown, if you wanted one. Monarchies aren’t unheard of. Piltover’s councilors are aristocrats.”

Silco didn’t let Viktor pull him into banter about monarchs. He wasn’t in the mood, after that Vander comment.

Vander had walked away from the cause. Hadn’t Silco done the same thing—let his conviction waver and distractions steal his time and energy? Silco had abandoned the cause more slowly, but he’d still abandoned it in everything but name. He touched his scar absentmindedly. What were all the sacrifices for, in the end? Nice furniture and cash to blow on omegas?

“I’m heading back,” he told Viktor.

Viktor looked worried. “You just got here. Won’t you stay the night? Or, wait, should I come with you? We can try out our commuting plan.”

Silco leaned in enough to brush his lips against Viktor’s cheek. “Stay here. Don’t let me distract you from your work.” And I won’t let you distract me from mine. Silco could master the impulses of his body, and he needed some time alone to think.

“I feel like I did something wrong,” Viktor said, scent souring. “Please tell me what I did.”

Silco fought the urge to comfort his mate at all costs, fought and mastered it. He grabbed his phone. “Get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.” Then he left Viktor in Piltover and crossed the river back to reality.

Chapter 16: Animal Instinct

Viktor sat there in bed where Silco had left him, naked like a raunchy picture and still as a prey animal. He went stiller and stiller as he stared at the door through which Silco had disappeared, listening to the silence broken only by the occasional hum of a car on the street below.

What the hell had just happened?

One minute, Viktor had been listening to Silco monologue about his aspirations for Zaun, and the next, Silco was dressing to leave. What had Viktor said? What had Viktor done? Had his comment about Silco wanting to rule Zaun struck a nerve? Viktor didn’t see why it should’ve. Silco already ruled his corner of the Undercity. Was it unfathomable to picture him ruling all of it?

Viktor’s gut twisted with nausea, and he knew whose presence could banish the discomfort, but his mate was gone with the wind. Silco had admitted that Viktor made the itch under his skin quiet, like his presence did for Viktor, and still he’d left.

They were supposed to be living together. They were supposed to be mates together. But even with his body urging him to keep Viktor close, Silco had decided he’d had enough.

He hadn’t wanted Viktor’s company at all. He’d wanted sex, that was it. When the sex concluded—when his knot and horniness deflated—Viktor was no longer useful.

Viktor began to hyperventilate. He was alone, trapped in an ivory tower in a golden city, bound by blood to an alpha who saw him as nothing more than a plaything. The bond had changed nothing. The heat had changed nothing. In Silco’s mind, Viktor was still just his sugar baby—a toy Silco could play with when the fancy struck him and ignore at his convenience. The arrangement hadn’t ended; what had once been Viktor’s profession was now a permanent condition.

He was so stupid. Gods, he was so stupid. Why had he let a daddy convince Viktor he cared? Why had Viktor given Silco his real name? Why had he crossed wires between his heart and his job and begged Silco to bite him? Now he was stuck sugaring for this man for the rest of his life.

His brace and his cane lay near the bed, but Viktor didn’t feel like assembling his legs. Where would he even go? To the living room? To the university campus? What was the point? Viktor couldn’t escape. He pulled his knees up and dropped his head into his hands, muffling a sob. He might as well remain in Silco’s bed, in Silco’s plum sheets; he was stuck here forever.

His cage was gilded—nice apartment, nice clothes, new headphones, and chocolate treats—but it was still a cage, no different than if Singed had locked Viktor in that lab with the peeling fold-out tables and chemical fumes. His body would betray him and pull him back to Silco like a magnet. Already, it whispered Silco’s name, urging Viktor to find his mate.

Viktor cried into his hands. His stomach twisted, and the bites on his neck throbbed. He needed his alpha, but his alpha had gotten what he wanted from Viktor’s body and vanished. They weren’t partners. Viktor was Silco’s mate, his property, his toy, like he’d always been.

Used. Discarded.

He’d thought Silco was different from the other daddies. He thought Silco cared about him, loved him even. He was so stupid. He was an idiot child playing adult games, playing poker with Silco’s money in a room full of drug lords.

Terror wormed down Viktor’s spine. Fear—that’s what this sensation was, what it had always been. Viktor had grown up awash in fear and was so comfortable being afraid that he’d stopped identifying it. Fear on the street, smaller than the other children and slow, limping. Fear in the lab of his mentor, his guardian, experimenting on animals under instructions whispered in a rasping voice. Green liquids in syringes and a damp, dripping cave. Sneaking across the river, flirting with arrest. Slipping into a car with a stranger. A glint on sunglasses in a rearview mirror.

He’d lived his whole life in fear, made a home in it. Maybe he’d thought that if he made himself purposefully vulnerable, he could make the fear his own. That’s what the sugaring was, in the end: Viktor putting himself in danger before the danger found him.

Viktor had no friends. Had no family. No one could challenge Silco’s claim to him, not with two bites on his neck. Viktor would have to suck up to Silco forever for food and shelter and care, no matter how Silco treated him, no matter if Silco used him for sex and then left.

He was alone. And worse? He’d done it to himself, flung himself into danger for the thrill of it. Maybe Jayce had come onto him because Viktor was asking for it, like Viktor’s demeanor screamed come and take from me; maybe everyone targeted Viktor because he invited targeting.

He cried himself to sleep. He cried himself awake. He covered the marks on his neck with a collared coat and went to his Friday classes and sat in the back and tried not to cry anymore.

In the afternoon, Silco texted him.

S: I miss you. Come over

His body howled for the satisfaction of Silco’s presence. The smart thing to do would be to roll over and play nice, to let the alpha in charge of Viktor have his way. But Viktor wasn’t smart, was he? He ignored the order and ignored the aches in his body—all his old pains came out to play as the bond hangover worsened. His leg hurt. His back hurt. His eyes itched with tears. He took a pain pill and ignored all of it.

Silco called later that night. Viktor picked up the phone and said, “What?”

Silco was silent for a moment on the other end of the line. Then he said, “You’re mad at me, aren’t you? For how I left things last night?”

“You could say that.” Viktor slumped onto the couch, hating how comfortable it was, hating Silco’s designer apartment and belated attention. He wondered if trashing the place like a scorned lover would make him feel better.

“I’m sorry, baby. Can I see you? Can we talk it out? I miss you.”

Viktor’s body felt the same. “Oh, I’m sure,” he said scathingly. “Come get some sex then, to make you feel better. Then you can fuck off again. Or do you want me to come to you and spare you the inconvenience of a trip?”

“Viktor, that’s not what I meant. Is that what you thought I did last night? I’m so sorry.”

“That is what you did. I said something wrong somehow, and instead of telling me, you shut me out and ran. Now you want to come back because your body misses its mate. Well, that’s your fault for mating your sugar baby, and you can go ahead and suffer for it.”

Viktor ended the call before Silco could respond. When Silco called back, Viktor let the phone ring.

He checked that the door was locked. Not that a lock would stop Silco, who owned the apartment and had a key. He was going to show up, wasn’t he? Viktor could hide out at the library or someplace, but he would have to face Silco eventually, so what was the point? He could meet his jailer now or later; it all amounted to the same thing.

Viktor put a YouTube video on the TV and slumped deeper into the couch, not really paying attention. Nausea twisted his stomach, and he stumbled to the kitchen to hurl into the sink. He brushed his teeth and crawled into bed, leaving the TV running in the other room. He curled into a ball and cried some more.

 

Chapter 17: Obsessed

Viktor heard the front door open from the bedroom, but he was all cried out and too comfortable to move or give a fuck. Silco would figure out where he was eventually.

“Viktor?” Silco called. The door shut, and the locks turned. “Are you in here?” Footsteps traced Silco’s path through the apartment. The TV switched off. The bedroom door opened.

“Here for your dick appointment?” Viktor asked, curled up on the bed. He didn’t glance Silco’s way, just stared at the monotonous, shuttered window. “Just fuck me in the ass or hit me or something while you’re at it. That would hurt less than this.”

“I’m not going to hit you. Let’s put ass-fucking on pause for now.” The bed dipped as Silco sat beside him. “I shouldn’t have run off last night. I’m sorry.” He waited. “Omega, talk to me.”

Viktor wasn’t going to make reconciliation easy on him. “What the hell did I even do? I don’t understand where I went wrong. What, now I have to tiptoe around you or you’ll abandon me?”

“I’m sorry.”

He put a hand on Viktor’s shoulder, and Viktor hated how his body thrummed in response, recognizing its mate. He shivered, and some of the nausea roiling in his stomach eased, and Viktor hated Silco for that, too.

“Your mention of Vander,” Silco said. “That’s what set me off. You couldn’t have known the word would provoke such a reaction, and I was unfair to you. A lot of things came up, and I got lost in my head and shut you out. I’m truly sorry.”

Viktor looked over his shoulder. “Vander?” He put two and two together. “The alpha you were in a relationship with before…”

Silco’s features were twisted in a grimace. His orange eye was over-bright in the dark room, a glowing spot like a far off lantern. “That’s right.”

Well, that was just perfect. The ex whom Viktor was competing with was the Hound of the Underground, Vander himself. Viktor felt like a child all over again. Who the fuck did he think he was to play at being Silco’s equal? Silco was attracted to strength, virtue, and celebrity, none of which Viktor possessed.

Viktor rolled back toward the window.

Silco dragged two fingers down Viktor’s neck, over the bite scar, and Viktor shivered. “All right, baby. I said I was sorry. Are you going to forgive me now?”

“Probably not.”

Silco leaned over him and pressed a slow, dry kiss to his cheekbone, then another to his neck. “Come on, baby.”

Viktor’s face heated, but he was no pushover, and he’d spent the last twenty-four hours bawling; just because Silco smelled like home, that didn’t mean Viktor was ready to roll belly-up and play nice. He tugged the blanket higher over his shoulders.

Silco grabbed the edge of it and tried to ease it down, and when that didn’t work, he huffed, and then Viktor heard the sound of laces pulling as Silco took off his shoes. Then Silco was back, laying on the covers behind Viktor and tracing the buried lumps of Viktor’s body. “I realized I’d fucked up soon after I left,” Silco said, “when my body reminded me violently that I’m not meant to be alone anymore.”

Viktor snarled. “So we’ve established that your body misses me. Wonderful.” Did Silco the man miss him, or just Silco the alpha?

“Like crazy,” he agreed. He leaned over Viktor again, spicing the air with his cologne and that deeper fragrance that Viktor sucked down like sugar water.

Mate. His mate. Fuck me, take me, touch me.

Silco’s breath was cool against Viktor’s cheek. He dragged cracked lips down to Viktor’s jaw and held them there. His hand eased the covers off of Viktor, exposing his pajamas, and he said, “I bet your body misses me too, doesn’t it?”

Viktor was sure he smelled needy, which wasn’t helping him maintain an angry barrier between himself and his mate. Silco could see right through the wall. Silco slid a hand up under Viktor’s shirt, and Viktor shoved it out.

“Come on, Viktor. Accept my apology.”

“No.”

Silco was relentless. “Denying yourself won’t make you feel any better.” His mouth moved to Viktor’s ear, and his hand trailed down to cup Viktor over his loose sleep pants. “I can make you feel better. Let me fuck you, Omega. We both need it.”

The sad thing was, Viktor did need it. The churning, twisting anxiety in him would vanish with Silco’s body pressed into his, or better yet, if Silco bit him again. Viktor salivated over it. His aches had already lessened from a mere few minutes in the same room as Silco. If Silco put a knot in him, the pain would turn to euphoria.

Should he give up, give in, let Silco bring him pleasure?

No, Silco would only leave again, and the low following such a high would be agony. Viktor crossed his arms.

“What’s wrong? What’s still bothering you, baby?”

Viktor was silent, glaring daggers at the window and smelling like mixed signals.

Silco snapped. He pushed Viktor’s shoulder to the mattress, rolling him onto his back. Viktor scrambled, intending to sit up or get out of bed, but Silco pinned him down by the wrists, bent over him and leering like a snake. “Look at me while we’re fighting. Now, tell me what’s wrong.”

At the display of dominance, Viktor felt himself get wet in his underwear. He cursed his traitorous body. He cursed Silco’s jawline. He spat, “I’m mad that I thought anything had changed. I’m still just your sugar baby. You only want me when it’s convenient.”

“I’m not fucking you out of convenience, Viktor,” Silco said.

“You only came over yesterday because you had a hangover, just like you did tonight.”

“I came over tonight to make amends.” Silco licked the bite on Viktor’s neck, holding him down, and Viktor choked back a moan. Gods, he needed it. “So let me make us both feel better, and then I’ll take you out to dinner.”

When Viktor got a hold of his voice and he was confident he wouldn’t moan on accident, he said, “No.”

“You’re being deliberately difficult.”

“That’s correct.”

“What do you want from me?” Silco growled. He was frustrated with Viktor, not used to arguing with him and maybe not used to people telling him no, ever. “You’re making yourself sick trying to stick it to me. You’ll feel better once I’ve knotted you, and then you can kick me out or we can talk it out, but at least you won’t be sick anymore.”

That was a good plan, a fact which Viktor resented.

Silco straddled Viktor. He dug his hips into Viktor’s, delicious friction that spun Viktor’s head like a maelstrom. He smelled annoyed. When Viktor gave no sign of responding, he growled, “Swallow your pride, and get on my cock, Omega.”

“Fine,” Viktor spat. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

Silco recoiled as if stuck, and Viktor knew immediately that he’d crossed a line. In his hurt, he’d lashed out, trying to hurt Silco; he simply hadn’t expected it to work.

Silco released Viktor’s wrists and climbed off the bed. His scent was pungent and unpleasant in a way that made Viktor want to hurl.

Viktor sat up. Now he’d ruined everything by insinuating that he’d never wanted to sleep with Silco at all. It wasn’t even true. The fight bled out of him. Viktor put his head in his hands. His voice came out small and weak as a beetle. “I didn’t mean that. Please don’t leave.”

Silco paced the entire length of the wall opposite Viktor—back and forth. He smelled horribly frustrated. His hands were fists and his teeth were grit so tightly he was bound to crack one.

This was the end, wasn’t it? Viktor was more trouble than he was worth. What would Silco do, toss him onto the street? Give him some money to skip town? Or would the bond force their proximity against Silco’s will? Perhaps Silco would still keep Viktor around for sex. Maybe, in a fit of anger, he would haul Viktor back to Zaun and lock him up.

Silco halted in front of the doorway, glaring at the carpet. Then he said, “I’m not going to leave. I know what being left feels like.”

What? Viktor peeked between his fingers.

“Vander did this.” Silco gestured to his face. “Before he left.”

Viktor dropped his hands and his jaw in shock. Perfect, selfless Vander, hero to Zaunites everywhere, had ruined his partner’s face? Fuck, had that happened while they were still lovers? No wonder the mere mention of him had sent Silco into a spiral. Viktor’d had no idea.

Something deep inside Viktor broke, some long-held perception of the world as a fundamentally good place. (His idealism had been cracking for years. That it lasted this long was a miracle.) Viktor didn’t know Vander, not really, but he’d heard the legends; people spoke of Vander as some sainted protector of the hopeless. He was a light in the dark depths of Zaun: proof that one could live a good, quiet life even in the eat-or-be-eaten Undercity. Discovering that he was flawed unsettled Viktor in a way he hadn’t anticipated.

There were no heroes. There was only violence against you and violence on your side.

“I’m sorry,” Viktor said.

Silco nodded his acceptance and returned to the most pertinent topic. “So I’m not going anywhere. We can sit here as long as you want, but you’re going to tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it.”

Viktor cradled his hands in his lap.

Fractured idealism. Viktor pictured the shattered pieces of it like glass in the dirt. Heroic Vander had scarred half his partner’s face and one of his eyes. Piltover Academy was full of professors who claimed to love progress but didn’t notice the starving masses beneath their boots. When Viktor began sugaring, he’d wondered if he’d find enough clients. Laughable. Alphas ready to pay for pussy pictures on the clock abounded: a car salesman, a teacher at the academy, a doctor in the same office Viktor visited for healthcare. He couldn’t look at alphas the same way ever again, now that he knew how many of them bought sex, how many of them were violent in the dark.

Viktor lived in a country of his enemies—not Piltovians, alphas. They were his family, his friends, his coworkers, his lovers.

If he questioned a professor’s assumptions about Zaun, and the professor felt threatened, Viktor’s grades could suffer. If he didn’t smile and act polite around clients, they might murder him. If his mate lost interest in Viktor, he would be ruined.

It was a long time before he could admit in a whisper, “I’m so afraid, all the time.”

Silco went still. “Of me?”

“Of being hurt. I’m afraid that your affection will run out, and then where will I be?”

Silco crawled back onto the bed, knelt in front of Viktor, and cupped his face. “You think I’m not committed, is that it?” He shook his head in disbelief. “Baby, I’m mad for you. Yes, I walked out last night, and I should have explained myself better, but I just needed to clear my head. I wasn’t leaving forever.”

“You might,” Viktor said. “You might get sick of me. Or bored. You might resent me for this.” He touched his neck.

“Never,” Silco swore. “I’ve been mad for you since the moment I set eyes upon you.” He stroked Viktor’s cheeks, wiping away tears as they welled out of Viktor’s eyes in the face of Silco’s sincerity. Silco laughed. “You’re worried I’ll regret mating you? I feared the same. But we both want it, so everything’s fine.”

Viktor took a shuddering inhale. Pleasant, calming pheromones from Silco abated the flow of tears. But what if… What about… “You might get sick of taking care of an omega,” he protested.

“I’ll never get sick of you.”

Viktor huffed, some of his pettiness returning. “You can’t promise that!”

“Look at me.” Viktor did. “You think you’re a passing fling? You think I only want to rub my cock on you because of the bite?” Silco scoffed. “I touched myself thinking of you before I even saw you on that app. I fell for you after one chance meeting in a cafe. It’s been you ever since. Just you.”

Awash in Silco’s scent, gaze flickering between one burning and one ice-clear eye, Viktor believed him.

Silco braced himself against the headboard, looming over Viktor, and grabbed his chin with the other, holding it still. His voice went deeper, tugging like an undertow. “And I know you want me, too. You like taking my cock. You love the way I make your blood sing when I have my way with you.”

Yes. Despite all the little violences alphas had inflicted on Viktor (or perhaps because of them), Viktor loved submitting to Silco, trusting Silco not to hurt him in a way Viktor wouldn’t like. “So do it now,” Viktor challenged.

“You’re ready to behave?”

“I’m ready for you to make me.”

Silco bared his teeth in a grin and kissed Viktor hungrily, possessively, still with a hand on his jaw. He must have meant his words. He must be mad for Viktor to still want him this desperately, even after everything Viktor had put him through tonight. Viktor’s fingers found Silco’s hair, brushing along the odd gray strand and tangling in the long bits on top.

Silco grabbed Viktor by the hips and pulled him down onto his back. Viktor wasn’t in the mood for the existentialism of missionary, so he broke his hold on Silco and rolled onto his stomach. Silco tugged Viktor’s pants and underwear down to his knees and left them there, pinning Viktor’s legs together. His scent spiked, heady. His belt buckle clinked, then his clothes were tossed off the bed one by one. Viktor didn’t bother to undress; his cunt was exposed, and that was all the access Silco needed to prove he was stronger than Viktor, to match Viktor kink-for-kink without judging him for wanting it dirty, to inoculate Viktor with fear until the fear distorted into pleasure.

Silco shoved into him with a groan of relief. “Fuck, you’re always so wet for me.” He moved his hips in short, stabbing bursts, barely pulling out.

Silco had always wanted him, always. Viktor hadn’t tricked Silco into a mating bite or sold himself to an uncaring captor. With the heat of Silco’s dick inside him and voice in his ear, Viktor’s fears melted. “I was wet for you the first time, too,” he said to undo the damage of his cutting, flippant remark from earlier.

“You were, weren’t you?” He stabbed into Viktor relentlessly. “You dirty little thing. You liked the way I fucked you.” One of his hands fisted Viktor’s hair, tugging his head back and arching his body. “You like it a little dirty, a little rough, when it’s with me. I know you do; I can smell it on you.”

Viktor panted. Truth spilled out, like truth had done since the beginning of their acquaintance. “Just with you. It was never like that. Silco, you’re like no one I’ve ever…” He groaned at a deep thrust.

His fist was painful in Viktor’s hair. “You would’ve fucked me even if I hadn’t paid you.”

“Yes.” Pressure built inside him, water against a dam. “Silco, yes!” Viktor would have gone home with Silco after their first conversation because Viktor was a slut and Silco was dark and intriguing. Money or none, Viktor would have fucked him.

The strain on his scalp eased and the strain inside him ratcheted up as Silco draped himself over Viktor’s back. “Then it’s always been real,” he murmured.

Nothing had changed when Silco bit Viktor because nothing had been wrong. Tears stung his eyes. The arrangement had never been just about the money, and on some intuitive level, Viktor had known that. Sugaring wasn’t a job with Silco—from the beginning, it had been personal, electric, real.

Viktor came with a choked-off sound, too mindless to form a reply. Silco seemed to understand, holding him close and fucking him through it, tender and relentless and dangerous all at once—that fascinating combination that had lured Viktor in from the beginning. But Viktor knew better than to be frightened, now. Silco had had every opportunity to mistreat Viktor, and though he was dangerous, the danger he posed was to others, not Viktor.

Viktor was safe. Viktor was cared for. Silco was going nowhere.

Silco came slowly, lingering in an orgasm that seemed to go on and on. His cum made a mess inside Viktor and leaked out.

When they could breathe again and Silco’s knot was securely inside Viktor’s cunt, Silco petted a hand down his flank over the large t-shirt Viktor was wearing to bed. “You’re perfect,” he said, “perfect for me.”

“I’m sorry for the nasty comment I made.” Viktor didn’t need to specify which one. “It’s not true. I never had to swallow my pride to fuck you. I wanted you, Silco, and I think the world of you.”

Silco kissed the nape of his neck. “I like you a little nasty,” he said, and Viktor knew he was forgiven. “I can be nasty, too.” He kissed the bite mark on one side of Viktor’s neck, then the other, and Viktor’s insides turned to goo.

Even he could smell himself now, cloyingly sweet, stinking up the room with his satisfaction.

“I’m going to take care of you.” Silco’s voice rumbled, a vibration Viktor felt against the skin of his neck, tickling his baby hairs. “I’ll never abandon you. I swear it on the unnamed creatures prowling in the silt of the river. I swear it by the bedrock on which I’ll plant the flag of Zaun. I swear it by these marks on your neck.”

Their relationship was real. It had always been real. Silco could have left when Viktor snapped at him, yet he’d stayed. He’d let Viktor move into his apartment even before they mated. He sent Viktor flowers and Turkish delight and called just to hear his voice before bed. “All right,” Viktor said. “I trust you.”

“I’m gone for you, baby. I’m crazy about you. I killed for you on our third meeting, and you liked it, didn’t you?”

Oh, that. Viktor had almost forgotten. Viktor remembered the delighted stupefaction he’d felt watching Silco bash a competing alpha’s face in. He hadn’t been afraid then. Why should he be afraid now? “I liked it. I like you nasty, too.”

Violence on Viktor’s side.

He was too warm. Still locked on Silco’s knot, he pulled off his shirt and kicked off his pants and underwear.

Silco sucked and gnawed on the meat of his shoulder, and Viktor knew by the pain that he was leaving another mark. “You’re perfect,” he repeated when he was satisfied with the size and shape of the new bruise. “I’m obsessed with you. Take my wallet. Take your pound of flesh. Take anything—it’s yours.”

A mate, not a daddy. A partner, not a client. A protector willing to kill to keep Viktor safe, willing to feed and house and support Viktor, even when Viktor was cranky and unmanageable.

His body didn’t know whether to purr or start crying again, and exhausted, he fell asleep on Silco’s knot.