Chapter 115: You’re so greedy, brat

The sheer joy that erupted from Reid was almost physical. The heavy tension that had held him rigid suddenly snapped, and his chest heaved as he let out a breathless, disbelieving laugh.

His heart was hammering so hard and fast against my own ribs I thought it might actually tear through his chest.

​"I will," he swore, his voice thick with an emotion so raw it made my throat ache. He tightened his arms around me, pulling me up against him as if he wanted to fuse our bones together. "I’ll make it up to you, Kain. Every single day. I promise."

​And then came the kisses.

​He didn’t give me a chance to reply before he leaned in, pressing a hard, desperate kiss to my cheek, then another to the bridge of my nose, then to my closed eyelids, and up to my forehead.

It was a chaotic, dizzying barrage of pure affection—completely uncoordinated and utterly devoid of his usual arrogance. He was trembling, just a little, his lips warm and firm against my skin as if he were trying to imprint the reality of my permission into his mind.

​"Reid—hold on," I choked out, a genuine laugh catching in my throat as I tried to tilt my head back, but he wouldn’t let me go.

​He didn’t stop. His mouth drifted down the line of my jaw, trailing small, reverent kisses until he reached my neck.

He wasn’t trying to initiate anything sexual—there was no predatory edge to his touch this time, no hidden agenda and his pheromones were stable—but he was breathing me in like a man dying of oxygen deprivation.

Now that the wall between us had cracked, he was absolutely drowning in the scent of my orchid pheromones, his nose brushing against my collarbone as he inhaled deeply, a low, contented rumble vibrating in his chest.

​Then, his movements slowed. The warmth of his breath gathered right over the sensitive skin of my throat, specifically on the spot where his teeth had dug in days prior.

​He pulled back just enough to look down at me, his grey eyes dark, heavy, and intensely focused on the bruised skin.

​"Now, does that mean..." Reid murmured, his thumb coming up to trace the edge of the discoloration with agonizing gentleness. "Does that mean I can officially mark you as my boyfriend?"

​I stayed quiet for a second, my body freezing under the weight of the question.

​Mark. The word alone was enough to trigger a defensive spike in an Omega’s instincts. But as I looked at his face, seeing the cautious, almost submissive hope in his eyes, the panic didn’t come.

As long as it wasn’t a permanent, everlasting mating mark on the nape of my neck—as long as it was just a claim for the two of us to see in the dark—it was fine. It didn’t change my disguise to the world. It only changed things between us.

​I let my head drop back against the floor, a wry, tired smile tugging at the corner of my lips as I looked up at the ceiling.

​"The mark you gave me before hasn’t even faded yet," I pointed out, my voice dropping to a low, breathless murmur. I rolled my eyes slightly, shifting my gaze back to his beautiful, infuriating face. "You’re so greedy, brat."

"I certainly am," Reid confessed without a shred of shame, his voice dropping into a rough, low register that sent a ripple of heat straight down my spine. "When it comes to you, Cap, I’m never going to have enough. Besides..." he interlocked our fingers together and held me firmly. "You’re my boyfriend now. So I officially can’t get enough of you."

My heart did a sudden flip. Boyfriend...

​Hearing him say it out loud, claiming the word with so much casual, unbothered certainty, made the reality of what I had just agreed to crash down on me all over again. It wasn’t a hypothetical risk anymore. It was real.

​"Don’t get used to the title yet," I grumbled, though my voice lacked any real authority.

I tried to pull my hand back, but Reid only tightened his grip, his large fingers staying firmly locked between mine, his thumb stroking the back of my knuckles.

​"Too late," he murmured. He leaned back down, his nose brushing against the mark on my neck again, his warm breath making my skin prickle. "I’m already used to it."

​He didn’t bite, and he didn’t press his teeth into the skin to leave a bruising claim. Instead, he just pressed his lips flat against the mark, a soft, lingering kiss that felt entirely too heavy with possessiveness. It was a silent, gentle seal of our new agreement.

​The heat of his body was total, pressing against me on the guest room floor, completely erasing the cold draft that had been leaking under the door minutes ago.

For a guy who had spent the last several weeks treating me like a puzzle he wanted to violently break apart, the sudden shift to this quiet, fierce protectiveness was dizzying.

​"McCoy," I breathed, my free hand coming up to rest against his chest, feeling the steady, rapid thud of his heartbeat beneath his shirt. "We still have practice on Tuesday. When we get back on the ice, nothing changes. You’re the rookie left wing, and I’m your captain. If you look at me like this in front of the guys, or if you lose your head during a drill because you’re trying to watch me—"

​"I won’t," he interrupted, pulling back just enough to look me in the eyes. The lazy, cocky smirk tried to pull at the corner of his lips, but his grey eyes were completely steady, completely serious. "On the ice, I’m exactly what you need me to be. I’ll follow your lead, Cap. I always have, even when I was being a bastard about it."

​I stared at him, the heavy scent of frozen pine settling into something calm, wrapping around the sharp edges of my orchid pheromones until the room felt balanced for the first time in days.

​"You really are a piece of work," I muttered, my shoulders finally relaxing completely against the floor as the exhaustion of the weekend finally began to catch up to me.

​Reid let out a quiet, happy huff, shifting his weight so he wasn’t crushing me, but keeping his arms securely around my waist. "Yeah. But I’m your piece of work now."

His nose bridge brushed against mine, his eyes locked on mine as his breathing came out steadily, fanning over my lips.

​"Kain," he called softly, the rough edge of his voice entirely replaced by a quiet, unyielding focus. "I’m practicing consent now, so... can I fuck you? Not as your fuck buddy but... as your boyfriend."