Chapter 58: Knotted by the rival Alpha -3

They reached the reinforced bunker beneath the hall. The heavy door sealed behind them with a hydraulic hiss. Emergency lights cast everything in red. Outside, lockdown protocols engaged. No one in or out until the threat was cleared.

Kaelen’s back hit the wall. The dart wound burned. Worse was the sudden spike of heat under his skin. Stress and the missing suppressants collided. Slick gathered fast between his thighs. His cock hardened against his will. The air filled with the thick, sweet scent of an Omega tipping into early heat.

Lucian went still. His nostrils flared. "No."

Kaelen’s voice shook. "It is the toxin. Or the stress. Or both. Fuck."

Lucian crossed the small space in two strides. He gripped Kaelen’s chin and forced their eyes to meet. "How bad?"

"Bad." Kaelen’s hips shifted restlessly. "I can feel it climbing. I need—"

"I know what you need." Lucian’s own scent spiked in answer, darker and heavier. "You took a dart for me. That changes nothing about what happens next."

Kaelen’s laugh was breathless. "Then stop talking and do it."

Lucian stripped him with rough efficiency. Jacket, shirt, trousers, everything shoved aside until Kaelen stood bare in the red light, cock flushed and leaking, thighs already shiny with slick. The dart wound still bled sluggishly. Lucian pressed a cloth to it for a moment, then discarded it.

"Hands on the wall."

Kaelen turned and braced. Lucian’s fingers pushed into him without preamble. Three at once. Kaelen’s head dropped forward with a broken sound. The stretch was nothing compared to the heat clawing through him.

"You are soaked," Lucian said. "Dripping for the man you claim to hate."

"Shut up and fuck me."

Lucian freed his cock and drove in hard. The first thrust forced a cry from Kaelen’s throat. The second made his knees buckle. Lucian’s arm banded around his waist and held him upright while he set a relentless pace.

"This is what happens when you throw yourself in front of danger for me," Lucian growled against his neck. "I take what is offered."

Kaelen pushed back to meet every thrust. The heat made everything sharper, wetter, more desperate. Slick ran down his legs. The wet sound of Lucian fucking him filled the bunker.

"Harder."

Lucian obliged. His hand wrapped around Kaelen’s cock and stroked in time with the deep drives of his hips. "You will come on my cock. Then you will take my knot. Then we will wait out the lockdown while you stay full of me."

Kaelen’s voice cracked. "Yes."

"Say my name when you come."

The command sank in. Kaelen’s orgasm hit like a wave. He spilled over Lucian’s fist with a broken cry of the Alpha’s name. Lucian kept thrusting through it, chasing his own release. His knot swelled fast and locked them together with a final hard shove.

Thick pulses of come flooded deep. Kaelen shuddered through the aftershocks, body clenching around the knot. Lucian’s mouth found the side of his throat and bit down, harder than before, leaving a deeper bruise over the fading one from the night before.

They stayed locked, breathing hard. The red lights hummed. Outside, distant shouts faded as the search continued.

Lucian’s voice was low against Kaelen’s skin. "You saved my life."

"Do not make it mean something."

"It already does." Lucian’s hand stroked once over Kaelen’s stomach, feeling the slight swell where he was knotted and full. "Your heat is only beginning. We have hours before they clear the building."

Kaelen’s laugh was shaky. "Then you had better keep me busy."

Lucian’s cock twitched inside him, already showing interest in a second round. "I intend to."

The bunker stayed sealed. The heat climbed higher. And Kaelen, still impaled on his enemy’s knot, understood that the missing suppressants had only been the start of the trap.

---

The bunker stayed sealed for hours. Kaelen’s heat climbed without mercy. Sweat slicked his skin. His cock stayed hard no matter how many times Lucian made him come. Slick ran freely down his thighs every time the Alpha pulled out.

Lucian paced the small space between rounds, jaw tight. His own control frayed at the edges. Kaelen’s scent had soaked into everything. It pulled at the Alpha instincts Lucian usually kept locked down.

"Your fever is too high," Lucian said after the third knot. "This is not a normal heat spike."

Kaelen lay on the narrow cot they had found in the corner, legs still open, come and slick leaking from him. "Then fix it or leave me alone."

"I cannot leave. The doors are sealed until the threat is cleared." Lucian stopped beside the cot. His hand pressed to Kaelen’s forehead. "You are burning up. A temporary mark will stabilize the worst of it."

Kaelen’s eyes snapped open. "Do not."

"It is not permanent. One bite. Enough to calm the heat and keep you from cooking yourself alive."

"I said no."

Lucian’s voice dropped into command. "Turn your head."

Kaelen’s body obeyed even as his mouth snarled. Lucian climbed over him, knees bracketing his hips. The Alpha’s cock was already hard again, thick and ready. He pushed back into Kaelen’s swollen entrance with one long thrust. Kaelen cried out, body clenching around the intrusion.

"This is not about claiming you," Lucian said against his throat. "This is about keeping you functional."

"Liar."

Lucian fucked him in deep, measured strokes while his mouth found the side of Kaelen’s neck. He licked over the bruised skin there, tasting salt and heat. Kaelen’s hands fisted in the thin cot blanket.

"Do it and get it over with," Kaelen panted.

Lucian’s teeth sank in. Not a full mating claim, but deep enough to break skin and flood the bond with temporary chemistry. Kaelen arched hard beneath him, a broken sound tearing from his throat. Pleasure and pain collided. His cock spilled untouched between their bodies.

The mark flared hot under Lucian’s mouth. Kaelen’s heat scent softened almost immediately, the fever dropping from dangerous to merely desperate. Lucian groaned against the wound and thrust harder, chasing his own release.

"Feel that?" Lucian’s voice was rough. "Your body already answers mine."

Kaelen’s hips rolled up to meet every thrust. "I hate this."

"Your cock says otherwise." Lucian wrapped a hand around him and stroked. "You came the second my teeth broke skin."

"Shut up."

Lucian’s knot swelled fast. He forced it past Kaelen’s rim and locked them together with a final deep shove. Come flooded hot and thick. The temporary bond hummed between them, raw and new. Kaelen shuddered through another smaller orgasm, body milking the knot without permission.

They stayed tied while the mark settled. Lucian licked the wound clean, sealing it with careful attention. His voice stayed low. "The fever will stay manageable now. You will still need to be fucked through the rest of the heat, but you will not burn out."

Kaelen’s laugh was weak. "How generous."

"Sleep. I will wake you when it spikes again."

Kaelen’s eyes closed against his will. Exhaustion pulled him under while Lucian remained buried inside him, the temporary mark throbbing in time with his pulse.

He woke later to the soft click of the bunker door. The lockdown had lifted. Lucian stood near the exit, already dressed, speaking quietly into a comm unit. Kaelen’s hand flew to his neck. The mark was there, raised and tender, a clear temporary claim that any Alpha or Omega would recognize.

Fury rose hot and immediate. His body still ached from the hours of heat relief. Slick and come still painted his thighs. The bond pulsed faintly every time Lucian moved.

Lucian turned and met his eyes. "The threat is cleared. We are leaving."

Kaelen’s voice came out raw. "You marked me."

"Temporarily. It will fade in days if we do not renew it."

"I did not give permission."

Lucian’s expression stayed unreadable. "Your fever was climbing toward dangerous levels. I made a choice."

Kaelen pushed himself upright, ignoring the way his body protested. "My body betrayed me the moment your teeth sank in. That does not make it right."

"No," Lucian agreed. "But it kept you alive and functional. Get dressed. We have a public appearance to maintain."

Kaelen pulled on the ruined formal clothes with shaking hands. The mark on his neck remained visible above the collar. Every step sent a faint echo of Lucian’s presence through the temporary bond.

He looked at the Alpha and felt the fury settle into something colder. "This changes nothing. I still hate you."

Lucian’s mouth curved slightly. "Keep telling yourself that, Omega. Your body already knows better."

They left the bunker together. The mark throbbed with every heartbeat. And Kaelen, still furious at the betrayal of his own flesh, understood that the temporary claim had only tightened the cage around them both.