Page 10 of Rivals

And then he left.

The bastard justleft.

Nick lay there, staring blankly up at the night sky, his brain firing off useless signals, trying and failing to process what had just happened. His body still trembled—not just from exhaustion, not just from adrenaline, but from something darker, something deeper, something herefusedto name.

His lips were still parted, his breath ragged. The taste of Viktor lingered on his tongue—warm, salty, undeniable. It coated the inside of his mouth, thick and invasive, refusing to fade no matter how much he swallowed. The cool night air prickled against his sweat-damp skin, the sticky mess on his chest and stomach a brand, a mark, evidence of just how thoroughly he had lost tonight. He wanted to wipe it off, to scrub himself raw, to erase it all. But his limbs wouldn’t move.

And his traitorous cock was still hard.

A wave of humiliation rolled through him, sharp and hot.What the hell just happened?

The forest around him was eerily still, as if the trees themselves had the decency to be embarrassed for him.

Chapter five

Viktor

Viktor stalked through the forest, crushing twigs underfoot, his breath coming sharp and uneven. The cool night air did nothing to calm the fire still burning under his skin. His muscles were tight, his pulse too loud, his thoughts stuck in a loop he didn’t want to examine.

Nick.

That cocky, insufferable human who never knew when to shut up. That reckless idiot who haddaredhim, taunted him, provoked him until Viktor had no choice but to put him in his place. Who, even pinned beneath him, marked, had still looked up at him with those sharp, defiant blue eyes like hehadn’t just been completely ruined.

Viktor growled under his breath, flexing his fingers like he could shake off the memory. He should be satisfied. Hewassatisfied. He’d taken what he wanted, left his mark, shown Nick exactly what happened when you played games with someone like him.

And yet.

Heat curled deep in his gut, hunger laced with something sharper, something more dangerous. Nick had lookedsmugeven as he’d been covered in Viktor’s release, his skin flushed, chest heaving, lips slightly parted like he was waiting for something more. He should have been humiliated. Defeated. Instead, he’d had the audacity to look at Viktor like he’d won something.

Viktor’s jaw clenched. His claws itched to shift.

He exhaled hard, dragging a hand through his hair. This was nothing. Just another conquest. Another lesson taught to someone who had no business tempting him. He had no reason to think about the heat of Nick’s skin, the way his breath had hitched when Viktor touched him, the maddening, utterly intoxicating scent of him—

Viktor stopped abruptly, bracing a hand against the rough bark of a tree. His pulse pounded, heavy and uneven, his skin still thrumming with heat. His body was loose, satisfied in the most basic sense, the way it always was after a good hunt. But something was wrong. The satisfaction should have settled deep in his bones, sated and final. Instead, it left him restless. Agitated. Like a meal that should have been enough but wasn’t.

Nick’s scent still clung to him. Sweat, heat, salt. Something warmer underneath, something that curled in Viktor’s lungs like a brand. He had drowned himself in it, in the slick press of their bodies, in the sounds Nick had tried to swallow back. He had taken, left his mark, made sure Nick wouldn’t forget what had happened between them.

And yet it wasn’t enough.

His fingers flexed against the bark, claws threatening to slip free.

Distantly, a wolf howled, a reminder that others prowled these woods. Others who might catch that lingering scent, who might follow it straight to its source. A low, vicious snarl curled fromViktor’s throat before he could stop it. The idea of another werewolf catching that scent, smelling what he had smelled, following it back to his prey—

His grip tightened, splintering the wood beneath his palm.

Not yours.

The words rang sharp and cold in his head, cutting through the heat curling in his gut. He inhaled sharply, forcing himself to steady the possessive burn in his chest. This was nothing. Just post-chase instinct. Animal reaction. Nick was an annoyance, a mistake, a human with no place in Viktor’s world. He had been a distraction, and now he was finished.

And yet, the thought of him sprawled in the moonlight, pupils blown, lips parted breathlessly—

Viktor exhaled hard, shoving away from the tree.

It didn’t matter.

Nick was a grown man. He had signed up for this night. He had known what he was getting into.

But if that was true, why did Viktor feel like he was the one who had lost a battle he hadn't known he was fighting?

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