Page 27 of The Omega Accountant

"Fuck,"Igrowled against his throat, unable to resist tasting the skin beside the claiming mark, my tongue tracing the salt-sweet flavor of his sweat. "Youfeel that, don't you?Thechange?"

His fingers dug into my shoulders, blunt nails leaving crescent indentations thatI'dwear proudly tomorrow. "Yes," he gasped, his voice cracking on the single syllable. "It's—it's like fire, but different.Notburning me anymore.Burning... with you."

Bonded.Claimed.Paired.

The knot held us locked together as aftershocks coursed through his slender frame, his heat temporarily satisfied but not yet fully resolved.Hoursof this remained ahead—waves of need requiring satisfaction, biological imperatives demanding fulfillment.Butthe worst had passed with the initial claiming.Thetorment had transformed to pleasure.Theisolation to connection.

I gathered him against me, careful of the knot still binding us together, arranging our bodies so he rested across my chest.Hisface pressed against my throat, breath evening slowly as exhaustion claimed him in the aftermath of heat-spike and satisfaction.Theclaiming mark at his neck continued to pulse with shared biochemistry, our scents blending more completely with each passing minute.

"Sleep,"Imurmured against his damp curls, one hand stroking down his spine in rhythmic comfort. "I'llbe here when you wake.Whenthe next wave comes."

His fingers curled against my chest, small movements of contentment rather than distress. "Thankyou," he whispered, the words slurring slightly as exhaustion pulled him toward unconsciousness. "Forwaiting.Forasking.For..."Hetrailed off, unable to articulate what had passed between us.

I understood regardless, the bond between us already translating emotion where words failed.Notjust gratitude for physical relief, but for the preservation of choice within biological imperative.Formaking claiming an act of partnership rather than possession, even when our bodies had given us little alternative.

As he drifted into sleep, temporarily sated and securely bound to me through biology's ancient mechanisms,Istared into the darkness beyond the bed, thoughts clarifying in the aftermath of rut-driven claiming.TheSouzashad orchestrated this, believing forced heat would drive me to claim without consent, to take advantage of biological vulnerability.Theyhad calculated thatIwould become the very alpha stereotypeIhad spent years distinguishing myself from—driven by instinct rather than honor, by possession rather than protection.

They had miscalculated.

What they had intended as manipulation, we had reclaimed as choice.Whatthey had designed to strip agency had instead revealed its power.

Yes,Ihad claimedLucaBianchi.Markedhim.Knottedhim.Satisfiedthe heat they had forced upon him through sabotage and manipulation.ButIhad done so with his consent, his choice, his partnership in the decision.Ihad waited until clarity surfaced through fever, until permission emerged through need, until the man rather than merely the omega had asked for what biology demanded.

My arms tightened around his sleeping form, protective instinct heightened by the claiming bond still forming between us.Theenemies who had orchestrated this violation of my territory, this manipulation ofLuca'sbiology, would pay for their miscalculation.Notjust for forcing heat upon him, but for believingIwould dishonor what was mine by taking without permission.

"No one will ever touch you without going through me,"Iwhispered against his hair, the promise emerging not from alpha possessiveness but from something deeper, something that had begun forming the moment he'd walked into my office with evidence of missing millions and the courage to present it directly.

The bond between us pulsed with shared biochemistry, with altered scents, with the molecular certainty that transcended paper claims or legal declarations.Whathad begun as arrangement had evolved to partnership, and now to something our enemies could never have anticipated or understood.

Mine, my alpha instinct insisted, but with new meaning, new dimension.Notpossession but protection.Notcontrol but care.

Mine to protect.Mineto honor.Mineto defend against all who would harm him.

AsLucaslept against me, temporarily sated but with hours of heat still ahead,Istared into the darkness with cold certainty.TheSouzashad intended this claiming as manipulation, as weakness to be exploited.Instead, they had created something they could never have anticipated—a bond that strengthened rather than compromised, a partnership forged in biological imperative but transcending it through choice preserved within constraint.

They would learn, too late, the consequence of their miscalculation.

No one touched what was mine.

9

LUCA

Consciousness returned as a slow tide, each wave bringing fragments of reality into sharper focus.Thesheets beneath me—impossibly soft, almost liquid against my cooling skin.Theweight of an arm draped protectively across my waist.Thescent that surrounded me—no longer just mine, but something richer, more complex.Sandalwoodand cedar intertwined with honey and citrus, creating an olfactory signature that announced our bond to anyone with the ability to detect it.

The claiming had changed everything on a molecular level.

I opened my eyes to a room bathed in the gentle glow of morning light filtering through expensive curtains.Mybody ached in ways both familiar and entirely new—the pleasant soreness of physical satisfaction layered over the bone-deep exhaustion of heat.Thefever had receded to a low simmer, temporarily banked by the claiming but not yet completely extinguished.Hoursremained before my biology would release its hold entirely.

Beside me,Matteoslept—a sight so unexpected it momentarily stole my breath.Insleep, the hard edges of the mafia underboss softened, revealing contours of the man beneath the alpha exterior.Hisdark lashes rested against olive skin, his mouth relaxed from its usual controlled line.Onearm remained possessively around my waist even in unconsciousness, his body curved toward mine in protective instinct.

The memory of the night before filtered through the remaining haze of heat—the desperation that had consumed me, the quiet strength with which he'd resisted his own biology, the moment when choice had emerged through biological imperative.Ichoose you,Matteo.Please.Myown words, spoken through fever but with unexpected clarity.

And he had waited for those words.Hadrefused to take what biology and law would have permitted without them.

My fingers rose unconsciously to the junction between neck and shoulder, finding the raised edges of the claiming bite that had forever altered my biochemistry.Themark pulsed with lingering sensitivity, a physical reminder of the bond now connecting us beyond paper claims or legal declarations.Ourscents had merged, our biology irrevocably linked through the ancient mechanisms of alpha and omega.Whathad begun as strategic arrangement had transformed into something neither of us had anticipated.

I slipped carefully from beneath his arm, needing a moment of solitude to process the profound changes of the past hours.Mylegs trembled slightly asIpadded toward the bathroom, muscles protesting movements after the intensity of heat and claiming.Thetiles felt blessedly cool beneath my bare feet, the sensation grounding me in physical reality when everything else seemed shifted, rearranged into unfamiliar patterns.

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