Elias barely registered the way the Alpha moved, the shift in weight, the change in pressure. His body was too lost to the haze, the unbearable, insatiable ache. Every inch of his skin felt like it was on fire, every nerve singing with a need he despised but could not escape.
His breaths came in ragged, uneven pants. His fingers, which had once clawed for freedom, now clung with a desperate grip he wished he could deny. But the Alpha—
The Alpha didn't let him hide.
He watched. He felt. He waited.
And then, with slow, deliberate intent, he pressed his lips to Elias's temple.
A sound broke from Elias's throat—half a sob, half a gasp. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing his body to resist, to deny the drug's effects, to fight back against the warmth, the heat, the overwhelming presence suffocating him.
But the Alpha gave him no reprieve.
His fingers trailed lower, mapping the trembling lines of Elias's arm, tracing down to his wrist where his pulse pounded wildly. The touch was maddening, light yet possessive, teasing yet unyielding.
Elias jerked under him, his body betraying him again as he arched involuntarily, seeking relief, seeking something—
No. No, no, no.
His breath hitched as the Alpha's grip tightened around his wrist, grounding him. Holding him in place. And then—
"Shhh." The Alpha's voice was a hushed murmur, a velvet command. "Just let go."
Elias shook his head, biting down hard on his lower lip. He wouldn't. He couldn't. Even as his body screamed for it, even as the drug wove its cruel spell through his veins, even as the Alpha loomed over him, waiting for him to fall apart—
He had to resist.
The Alpha chuckled, the sound low and knowing. "Still fighting?"
Elias's chest heaved. His nails dug into the Alpha's clothes, gripping as if that alone could anchor him to himself, to sanity, to reality.
The Alpha leaned in, his breath warm against Elias's ear. "You're stronger than I expected."
A flicker of something else surged through Elias—anger. A fragile, fraying lifeline in the midst of his unraveling. He latched onto it, forcing his shaking limbs to move, to push, to resist—
But the Alpha was ready.
Before Elias could twist away, the Alpha's hand found his chin, firm but not forceful, tilting his face upward until their gazes met.
Golden eyes burned into his, filled with something dark, something unreadable. Something dangerous.
And Elias—
Elias couldn't look away.
The Alpha's smirk softened, just a fraction. "Still think you want me to let you go?"
Elias swallowed hard. His throat was dry, his mind a storm of warring instincts, and yet—
Yet he couldn't speak.
Because the truth sat heavy between them.
And the Alpha already knew the answer.