Chapter 8: Marked

Levi lay on his narrow bed in the east wing, staring at the ceiling. Sleep would not come. Every time he closed his eyes he felt the three distinct pulls again, and the knowledge that none of them had truly let him go. The suppressants had dulled the worst of the heat, but the mate bond remained.

A soft knock sounded at the door. He froze, and dor a moment he considered ignoring it. Then the knock came again, gentler, almost polite. Levi rose, heart already climbing into his throat, and opened the door.

Dexter stood in the hallway. Silver hair loose around his face, still dressed in the dark formal clothes from the ceremony, though the jacket was gone and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled to the elbows. In the low light of the corridor he looked almost soft, pretty, fine-boned, nothing like the venomous stare he had given Levi in the hallway days earlier. Only the eyes were the same, pale, calm, and far too knowing.

’What does he want now?’ Levi thought lazily.

"May I come in?" Dexter asked quietly.

Levi stepped back without speaking. Dexter entered, closed the door softly behind him, and turned the lock with a quiet click.

They stood in silence for a long moment before Dexter finally spoke.

"I couldn’t sleep either," Dexter said at last. His voice was low, almost gentle. "The bond doesn’t quiet just because we agreed to wait." He tilted his head, studying Levi. "You’re afraid of us."

"Wouldn’t you be?" Levi returned calmly, even though he wanted to scream it. He knew better than to do that though.

Dexter’s mouth curved, not quite a smile. "Probably. Kai will try to own you completely. Aaron will try to devour you. I thought you might prefer a different approach."

Levi raised an eyebrow, then steadily backed awag till his back found the wall near the bed. "I don’t prefer any of this. I already told you—"

"I know what you told us." Dexter stepped closer, unhurried. "That you don’t want to be claimed by three princes. That you never asked for the bond. That you were only supposed to be collateral." He took another step closer. "But the Goddess doesn’t care what you were supposed to be. And neither do I."

Levi opened his mouth to argue again, but he was too slow.

One moment the third prince was simply standing in front of him, the next Levi’s back hit the mattress and Dexter was over him, knees bracketing his hips, one hand braced beside his head, the other cupping his face with surprising tenderness. Levi’s startled inhale was swallowed by Dexter’s mouth.

The kiss was soft.

That was the first shock. Not the hungry claiming Levi had expected from any of them, but a slow, deliberate press of lips that asked even as it took. Dexter kissed him like he had all night, like he intended to learn the shape of Levi’s mouth before he did anything else. The silver-haired prince’s scent wrapped around them, cooler than Aaron’s, sharper than Kai’s, and threaded with the unmistakable signature of the mate pull. It sank into Levi’s lungs and made his thoughts blur at the edges.

Levi’s hands came up, half to push, half in pure surprise. Dexter caught both wrists gently and pinned them above his head with one hand, never breaking the kiss. When he finally drew back, Levi’s lips felt swollen and his breath was already unsteady.

"I didn’t expect you," Levi whispered, surprised by everything that was happening. Was Dexter really betraying his brothers? He didn’t think the third prince had the guts for that.

"I know." Dexter’s thumb stroked once along his jaw. "My brothers are louder. Easier to see coming. I’m quieter, but that doesn’t make me less certain." He leaned down again, lips brushing the corner of Levi’s mouth. "You’re better off with me than with them. Kai will cage you. Aaron is a force you wouldn’t be able to survive. But I’m different from both of them."

"I still don’t want—"

Dexter kissed him again, deeper this time, and the rest of the protest died against his tongue. The alpha scent was stronger now, rolling over Levi in warm waves that made his omega instincts uncoil despite every conscious objection. His body remembered the heat, remembered the pull, and answered before his mind could catch up.

Dexter released his wrists only to slide both hands beneath Levi’s shirt, palms warm against bare skin. He pushed the fabric up and off with unhurried efficiency, then sat back just long enough to look at what he had uncovered. Moonlight from the narrow window painted Levi’s chest in pale silver. Dexter’s eyes darkened.

"Beautiful," he murmured, almost to himself.

He lowered his head and kissed the hinge of Levi’s jaw, then the side of his throat, then the sensitive skin just above the scent gland. Levi arched without meaning to. Dexter’s tongue traced the spot that made stars burst behind his eyes, and the last of Levi’s resistance began to fray.

Clothes disappeared in slow stages. Dexter undressed him like he was unwrapping something precious, pausing to kiss each new expanse of skin—collarbone, the inside of an elbow, the soft plane of his stomach. When he finally settled between Levi’s thighs, bare and warm and perfectly built, Levi’s breath was already coming in short, shaky pulls.

Dexter braced himself on one forearm and used the other hand to tilt Levi’s face up again. "Look at me."

Levi did.

The third prince’s eyes were no longer calm. They burned with quiet, focused hunger. "I’m going to claim you," Dexter said softly. "Not because Kai ordered it. Not because Aaron wants it. Because the bond pointed at me the same way it pointed at them, and I refuse to wait while they argue over who gets to own you first." He brushed a kiss across Levi’s lower lip. "Submit to me tonight. Let me take care of you."

The alpha scent thickened. Levi’s omega instincts, already battered by the full moon and the unresolved bond, finally tipped. His thighs parted wider of their own accord. A soft, surrendered sound left his throat.

Dexter smiled against his mouth. and reached between them.

He prepared Levi with the same unhurried care he had given every kiss, slow fingers, patient stretches, whispered praise whenever Levi trembled or gasped. By the time he finally pressed inside, Levi was aching and open and beyond coherent protest. The stretch burned sweetly. Dexter sank in inch by careful inch until he was fully seated, then stilled, forehead resting against Levi’s, giving him time to adjust.

"Breathe," Dexter whispered. "I’ve got you."

Levi breathed.

When Dexter began to move it was deep and measured, every thrust deliberate, angled to drag against the place that made Levi’s vision white out. The third prince’s body was lean and strong, silver hair falling around both their faces like a curtain. He kissed Levi through every roll of his hips, soft, open‐mouthed kisses that swallowed every broken sound. One hand stayed cupped under Levi’s head, cradling him; the other stroked down his side, his hip, the sensitive inside of his thigh, grounding him even as the pleasure built.

The mate bond flared hotter with every stroke. Levi felt it knitting tighter, a golden, inevitable thread pulling taut between them. His hands found Dexter’s back, nails digging in as the rhythm deepened. Dexter’s control frayed, his thrusts grew harder, more urgent, the soft sounds in his throat turning into low, possessive growls.

"Mine," Dexter breathed against his mouth. "Say it."

Levi’s head tipped back. The word left him on a broken moan. "Yours—"

Dexter’s canines sank into the scent gland at the side of his throat.

The claiming bite lit Levi up from the inside. Pleasure, bond and surrender crashed together so hard he cried out, body tightening around Dexter as climax tore through him. Dexter followed with a deep, shuddering thrust, burying himself to the hilt as he came.

They stayed like that for a long time, breathing hard, bodies joined, Dexter’s lips pressed gently to the fresh mark he had left.

When the knot finally began to ease, Dexter did not pull away immediately. He kissed the bite mark once, soft and almost reverent, then lifted his head to look at Levi.

"You’re mine now," he said quietly. "Whatever my brothers decide tomorrow... tonight, and every night after, know you belonged to me first."

Levi could only stare up at him, body still trembling. He had marked, by all rights, he was now Alpha Dexter’s mate.