Tanner doesn't stop, he's unable.
Whatever restraint he had has shattered, leaving only raw urgency in its place. His hands are everywhere, moving across Jess's body with a kind of desperate reverence.
His breath turns ragged, lips parted, chest rising and falling like he's just surfaced from deep water.
Blood roars in his veins, loud and hot, flooding every inch of him with a need too vast to contain.
All he can think of now is Jess beneath him, Jess writhing under his touch, Jess whispering his name like a prayer. Every thought begins and ends with him.
Jess hates how much he wants this. Hates how much his body trembles under Tanner's hands, how it leans in instead of pulling away.
His mind screams for distance, for sense, but his body clings to the warmth, to the intimacy it's been starving for. It wants this. It wants Tanner.
It wants to be held by him again, like the other night, when for one fleeting moment, Jess felt safe.
But then Tanner's lips brush against his, and it's like cold water poured over a flame.
Jess's mind reels.
He just kissed that woman with these lips. He made love to her... right there in the same bed where he'd held him. In the same house which Tanner knew Jess was in.
The memory burns like acid.
What does he want from me if he already has her? Jess's thoughts spiral. What is this? What am I doing?
This has to be the mate bond. That's all it is. It's not real, it's that cruel pull of nature. Tanner doesn't actually want you. He's reacting to the bond. That's all.
Jess flinches violently and pulls away. But Tanner's arms only tighten, dragging him back, close again like letting go might kill him.
"What?" Tanner's voice is low, taut with frustration. His eyes burn.
"I don't want to do this! So let go of me!" Jess says firmly.
Tanner's hands loosen instantly, falling away like Jess's touch has burned him.
"You don't?" he hisses. "Who are you kidding? You think I can't see it? You think I can't feel it in you, how much you want this? How much you want me?"
He releases him completely, stepping back, his jaw clenched.
Jess finally breaks. The tears spill, hot and fast, unable to contain them anymore, his voice crumbles. "Yes! Yes, you're right... I want this! I want you! But not if I'm just going to be used… why are you doing this to me?" His voice cracks with every word, thick with pain. "I didn't ask to be your mate. I didn't ask for whatever makes me like my own gender! So why... why are you torturing me like this?"
His sobs come harder now. "Why don't you just sentence me to death like you did back then, instead of this? You wanted Kyle and me dead. You had him killed. So now that you've found me, why not finish what you started?! Why don't yo..."
"Stop talking!" Tanner barks, and it's like a whip through the room. His anger is explosive, but there's something more underneath _ volatile and wounded.
"I'm not a murderer!" he snarls. "I didn't have your stupid lover killed! You want him so much?" His voice twists with something ugly. "Why don't you go look for him. Go search wherever he was sold into slavery!"
Jess's breath catches.
Sold?
Slavery?
Kyle… wasn't killed?
The revelation hits like a punch to the gut. Jess stares at Tanner, eyes wide, stunned into silence.
All these years, he'd believed Kyle died, believed he left him to face death alone. He's carried that guilt like a stone in his chest, a wound that never healed.
But now…
"What?" Jess breathes. "Kyle… he's alive?"
Tanner's expression darkens, eyes flashing with something wild, something close to jealousy, rage, annoyance.
Jess's mind spirals out of that room with the realization. His mind is spiraling backward, yanked violently into the past.
They were sixteen.
It was in the school bathroom, his heart pounding, his lips tingling from Kyle's kiss. A secret, shared grin. A nervous laugh. A promise to try to date, to see what it could become.
But someone saw them. The rumors spread like wildfire.
The school belonged to Tanner's father. Who was also the Alpha of the pack? He was the head of it all.
The punishment came swift and merciless. Not just from the school, but the entire pack.
It was as if they'd committed a crime worse than treason. Like they hadn't just kissed, they'd murdered an heir.
Jess remembers the judgment. The fire in everyone's eyes.
He ran.
He couldn't face it. Couldn't protect Kyle nor himself. He'd believed Kyle died for that kiss, for him.
And now, to hear he was sold, traded away like nothing…
His chest tightens painfully. Breathing becomes a struggle.
The room feels too small. Too hot. Too loud.
His legs move on their own, driven by instinct, by the need to get out. But Tanner catches him again, pulling him back.