After taking a bath, Theo and Noah lay together against the headboard of the large bedroom bed. The room was dimly lit, with the soft warm light of a night lamp bathing the white linen sheets. It was already nine-thirty at night, but since they had just come out of the shower, neither of them felt sleepy yet.
Especially Theo, who was an Alpha with nocturnal habits. He was used to sleeping close to midnight or even around two in the morning.
—Are you cold? —Theo asked in a low voice, turning his face to look at Noah.
—A little —admitted the Omega, barely trembling under the thin blanket, his still-damp hair falling over his forehead.
Without another word, Theo let his tails come out and wrapped them around the Omega's body. He embraced him firmly, but not excessively, with just the right amount of strength so Noah could feel the comforting warmth of his presence without feeling suffocated.
—Theo, I want to ask you something —Noah murmured as he rested his cheek on the Alpha's firm chest, listening to the calm beating of his heart.
—What is it? —Theo asked, calmly stroking his hair.
—After the hundred days… how will this sacred gem transfer back to your body?
Theo took a second to answer. He looked down, observing Noah's sincere eyes, and slowly let out a breath.
—It will leave your body on its own, Noah. Then, the sacred gem will enter mine again —he said with composure, though not a shred of peace lived inside him.
—Will you still be a spiritual being? Or will you become fully human? —the Omega insisted—. According to a book I read with Caleb, spiritual beings can become human if they plant the sacred gem in a human for a set amount of time. Is that legend true?
Crack. Something tensed inside Theo. His expression changed, although he hid it well. It was as if Noah were reading his mind directly, getting dangerously close to the truth.
As if he were about to put everything at risk.
"Damn it! What book did they read? I need to destroy it..." Theo thought, feeling the control he had beginning to crack.
—I don't know —he finally replied in a calm voice, lying masterfully—. What I do know is that a spiritual being can become human if they find their true love. A human who accepts them as they are. A kiss under the full moon can turn them human.
He had made that story up on the spot. Something that sounded beautiful, almost poetic. A fantasy with a happy ending... without the shadow of death.
Because for Theo, true love didn't exist. Not for someone like him. And if Noah were to find out that he would die within a hundred days because of the gem, he would probably do everything in his power to change that fate. Break the rules. And then, Theo would be the one to die.
That distrust, that instinctive Alpha certainty that the Omega must not know too much, was what drove him to watch over everything all the time.
—Don't you want to be human, Theo?
—Of course I do, Noah. But I keep my feet on the ground. There's no way a human would sincerely accept me.
—What if I tried? —the Omega asked in a low voice, without hesitation, as he looked at him with transparent eyes, full of conviction.
Silence… That's what followed.
Theo didn't respond right away. He just looked at him with an expression that wavered between surprise and something darker, deeper… an emotion hard to decipher.
He knew human emotions were fragile. Easy to mold with a sad story, a few pretty words, and an attractive face...
He gently stroked the Omega's face with his fingers, outlining the curve of his cheek, and then used one of his tails to pull him even closer.
—Don't joke around, Noah. This is about my life.
—I'm not joking, Theo. Like you said, love can be built. We don't have to end this marriage after a hundred days. We can make it last forever.
—Ah... —Noah gasped, surprised, when Theo eliminated all distance between them and kissed him fiercely, as if those words had triggered something inside him.
It was a deeper kiss, more intense, more daring than that first kiss they had shared. Their pheromones flared instantly, filling the room with an intoxicating mix of suppressed desire and primal need.
Yes, Noah had opened his heart to this Alpha since that moment in the Lunar Forest, when Theo protected him, when he stood between him and danger without hesitation, when he held him in his arms with tenderness.
The tails loosened and released him little by little as Theo leaned over him, covering his body with his own, eliminating any space left between them. His Alpha pheromone enveloped him completely.
Theo fully released his spiritual form. His eyes shone intensely in a golden yellow hue, and his tails moved with a life of their own, as if responding to his uncontrollable desire.
—How could I ever fear you, Theo? When you're the one who saved my life —Noah whispered, in a soft tone but loaded with meaning.
—Then give me our first night… Surrender to me, Noah —Theo murmured, brushing his lips against the Omega's.
—Ahh~ —Noah moaned, for he didn't even have time to answer. Theo took control again with the same force that characterized him as an Alpha.
He kissed him desperately, devouring him, while lifting his arms above his head and gently holding them with his tails. His body ignited at the Omega's touch, and his hands began to unbutton Noah's shirt, one by one...
....