The Alpha didn't go after Elias immediately.
No—he waited.
Let Elias believe he had slipped away. Let him think he had regained control.
It was more fun that way.
Watching him wrestle with himself, watching the cracks in his mask spread just a little more every time they met.
And the Alpha?
He had time.
He stretched out on the wooden bench outside his quarters, arms resting behind his head, staring up at the open sky.
His mind, however, was nowhere near as idle as his body.
Elias.
Sharp-tongued. Stubborn. So determined to play the part of something less than what he truly was.
But the Alpha had seen the real him.
Had felt the way his body reacted, the way his pulse betrayed him.
And that moment—
That single, fleeting moment when Elias had forgotten himself—
It was burned into the Alpha's mind.
The glint of fangs.
A glimpse of the predator beneath all that pretending.
It had been brief, but it had been there.
And the Alpha?
He wanted to see it again.
No—he wanted to drag it out of Elias, rip it from him piece by piece, until there was no more pretending left.
A slow smirk curled on his lips.
Let's see how long you can keep running, little Omega.
Because no matter how much Elias resisted, no matter how much he fought—
His instincts would always betray him.
The Alpha exhaled, his thoughts drifting back to last night, to the way Elias had been curled up in his bed, truly defenseless for the first time.
The soft rise and fall of his breath. The delicate way his lashes had rested against his cheeks.
And then—
The way his lips had parted.
The way a sound had slipped out, raw and unguarded—
A moan.
A real, unfiltered moan.
The Alpha's fingers twitched against his thigh.
His breath came slower, heavier, as he recalled the heat that had crashed through him at that moment.
He had nearly lost himself.
The taste of Elias's skin, the warmth of his body beneath his touch—
He had wanted—
No.
He had needed.
The hunger had been instant, primal, something deeper than he had expected.
And when Elias had moaned again—
It had nearly destroyed him.
He had felt it in his blood, in his bones—
That if he stayed a moment longer, if he let himself give in, there would be no turning back.
That's why he had left.
Not because he wanted to.
But because if he hadn't—
He wouldn't have stopped.
The Alpha let out a slow breath, running his tongue over his teeth.
Even now, the memory sent a sharp pulse of heat through him.
He hadn't wanted to leave last night.
And the next time?
He wouldn't.
Not until Elias admitted what they both already knew.
That no matter how much he ran, no matter how much he denied it—
He wanted this just as much as the Alpha did.
The Alpha chuckled darkly, his body thrumming with anticipation.
Elias could fight it all he wanted.
But in the end?
He would lose.
And the Alpha?
He would be there to catch him when he finally fell.