Page 34 of Forbidden

Lucien stepped closer. “Aksel—”

Aksel’s scent spiked. Alpha. Obey.

The urge to bare his neck hit Lucien deep in the gut, his cock twitching.

“Go,” Aksel ground out, his eyes glowing a supernatural blue. Switching the treadmill off, he averted his gaze and covered his nose with his hand. “We can’t today. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to scare you.”

And he stalked away, putting an end to the conversation before it could even properly start.

Except Lucien refused to accept it.

Aksel would never hurt him. He was absolutely certain of it. He wasn’t scared of him. He could never be scared of him.

And he was going to prove it.

Chapter Twelve

Xeus was very bright and nearly full in the night sky, its hue coloring the clouds red.

Lucien stared at it for a long moment before taking a deep breath and punching in the override code to the interior garden Aksel locked himself in during the full moon.

The lock flashed green, and the door clicked open.

Swallowing, Lucien slipped into the garden and let the door lock again.

Aksel might be angry with him.

Butthere was no real alternative. He knew Aksel. Aksel would never ask to risk Lucien’s health by spending his rut with him. He wouldn’t want to put him in danger or scare him, or some other protective bullshit like that.

If he wanted to prove to Aksel that he wasn’t a fragile, broken flower, Lucien had to take matters into his own hands. He had to take the initiative for once.

Lucien had thought about it long and hard, wondering about the consent issues of what he was about to do. The last thing he wanted was to take Aksel’s consent away. But he knew Aksel wanted him. Aksel did fuck him every day. His desire wasn’t in question. Aksel just thought it was too dangerous—too unsafe for Lucien—to do it during his rut. His protectiveness was endearing, really. It made Lucien feel so damn warm on the inside. But he was tired of being treated like a fragile, breakable thing. He knew his own limits better than Aksel did, no matter how well-meaning and honorable Aksel’s attitude was. And the moon wasn’t actually full yet despite looking so. Lucien had calculated that there was still enough time for Aksel to actually talk to him and consent to spending his rut with him before he could no longer control his transformation.

A branch snapped.

Tensing up, Lucien looked around the dark garden, his heart beating faster. “Aksel?” he said softly, stepping forward.

There was a blur of movement—and then he was slammed against the tree behind him, something heavy and growly pinning him hard to it, a clawed hand wrapping around his throat.

“It’s me!” Lucien gasped out, baring his neck submissively.

The dark form on top of him shoved his head against Lucien’s throat and sniffed, growling.

All the hairs on Lucien’s body stood up. There was nothing sentient in that sound; it was pure animal.

Perhaps he’d misjudged how far gone Aksel would be so close to the full moon.

It was hard to tell in the dark, but the body that was pressed against him seemed slightly bigger and wider than Aksel normally was. The face pressed against his throat was definitely different, Aksel’s coarse scruff replaced by soft fur. He smelled a little different too, muskier. Pure alpha.

Lucien’s hole was embarrassingly slick already, his cock hard and aching.

Aksel sniffed again, and a growl left his throat, before his claws ripped Lucien’s pants and shirt. His underwear was gone next, and now he was completely naked.

He yelped as he was shoved face-first against the tree, a furred chest pressing against his back.

Oh God.

When a hard, huge cock nudged against his ass, Lucien’s instincts took over. He arched his back, presenting his ass for the alpha and whined.