Victor's gaze didn't waver, his crimson eyes holding Elias in a stillness that felt carefully planned, as though every breath, every inch of space between them, was something he'd already measured.
"I'll mark you," he said, the words smooth but weighted, "only as an alpha. Not as my god's soulmate."
Elias's brow furrowed slightly, suspicion flickering through the fatigue and the slow heat building under Victor's proximity. "And the difference?"
"The difference," Victor said, leaning in until his lips brushed the shell of his ear, "is that this one fades. It's erasable. If you decide you don't want me, if you decide you don't want this, you can walk away without the bond anchoring you to me for eternity."
His thumb skimmed along Elias's ribs again, unhurried but confident. "While it lasts, it keeps you under my protection. No one touches what I've marked. No one challenges it without challenging me."
