"I choose who is worthy."
The words landed like a challenge, quiet but heavy, wrapping around Jaxson like a chain he hadn't asked for. Enigma's fingers slid from his shoulders to the side of his neck, his thumb pressing against the hard, relentless beat of Jaxson's pulse. It wasn't just fast—it was furious, a rhythm Jaxson hadn't heard from himself in years.
He was Alpha. The Alpha. The one who commanded packs, demanded order, ruled the city like instinct itself had chosen him. And yet… here he was, caught in the gravity of a single Omega who refused to bend.
"Do you believe you're worthy, Alpha?" Enigma's voice purred low, each syllable thrumming like a chord strummed inside Jaxson's chest.
Jaxson's jaw flexed. His hands, clenched at his sides until now, rose on instinct. They gripped Enigma's waist, firm, answering without words. His scent—cedar, smoke, steel—rolled out strong and sharp, filling the room in an unspoken claim.
But Enigma didn't flinch. Didn't falter. He leaned into it, smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, as if he were savoring the Alpha's defiance.
"I am always worthy," Jaxson growled, his voice rough, dangerous.
Enigma's eyes darkened, challenge and desire tangled in their depths. "Prove it."
The last thread of restraint snapped. Jaxson crushed the space between them, mouth colliding with Enigma's in a kiss that was more war than surrender. There was no softness, no yielding. It was fire meeting fire—teeth, heat, breath stolen and stolen back.
Enigma kissed him like he knew what he was doing—like he'd studied Jaxson's hunger and decided to match it. His fingers slid into Jaxson's hair, tugging hard enough to make the Alpha groan against his lips.
Every nerve screamed. Jaxson's instincts surged, the need to dominate, to pin, to take clawing at him. His body pressed forward, crowding Enigma against the polished wood.
But Enigma didn't break. Didn't submit.
Instead, he tore his lips away, sharp and deliberate, leaving Jaxson gasping in the silence that followed.
"So… predictable," Enigma murmured, voice velvet and razor all at once. His fingertip traced Jaxson's jaw, feather-light, almost mocking.
Jaxson's chest heaved. His eyes burned into Enigma's. "What do you want?" he ground out, low and dangerous.
"I want a dance, Alpha." Enigma's smirk curved, slow and knowing. "Not a conquest."
His hands drifted down Jaxson's chest, pausing over hard muscle, sliding lower, deliberate enough to make Jaxson's blood thrum. Every brush of contact sent a hot current through him, every second of resistance feeding the hunger clawing at his gut.
"You're playing a dangerous game," Jaxson warned, voice a growl scraping his throat.
"Only if you refuse to play," Enigma whispered. He leaned close, lips hovering against the shell of Jaxson's ear, his breath warm enough to make Jaxson's skin prickle. "I told you… there is a reason I am unmated. It is a choice, not an accident."
Jaxson's grip tightened, pulling him flush. For all Enigma's calm control, there was a tremor beneath it—a slight quiver in his body pressed against Jaxson's, a giveaway that betrayed the mask.
But something didn't add up.
Jaxson inhaled deeply, searching, cataloguing. The scent was there—ozone and sweetness, intoxicating, overwhelming. But beneath it… nothing. No heat. No subtle biological spike that should have been screaming in an Omega's body when held like this, pinned like this.
It was absence. A silence in the symphony.
Confusion flickered across Jaxson's face, his hand sliding lower, testing, pressing against the small of Enigma's back. And then he felt it—coolness. Not cold, but off. Not the flushed warmth an Omega should radiate in arousal.
Wrong. Against nature.
Enigma's gaze softened, almost gentle, as if he could read the storm behind Jaxson's eyes. He cupped the Alpha's cheek, thumb stroking once, grounding.
"You see it now," he whispered, the first thread of vulnerability weaving through his voice. "I am not simply… another Omega."
Jaxson swallowed hard, the words catching in his throat as Enigma pressed closer, their bodies still locked, their heartbeats mismatched.
"This isn't about a claim," Enigma murmured. His eyes burned, impossible to look away from. "This is about a bond."
And with that single word, the ground shifted beneath Jaxson. Everything he thought he knew—the chase, the dominance, the pull of instinct—suddenly felt too small, too fragile against the truth that Enigma had just offered him.