Page 31 of Fated (The Bonded Legacy #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CALEB

C aleb’s body was slick with sweat, muscles straining as he pressed Asher against the window.

The glass fogged beneath his beta’s flushed skin, each breath leaving clouds of condensation on the surface.

Below, summit attendees gathered in the courtyard, their voices a distant hum beneath the rush of blood in his ears.

He couldn’t bring himself to care who might look up and glimpse Asher braced against the glass, forehead pressed to the cool surface as gasps tore from his throat. All that mattered was the way Asher’s body yielded to him, that perfect heat gripping him tighter with each punishing thrust.

The air thickened with their mingled scents—the sharp tang of sweat, the heady musk of arousal, the distinctive notes of their wolves merging into something wild and untamed.

Each stroke drew guttural groans that vibrated through the walls as the wet, obscene sounds of their joining echoed in the room in a primitive rhythm feeding Caleb’s frenzy.

“Asher.” Caleb’s voice dropped to the alpha register that made his beta shiver. “Do you have any idea how good you look like this?” His hands tightened possessively on Asher’s hips. “Spread out for me, every part of you mine to take.”

A broken moan was his only answer. Asher exhaled in short gasps that left ghostly patterns on the window. His arms quivered with the effort of holding himself up, thighs already weakening from Caleb’s relentless pace.

Caleb hadn’t intended for things to spiral like this, but something fundamental had shifted this week.

Respect replaced doubt as pack leaders deferred to him and the public acknowledgment had awakened something primal—a consuming need to claim Asher completely.

The desire burning between them felt deeper than usual. Darker. More intense.

They should have been on the road back to Crescent Fang already, but seeing Asher bent over—the muscles in his back rippling as he tied his shoe—had ignited something feral in Caleb, obliterating all sense of control.

Maybe it was standing tall among alphas last night, no longer an imposter but an equal. Maybe it was pack leaders seeking his counsel. Or maybe it was simply Asher’s beautiful submission, standing beside him as lover, anchor, everything .

Whatever the cause, Caleb’s restraint had shattered altogether.

He’d spent the night taking Asher over and over, throat raw from Asher’s cock stretching him open, knees bruised from hardwood floors, muscles burning with exertion as he kept himself buried in his beta until language dissolved from their brains—leaving only groans, gasps, and desperate pleas.

They’d barely slept, yet Caleb had awakened with the same hunger clawing at him, that need burning fiercer than before.

“Goddess, Asher,” Caleb growled, voice thick with authority and reverence. Heat coiled low in his abdomen, ready to snap. His grip tightened enough to bruise as he pulled Asher back against him. “You take me so well. So perfectly.”

“YES!” Asher howled, voice raw and desperate. “Fuck! Harder , Caleb!”

Caleb obeyed, movements turning savage as he pounded into his beta with unrestrained force. The sharp slap of skin on skin filled the room, mixing with Asher’s cries and the deep growls rumbling from Caleb’s chest.

Just the sight of Asher was enough to push Caleb toward the edge—muscles rippling with each thrust, body arching to take him deeper, each pant leaving ephemeral trails down the glass.

Caleb’s hand slid up Asher’s spine, tracing each vertebra before gripping the nape of his neck and pressing down, commanding complete surrender.

“You’re mine,” Caleb grunted, voice thick with claim. “All of you. Completely .”

“Yes.” Asher’s sob broke around the word, body shuddering under Caleb’s brutal pace. “Always yours. Always.”

Caleb’s knot caught without warning, stretching Asher wider than ever before.

He rutted into his beta at lightning speed and roared as he came—no longer the carefully controlled alpha who second-guessed every decision, but a leader who claimed what was his without apology—the primal cry echoing through the suite.

His knees buckled, vision darkening at the edges as pleasure crashed through him, washing away the last vestiges of the hesitant male he’d been before the summit.

His climax saturated the air, rich and potent.

Caleb’s nostrils flared, pupils dilating as animal instinct took over.

Asher’s scent changed too, carrying the unmistakable markers of being thoroughly claimed.

Their breathing fell into a harmonized rhythm, resembling their wolves’ panting after a successful hunt—victorious, sated, and deeply connected to their essence.

Asher’s body shuddered, release painting the glass as he bit down on his arm to muffle his screams. Caleb’s heart stalled with realization—this was the first time he’d knotted Asher. Satisfaction surged again, settling deep in his bones.

Knotting was untested terrain, a line never crossed in their years together.

Usually, their bedroom dynamic flowed like water, with Asher typically taking control.

But the summit had changed something in Caleb, unleashing the alpha dominance he rarely expressed.

His knot swelling inside Asher felt like the culmination of this transformation.

Physical proof of how the week had permanently altered not just how others saw him, but how he saw himself.

It transcended physical pleasure—this was claiming, possessing in ways Caleb had never allowed himself before.

For a moment, the world stood perfectly still. The only sound was their labored breaths as Caleb’s knot kept them locked together in this new, intimate way.

He pressed his lips to Asher’s shoulder, tasting salt-slick skin as he whispered, “Goddess, I love you.”

Asher turned his head, sweat-dampened hair clinging to his forehead as he managed a weak smile. “I know,” he murmured, voice hoarse but warm. “I love you, too.”

As his knot finally subsided, Caleb slipped out with a soft groan. His hands gripped Asher’s shoulders, pressing him forward gently. “Show me.”

Asher arched his back deeply, presenting himself as instructed.

Caleb crouched behind him, breath catching at the sight.

Asher’s hole remained stretched, evidence of Caleb’s knot still visible, his release trickling out in lazy rivulets.

Fenrir’s presence blazed beneath Caleb’s skin, a fire that burned from his chest into his hands gripping Asher’s flesh.

“Fuck,” Caleb growled, running his hands over Asher’s hips before grabbing his jeans and pulling them up. He stood, pressing a kiss to Asher’s neck before moving to his ear, lips curving into a wicked smirk. “Keep me there,” he purred. “I want you to feel me leak out of you all the way home.”

Caleb punctuated the words with a sharp smack to Asher’s ass, drawing out a startled gasp and soft chuckle from his beloved beta.

As Asher straightened, their eyes met in the reflection of the fogged window.

Pupils dilated as understanding sparked between them—the magnitude of this threshold crossed visible in Asher’s trembling lip and Caleb’s wondering brow.

Asher’s expression softened as he turned, pressing his forehead against Caleb’s.

“That was...” Asher’s voice was still rough, trailing off as he searched for words.

“Different,” Caleb finished for him, a hint of uncertainty creeping into his tone. The alpha dominance that had consumed him receded, leaving room for reflection.

Asher’s lips curved into a smile as he brushed his thumb across Caleb’s cheekbone.

“Necessary,” he corrected. “We’ve always had this balance, but sometimes.

..” He paused, eyes darkening with memory.

“Sometimes we need this too. Raw. Primal.” His fingers traced the back of Caleb’s neck.

“I’ve never felt more connected to you than when you surrender to what you truly want. ”

Caleb let out a long breath, shoulders dropping as a tightness he hadn’t realized was knotting his spine unraveled vertebra by vertebra.

“The things I did to you,” he stammered, “the things I still want to do to you—sometimes they scare me. I’ve spent so long afraid of what my power might make me become. ”

“They shouldn’t,” Asher replied simply, pressing a gentle kiss to Caleb’s lips. “Your restrained control, your surrender, your alpha dominance—I want all of it. I want all of you .”

The words flowed through Caleb’s veins like warm honey, each pulse carrying them deeper until his breath expanded his chest fully for what felt like the first time in years.

Something within his core released. That piece of himself he’d always kept leashed clicked into place with an almost audible sensation.

He adjusted his own clothes with smug satisfaction. The world outside could wait—right now, everything that mattered was right here in front of him, flushed, utterly spent, and perfectly his.