Kai swallowed. This gift... all it was, was an intent to fuck.
For the past week, Spike had taken nightly trips to the professor’s bedroom, returning with Davis’ gardenia and musk all over him. Kai had overheard a stray moan or two. Once, Spike had called Kai on his cell while he was fucking Micah, and he’d let Kai listen to their gasping over the phone.
Kai had gotten so hard at that. He’d jerked off, and when Spike had returned to their room, Spike been all smug smiles, telling Kai how eager the professor had been. How much Davis would’ve liked for Kai to join them.
It was insane, Spike fucking their professor. Kai had kept his hands off Davis. But time and again, he would remember Davis in the kitchen, Davis pinned beneath Spike, his musk flooding Kai’s lungs.
Maybe all I need is to fuck him once and for all. Get him out of my system.
It didn’t explain the random images of Micah Davis popping up in his head, all soft smiles, looking so disbelieving and delighted when Spike told him he was beautiful.
Spike knew how to make their professor smile. Somehow, that stuck in Kai’s mind. He wanted to know if he could make Davis smile, too.
I’m going insane. Probably Spike’s fault.
“Are you listening to the lecture?” Spike asked, with that shit-eating grin on his face. Kai wanted to wipe it off.
“Yeah,” Kai said.
“Liar,” Spike whispered, patting Kai’s leg. “It’s okay. I won’t judge you.”
You’re such a bastard. For a heartbeat, Kai wanted to grab Spike and... do something. Something violent.
Between all the thoughts about Davis, Spike had invaded Kai’s mind, looking upset. Or he would be grinning, or Kai would remember when a younger Spike had gazed at him with puppy eyes and said, Just one kiss? Please?
It didn’t help that Kai had woken up to Spike sprawled all over him this morning, Spike’s lips hot on Kai’s neck, his teeth scraping gently over Kai’s scent gland.
For a moment back there, something hot had twisted through Kai’s gut. Something that felt like need and yearning and dread.
Kai had thought Spike was about to bite him. He’d shoved Spike off, panicking. Except Spike hadn’t broken Kai’s skin, and Kai’s unmarked scent gland... had felt just a bit too bare.
Kai didn’t want to promise Spike anything, and end up hurting Spike. But he also didn’t want to lose Spike to Davis, either.
Guess this is what it feels like to be between a rock and a hard place.
Kai scowled, looking down at his blank notebook page. He’d forgotten to take down any notes on the lecture. Of all things, he’d been distracted by Spike. What the hell? I don’t even love him.
It didn’t explain the itch on Kai’s lips, that said, Kiss Spike. Mark him. Make him moan.
That kiss in the car last week... that had been impulsive. Kai told himself he’d done it because Spike needed it.
It had felt damn good, though. And it hadn’t even been sex. Kai wanted to do it again. Taste Spike. Claim him.
I think I’m going crazy. Kai focused back on Micah Davis. And glanced at the professor’s flat belly. Davis had been pregnant for three weeks.
“Someday, we should get him something that’s for him or the baby,” Kai muttered. “So he doesn’t think all we want to do is fuck him.”
Spike’s eyebrows crawled up his forehead. “You mean, so he doesn’t think all you want to do is fuck him.”
Yeah, sometimes, Kai really hated his brother. Because Spike was absolutely right.
On impulse, Kai wrote in his notebook, Spike is an annoying bastard.
Spike leaned over for a peek. And his face fell, his shoulders sagging.
Shit. Kai struck the words out. “I didn’t mean that,” he muttered.
“Sure you did.”
There were people around them, classmates who knew Kai and Spike were stepbrothers. Kai bit his lip. He didn’t want to let Spike stay upset, not when it was his own damn fault. And Sorry wouldn’t cut it.
He needed to show Spike that he cared. Kai held his breath, took Spike’s arm, and laid it on his own fold-up table, palm facing up. Then he dug his nails into Spike’s skin; Spike’s eyes flickered with curiosity.
But the nails were just a distraction, something for any onlookers to see. The real apology—with his nails dragging down, Kai pressed his wrist against Spike’s forearm, and traced his own elm scent down Spike’s skin, marking him.
Spike sucked in a sharp breath.
“Believe me now?” Kai asked, his heart thumping nervously. He didn’t usually mark Spike, and he rarely did it in public. All the same, something in his chest said, Mine.
“Yeah,” Spike whispered, a smile flickering through his gaze. “You should do that more often.”
“Maybe I should,” Kai growled, thinking about Spike marked all over with elm, and how good he would smell.
Spike brightened; he wanted Kai’s scent on him. That was nothing new, except Kai’s stomach flipped. What was that about?
“That’s all for today’s lecture,” Micah Davis said, flipping to the last slide of his presentation. “Note down this week’s homework. If you have any additional questions, my consultation hours are on the screen.”
Kai had already filled out his schedule for next week. Davis had offered to tutor him for an hour each day at home.
Spike scribbled down the homework questions. Then he leaned against Kai, waiting while the students around them packed.
York passed them on the way to the exit. “You guys wanna grab some lunch?”
“We’ll pass,” Spike said. “Have someone to meet.”
“Oh, you mean that omega you knocked up?”
A few people glanced over. Kai’s neck burned. York didn’t have to fucking announce it to the world.
“Yes,” Spike said with a grin. “We’re being really responsible, you know.”
York raised his eyebrows. “Well, good on you, then.”
Kai coughed to hide his snort. If only you knew, York.
Kai began to pack when most of the students had left the lecture hall. The professor was still at the podium, fiddling
