ALPHA AND HIS BETA'S NAUGHTY GIFT.

BREAKING SACRED LAWS.

"You don't trust yourself in her care. You think you'll lose control during her training when she gets sweaty," his lips graze Jackson's throat as he speaks softly, "when those curves press against her clothes." His voice drops to an intimate whisper. "You’ll be distracted watching her move. Watching her breathe."

Jackson suddenly slides off his chair and stands abruptly, backing away from him. "What are you doing? I thought we were hypnotized by the moon. That—"

"Maybe we were." Kai follows him, closing the distance Jackson tries to create. "But I loved everything that happened. And I realize now..." His eyes travel down Jackson's body, then back up. "I've been missing out on passion. Real, raw passion. Not just duty and revenge and survival."

"But she's your mate." Jackson's back hits the wall.

"Yes. She is. She'll always belong to me." Kai braces one hand on the wall beside Jackson's head, his eyes glowing faintly. He paid attention to the curve of Jackson's bottom lip, the way it would feel between teeth. "But her body..." His other hand finds Jackson's chest again, feeling the rapid rise and fall. "I want you to ruin it."

Jackson's breath catches.

"I want to sit back and watch you f**k her." Kai's fingers trace down, following the hard lines of Jackson's abdomen. "I want both of us to f**k her. Together."

"It's against nature." Jackson's words come out strangled. "You'll hurt. The bond will—"

"No." Kai shakes his head slowly. "Things are different with us. Last night, I didn't hurt. Valor was jealous, yes. Possessive. But he didn't rage. He didn't try to tear you apart." His hand stills over Jackson's stomach. "He'll come around. Because what I felt..." Heat pools in his gut, spreads through his limbs. "What we felt was right."

Jackson's breathing becomes labored, his chest heaving. His eyes squeeze shut, trying to block out the images Kai's words conjure. Her body beneath him. Kai watching. Kai joining.

"Don't fight it." Kai's hand moves again, sliding across Jackson's chest, feeling the defined muscle, the heat radiating through fabric. His own body responds, blood rushing south, making him hyperaware of every point of contact. "You want this."

"Your father—" Jackson's head tips back against the wall, exposing the long line of his throat. Kai watches it move as he swallows. "Your father will kill me if he learns about this. The pack will stone me to death. The council will demand my head. Or worse, yours and hers too. This is an abomination." His eyes flutter closed for just a second. A crack in his armor.

"Who's going to tell?" Kai leans in closer, until they share the same air. His eyes drop to Jackson's mouth, wondering what it tastes like. When did his best friend become this? When did these sharp edges and hard planes become something he wants to explore? "We have so many secrets together, Jackson. We're just adding another layer." His fingers find the hem of Jackson's shirt, slip beneath it to touch bare skin. Jackson jerks at the contact. "Besides, we've been following rules our entire lives. Maybe it's time to break some. To find our own destiny."

"Kai—" Jackson's protest dies when Kai's thumb finds his hipbone, traces it. He leans in and kisses Jackson.

The kiss steals every thought from Jackson's mind. Kai's mouth is firm, demanding, nothing tentative about it. His tongue traces the seam of Jackson's lips, and when Jackson gasps in shock, Kai takes advantage, deepening the kiss. His hand tightens on Jackson's jaw, holding him in place while the other slides around to the small of his back, pulling their bodies flush.

Jackson's eyes are wide open, staring unseeing at the ceiling. His hands hang at his sides, frozen. His entire world narrows to this, Kai's mouth on his, Kai's body pressed against him, Kai's hand burning into his skin.

The Alpha he's served for years, the friend he'd die for, is kissing him. And worse, so much worse, Jackson's body is responding. His mouth begins to move against Kai's, tentative at first, then hungrier. A groan, maybe whimper escapes him.

Kai pulls back just enough to speak against Jackson's lips.

His hand slides down. Brushes the front of Jackson's pants where his body has already betrayed his answer.

"More than I want to f**k her..." Kai's other hand leaves the wall, cups Jackson's jaw, tilting his face down. Their mouths are inches apart. "I want to f**k you too."

Jackson's eyes finally focus on Kai's face. The Alpha's pupils are blown wide, his cheeks flushed. His chest rises and falls rapidly, matching Jackson's own ragged breathing. The hand on Jackson's jaw slides to his nape, fingers threading through his hair.

"Tell me to stop."

Jackson's mind is racing through a thousand objections, a thousand reasons this is wrong, dangerous, forbidden.

But his mouth won't form the words.

Because last night, when that pleasure had crashed through him, he hadn't wanted it to stop. And now, with Kai's taste on his tongue and those green eyes boring into his soul, he realizes he doesn't want this to stop either.

"Tell me," Kai breathes, "and I'll walk away. We'll never speak of this again."

"I..." Jackson's voice comes out wrecked. "I can't."

Kai's smile is slow, predatory. "Can't what?"

"Can't tell you to stop." The admission breaks something open inside Jackson. "I should. I know I should. But—"

Kai kisses him again, harder this time. His hand fists in Jackson's hair, angling his head for better access. The kiss is all teeth and hunger and years of repressed wanting that neither of them knew existed until now. Jackson's hands finally move, gripping Kai's waist, pulling him impossibly closer.

When they break apart, both are panting.

"Train her," Kai commands against Jackson's jaw, pressing kisses along the sharp edge. "Be near her. Let yourself want her." His teeth graze Jackson's earlobe. "And when you can't take it anymore, when you're so hard you can barely think, come find me."

Jackson's fingers dig into Kai's sides. "And then?"

Kai pulls back to meet his eyes, his smile turning wicked. "Then we'll finish what the moon started. All three of us."

The promise is dangerous and intoxicating.

Jackson should refuse. Should push Kai away. Should remember every law they're breaking, every line they're crossing.

Instead, he finds himself nodding.

Kai's grin widens. He steps back, putting space between them, and Jackson immediately feels the loss of heat. Kai runs a hand through his hair, composing himself, transforming back into the Alpha. But his eyes still burn when they meet Jackson's.

"Go," Kai says. "Before I decide I don't want to wait."

Jackson moves toward the door on unsteady legs. His hand closes around the handle, but he pauses, looking back over his shoulder. Kai stands in the center of the council room, looking every inch the predator he is.

"Things are going to be different," Jackson whispers.

"Yes," Kai agrees. "They are."

Jackson pulls the door open and steps through, leaving Kai alone in the gathering shadows.

The Alpha returns to his throne, sinking into it. His body still troubled with want, with the memory of Jackson's mouth, the promise of what's to come. He closes his eyes, and all he sees is Ivy beneath him, Jackson beside him, the three of them tangled together in sheets and sin.

A low growl rumbles in his chest. Not of anger, but anticipation.

The moon had shown him a truth last night, that the bond between him and Ivy was meant to include more. That rules were made to be broken. That destiny didn't care about propriety or tradition.

And Kai has never been one to deny destiny.

A smile curves his lips as he opens his eyes, staring at the empty council room. Let Numenessa come. Let the world throw whatever challenges it wants at him.

He has found his mate. He has discovered a hunger he never knew existed. And he will claim everything that's meant to be his.