After the boy fell asleep, Cyrus hastily cleaned himself and got dressed. He glanced at the boy— Paradox—and sighed. He mentally cursed himself to allow his animalistic instincts take over and for him to take the boy’s first time. Paradox was different from all the other humans he’d been with. Something about the human’s stubbornness and strong-will made him want him just for himself, to protect him against the world.

But the Lycan World was a dangerous place, more dangerous than the human world. He lied to the boy, and he knew he shouldn’t have, but it was Alpha instinct. He saw a prey, saw a vulnerable and innocent prey, and decided to make his move. He had to claim him before anyone else did. Cyrus knew that Paradox would be infuriated once he found out he was Marked. But he had no choice.

Cyrus hated how all the Alphas told him to find a partner. After all, he was a dominant Alpha. He had to find a lifelong partner, mostly to produce young, but he didn’t want young ones. At least, not yet. It was getting on his nerves. Especially when his older brothers (both Alphas) had a partner with children of their own.

“Find someone, Cyrus,” Cyrus’s eldest brother, Samael, had snapped. “Look at you, a mateless Alpha, a shame to the Alphas and the Lycanthropes. You’re twenty-three.”

“Don’t you want someone?” Killian, Cyrus’s second older brother, had asked.

“I’ll find someone in the meantime.” Cyrus had replied heatedly.

“An Omega, Cyrus,” Samael had said. “Omega male, female, whatever, but an Omega. You need to have kids.”

Cyrus didn’t listen to his eldest brother. In fact, he found a human.

“Isn’t it illegal” was what Paradox had wondered.

It wasn’t. But greatly frowned upon. Especially someone like him who was a dominant Alpha, not a recessive one. He was expected to find an Omega and have kids. It was tradition, it was expected, it was…the “norm”.

Cyrus sighed, gritting his teeth. It was fine. He had someone now. Even though his family would disapprove. It was a “fuck you” to them. It didn’t matter who he decided to mate with. In the end, it was his choice.

But now the boy’s life would never be the same ever again.

But that was okay.

He was going to treasure his mate with everything he had, even if it meant he had to break some expectations. Including his family’s.