"Jad…did Clara get you like this?" he whispered, lips brushing his earlobe. He felt him shiver.

Jared's tongue found his neck again. Leo grabbed his hair and pulled him back, held him there, made him answer.

"Her and those caramel pheromones…" Shiny eyes, that crooked smile. "They drive me insane."

Leo bit the inside of his lip. Something burned behind his eyes.

"…I want to feel your pheromones," Jared breathed. "Let me feel them…"

Leo smiled at him.

"Mine are caramel too," he lied. Felt Jared shudder at the words.

"Did you kiss her, Jared?"

Jared smiled. His voice landed like a blade.

"I kissed her and almost came… she's so beautiful…"

Leo looked at him for a moment. Then pulled him into a hug, hiding his face in his neck.

Jared pulled back. Looked at him, confused, eyes dark.

"Why are you crying?"

He licked his face, like the animal in heat that he was.

"You're beautiful too…" he murmured.

Leo felt the tears coming harder. How much of that was real?

Jared pressed himself desperately against Leo's hand. Leo watched him, the alpha's eyes half-closing, his whole body tightening, and then he came, shuddering, into his palm.

Leo leaned in. Bit his ear. Whispered:

"I want you to make me cry with pleasure…"

Jared grabbed him by the back of the neck and kissed him. The pheromones made him dizzy, turned his stomach. None of it mattered.

This was the night he buried it.

In the hours that followed, Leo lost count. At some point he lost track of time entirely, of space, of everything outside that apartment. There was only Jared. That harsh scent. The rough, low voice. The desperate need to lose himself in those kisses, in teeth against his skin, in every word Jared said, every promise of what he'd do to him.

He never knew if he managed to say it out loud.

But at some point, shaking breathless, he pressed his lips to Jared's neck and whispered:

"I love you so much, Jared."