The underground parking garage smelled of damp concrete, dust, and stagnant air — like a crypt about to seal itself shut. The few remaining lights flickered, turning into ragged strobe flashes that shredded their faces with shadow and tore the space around them into unstable fragments.
In Ryon's earpiece, Min-Ki's voice burst through — sharp, panicked, breathless:"I've breached a hidden division of the Eon Systems archives. Ryon… Subject R — Biological Failure. Designated for immediate neutralization under Protocol 0."
Ryon froze.The word "neutralization" struck his temples like a jackhammer. His blood seemed to drain from his body, leaving him cold and hollow inside.
Jisong heard Min-Ki's message through the external channel.And he lost control.
His body reacted before his mind could intervene — pure, feral rage taking over. Ryon felt it physically: the air around Jisong thickened and heated, vibrating with power. His Alpha pheromones exploded outward — sharp, searing, territorial — carrying the metallic scent of war and protection.
In that instant, Jisong's emotions broke containment.His instincts sent out a burning, possessive pheromonal pulse — a declaration of ownership.
He stepped forward until his shadow swallowed Ryon. His voice came back to him in echoes off the concrete — low, fractured, nearly a growl, the sound of an Alpha's instinct demanding an answer from his vulnerable Omega.
— What does that mean? Did you know? That they want to neutralize you?
Ryon stared down at his fists, his knuckles bloodless, as if he had no right to breathe. The silence between them was humid and heavy, vibrating with unspoken desire and threat.
— I won't allow it, — Jisong growled. It wasn't a statement to Ryon — it was a vow to the universe. — I won't let them take you.
His breath scorched the skin just above Ryon's collar. Then Jisong's hand came up — not to caress but to grasp — his palm pressing against the back of Ryon's neck, right where the spine began, at the nerve point every Omega felt too keenly.It was a gesture of dominance — protection edged with violence.
Ryon's body reacted immediately, arching into that pressure — not in fear, but in surrender. His instincts sought not escape, but anchor.He looked up, and what Jisong saw in his eyes wasn't resistance — it was quiet, willing submission that hit him harder than defiance ever could.
Ryon breathed deeper, drawing in the heavy, commanding scent of Alpha, and his entire being aligned with it — accepting the unspoken promise of survival under that dominance.He straightened slowly, his body yielding beneath Jisong's hand.
***
"Get out! Now! If you stay, the system will seize you both! I'm holding the channel open, but not for long!" Min-Ki's voice crackled in the comm."Don't repeat my mistakes!"
Ryon heard him — but his mind was consumed by the weight of Jisong's hand on his neck. That scent, that heat — his system recorded them both, imprinting this moment as his first true mark, ignoring every warning.
Jisong tore his gaze away from Ryon's eyes. His breathing came uneven, ragged. He knew they were out of time — but he couldn't leave like this.
He made a final, irreversible decision.
He pulled his hand away — only to press Ryon hard against the wall, his own body closing the distance. He pinned him between cold concrete and heat. His thigh slid between Ryon's legs, forcing him still.
— You're mine, — Jisong hissed. It was the loudest confession either of them had ever made.
Ryon shuddered — and Jisong crashed his mouth against his.Not gentle — but claiming, hungry, absolute. His lips were hot and demanding, crushing against Ryon's, stealing air and thought. He pressed harder, feeling his own erection strain against the fabric, pressing into Ryon's thigh through the thick jumpsuits.
Ryon didn't resist.He opened to him immediately — his mouth soft, yielding, answering the raw dominance with breathless acceptance. His arms wrapped around Jisong's back, clutching him closer, trying to absorb that impossible heat into his own shaking body.
Jisong tore his mouth away, breathing hard, his face buried against Ryon's neck.He didn't bite. Instead, his hot tongue grazed the thin, throbbing vein just beneath the skin — leaving behind a burning, wet trace.It wasn't a wound, but a mark. A claim.
— You're with me, Ryon. Their Protocol 0 is void, — Jisong growled into his neck.
Ryon didn't answer. His body trembled — with desire, with surrender, with the raw realization of being wanted.
"Abnormal scent synchronization detected. Territorial imprint confirmed," Min-Ki's voice noted coldly in the sensors, detached as a machine logging emotion it could never feel.
Jisong pulled back abruptly. His breathing was steady again, but his eyes burned black with purpose.— We run. Five minutes — then the system locks on both of us.
Ryon nodded. He was trembling, marked, and completely free.For the first time, he wasn't a code — he was something alive, claimed by another.
And that belonging — that forbidden bond — was his salvation.