Contract Marriage: Married to My Ex-Husband's Alpha Stepfather [BL]

Chapter 186: It’s Dangerous ’Cause I Want It All

[SERGEI]

The door closed behind him, and she should have gone to bed. It was only rational after all that should happen today. But Sergei couldn’t.

He had to know.

He had to be sure.

So, he opened the false door in his bedroom wall, one that led to his surveillance system. It was way different than the feed transmitting in his office inside the penthouse.

This was Katya-focused, but it also had something else. Something that could scab for any and all threats.

What Irina had said wasn’t what he would take lightly. Sergei knew it was just a matter of time anyway. After all, it had been a long time coming in his world.

Then he saw Katya...

Not in the senator’s house, no.

In the penthouse he’d relocated him to.

And suddenly, all the worries he had faded.

Sergei had not stopped stalking Katya. He didn’t even call it stalking anymore. He called it being in the know about what happened with his omega.

It was just what he looked at it as, because he was keeping his promise to Katya. Watching over the omega. Making sure he was safe even when things were just so simple.

"He looks so pretty even now," Sergei said as he watched Katya undo the bun his hair had been in today.

He looked so composed. So relaxed. So safe, and gods, Sergei loved watching him. This was the only reason he’d stuck to this particular penthouse because he could watch his omega without having to be so far.

And that was how Sergei spent a good portion of the night watching Katya put on his sweater and curl up on the couch with a book in his hands. At some point in the night, the book fell to the floor, the shoal covering Katya slipping down to the floor.

The alpha didn’t wait to see what was next.

He grabbed his bike keys and left the penthouse.

Katya needed him.

At one o’clock in the morning...

Right?

Maybe he would think about it later. But until then, Sergei was not going to wait.

And he didn’t.

"Sir... Is there a problem?" Anton asked when he saw Sergei at the penthouse entrance. It was crazy how far Sergei had come just to see Katya.

He needed his omega.

He needed to see him up close. Without prying eyes. Without having to think about what it would look like to the general public. Maybe it was his warped mentality, but Sergei couldn’t think without Katya.

"None. Open it," Sergi said.

Anton didn’t need to be told twice.

Sergei was his boss at the end of the day anyway.

Katya’s penthouse was warmer than Sergei’s by far; the familiar citrus scent was like the best breath of fresh air after so many weeks of suffocation. It was the first thing that Sergei noticed.

This place felt like home. Like a place people would want to come back to after a long day. It was the reminder of what Sergei was fighting for.

His Solnyshka’s peace and happiness.

Katya was sleeping on the couch, just as Sergei should sense him before. He looked so beautiful. So delicate

So worthy of wars. He looked perfect.

And Sergei knew he didn’t belong here. He should have stayed back at his own penthouse.

But he’d craved Katya’s citrus scent for months.

He had told himself it was only rational for Katya to mask his scent as per the regulations. And gods, Sergei knew it was the rule that he had set back when he had started Moskowsky. It was to make working easier for his employees.

But now...

The penthouse reeked of citrus.

And Katya... He was drenched in it.

Sergei walked carefully to the couch where Katya was sleeping. He didn’t want to wake him up and ruin his sleep.

"Oh, Moy lyubimy... You worked so hard today, my precious Solnyshka," Sergei breathed desperately, subconsciously referring to Katya as his love. He had only ever called Vitya his lyubimy.

His Vitya.

Yet here he was on his knees, watching Katya sleep like a creep while declaring his love in an unhinged way.

Could he be blamed, though?

Especially when Katya’s scent gland was right there, bare, open, and unmarked?

After the divorce, the mating mark that Yaroslav had given Katya when they were bonded started fading. And Sergei made sure to check it a few times on his son.

It was easier to check on Yaro anyway, because Yaro would think too much of his father hugging him. It was one of their love languages as father and son, anyway.

But seeing the mark gone from Katya’s neck, seeing the skin so tender, so unclaimed, had Sergei nearly feral. The thought of Alek someday being the one to make Katya because Sergei was too much of a coward pissed him off so badly.

And fuck, if Sergei didn’t want a taste.

He needed to taste him.

Just a hit.

Katya wouldn’t know.

Oh, it would be so easy.

But as tempting as that sounded, Sergei respected his omega enough to understand consent more than anything. He would never try shit with Katya that the omega didn’t want.

Even if Katya was so unconscious and smelled so good without an alpha in the penthouse.

Sergei was a monster, sure.

But he wasn’t his Solnyshka monster.

He never was.

And he wasn’t planning on being one tonight.

So, he released his calming rainforest pheromones, so Katya would stay asleep just for a little longer. He could leave Katya on the couch. It was only rational that he tucked him in.

Sergei grabbed the book from the floor and put it on the table. He was about to turn to carry Katya when he noticed the title.

How to make a sad person you care about happy.

Sergei froze.

He knew it wasn’t right to snoop. He shouldn’t have. But damn, the urge was so strong. He was curious about the book his Solnyshka had been reading.

Sometimes all a sad person needs is a friend who understands them. You don’t need to be able to fix everything in their lives; just being there is enough.

That part has been highlighted on the seventeenth page.

And written in pencil was something Sergei was not sure he would ever have read anywhere.

Breakups suck, but he doesn’t look like the type to eat chocolates or go on ice cream friendship dates.

Maybe win tenders for him?

As if that wasn’t enough, there was a new note written in a green pen.

Update... He smiled a little today.

Sergei held his breath, like he was terrified his breath would wake Katya up.

He read those lines again. And again.

He convinced himself this was not about him.

It couldn’t be.

It was just impossible.

It was already bad enough that he had come to Katya’s penthouse at one o’clock; now he was being delusional, too. Maybe the writings just matched his unfortunate day today. That was all it was.

Coincidence.

So, Sergei moved to shift the book.

And the pen fell to the carpet, so silently that Sergei was not sure he was supposed to know that.

"Get a grip, Sergei," the alpha mumbled as he put the pen inside the book and carried Katya to his bedroom.

Meanwhile, down the hallway, a shadow watched as if this were the confirmation of something else altogether.

Would it matter, though?