Page 43 of Designation Prey

“I’ve taken a suppressing shot. I think I’m close to rut,” he confesses, sounding ashamed.

“Oh.”

Liam’s voice is hard. “We are here for you. This is your shelter. I know what I’m doing, and I can take care of you properly. I can manage my response to you,” he says, which is not what Daniel was worried about.

“Okay,” Daniel whispers. He doesn’t want to imply his Dominant won’t take care of him properly. He knows Liam will. He’s certain of that. “I mean, I wish you wouldn’t ‘manage your response to me,’ but I’m sure you can.”

That gets him a heated look. Liam moves to the fridge, comes back again after getting nothing, and stares at the cutting board for a moment. He shakes his head. “Look, it’s not easy at the moment, but I’ll be better in an hour. Why don’t you go back to your nest and I’ll call you when it’s time for dinner?”

“What if I don’t want to go?” Daniel asks and moves over a step so he can see past the counter to the large bulge tenting Liam’s sweats. Why doesn’t he just breed Daniel? He clearly wants to. Especially if he’s feeling close to rut.

Liam cuts him a sharp look. “I’d like for you to go to your nest, Daniel.”

Oh. His voice is firm. Overly calm. What exactly might Liam do to him if he says no?

“Maybe you should ask me what I want,” Daniel says, leaning against the counter.

Liam huffs in amusement. “Absolutely not. You have no idea what you want. It would be wildly unprofessional for me—your Dominant who you desperately want to please, and who is edging towards rut because of your sweet ass—to ask what you want me to do.” He shakes his head. “Go to your nest, Daniel. I need an hour.”

That pisses Daniel off. Hell, that’s just as invalidating and mean as what his father and doctors have said to him for years.

Daniel’s eyes fill with tears. So much emotion and grief wells up within him that it makes it easy to speak up for once. “I’m yours. I’m here to be yours. You know you’re the only Dominant I’ll ever get to have, that I want everything with you while I can have it. Why would you deny us this? I thought… I thought you wanted me?”

But obviously he doesn’t if he can shut Daniel out and deny them both. Close to rut and able to say no, able to choose suppressants when Daniel is constantly wet and eager to be used.

It’s awful.

“Daniel, that isn’t what this is.”

“Bullshit. Why did you give me a nest? Are you gonna take my nest away?” he asks, and he’s sick at the thought of it, swallowing down bile. “Is this real or not?” Realization dawns. “It was because of the rut. You don’t mean it. I’m not special,” he says, wishing he’d never met Liam at all. It turns out this is the worst thing that could have ever happened to him. “You gave me the nest to have space from me. To buy yourself time—” His heart is breaking.

“No! That is not true,” he snaps.

Daniel whimpers and turns to run. Out the door, into the woods, anywhere. He doesn’t care where he goes, or where he winds up, but the urge to flee is overwhelming.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Liam growls, his voice as heavy as death. “Do not run. Do not even think about having me chase you down. If you care for me, at all, you will not do that to us.”

“I—I need to run,” Daniel whispers. “If I go, you’ll chase me or you won’t. But I’ll know.”

“No,” he commands, so much dominance and power in his voice that Daniel wants to drop to the floor, press his face to the ground at his Dominant’s feet.

Liam won’t chase him down. It’s the ultimate test for prey, how Daniel is meant to be claimed and taken, and his Daddy is telling him no. Daniel has never wanted to cry or scream more. His lower lip wobbles and he can’t even meet Liam’s gaze. His voice is weak. “Is it my nest or not, Daddy?”

“That is yours, Daniel. I swear. Only yours. And…” He exhales slowly. “Your nest will be here for as long as you want it. You have a place and a retreat and a Dominant whenever you want. I have never brought another submissive here. I’ve never wanted to.”

“What good does that do me if I’m here for a few days and then gone forever?” Daniel yells. “And you’re going to go be with some other submissive in need! Don’t lie to me. Don’t pretend like you’re mine, like you’re giving me a home and a nest when you’re not!” He gasps in misery. “You won’t even chase me.”

Liam flinches. His hand clenches on Daniel’s and then relaxes. “I’m sorry,”he says.

Which is worse. This is almost over. He will never have this man again. Is this really how Daniel wants this to go?

“I don’t mean it. I want it. I want you. I want all of it until the moment my asshole father sends someone to come get me. I’m sorry I asked you to—I’m sorry,” Daniel says, finding it too painful to even say the word “chase” again. Not when he can’t have it. When Liam has told him no.

He shivers, suddenly cold. Wanting. “Fuck. I’m dropping,” he says. His chin juts up. Rejection is burning through him like acid. Daniel calls upon all of his hard-learned stamina and stands his ground for as long as he can.

“I want you, Daniel. I swear I do. I can give you something else. I want—” Liam cuts himself off, closing his eyes. “Yes, you’re dropping. I can feel it. You need… let’s go to bed.”

“Tell me what you’d do to me, then. What you’re resisting. Give mesomething,” Daniel begs.

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