KNOT.

Chapter 6 - Fate.

The engine died in front of the house almost at the same moment Nakhun stepped out of the car. He did not waste so much as a second looking around. Ever since Sila had reported Phatsa's condition, it had felt as though something inside his chest had been clenched tight the entire drive over. His body had already been restless, already too full of a discomfort he could not ease, and knowing Phatsa was truly getting worse had stripped away what little patience he had left.

 

Nakhin was out of the car almost immediately after him.

 

"Brother, calm down first."

 

But Nakhun did not answer. He strode straight into the house with a speed too fierce to be called an ordinary walk. It was the pace of a man with only one thing left in his mind, and no intention of stopping for anyone foolish enough to stand in his way. 

 

Sila, who had arrived first, stepped aside at once. Inside the bedroom, Ongsa had only just lifted his head from where he sat beside Phatsa when he realised, far too late, how quickly the others had come. A split second later-

 

Bang.

The bedroom door was kicked open so hard that it smashed into the wall. The wood around the frame cracked on impact. The force of it was enough to shake the whole room. Ongsa flinched and turned sharply toward the sound.

 

Nakhun stood there. His dark eyes were blacker than usual, his face so still it seemed stripped of almost everything recognisably human in that moment. He no longer looked like the eldest son of a great house, nor like the man everyone knew for his perfect self-control. He looked more like a predator that had finally found its mate. Ongsa froze for only a beat. But for Phatsa, lying unconscious on the bed, the scent that flooded into the room was enough.

 

The weak, unresponsive body from before suddenly stirred, as though some buried instinct had jolted awake. He had not even properly opened his eyes, and yet he moved automatically toward the source of that scent.

 

"Phatsa"

 

Ongsa barely got his name out in time. But Nakhun was already there first. He reached him in an instant, strong arms catching him before he could slip from the edge of the bed. Phatsa folded into him immediately, like someone who had finally found the one thing he had been missing. His burning face pressed against Nakhun's chest, his breath coming hard and uneven, as though every part of him had been aching for this. The sight nearly stopped Ongsa's heart. But his shock lasted only a moment before it was overtaken by the fierce instinct to protect his younger brother. 

 

He sprang up and grabbed Phatsa's wrist at once. "Let him go!"

 

That was all Ongsa was thinking at that moment, that he could not let someone this dangerous take Phatsa away so easily. But the instant he reached them, Nakhun lifted his head. And something in the room changed. It was not just the look in his eyes. Not just anger. It was a pressure so heavy it almost felt physical.

 

Ongsa faltered. He was a beta. He was not sensitive to pheromones the way alphas and omegas were. And yet even he could feel, with chilling clarity, that the man before him was radiating something vast and terrible without meaning to or perhaps no longer caring to hide it.

 

It was heavy. Cold. Terrifying enough that Ongsa's body reacted before his mind could. His hand began to shake. His knees weakened. His breath caught, as though unseen fingers had closed around his throat. This kind of fear was something he had never known before. Not ordinary fear. Something deeper, something primal, merciless, pressing down from the raw instinct of a stronger creature upon a weaker one. And still Ongsa tried not to let go, even though his whole body trembled.

 

"Don't take him."

 

His voice had dropped without his realising it. Nakhun frowned at once, looking ready to pull Phatsa away anyway, if not for another voice cutting in just then.

 

"Brother Nakhun!"

 

Nakhin arrived at exactly the right moment. One look at the scene in front of him was enough for him to understand that if he let this continue for even a few seconds longer, something far worse would happen.

 

"Calm down first. Don't hurt his friend."

 

The words his friend made Nakhun go still for the briefest instant. Not much, but enough for the pressure crushing the room to ease by a fraction. Ongsa managed a full breath again, though his body still shook. Nakhun looked at him one moment longer before turning his gaze back to Phatsa, who still clung to him and would not let go. Phatsa's body made it painfully clear who it was calling for, and the answer was no one else.

 

In the end, Nakhun did not waste another second. He scooped Phatsa up into his arms with absolute certainty, as though afraid that if he were even a moment slower, it would already be too late. Then he turned and walked out of the room without looking back.

Even in his arms, Phatsa still leaned weakly into that scent, like someone who, though unconscious, still knew exactly where he belonged. Ongsa could only stare after them Until Nakhun was truly gone, and then it felt as though all the strength in Ongsa's body was ripped away at once. He collapsed to the floor almost immediately, trembling violently, both hands ice-cold, his heart hammering so hard it felt as though the pressure from a moment ago had never fully left him. He had never experienced anything like that before and had never known that, rooted in instinct, could be so terrible.

 

 

Tears spilt down his face before he even realised it. From fear. From shock. And from the fact that Phatsa had really been taken away. Nakhin, still in the room, saw his expression change at once. He came over immediately and dropped down beside him, pulling Ongsa into a loose, careful embrace almost without thinking

 

"It's all right now."

 

But Ongsa would not stop shaking. He buried his face against Nakhin's shoulder, breathing in quick, broken breaths, until little by little his senses began to return. And the moment they did, reality crashed into him all over again. Phatsa was gone. Ongsa pulled back at once.

 

"Phatsa!"

 

He tried to get up, but Nakhin caught his arm.

 

"Calm down first."

 

"How am I supposed to calm down?" Ongsa snapped, his voice still trembling with fear and anger. "He took Phatsa!"

 

"Your friend will be safe."

 

"I don't believe you!"

 

He shot the words back immediately. His face was full of real panic now. He shoved Nakhin hard once, like someone who no longer knew where else to throw all the fear burning through him.

 

"How am I supposed to trust someone that frightening?"

 

Nakhin staggered half a step, but still did not let him run after them. He reached for him again, intending to hold him back, but Ongsa, badly shaken and no longer thinking clearly, reacted by striking him almost at once. Not hard enough to truly hurt him. But more than hard enough to say he was genuinely breaking apart.

 

"Let go!"

 

His slender hand came down against Nakhin's shoulder again, and again, wild with fear and fury. Nakhin tried to catch both wrists, but the more he held him, the more Ongsa fought, as though every feeling inside him had exploded at once and he no longer knew how to contain any of it.

 

"Listen to me first"

 

"No!"

 

Ongsa shouted back through tears, and his fist hit Nakhin's chest once more. Nakhin drew in a deep breath like a man who had run out of options. And then, in the next instant, he lifted both hands to cradle Ongsa's face and kissed him. Ongsa froze. It was not a violent kiss. Not deep. But it was swift enough, clear enough, to make everything stop at once.

 

As though the chaos, the tears, even the fists that had been striking him only moments before, had all been severed in a single stroke. Ongsa's eyes widened. His whole body went rigid and still, until Nakhin slowly drew back and looked directly at him.

 

"Stop first."

 

His voice was lower than usual now, stripped of every trace of his normal teasing ease.

 

"Phatsa isn't going to die."

 

"If my brother came for him himself like that, then he won't let anything happen to your friend. Not a chance."

 

Ongsa still looked stunned, tears trembling in his eyes, his face pale from fear and shock. But because of the kiss, because of the sheer force of that moment, he had truly stopped struggling. Nakhin slowly let his hands fall from Ongsa's face. 

 

The room fell silent once more. Nothing remained except ragged breathing, racing heartbeats, and the truth neither of them dared say aloud. Everything had already gone far beyond the point of control.

 

Nakhun had Phatsa back in his room almost at once. The door closed softly behind them, but the silence inside did nothing to calm the storm between them. If anything, it only sharpened the sound of Phatsa's uneven breathing in his arms. He was still only half-conscious, his eyes dazed, his cheeks flushed an alarming red, his breath so hot it felt as though it might scorch the skin of the man holding him.

 

The moment Nakhun lay him down on the bed, Phatsa reached for him automatically. Slender hands clutched at him with surprising strength. His whole body moved closer. His burning face pressed into Nakhun's broad chest as though terrified he might vanish if given even the slightest chance. Nakhun went still. Phatsa's rain scent was no longer what it had been before. It had grown sweeter, warmer, more dangerously coaxing-so subtly that even a man who had always kept perfect command over his instincts could feel the last threads of his patience being burned away.

 

"Look at me first."

 

His voice came out low, every word pressed down beneath breath he no longer fully controlled. But Phatsa would not look. He kept nuzzling close, his forehead rubbing lightly against Nakhun's chest as though he were trying to ease himself into the comfort of the very scent he had been craving all this time. 

Those lips that were usually so quick to argue now remained only slightly parted, his breath brushing in soft, broken waves against the centre of Nakhun's chest, until Nakhun had to shut his eyes hard for one brief moment. He was very nearly out of restraint. And yet even then, he still forced himself to hold back.

 

Nakhun took him gently by the shoulders and eased him away just enough to see his face.

 

"Listen to me."

 

The eyes on the bed slowly lifted to his, still hazy, still swimming with heat, confusion, and a need Phatsa himself likely did not yet understand. 

 

"You.."

 

The word came out hoarse and fragile enough to undo a stronger man than him. Nakhun drew in a deep breath and spoke slowly, as if soothing someone caught in a fevered dream.

 

"I'm here."

 

"You're safe now."

 

"Calm down first."

 

Phatsa frowned slightly, as though trying to follow the meaning of those words. But the instant Nakhun shifted as though he might move even a little farther away, Phatsa followed immediately, his grip tightening.

 

"No..." Nakhun stopped.

 

Phatsa's mouth trembled. On that flushed, fever-warm face, there was something heartbreakingly close to hurt as though the smallest distance between them was already enough to make his whole world collapse. Phatsa's mouth trembled. On that flushed, fever-warm face, there was something heartbreakingly close to hurt, as though the smallest distance between them was already enough to make his whole world collapse.

 

"Don't go.."

 

The words were barely more than breath. And yet they struck harder than anything else that night. Nakhun looked at him and knew, with miserable clarity, that he was being pulled under inch by inch by the man in front of him without a single ounce of force. He tried to stay steady. He tried not to give in. He tried to keep Phatsa conscious, calm, and certain. But the more he resisted, the more Phatsa's face began to crumple, until his eyes had gone red enough to suggest he might truly start crying if pushed any further.

 

And that, more than anything else, undid him. Nakhun let out a long breath and lifted a hand to smooth the damp, soft hair back from Phatsa's forehead.

 

"All right."

 

His voice had dropped to something close to a whisper. "I'm not going anywhere."

 

Phatsa quieted a little, though he still did not let go. So Nakhun bent closer, until their foreheads nearly touched, and spoke with deliberate softness, each word shaped as though he wanted it to settle somewhere deep inside the other man.

 

"But if you keep clinging to me like this... I can't guarantee your safety."

 

As if the warning only invited worse, the contrary little creature in front of him did not look frightened in the slightest. Instead, those misty eyes lifted in helpless appeal, almost spoiled in their insistence. Slim fingers trailed over Nakhun's face, down the line of his mouth, the same mouth they had already kissed before. And the mere thought of those lips again was enough to make me want to burn through Nakhun so sharply it hurt.

 

"Why won't you kiss me?"

 

The question came out soft and slightly irritated, as if Phatsa were genuinely unhappy about being denied. His fingertips nudged at Nakhun's lips with thoughtless entitlement. Nakhun's restraint nearly snapped.

 

"You want me to kiss you?"

 

"And you don't want to?"

 

His heart turned to water. Just that faint, wavering note in Phatsa's voice, as though he were on the verge of tears, was enough to rob Nakhun of nearly every coherent thought he had left. Those full lips, still being toyed with by impatient fingers, pressed a kiss against the offending hand first. Then another. Slow enough to make heat rise sharply into Phatsa's face. And before either of them could say more, Nakhun kissed him properly. Not because he had surrendered gracefully. Not because he had meant to. But then, wanting had already become unbearable. 

 

Phatsa's lips were soft, small, far sweeter than they had any right to be. Nakhun had never in his life kissed anyone like this, like the act itself might drive his heart mad. The more he kissed him, the more impossible it became to stop. Heat, breath, the delicate answering movements of the man beneath him, everything blurred together until the world narrowed to nothing but the taste of him. 

 

The kiss deepened. Then deepened again. What Phatsa lacked in practised skill, he made up for in pure, devastating instinct. It was almost worse that way. Worse than that, he met Nakhun with such an open, unguarded response. Worse than all of it was wrapped in that rain-rich scent until the kiss seemed to sink straight through the body and into the heart.

 

And then the ache inside Phatsa surged again. He went tense with it, a small sound catching in his throat. Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes as the restless need overtook him once more, leaving him trembling and lost in his own body. Whatever instinct drove him now was stronger than embarrassment, stronger than pride. He caught Nakhun's hand with shaking fingers and drew it toward himself with shy, desperate insistence. Nakhun understood immediately. But even then, some part of him still lingered and still wanted to watch that sweet, impossible expression on Phatsa's face a moment longer.

 

"Does it hurt here?"

 

His hand touched him with maddening care, and Phatsa flinched at once. The reaction was innocent, desperate, painfully honest. Nakhun's own control suffered as a result.

 

"Please...

 

The plea came softer than before, almost broken. Phatsa was too far gone to understand the shape of what he was asking for now. He only knew he needed relief. Needed the torment in his body to stop. Needed the man in front of him to do something, anything that would make it bearable. And Nakhun, who had never lowered himself for anyone, found that all his rules had become useless.

 

He soothed him as gently as he could, taking his time, using patience where his body wanted urgency, using care where instinct demanded far more. Even then, Phatsa responded with such aching sweetness that it nearly drove him mad. Every small sound, every broken breath, every helpless movement only made it worse. To Nakhun, who had first thought Phatsa carried the feel of an alpha, the truth before him now was almost unbearable: there was nothing in the world more devastating than the way this man could be innocently unguarded and impossibly alluring at the same time. 

 

When the ache returned, Phatsa clung harder. His voice had gone soft and blurred. His whole body sought closeness now, not just comfort, not just scent, but something deeper, more final. Something that would completely quiet the storm. Nakhun knew what it meant. And he also knew what it would change. If he gave in fully, there would be no more pretending that this was temporary, no more distance left between them. The bond would become complete in every possible sense. Still, Phatsa looked at him like someone drowning. And that look was the end of everything.

 

"Don't be upset over what happened."

 

Nakhun's voice was low and steady now, though every muscle in him was drawn taut.

 

"I'll take responsibility."

 

He paused, then repeated it with even greater certainty.

 

"I won't leave you alone like this again."

 

Phatsa blinked slowly, as though his drifting mind were catching hold of the words one by one. He did not understand everything. He still did not even know who this man was. And yet somehow that voice alone was enough to make him believe, at least halfway. 

 

At last, Phatsa folded into him again. This time, he was less frantic. Less desperate. As if he only wanted to stay close. To be held. To make sure that the scent would not disappear again. Nakhun closed his eyes and gathered him carefully into his arms. His own body still burned. His instincts still clamoured mercilessly. And yet in that moment, he knew more clearly than ever that the first thing he had to do was not surrender to desire but make sure the man in his arms no longer had any reason to be afraid. That he would not be abandoned. That he would not be left to face this alone. And that whatever had begun between them, the one who had marked him would bear the weight of it.

 

When Nakhun finally drew him close enough to erase every last inch of distance between them, Phatsa held on so tightly that Nakhun had to grit his teeth. It was more than a pleasure. Far more. Warmth, softness, heat, everything about the man in his arms felt at once innocent and devastating, and Nakhun found himself wondering what on earth Phatsa truly was, to be able to seem so untouched and yet undo him so completely.

 

Their rhythm found them by instinct more than thought. Phatsa's voice grew sweeter with each broken breath, each helpless sound more intoxicating than the last. And every time Nakhun drove deep enough to strike the place that made him shiver, the sound torn from him was enough to make the heart lurch. The room, the night, the world beyond the bed, everything else vanished. What remained was heat, breath, trembling hands, and the unbearable intimacy of two people being pulled into one fate with no strength left to resist it.

 

When the end finally came, it came like a wave that neither of them could have stopped even if they had wanted to. Nakhun held him through it, jaw tight, every muscle strained. Phatsa clung to him just as fiercely, shaking with the force of what overtook them both. And in that final moment, when body and instinct and longing all broke at once, the bond between them settled into place completely.

The work of fate was done.