Xavier had been laying it on thick, and Zane... well, Zane wasn’t exactly brushing him off. The beta leaned a little closer with every laugh, every shared look, emboldened by the omega’s easy charm and the flush on his cheeks. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind Zane’s ear like he had every right to, his voice low as he murmured something about going somewhere quieter. His hand brushed along Zane’s forearm, casual, testing, and Xavier swore he saw a flicker of interest in the other’s eyes. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Before Zane could answer, a shift in the atmosphere made his skin prickle. Alpha scent — sharp, electric— cut through the air like lightning, and Zane turned just in time to see Noah stepping between them. His breath caught, his eyes widening as everything around them seemed to quiet, shrink, focus. And then it hit. Noah’s mouth on his, all heat and tension and want. Zane’s fingers curled instinctively into the front of Noah’s shirt, a soft, stunned noise catching in his throat as the world tilted beneath him. It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t shy. It was four years of restraint breaking all at once, and Zane, he didn’t pull away. He kissed him back like he’d been waiting forever.
Xavier blinked, taking a step back as if the contact had physically shoved him. “Damn,” he muttered under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly before turning to slip away. No use trying to compete with that. Zane finally broke the kiss, chest rising and falling like he’d just surfaced from underwater. His lips were kiss-bitten, parted, and his eyes half-lidded and dazed, didn’t leave Noah’s for even a second. He stared at him like he was trying to process what the hell just happened, fingers still curled in the alpha’s shirt. “Damn,” he whispered, but his voice was rougher, quieter. Like he hadn’t just been kissed, but claimed. "Care to uh... Tell me what that was about, Noah?"