The hallway smelled like blood, gunpowder, and the expensive cologne Ji-woon still somehow wore under all the chaos.
Moon Ho-cheol was on his knees now, Ji-woon's hand fisted in his hair, the barrel of a guard's gun pressed to the old bastard's temple. Kang-woo stood two steps away, chest heaving, Ji-woon's oversized shirt hanging off one shoulder and soaked with someone else's blood.
"Talk," Ji-woon said, voice low and deadly. "Everything. Or I paint the marble with your brains and then go find every man you ever loved."
Moon laughed once, wet and ugly, blood dripping from his split lip. "You really don't know? Your perfect little Omega used to work for me. Choi Kang-woo. Mad Dog. Beta trash who collected debts with a smile and a broken bottle. He drowned trying to save some suicidal rich kid and woke up in Han Seung-ho's body. DNA doesn't lie. Hospital records don't lie. I've got both."
Kang-woo waited for the disgust. The rejection. The moment Ji-woon would shove him away like the street rat he really was.
It never came.
Ji-woon's eyes flicked to him for half a second—dark, burning, completely fucking gone. Then he looked back at Moon.
"I know who he is," Ji-woon said. Calm. Final. "And I don't care."
He pulled the trigger.
The gunshot was deafening in the marble hall. Moon dropped like a sack of meat. His crew screamed and tried to run, but the guards were already on them.
Kang-woo stared at the body, ears ringing. "You… you just—"
Ji-woon turned, grabbed him by the front of the shirt, and dragged him down the hall like he weighed nothing. They didn't make it to the bedroom. The first empty guest room was close enough. Ji-woon kicked the door open, slammed it behind them, and shoved Kang-woo face-first against the wall.
"You think I give a fuck about your old name?" he growled against Kang-woo's ear, yanking the shirt up and shoving his pants down in one rough motion. "You think I'd throw away the only person who's ever fought for me like you do?"
Two fingers pushed inside him without warning. Kang-woo moaned, slick already flooding, body opening up like it had been waiting for this exact second.
"Fuck—Ji-woon—"
"Mine," Ji-woon snarled, adding a third finger, stretching him wide and filthy. "Not Seung-ho's. Not the congressman's son. Mine. Choi Kang-woo. Mad Dog. Whoever the fuck you want to be. As long as you're under me. As long as you're taking my knot."
He pulled his fingers out, replaced them with his cock in one brutal thrust. Kang-woo's forehead hit the wall, a broken cry tearing out of him as Ji-woon fucked in deep and hard, hips snapping like he was trying to climb inside his body and stay there.
Every thrust punched the air out of Kang-woo's lungs. The angle was perfect, dragging against that spot that made his vision spark white. Ji-woon's hand wrapped around his throat from behind, not squeezing, just holding, thumb pressed over the old claiming bite like a reminder.
"Say it," Ji-woon demanded, voice wrecked. "Say you're mine."
"Yours—fuck—yours, you insane possessive bastard—"
The knot started swelling fast. Kang-woo felt it push against his rim, huge and hot, stretching him wider than he thought he could take. He came untouched, hole clenching hard, come splattering the wall while Ji-woon kept fucking him through it.
When the knot popped inside, Kang-woo screamed.
The pressure was insane. The fullness made his legs shake so bad Ji-woon had to hold him up. Hot pulses of come flooded him, over and over, until he was leaking around the massive swell, dripping down his thighs.
Ji-woon ground the knot in slow, filthy circles, biting down on the back of Kang-woo's neck until it bled fresh.
"Mine," he kept repeating against the skin, voice raw. "No one takes you. Not Moon. Not my brother. Not your old life. You're staying right here. Knotted. Claimed. Mine."
Kang-woo came again just from the words, shaking apart, tears leaking down his face because it felt too good, too safe, too fucking real.
They stayed locked together for a long time, Ji-woon still buried deep, arms wrapped around him like steel. When the knot finally went down, Ji-woon didn't pull out. He just carried him to the bed, still connected, and laid them down without breaking the link.
Outside the room, guards were cleaning blood off the marble.
Inside, Ji-woon kissed the fresh bite on Kang-woo's neck and whispered against his skin.
"Whatever happens next… we face it together. No more running. No more hiding."
Kang-woo closed his eyes, body wrecked and full and terrifyingly happy.
But his phone was still buzzing on the floor where it had fallen.
A new message from an unknown number.
You killed my boss. Now the whole crew is coming. See you soon, Mad Dog.
The war wasn't over.
It had just grown teeth.