The Rogue Brother's Claimed Omega

Aiden Clark is a low-ranking sailor aboard the Black Moon. He has spent years watching Ethan Iverson, the fleet heir, from a distance. Years ago, Ethan pulled him from the sea, and that rescue fixed Aiden's dream: to stand beside Ethan, bound by a sea oath.

On his eighteenth birthday, Aiden's tide mark finally appears. He follows the glow straight to Ethan and asks for the oath. Ethan refuses without hesitation. He calls Aiden too low-ranking, too frail, a burden. The rejection lands hard, and Aiden collapses.

Ryan Iverson, Ethan's older brother, has returned after ten years with three warships and a black flag. He hears what Ethan did. He goes to Ethan and lays out the cost: a rejected mark burns out, and the sailor is shunned for life. Then Ryan makes his own position clear. "Then let me have him." It is not a rescue. It is a claim.

Aiden wakes with the mark gone. He hides it from his father and friends, afraid the fleet will fall apart if the rejection becomes known. He turns to Riley, who tells him the mark is not truly gone, only unable to appear. Only strong pirates survive rejection. A tide mark does not bind to just one soul. The first face it shows is not always the one meant to stay.

Ryan stays close. Aiden's friends Teresa warn him to keep away, but Ryan does not bend to warnings. Aiden is caught between Ethan's cold refusal and Ryan's rough pursuit.

That pull is where Aiden gets stuck. Ethan rejected him. Ryan wants him. The mark that led him to Ethan may not be done with him.