I grind back once more, deliberately, a long drag of pressure that pulls a curse from his throat.
His forehead drops to my shoulder. His grip on my waist tightens. His body shudders against mine.
“Don’t—” he breathes. “I— gods, Kaia, I can’t—”
He’s awake now. Barely. Fighting himself.
I should stop.
“Please…” he whispers, like he’s begging me to stop or begging me not to — he doesn’t even know.
Neither do I.
But I know what I want.
Chapter 33
Darian
“Please…”
The word escapes before I can stop it. Before I’m even fully awake.
But I’m awake now.
Consciousness crashes through me like cold water — and with it, the horrifying awareness of exactly what’s happening.
Kaia is pressed against me. My arm is around her waist. My hand is sliding up her stomach like it has any right to be there. And I’m hard against her, grinding into her like a man who’s forgotten every reason this is wrong.
The arena. My corrupted magic. Thorne’s voice in my head, telling me exactly how to break her—
I freeze.
Every muscle locks. My hand stops moving. My hips go still despite the ache, the need, the desperate want clawing at my chest.
Don’t hurt her. Don’t scare her. Don’t be what he made you.
“Darian.” Her voice is rough with sleep. With want. “Don’t stop.”
My heart slams against my ribs.
“Kaia, I—” The words come out fractured. “I can’t. I shouldn’t. The bond between us is— it’s not real, it’s not—”
“It feels real.”
She shifts against me, her ass grinding back against my cock, and the movement drags a sound from my throat I can’t control.
“That’s the corruption,” I manage. “That’s Thorne’s magic making you think—”
“No.” She twists in my arms. Faces me. Her violet eyes are dark in the firelight, pupils blown wide. “That was Thorne’s magic. This is me.”
I stare at her.
She’s so close. Close enough that her breath mingles with mine. Close enough that I can feel the heat radiating off her skin.
“I’ve been thinking about this for days,” she whispers. “About being touched. About wanting. And I kept telling myself it was just— Finn and Malrik got under my skin, and I couldn’t stop replaying it, and—” She stops. Swallows. “But it’s not just them. It’s you too. It’s been you for longer than I wanted to admit.”
Something cracks in my chest.
