Sometimes the creature within craved to be chained.
Anchored.
Yearned to be dominated, stripped bare, and held in place until the noise in my skull quieted. Until the fire that ate at my insides burned low enough to see clearly again.
Because only here, underhercontrol, could I stop pacing the battlefield in my head.
Only here could I breathe without thinking of blood.
Exist without ordering death.
However. . .I knew that if some of my men saw this. . .they would fear that Nyomi might have absolute control over the Dragon.
And they would be right.
I just hoped she never fully understood that very fact.
But today. . .in this water. . .I knew. . .
Trust like this was rarer than loyalty in my world. Men swore oaths, but oaths could be broken. Gangs pledged allegiance, but they scattered when the wind turned red from blood.
Trust—real trust—was different.
Currently, I was surrendering my body to her hands and trusting that she would not let me drown.
She would never.
Even bound, even with my chin a breath from the surface, I felt the tether of her watching me. She was my anchor and my air. My pulse beat steady not because I was calm, but because she was near.
Our bond. . .it’s becoming stronger. . .already it’s sharper than any katana.
If she asked me to die for her, I would place my head in her hands to cut it off.
If she asked me to set the world on fire for her, I would burn my own body for kindling.
No other woman could have me now. My heart, mind, cock, and soul were all locked in her hands, and the key shattered to dust.
High as a fucking kite even though I had not taken any substances, I whispered to the rippling water, “Nyomi. . .I love you. . .”
Through the shimmer of the water and the blur of my vision, movement shifted above me. Then she was there—my Tiger—stepping into my narrowed world like she’d been painted into it.
I blinked.
There you go, Tora.
Her face came into focus first. God, she was beautiful. Too beautiful for the state I was in. I felt the corners of my mouth lift before I even realized I was smiling—slow, stupid, worshipful.
She chuckled, and it came out muffled with my ears in the water.
Yeah. . .I must look insane to her.
Her hand came to the back of my head. Her fingers were gentle. Slowly, she lifted my head, coaxing me upward until the water slipped from my ears and her voice could reach me again. “How do you feel?”
“Right now. . .I would fail every drug test in this world.”
She chuckled, low and knowing. “You feel high?”
“Feel high? No, Tora. Iamhigh. The very definition of it.”
