He traced the scars down my stomach. Found where they disappeared beneath the waistband of my pants. His fingers played at that edge, teasing, while his mouth worked against my neck.
"Please," I begged. "Zephyron, please—"
"Soon." His teeth scraped against my pulse point. "Be patient, little lightning."
But I couldn't be patient. My body was on fire. Every nerve ending screamed for more contact, more electricity, more of whatever this was that made me feel like I was going to shatter.
His hand slid lower. Over my pants. Cupping me through the fabric.
The pressure made me cry out. Made my hips buck against his palm seeking friction. Through the bond, I felt his satisfaction. His hunger. His restraint as he held himself back from taking more than he'd promised.
"Not inside," he murmured against my neck. "Not yet. But I can give you this."
His fingers moved. Found the seam of my pants. Pressed and rubbed with precision that suggested he knew exactly what he was doing, exactly how to work my body toward release even through layers of fabric.
The electricity jumped from his hand through my clothes directly to my most sensitive places. I gasped. Sobbed. My hands scrabbled for purchase against his shoulders, against the desk, against anything solid while sensation built impossibly higher.
"That's it." His voice was dark. Commanding. "Let me see you come apart. Let me watch you break for me."
His fingers worked faster. The pressure and electricity combining into something unbearable. My thighs tried to close but he was between them, holding me open, keeping me vulnerable while he systematically destroyed my control.
"Daddy," I sobbed. The word came out without conscious thought. "Daddy, please, I can't—"
"Yes, you can." His mouth found mine. Kissed me while his hand kept working. "You can take this. Can take everything I give you. Such a good girl. Such a perfect girl for Daddy."
The praise combined with sensation pushed me higher. I was climbing toward something, some peak I could sense but had never experienced. My entire body drew tight. The lightning scars blazed so bright they lit up the study.
"Come for me, little lightning." His command crashed through the bond. "Now."
I shattered.
Lightning exploded from my body. Blue-white arcs that jumped from my skin to the walls, to the ceiling, to every electrical fixture in the study. The overhead lights burst in sequence, glass raining down in glittering shards. Current raced through the building's circuits, probably causing chaos throughout the citadel but I couldn't care because I was coming apart, breaking open, pleasure so intense it bordered on agony crashing through my system in waves.
He held me through it. His hands grounding the wild electricity, channeling it safely away from my body before it could damage me. His mouth on mine, swallowing my screams. His presence through the bond wrapping around me like armor, keeping me tethered while I flew apart.
The orgasm seemed to last forever. Wave after wave of pleasure-electricity-release until I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't do anything except shake and sob and hold onto him while my body redefined what sensation meant.
When it finally crested and began to recede, I collapsed against his chest. Liquid. Spent. Sparking weakly with electricity I couldn't control.
"Good girl," he murmured. His hands stroked down my back, soothing now rather than inciting. "Such a good girl. You did beautifully. Took everything and came so perfectly for Daddy."
I couldn't respond. Could barely breathe. Just pressed against him, feeling his heart thunder beneath my cheek, feeling his arousal still hard against my stomach—evidence that he'd given me pleasure without taking his own.
"Soon, little lightning." His lips brushed against my hair. "Soon I'll give you everything. Complete the bond properly. Show you what it feels like when I'm inside you and the electricity flows both ways." His arms tightened around me. "But for now, you rest. Let me hold you. Let me take care of you while you recover from breaking half the lights in my study."
The bond pulsed between us. Not complete yet. Not fully sealed. But closer. Stronger.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow we'd finish this.
For now, I just let him hold me, surrounded by broken glass and the smell of ozone, completely safe in his arms.
Chapter 7
Itwasthebestsleep of my life.
I woke wrapped in warmth. Zephyron's arms encircled me completely, his chest pressed against my back, his breath stirring my hair in steady rhythm. Dawn light filtered through the glass walls, painting everything gold and amber, and for a moment I just existed in that perfect stillness—safe, held, transformed but not yet complete.
His bed was enormous. Soft beyond reason, with storm-cloud gray sheets that smelled like ozone and rain. I didn't remember him carrying me here after yesterday's intensity in his study, but I must have been deeply unconscious. The kind of bone-deep exhaustion that came after being systematically taken apart and reassembled.
