“It does for me.” He replies, extending a hand out.
I slap it away and push to my feet on my own. “Since when, didn't bother you the other night.”
“It was a slip of judgment; won’t happen again. I don't want to get in bed with someone who thinks I could be their enemy.”
So that’s what it’s about. Not protection. Not professionalism.Trust. He says it like a boundary, but it sounds a hell of a lot like fear. If that’s the only thing keeping him out of my bed, I can work with it.
“So if I don’t trust you, we can’t fuck?” I ask, I know no one can hear us, but still I keep my voice low. “That’s your rule? Well, it doesn’t look like I’m getting answers from you anytime soon. You really think you can hold out that long?”
I don't wait for a reply, I just move—quick and direct, aiming for his centre of gravity with a drive meant to knock him off-balance.
I don’t get the chance.
He shifts. Grabs.
In one clean, fluid motion, he uses my momentum against me—flipping my legs out from under me, and driving me down. Hard.And this time, he doesn’t stay standing. He drops with me. Pins me. One knee between my thighs, palm braced, catching my hands just beside my head, the full press of his body locking mine to the mat. Controlled. Unyielding. Every inch of him burning through me.
“I know I can.” He holds the position for a beat longer than necessary.“I can want you without taking you, I’m not so easily broken, Lyra.” Then he pushes off—calm, maddeningly in control—and releases me. Cold rushes in where his body was.
I exhale, roll to my side, and push to my feet.
“Didn’t seem like it the other night, when I was calling out your name, coming around your?—”
He moves before I can finish. In one fluid step, he’s behind me—arm hooked tight around mine, yanking it up between my shoulder blades. My breath snags. The pressure isn’t enoughto hurt, but it’s enough to make damn sure I stop talking. His mouth brushes close to my ear.
“It’s not that I don’t want you,” he murmurs. “I do. That’s the fucking problem.” A pause. “But I’m trying to do you a favour. You’re not ready, and we both know it. You want answers I can’t give. Not yet.”
Then he releases my arm and steps back. I turn, meet his gaze, and the pressure in my chest tightens.
He doesn’t get to decide if I’m ready. He wants this just as much as I do, he just said it. And if I’m stuck here, waiting for answers on someone else’s timeline? If I’m supposed to keep playing nice, stay patient, stay quiet? Then the least he can do is give mesomething, one goddamn reason to stay sane in this awful place.
I’m not giving up that easily.
“Fine,” I say, light, measured. “Keep your precious trust rule. I won’t ask for more.” My smile curves. “But I never promised not to remind you what you’re missing.”
His eyebrow lifts.
I loosen my Threads. Just a fraction, just enough to let the hum of my magic slip through. It skims over my skin, warm and tingling. Then my gaze drops to his lips, and I start to imagine what they’d feel like between my thighs.
The heat builds fast, doesn’t take much. It’s already there, leftover from the other night. A pulse of want. Hunger. The ache of it curling low, sharp and demanding.
I’ve done this before, by accident. Let things slip through.
But this time, Iaim.
I reach for the connection between us, focus on the sensation, onhim, and let the feeling rise. Then I push.
Not with force, never that. Withprecision. Like threading silk through the eye of a needle. I send him a searing drag of arousal—small, but impossible to ignore.
Let’s see how long that control lasts,Nightrose.
I feel our bond catch it, take it and watch it land.
His chest hitches, mouth parts, one hand curls at his side, fast and tight. Then his gaze snaps to mine, eyes wide, he looks almost… startled, and for the first time all match—hehesitates.
That’s all I need. I close the gap fast. Step, pivot, drop. He’s on his back before he can recover, and I’m already over him, one knee pressing into his ribs, hand fisted in his collar. We’re breathing hard now, both of us, his chest rising under mine.
“You’re playing dirty,Bloom…” he growls, voice rougher than before.
