“It’s from disgust,” I said through clenched teeth.
His eyes narrowed, and his fingertips were like a ghost’s touch on my chin as he tilted my head back to meet his gaze. I fought off the reactions he accused me of, but I couldn't hide it all. His satisfied smirk made the muscles in my tummy clench.
“I don’t think it is, princess,” he whispered. One hand left the wall to graze my side on its way down to my hip. His fingers flexed and squeezed. “Tell me, are you wet for me right now? I bet you are.”
I locked my jaw with a stubborn glare. My body may have betrayed me, but that didn't mean I would give in. His other hand left the wall to wrap around the back of my thigh. Before I even registered what was happening, he lifted me and tucked his hips between my legs. The hard length of him now pressed against my most intimate place, and he groaned into my ear. My fists clutched at his shoulders, simultaneously pulling him in and weakly pushing him away.
“I’ve got you,” he promised, pressing even closer. “I won’t let you fall.”
I bit my lip against a yelp as he rolled his hips. Slow, calculated motions meant to torture and tease. His chin tilted down so he could watch me, but he didn’t try to kiss me, didn’t allow our skin to touch at all. The fight slowly left my limbs as sparks of pleasure radiated from between my thighs.
He spread my legs wider, allowing a more solid connection, and I threw my head back with a cry. Gods, how was he able to do this so easily? My entire body vibrated with the need for him to touch me when only minutes ago, I wanted to get as far from him as possible.
“I could take you right here, like this.” My thighs tightened at his absolute confidence. “I could slide my cock so deep inside you, you wouldn’t be able to climb off. I could lean you back and slow-fuck you until your eyes roll back, and your voice goes hoarse from screaming, until your juices drip between us to soak the ground, until our bond snaps into place so hard you’d never even think of leaving me again. Because guess what?” Both his hands moved down to grab my ass, squeezing and kneading mecloser as he increased the strength of his thrusts. “You didn’t reject the bond.”
My eyes flared wide, but only a whimper escaped my mouth. There was a tingling starting in my toes that warned of the pleasure to come. I shook my head to deny his words, the only argument I could put up right now with my release so close.
“Oh, you denied it, princess, buried it down so far you didn’t even recognize me, but you didn’t reject it.” My legs shook, and he gripped my ass even harder. His thrusts sent my shirt up my back, and the rough brick scratched my newly-exposed skin. I didn't care. “That’s it,” he crooned. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”
His hips froze, and I cried out at the sudden stop. He dropped one of my legs and held me tight while I settled on one foot. I was still open to him, but those powerful hips didn’t push against me anymore, and I glared. I wasright there. He had to know how close I was.
“I won’t force you to complete the bond, and I don’t have time tonight to argue for you to believe it. I could have taken you, but I didn’t. I’m not the bad guy you think I am.”
“I’d say working me up and leaving me like this is the opposite of good,” I panted.
His grin turned downright wicked. “Do you need to finish, princess? Let’s see what we can do about that.” The hand on my hip stretched and reached until his thumb pressed right on my clit. “I couldn’t make you feel like this if you rejected the bond.”
His thumb rubbed in hard circles; one, two…and I fell into my release. Shockwaves of electricity stemmed from his hand and spread down each of my limbs. The muscles in my stomach tightened until almost painful, and still, it kept going. When it finally eased, Kaiden held me close to his chest and carried me back inside, all the way up to my room. He left a soft kiss on my forehead, the only touch on my skin he allowed tonight, and stepped away.
“We have a lot to discuss,” he said, taking another step back from where he set me on my bed. “Don’t leave this dorm until class on Monday. I’ll know if you do.”
I glared, some of my attitude coming back now that we had some distance. “And what if I choose to ignore your orders?”
His smile dared me to try. “My hand on your ass won’t feel as pleasurable as what I just did to you. That I promise.”
ten
Eryn
I made it a day before sneaking out. One whole day alone in my dorm, and I lost my mind. I still hadn’t processed the emotions of finding out Kai was my bond, and that, combined with my already raging anxiety, made it impossible to stay inside for another second. Rani was away at the sorority house all weekend, and there was nothing on TV to distract me.
To top it all off, the knowledge that hunters were gathering, and I was stuck here while they sniffed me out, trapped in this little room like a lamb for slaughter, frightened me more than knowing they were out there to begin with. A small voice in my head whispered that Kaiden wouldn’t let anything happen to me, but I knew better than to trust that voice. Sure, he wouldn't let the djinn kill me, thereby weakening himself in the process, but that didn’t make him the good guy he claimed to be.
He was playing the long game, pretending to be kind while trying to earn my trust so he could better control me and force the bond. So, he wouldn’t physically force me, great. That didn’tmean manipulating my mind to get the same outcome wasn’t just as bad. It was worse, actually. Enraged at the idea that anyone, even my supposed other half, could have such sway over my sanity, I decided to go ahead with my plan for escape.
I’d been formulating one for several hours, and it all came down to thehow.Kaiden said he would know if I left my dorm, which meant the doors had to have some kind of spell or trigger on them. He’d definitely been here enough times to lay one…or two. So, the window was my only option. I slid the glass up and peered down into the empty courtyard. It was a long drop, enough to kill a human, and definitely not something I would have been able to do earlier in broad daylight.
Most of the weekend parties happened off campus, and I only saw a few windows with their lights on. It was now or never. I looped my duffel over my shoulder, slid my legs out, and let myself fall before a student or staff member stumbled upon me. The drop felt longer than I expected, and I didn’t properly brace myself before landing.
“Motherfu–ouchouch.”
I hobbled closer to the brick wall and tenderly felt around my ankle. It was warm to the touch and already swelling, but I didn’t think anything was broken. Thank the gods, but it was still a miserable walk to the student lot. The entire time I worried about how I was going to let me parents know about this latest fuck up.
Did I have time to stop and send an email? I shook my head. Stupid. Of course I didn’t.
I needed to focus on getting out of here and back to my parents before Kaiden found out I was missing. Again. A small voice in the back of my head screamed that I needed to warn them about the hunter too,thatwas the biggest danger. But stopping to find a public computer would put them in more danger than just running to them now.
Not for the first time I cursed their choice to not have cell phones. They were too easy to track but dammit they had benefits that would really help right now.
