“A little pain mixed with your pleasure is nothing to scoff at, princess. It can heighten sensations to a level that mere kisses and gentle touches can’t get you to."
As if to prove his point, Kaiden captured one of my nipples between his fingers and gave it a gentle roll. My back arched when he tugged on it before rolling it again. Tug and roll. Tug and roll.
“Pleasure can be slowly built,” he explained, never ceasing his movements. “It can be layered and stoked.” His mouth trailed soft kisses from my ear, down my neck until he reached the sensitive spot where it met my shoulder. “Pleasure can growand rise like an uncontrollable flame if tended properly, but even something that powerful needs a spark.”
The fingers on my nipple suddenly pinched, squeezing the already tender flesh until it hurt. I twisted in his hold, but Kaiden held me fast, whispering words of praise in my ear. When he finally released the aching tip, a rush of warmth flooded my chest on a one-way track to merge with the throbbing between my legs.
“The key is balance,” he explained and switched his attention to my other nipple.
My hips rocked, needing that next layer he spoke about, and his hand cupped me over my leggings. The heel of his palm pressed hard, and my head fell back against his shoulder as a breathless moan escaped into the dark room.
“That’s it, princess,” he nipped at my neck, adding little sparks of pain to my growing pleasure. “Ride my hand. Chase it. I’ll help you get there.”
I hardly understood what he was saying, but I got the gist of it well enough. My body leaped forward, overriding my mind in its hunt for more. More fire. More friction. Moreeverything. I rocked my hips against his hand, using what he offered to push myself higher and higher until I hovered on the edge. My head thrashed against his shoulder. Why wasn’t it working?
“Easy,” he crooned, and his hand ceased its torture on my nipple. I whined at the loss. “I said I’d help you, and I’m going to do just that.”
He shifted to the side and brought his hand down on my ass with enough force to sting. I yelped, thrusting my hips away from the sudden pain and right into his palm. He ground circles against my clit, and I was a goner. It was pleasure and sin, both fire and ice that ran through my veins when I detonated. My knee dug into the chair in an effort to keep me upright, butwithout Kaiden’s support, I would have been a puddle on the floor.
There was no way my legs were going to support me for much longer. Figuring out what to do next wasn’t a problem, because Kaiden swooped me up in his arms and gently deposited me on my bed. I stared at the ceiling and caught my breath as I heard him rummage through Rani’s mini fridge. There was a war inside me. Anger fought with fear, pain with confusion, and beneath it all was a weird sense of accomplishment.
Despite my very vocal desire to be free of him, Kaiden had somehow managed to burrow beneath my skin. I felt him there, in that bond I’d tried so hard to deny. It pulsed in my chest like a newborn star, all shiny and proud. I couldn’t even blame him. At no point in any of our interactions did I tell him to stop. I chased after my own pleasure with as much enthusiasm as he had giving it to me.
What was I doing? Tears built behind my eyelids, waiting for a private moment to be set free. I blinked them away and watched as Kaiden turned around. He held a small ice pack and quickly wrapped it in one of Rani’s many hand towels.
“It’s for your ankle,” he said and carefully laid it across the injured joint. “It doesn’t appear broken but if the swelling gets worse, I’ll take you to the health center for an x-ray.” He paused like he was unsure of how to say what came next. “Please stay inside tomorrow,” his tone could be considered polite, but I recognized an order when I heard one. "Ezra and I will have the current problem handled by classes on Monday, and we can worry about the rest then.”
“The rest? You mean like my supposed freedom?” I glared at him, the anger an easier emotion to hold on to. I didn’t care if he was being nice. He was still the enemy. His sigh was a tired one, but I refused to care. This was my life he was trying to control.
“I fully intend for you to finish your degree, with the knowledge that it will give us at least another four years to figure…us…out.”
I side-eyed him, hard. “You’re going to let me become a veterinarian?”
“I never wanted you to be unhappy, Eryn,” he swore. “I only ever wanted a life with you.”
Gods. That one hit me right in the heart. He was either very good at manipulation or he was telling the truth. The problem was, I didn’t trust him enough to know the difference. Having a bond who saw me as his equal was the best possible outcome. It was the dream. Happiness. Fulfillment.Love?It was everything I ever wanted, and he was dangling it in front of me.
Did I take the risk and trust him? By doing so, I’d be going against everything I’d ever known and every painful experience life had shoved down my throat. Everything I’d been through wasn’t a lie. What the tribunal did to my parents in his name wasn’t a lie. I stared at the blond warlock in front of me, seeing both my fated bond and the guy who made me smile more these last months than I ever had before. The question was, which one was real, and could I risk the danger in finding out?
eleven
Kaiden
Her ankle wasn’t broken, but days later, it was still a little swollen. I was tempted to risk her wrath and carry her to this next class; the pain on her face was enough to drive me insane. Not that she cared. The princess wouldn’t even let me carry her books.Her books. It’s like she was afraid that me touching her things was contagious.
That was bullshit of course. The bond couldn’t be deepened through material objects. Physical touch, attraction, the meaningful development of feelings… all of that was required. I’m sure a bond could be forged from coupling alone, but it wouldn’t be a strong one, and I didn’t want to be shackled to a stranger for my entire life any more than she did.
I didn’t know how to make this better. Give her space, and she’d be vulnerable to the djinn. Protect her, and she hated me. I sighed as we passed the library. Almost to class, and she hadn’t looked at me once. Rani walked beside Eryn, like mostmornings, and her narrowed gaze bounced between us as she sensed the mounting tension that no amount of pretending could hide.
“What did you do this time?” she asked me, twisting just enough to catch my eye.
I shrugged. What was I supposed to say? I snuck a peek at my silent bond, but she didn’t add anything. Her pace quickened despite how painful I was sure it felt on her ankle, but I held back an order for her to slow down.
Rani huffed. “Typical male response. You must have done something because my girl is more pissed than usual.”
I smothered a smile at Eryn’s reaction to that bit of truth. Her anger with me was a difficult hurdle, but not impossible, and it was surprising to hear that her feelings toward me filtered into moments when I wasn’t around. That meant she thought about me. Whether that extended anger was good for me or not remained to be seen, but I clung to optimism.
“And what’s up with the mood swings?” Rani continued, throwing her hands in the air. “You go from ignoring her to following her around like a lost puppy.”
