“Please,” I whisper against his mouth. “Please, Alexei.”
His hand wraps around my cock.
The sound I make is inhuman. Weeks of deprivation, weeks of having every physical sensation controlled—and now his hand is on me, stroking slowly, his grip firm.
“You’re so responsive.” His voice is rougher than I’ve ever heard it.
“Because it’s you.” I thrust into his fist. “It’s different because it’s you.”
He kisses me again, swallowing my moans as his hand works me faster. His technique is precise—optimal pressure, exactly the right rhythm—but there’s nothing cold about it. His breathing is ragged. He wants this as much as I do.
“Come,” he commands. “Come for me, Nikolai.”
I shatter.
The orgasm rips through me, different from what happened last night—this one is mine, I chose it, I asked for it. My cock pulses in his hand, and I cry out his name.
When I open my eyes, he’s looking at his hand. At the evidence of what he just did.
“That was—” He stops. He seems at a loss for words.
“Yeah,” I breathe. “It was.”
He retrieves a cloth from his supplies and cleans his hand, then gently cleans me. The aftercare is as precise as everything else he does, but there’s a tenderness to it now.
“You unlocked the restraint,” I say.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He’s silent for a long moment. “Because what happened last night—I needed you to have a choice. Even a small one.”
The admission lands between us.
“You don’t have to pretend with me,” I say. “Not anymore. I’ve already seen what you are when you stop performing the Monster.”
“I am not pretending. I am the Monster. That is what I was made to be.”
“Made,” I repeat. “Not born. Made. Like a weapon.”
His eyes close briefly. “Yes.”
“And weapons don’t get to choose how they’re used.”
“No.”
“But you’re choosing now.” I hold his gaze. “You chose to unlock the restraint. You chose to give me an out.”
The silence stretches between us.
“You’re choosing me,” I say.
He stares at me. The mask is gone now, and underneath it I see pain.
“I should go,” he says. “Maintenance is complete. You should rest.”
He turns toward the door.
