The second the tip of the weapon stops in front of his chest, a jolt of panic hits my stomach. If he thinks I’m threatening him... But Kol doesn’t even flinch. He treats the jagged bone pointed at his heart like it is completely irrelevant.
He takes a slow step forward, walking right into the knife’s path to crowd my physical space until the heat of his body feels like a weight pressing against my skin once again.
He reaches right over the blade, tapping one large finger gently against my collarbone.
“Boh-dee,” he rumbles softly.
He turns his hand, pressing that same broad finger proudly against the center of his own chest. His golden eyes drop to my neck for a split second before locking back onto mine.
He rumbles a low string of Drakavian.
The translation clicks sharply through my earpiece.Exclusive. Permanent. Mate.
A sharp, hysterical sound escapes my throat.
I drop the bone-blade. It hits the stone floor with a clatter.
“I am not your buddy,” I say, my voice shaking as I point a finger directly at his chest.
Kol does not step back.
He steps directly into my space, forcing me to stumble backward until my shoulder blades hit the rough stone of the cavern wall. He spans a scorching hot hand over my ribcage, trapping me there effortlessly.
He leans down, his face inches from mine. The possessive pulse of his purr vibrates straight through my bones.
“Boh-dee,” he rumbles, a dark promise brushing against my jaw.
My thighs clench involuntarily. I am trapped against the wall.
He holds me there for three agonizingly long heartbeats. The crushing heat of his body sinks deep into my skin. Then, smoothly and without another word, he steps back. He picks up the dropped bone-blade, presses the hilt back into my shaking palm, and forces me to resume the weapons drill.
Every time his chest brushes my spine, every time his hot hands guide my strike, my pulse stutters with hot panic. By the time he dismisses me two hours later, my nerves are frayed. I walk rapidly out of the armory, seeking the dark safety of my sleeping space.
By the deadhours of the dark cycle, the central fires have burned down low and the temperature has plummeted.
I can’t sleep.
The dreams are vivid and intense. I dreamt of a solid chest pressing firmly against my back, wrapping me tightly in thickarms. I dreamt of a throat humming with a deep purr, and a rough, hot mouth pressing against the base of my neck.
I woke up gasping, my hands tangled tightly in the hides he left on my mat.
I cannot lie in the dark anymore.
I pull the hide tightly around my shoulders and carefully squeeze through the narrow gap in the bone barricade he built around my mat. It takes an embarrassing amount of effort to avoid impaling myself in the pitch black.
Once I am free, I walk soundlessly through the quiet cavern, seeking the freezing, biting edge of the main entrance to cool my burning skin.
I freeze mid-step.
Kol is sitting exactly where I was heading. He rests one arm over a bent knee, staring out into the pitch-black void of the dust. He is utterly motionless.
My stomach does a hard, panicked flip. After how humiliatingly my body reacted to his proximity in the armory today, the smartest thing I could do right now is immediately turn around. I can find literally any other cold rock in this cave to sit on instead of voluntarily walking straight back into his intense orbit.
I stand in the shadows for a long moment, actively debating just this.
But my exhausted body refuses to turn around. Tightening the hide around my shoulders, I walk to the edge of the smooth stone rim and sit down, pulling my knees to my chest. I leave exactly one body’s length of space between us.
He does not turn his head, but I see the faint, slow tightening of the muscles in his jaw. The glow along his arms immediately begins to pulse with a slow, rising heat.
