‘The golden female is treacherous.’
“Yeah, I got that impression too,” I muttered, stripping off the uniform and pulling on an oversized t-shirt to sleep in.
I crawled into bed, pulling the thick duvet up to my chin. As I closed my eyes, I braced myself for the inevitable onslaught of pain from the bond. I kept my mental walls fortified, a thick barrier of ice and steel to keep the Nightfall Shield out.
But tonight, something felt different.
Usually, the bond felt like a taut, agonizing string, vibrating with their distant emotions. Tonight, the string felt thicker. Heavier. The pressure against my mental walls wasn’t a distant throbbing, it was thick, urgent, and alarmingly close.
I frowned in the darkness, pressing my hands against my temples. It was probably just the residual stress of running into Eliza and thinking about Aiden. I forced myself to take deep, calming breaths, pushing the sensation away until exhaustion finally dragged me under.
But sleep wouldn’t fully claim me. Every time I drifted off, the suffocating weight of the bond jerked me awake, my heart racing as if a predator were standing right outside my door.
I needed a distraction. I needed to think aboutliterallyanything else.
My thoughts drifted back to the archives, but landed squarely on Rowan. I thought of the exact moment his fingers had brushed my forearm. The sheer, radiating warmth of his touch had sent a jolt straight to my core, a spark of electricity I hadn’t felt since leaving home.
I pictured him sitting next to me, his massive body completely dwarfing me. He was so damn large, his broad shoulders and thick muscles shifting powerfully under his clothes every time he moved. I thought about his long, dark curly hair pulled back into that knot, the rugged scruff of his beard, and those piercing eyes.
Without fully realizing what I was doing, I found my hand snaking down the front of my oversized t-shirt. My fingertips traced the bare skin of my stomach, the light friction sending a shiver down my legs.
A sudden spike of guilt rolled through me—just a phantom reflex tied to the men I left behind. I froze for a split second, my breath catching in my throat. But then I pushed the guilt away with a vicious mental shove.
They threw me away. They don’t own me. I deserve to feel good.
I slid my hand lower, slipping past the waistband of my underwear to find myself already slick and aching. I pressed my fingers against my clit, rubbing in a slow, pressured circle. A soft moan escaped my lips, echoing quietly in the shadows of the stone room. I closed my eyes tightly, letting the image of Rowan take over completely.
I imagined his large, calloused hands wandering over my body, gripping my hips with a possessive strength. I pictured him leaning over me, his lips peppering hot, wet kisses down my belly while his dark hair fell into his eyes. The fantasy was so vivid, so intoxicating, that my hips bucked up off the mattress.
I dipped my fingers inside my pussy, stretching myself as I fucked my own wet heat. I pumped my fingers to the rhythm of my racing heart, completely lost to the mental images of Rowan pinning me down to the bed. The friction built like a wildfire, my breathing turning into ragged gasps until I couldn’t hold back anymore.
I clamped my free hand over my mouth to muffle my cries as I came hard, my back arching off the bed as wave after wave of intense, shuddering pleasure crashed through me.
I lay there panting in the dark for a long time, my chest heaving as the rush of endorphins slowly washed away the lingering anxiety of the day. By the hearth, Noodle didn’t evenstir. And for the first time in weeks, the heavy, suffocating pressure of the Nightfall bond was entirely drowned out, replaced by the lingering, phantom heat of Rowan’s touch.
I drifted into a deep,dreamless sleep, the kind I hadn’t experienced since leaving Dominion. When I finally woke, pale gray light filtered through the tower windows, and the fire had dwindled to embers. Wrapped snugly beneath the heavy duvet, I felt warm and relaxed, momentarily forgetting my surroundings.
Suddenly, the bond surged. It wasn’t the dull, distant ache I’d grown used to; this was as if someone had yanked a fishhook deep inside me, trying with all of their strength to reel me in as I fought. Instinctively, I sat up, so quickly that the room spun, a hand clutching my chest.
“What the fuck…”
The pressure was overwhelming. Four distinct presences slammed against my mental defenses. No longer were they reaching for me across an ocean; they were close now.
‘Trouble,’Noodle hissed, lifting his head and tasting the air.
“No,” I spat, tossing off the duvet and stumbling to the window. “No, no, no. They can’t be here. They wouldn’t?—”
But I knew better.
I pressed my forehead against the cold glass, staring out at Imperium’s misty grounds. Though the thick fog obscured my view beyond a grove of oaks, I didn’t need to see them. Their presence burned against my mind like wolves clawing at a locked door.
My phone buzzed repeatedly on the nightstand, but I ignored it. Instead, I fortified my mental barriers, layering ice over steelover stone, until the pressure became bearable. My hands shook as I gripped the windowsill.
“They left Dominion. They actually fucking left.”
‘Foolish males. Shall I bite?’
“I’m heavily considering it.” I pulled away from the window and grabbed my training clothes and then my uniform to change into later.
