My mouth parts on instinct—half to argue, half because his thumb is warm and my nerves are traitors—and his gaze drops to it like he feels every millimeter of surrender.
“But this is a risk,” he continues, “and I don’t know how to accept that when it comes to you.”
The words settle into my bones like a stone dropped into dark water.
A risk, as if I matter. As if I’m not just some Exile stray they dragged into their realm to interrogate and contain, but something he’s trying to… keep.
As if all he’s been saying this whole time is true.
That I’m his.
I swallow, my throat tight. My gaze drifts away for one stupid second because it’s easier to stare at the wall than the way he’s looking at me.
He doesn’t let me ignore him, though. Because this isLegend,and Legend can never be ignored.
His other hand slides to my jaw, tilting my face back without force but with certainty, like he knows I’ll comply even if I don’t understand why.
I hate that my breath catches. I hate the warmth spreading under my skin. I hate the way my body seems to recognize him before my mind can decide what to do with it.
“You’re spinning out,” he says, almost amused, almostgentle.
“I don’t do gentle,” I mutter.
“No,” he agrees softly. “You don’t.”
His thumb shifts, dragging along my lip again, and somethingin me pulses—hot, reckless, familiar in the way it shouldn’t be. Like a thing inside my chest perks up and leans toward him, hungry and pleased to be noticed.
My eyes lower to his hand before I can stop myself, to the thumb still there, and that small patch of skin that made my thoughts scatter like frightened prey.
A stupid impulse rises, something that feels like curiosity wearing a crown, so I give in just enough to prove to myself I’m still in control.
I lean forward and press my lips to his thumb in a small kiss. It’s barely a touch and should feel like nothing, but it feels likeeverything.
Legend goes still, his throat working, and the satisfaction that flickers in his eyes makes my stomach dip.
I do it again, only slower this time, more deliberate. I let my mouth linger, my lips softening around the edge of him as if I’m tasting the boundary of what I’m allowed to want. Before I can think too hard, I suck his thumb into my mouth, tongue swirling and bursting at the taste of this man.
I give him a good nip.
A warning bite.
A promise?
Legend’s breath punches out of him in a low, rough sound. His head dips as if he’s fighting the urge to drag me closer and devour me the way I know he wants to.
“Haide,” he rasps, and it isn’t a reprimand. It’s a plea with teeth.
There’s a dangerous kind of delight flickering in me because, for once, I’m the one holding the reins.
“For someone so concerned about danger,” I murmur, voice soft and wicked, “you make it really hard to listen.”
His eyes flare white at the edges, like his power is answering mine without permission. His thumb slips free from my lips ashis hand slides down to my throat, not squeezing or threatening, but holding. Claiming and possessive in a way that makes my skin hum.
“Later,” he says, and there’s a hard edge to it now, a restraint that looks painful. “When we return, I’ll give you whatever you want.”
I should scoff.
I should tell him I don’t want anything.
