“Why are you angry at me, Lyra?”
“You didn’t tell me about Reya... that you were together.”
Looking down at her, my lips curve in a smug smile that I don’t even bother to hide. “Are youjealous?”
Colour rises into her cheeks, and something dark inside me enjoys it far too much so I keep her pinned to my chest for one extra heartbeat, feeling the warmth of her spreading through the thin space between us.
“No…” She pushes harder this time, and I let her go before she notices how strained I’m getting. “But I would’ve appreciated the heads-up.”
Taking a few steps back, she turns away from me like she suddenly needs the distance, and I can’t help wondering if she’s thinking about the dream Reya sent her.
Hell, I tease her for being jealous, but when Reya first told me about it—after the initial shock wore off—I’d been so pathetically jealous I could hardly take my eyes off Lyra for the whole damn briefing.
The thought of someoneelsetouching her, even in a dream, had something feral turning over inside me.
But then I felt her.
Her emotions bleed through our shared Threadfield—heat, want, and that undeniable ache of need—and hit me straight in the chest, spreading through me as swift and venomous as a poisoned arrow dipped in pure desire.
Rock fucking solid.
Instantly.
After that, the entire briefing was pure torture. Every time I looked across the tent at her, all I could picture was my hands onher instead. My mouth. My body pinning hers down while she makes those sounds I lay awake fantasising about every night.
“Well?” she presses, turning back toward me.
“We were together for about two years.” Shoving my hands into my pockets, I adjust myself, trying to hide the growing problem there. “When we were cadets at the Citadel. I’ve known her since we were kids, we trained with Merrin together, but we’ve been over for at least six or seven years now.” The pressure in my groin loosens and I start closing the distance between us again. “But that’s still not why you’re avoiding me.” I pause a few feet from her. “So stop dancing around it andtell mewhat’s really going on.”
Hope hits me stupidly fast as her mouth parts like she’s actually going to answer, but the second I step into range, she swings, a brutal hook aimed straight for my throat.
Only, Cal’s finally settled, and my attention’s locked solely on her now.
Catching her wrist before she can land the strike, I twist her around so she faces away from me, then I use the momentum to pull her back against my chest.
“Stop avoiding this,” I beg. “I can take it, Lyra. I know I hurt you, and I want to—hell, I need to—know how to fix it. How to fix us...” In the silence of my plea, I hear her breathing turn uneven, but I still lean in closer, my mouth brushing the curve of her soft cheek. “Please. Talk to me.”
Beneath my hold her entire body locks up and my grip slips for half a second. She reacts instantly, huffing and trying to wrench herself free before I can recover.
Tightening my hands, I pull her back in.
Huge mistake.
Because the second I do, she grinds her hips against mine, sending a brutal rush of heat racing to my cock so fast it nearly knocks the breath out of me. Staggering back, I releaseher immediately before she notices how strained and hard I’m getting.
“You’re playing dirty, Bloom…” I warn, dragging the back of my hand across my mouth, tasting sweat and ash on my tongue as she turns back to me, a satisfied expression settling across her face.
“And you're not?”Cal pushes through the crack before I can stop him.“What about telling her who you really are? Where you are really from? How long you have known?—”
Not. Fucking. Now.
I slam the mental door shut, but the minute my focus fractures, Lyra lunges.
Muscles flexing, I twist sideways just in time, her fist skimming past my shoulder instead of my ribs, and before she can recover, I take the opening, locking my hand around her forearm and hooking my leg behind both of hers.
Her balance breaks instantly.
A gasp leaves her mouth as we go down, but I turn with the fall, throwing my body beneath hers so she crashes into me instead of the floor. The impact explodes through my shoulder and spine and rips the air from my lungs.
