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She had offered her smaller name first, as though the rest belonged somewhere more private.

I wanted both.

I wanted Olivia whispered against my mouth and Liv thrown at me when anger made her forget caution. I wanted those bare lips swollen from mine. I wanted her hair wrapped around my fist while she discovered every filthy sound that I could elicit from her from behind. My palm struck the shower wall. I braced myself against the tile and lowered my head beneath the spray, working my cock faster.

I imagined her pink pussy dripping wet for me as I pushed inside her slowly, forcing myself to feel every inch rather than taking what the bond demanded. Her body tightening around me. Her breath breaking when I filled her. Her nails scoring my shoulders while she decided whether to pull me closer or claw her way free.

Either response would satisfy something ugly in me.

My grip tightened. Pleasure gathered hard and mean through my stomach, though it never quite reached the place the bond kept hollow. I stroked faster, hips moving into my fist while the fantasy sharpened.

Olivia beneath me.

Olivia over me.

Olivia seated on my desk with city reports scattered across the floor while every ruler in Valkyrie waited outside because my mate had wrapped her legs around my waist and decided their war could keep.

I saw her face when she learned who stood behind the mask. The shock. The anger. The bond igniting for her while mine had already spent days tearing through me.

Would she want me once she knew?

The question cut through the fantasy and exposed the need beneath it.

Everyone wanted Lux Draven’s power, protection, money, or name. They wanted access to the ruler, feared the assassin, and obeyed the monster. Olivia had spoken to the mask without knowing those pieces belonged to one man.

She’d asked if I was hurt.

I wanted her to do it again after learning exactly what kind of monster I was.

My fist moved roughly over my cock. The wet slap of skin disappeared beneath the shower while pressure coiled tighter, painful now, balancing on the edge of release.

I imagined her saying my name again.

Lux.

No title. No fear.

My body broke.

I came with a grunt forced through clenched teeth, my release spilling over my hand while every muscle locked. Pleasure rolled through me in hard waves, a shudder dragging down my spine before I pressed my forehead against the wet tile.

For several breaths, I stilled.

My cock remained half hard inside my grip.

Barely satisfied.

Of course.

The bond had no interest in my hand. It wanted her pulse, her scent, her attention fixed on me. It wanted complete recognition and every door between us torn from its hinges.

I released myself and stood beneath the spray until my breathing steadied.

By the time I stepped out, dawn had started bleeding across New Abaddon. Vale was waiting in my office, file on a clipboard, posture immaculate. He took one look at me and wisely did not ask how the night had gone.

“Report,” I said, dropping into my chair. My hair was still damp, shirt clinging to my shoulders. I hadn’t bothered with the usual suit. Just black. Shirt, pants, boots. Comfortable enough to move in. Uncomfortable enough to remind everyone who walked in here that this was not casual.

“Broken Halo is still all over the news,” Vale said, shifting gears. “The footage has been looping since yesterday morning, the clans are screaming for a meeting, and the remaining Hollowside crews are rattled enough to start distancing themselves from Scarn.”