Breaking

Lila sat at the kitchen island with a plate of food in front of her that she hadn’t touched.

Rylan stood on the other side of the counter, arms crossed, watching her in silence. He had put a shirt on, but it did nothing to soften him. If anything, the black fabric stretched across his chest only made him look more solid. More permanent.

“Eat,” he said.

“I’m not hungry.”

“I didn’t ask if you were hungry.”

Lila picked up the fork just to have something to do with her hands. She forced down a few bites under his stare. The food tasted like nothing. All she could focus on was the restless heat still sitting low in her stomach, the way her skin felt too sensitive, and the dull throb of the mark on her neck.

Rylan waited until she had eaten most of it before he spoke again.

“You’re fighting it harder today.”

She looked up. “What am I supposed to do? Smile and thank you for kidnapping me?”

“I didn’t kidnap you.” His voice stayed even. “I claimed you. There’s a difference.”

“Not from where I’m sitting.”

Rylan walked around the counter slowly. Lila’s body tensed as he came closer. He stopped right beside her stool, close enough that his thigh nearly brushed her knee. When he reached out and brushed his fingers over the bite mark on her neck, a sharp pulse of heat shot straight down her spine.

She flinched.

His eyes narrowed slightly. “It’s getting stronger.”

“I don’t want it to.”

“I know.” He let his fingers trail down from the mark, over her collarbone, then lower, resting against the center of her chest. “But your body is already ahead of you. It’s been calling for me since you woke up.”

Lila turned her face away. “Stop talking like you know what I feel.”

Rylan’s hand moved to her jaw and turned her face back toward him. His grip wasn’t painful, but it left no room for her to look away.

“I can smell how wet you are,” he said quietly. “I can hear how fast your heart is beating. And every time I touch this mark, your breath changes. So yes, Lila. I know exactly what you feel.”

She hated the way her thighs pressed together at his words.

Rylan noticed.

Without another word, he bent down and lifted her off the stool. Lila made a startled sound as he carried her out of the kitchen and back up the stairs. She didn’t bother telling him she could walk this time. It hadn’t worked before.

He took her into the bedroom and set her down beside the bed. Then he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor.

“Take it off,” he said, nodding at the oversized shirt she was still wearing.

Lila’s hands hesitated at the hem. “Rylan—”

“Take it off.”

The quiet authority in his voice made her stomach flip. She pulled the shirt over her head and let it fall. Rylan’s eyes moved over her slowly, lingering on the marks he had already left.

“Get on the bed.”

She climbed onto the mattress and sat near the middle, knees drawn up slightly. Rylan pushed his sweatpants down and stepped out of them. He was already hard. The sight of him made that restless ache inside her pulse harder.

He crawled onto the bed and settled over her, bracing his weight on his forearms. For a moment he just looked down at her, golden eyes searching her face.

“You’re allowed to hate this,” he said. “You’re allowed to fight it. But you’re not allowed to pretend it isn’t real.”

Then he kissed her.

It was deeper than before. Hungrier. His mouth moved over hers like he was trying to pull the truth out of her with his tongue. Lila’s hands came up to his chest, half pushing, half holding on. When he finally pulled back, both of them were breathing harder.

Rylan reached down between them and dragged the head of his cock through her folds. He exhaled sharply when he felt how wet she already was.

“See?” he murmured. “Your body doesn’t lie.”

He pushed inside her in one slow, continuous thrust.

Lila’s head tipped back against the pillows as he filled her. The stretch was familiar now, but no less overwhelming. Rylan didn’t give her time to adjust. He started moving in deep, measured strokes, each one dragging against the sensitive spot inside her that made her thighs tremble.

“Look at me,” he said.

She forced her eyes open. His face was tight with restraint, jaw clenched, eyes glowing faintly as he watched every flicker of expression that crossed her face.

“You feel that?” he asked, thrusting in harder. “That pull in your chest every time I’m deep inside you? That’s the bond. It’s not going away.”

Lila turned her head, but he caught her chin and made her face him again.

“Don’t hide from it.”

He shifted his weight and hooked one of her legs higher over his hip, changing the angle. The next thrust hit even deeper. A broken sound left her throat before she could stop it.

Rylan’s control slipped a little.

He started fucking her harder, the sound of skin meeting skin filling the room. One of his hands slid under her lower back, tilting her hips up to take him deeper. The other braced beside her head so he could keep his eyes on hers.

“You’re getting tighter,” he growled. “You’re close already.”

“I’m not—”

“You are.” He drove into her harder. “Stop fighting it and come.”

The orgasm hit her with almost no warning. Lila’s back arched as pleasure tore through her, her walls clamping down around him in hard, pulsing waves. Rylan groaned low in his chest and kept thrusting through it, dragging the climax out until her legs were shaking.

He didn’t come.

Instead, he slowed his movements, still buried deep inside her, and brushed damp hair away from her face.

“I’m not done with you yet.”

He pulled out slowly, making her feel every inch, then flipped her onto her stomach. Lila barely had time to push up onto her elbows before he was covering her with his body again. He gripped her hips, lifted them slightly, and pushed back inside her from behind.

The new angle dragged a raw sound from her throat.

Rylan leaned down until his chest was pressed against her back, his mouth near her ear.

“This is what you are now,” he said, voice rough as he started moving again. “Mine to take. Mine to fill. Mine to keep.”

Each thrust was deep and deliberate. The headboard tapped lightly against the wall. Lila’s fingers curled into the sheets as another wave of heat started building low in her stomach. She could feel the bond pulsing in time with his movements, like something inside her chest was reaching for him whether she wanted it to or not.

Rylan’s hand slid under her and found her clit, rubbing firm circles while he continued to fuck her.

“Come again,” he ordered. “I want to feel it.”

She shook her head against the mattress, but her body was already tightening around him. Rylan pressed harder on her clit and thrust in deep at the same time.

The second orgasm ripped through her harder than the first. Lila cried out into the sheets as her body clenched around him. The way she pulsed on his cock pulled a guttural sound from Rylan’s chest. He buried himself to the hilt and finally followed her over, coming hard and deep inside her with a low, broken groan.

He stayed there afterward, chest heaving against her back, one arm locked tightly around her waist. She could feel every small aftershock of his release as he emptied himself inside her.

For a long time, neither of them moved.

Eventually Rylan shifted his weight and carefully pulled out of her. He rolled onto his side and brought her with him, keeping her back pressed firmly against his chest. His arm remained heavy around her waist. His lips brushed the mark on her neck.

Lila stared at the wall, still trying to catch her breath. Her body felt used and full and strange. The worst part was the quiet pull in her chest that hadn’t been there before — a low, steady awareness of him that had nothing to do with sex.

Rylan’s voice was quiet when he finally spoke.

“You’re starting to feel it properly now.”

She didn’t answer.

His arm tightened.

“You can keep fighting tomorrow if you want,” he murmured against her skin. “I’ll still be here. And every time you fight, I’ll just take you again until you remember who you belong to.”

Lila closed her eyes.

She didn’t pull away.

And that scared her more than anything else.