Registering his words was impossible, not when his grip on my hip was a brand. Even when it did sink in, my body had no interest in rising from my current position.
Danger radiated off him, like a beacon but all it did was make the peaks of my breasts tighten.
As though he could read my thoughts or more like my body, his eyes shifted down to my chest, the crimson of his eyes turned scarlet, darker...
"Run," He repeated, his voice impossibly lower than before, the vibration of his voice resounding deep inside me.
For one breath, I considered it.
The red in his eyes. The way his hands gripped my hips like he was holding himself back from something WORSE. The predatory warning in that single word.
But I’d spent my whole life running.
From Ajax. From Charlotte. From guilt and shame and the weight of being UNWANTED.
I was done running, so instead—
I drew my clench fist back and brought it down, colliding with his beautiful face.
I heard something crack and knew it was not his face but my finger. But for a moment I felt nothing. as his head snapped to the side.
The red in his eyes flickered—then vanished in an instant.
Pale azure crashed back into focus as he stared at me.
His eyes widened, he blinked once, twice and thrice.
Looking up at me like he was not sure here he now found himself.
"You---" His voice was hoarse. stunned. "You hit me."
My stomach flipped, as took in the unguarded vulnerability, even if it was just a flicker before his face hardened like what I had caught on his was just a hallucination.
I tried to keep the breathiness from my voice as I spoke. "That was my task. Land one hit, which I did."
His gaze had turned unreadable once again. "You feel it too, Lilith."
My name came out as a purr that my chest tightened and my core clenched. "What?" But I knew exactly what he was referring to.
"You know, Lilith," He countered softly.
It twisted in my chest almost in response to his probing question.
The door slammed open.
"High Alpha, the Concord representative has—"
He stopped dead in the doorway.
Taking in the scene: me straddling Vladimir, my fist still raised, his head turned to the side, both of us frozen.
For one endless moment, no one moved.
Then Vladimir’s hands dropped from my hips.
"We’re done," he said, voice flat. Cold. Like ice had replaced whatever heat had been there seconds before. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel⚑fire.net
I scrambled to move—to get OFF him—
But my injured hand buckled when I tried to brace myself.
Pain shot up my arm, sharp and sudden.
Vladimir’s hands were back on me instantly. Not on my hips this time—on my waist, steadying me as he sat up.
"Careful," he said quietly. His eyes found my hand. The one I’d punched him with. "You broke something."
"You’re not." His grip tightened fractionally as he helped me stand, rising with me in one fluid movement.
For a breath, we were standing too close. His hands still on my waist. My good hand braced against his chest.
The bond pulled TIGHT.
"Dmitri," he said, not looking away from me. "Help her set the bone before heals and let her rest. It has been a long day.."
The command cracked through the air like a whip.
I stepped back. Or tried to.
Vladimir’s hands lingered on my waist for half a second too long before he let go.
Like he didn’t WANT to release me.
Then his hands dropped.
I turned away quickly, cradling my injured hand against my chest, and walked toward Dmitri.
Vladimir stood in the center of the ring, perfectly still, watching me leave.
His jaw was already darkening where I’d hit him.
His eyes were burning.
With something else entirely.
"Lilith," Dmitri said quietly, touching my elbow. "Come on."
I let him guide me out.
The door closed behind us.
And I realized my Lunar Crest was still glowing.
Bright gold against my wrist.
Pulsing in time with my racing heart.
Dmitri twisted my wrist and two of fingers, before pulling it with a resounding crack. But I was left a distant ebb. My was left consumed with other thoughts. Racing thoughts of cold steady hands on my hips, probbing eyes, and a low voice that had no right making my heart skip a beat.
"The marriage bond was made incomplete," Dmitri suddenly began to say. Snapping me out of my Vladimir-induced daze. "But it wants to be completed anyway possible.
I blinked up at him, as he laid hand back down, eyes dark eyes piercing but someone gentle. The man was a juxtaposition made tangible. He was as unreadable as Vladimir, if not more. "It wants you bonded. It pays no mind to the politics or rules the duel. You will want the High Alpha."
"What happens if we DON’T complete it?" The question escaped before I could stop it.
Dmitri’s expression darkened. "The bond will drive you both mad trying. Until you both fully reject it."
Ice flooded my veins.
"So either I surrender now, or lose my mind later?" Or reject the bond, but that option did not settle well in my chest. According to our deal, we needed to bond, to keep Kustav’s hand off me by giving the bond that Kustav said I needed to ascend.
"Or," Dmitri said carefully, "you complete the bond on your OWN terms. Before it forces you."
I looked up sharply. "My own terms?"
"Decide what you want, Lilith. Then take it. Before the bond takes it for you."
Silence stretched between us.
Part of me recoiled at the thought—becoming a SLAVE to desire. Anchored to Vladimir whether I wanted it or not. Losing myself to something I couldn’t control.
A darker, more honest part—
Felt startlingly EXHILARATED by the prospect.