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Which is suspicious.
Nothingthatheavy should movethatquietly.
Kai steps up beside the door, blinking into the room.
“Who the hell needs a panic room this big? What the fuck are you hiding in here, Vale?”
“Would explain the gate situation,” Ash mutters, arms crossed like he’s trying to physically restrain himself from judging everything. “I guess the Vales collect problems like they collect properties.”
Lucian doesn’t even flinch, never mind rise to the bait - instead, he steps aside and gestures for Theo to follow.
The room is huge. Definitely nicer than my apartment.
But make no mistake: it screamscontainment with a side of decorative hostage.
Soft grey walls. Mirrored window. Lighting set togently interrogate.
A bed so pristinely made I’m positive it’s never seen sex, sleep, or sunlight. A desk I won’t be using. An armchair I might weep in.
And an en suite bathroom that probably costs more than my soul.
Kai whistles under his breath. “Lucian, if I had a room like this in my house, I’d be getting alotmore creative with how I used it.”
Ash doesn’t even look at him. “If you had a room like this, it’d smell like beer and bad decisions.”
Lucian’s voice cuts in, sharp as a blade. “This room is for control.Notindulgence.”
“Guess that depends on your definition.” Kai hums. “My safe wordistechnically ‘indulgence'.”
Theo lowers me to the bed with the kind of reverent care you’d reserve for handling cursed objects. My bare thighs hit the cool sheets. My brain, however, is still overheating.
The heat pulses again - low, cruel, unstoppable.
I whimper.
I’m soaked.Again.
“I can’t,” I whisper, voice raw and thin as paper. “I can’t hold it -”
Theo pulls back and I whine. Yes,whine. Like a spoiled showdog who just got told 'no treat'.
“She’s spiraling,” Ash observes like a man delivering a weather report about a tornado made of sex.
“She’s trying not to,” Theo bites out, crouching beside me. He brushes my hair back, his hands shaking just slightly. “She’s still fighting.”
“Which is probably the problem,” Lucian says flatly. “The more she resists, the harder she crashes.”
Kai grins. “Wow. That hits. That’s me every time I agree to shots after midnight.”
“She needsrelief,” Ash mutters. “Fast.”
“I volunteer,” Kai says immediately, raising his hand.
Theo’s head snaps toward him. “You evenbreatheon her -”
“Shehasto choose,” Lucian interrupts, calm but iron-edged. “Not instinct.Her.”
Despite the haze, the ache, and the fact that I might spontaneously combust, I push up on my elbows, chest heaving like I’ve just run a marathon while being chased by horniness.
