Kael's POV:
His breath hitched, then broke.
And mine followed.
The world narrowed into the shape of him. His gasps, the way he clung, the tears that shimmered in his lashes, the fingers that dug crescents into my shoulder like he never wanted to let go. Like he didn't know whether to pull me in closer or push me away.
And me?
I gave him everything. Every heartbeat. Every part of me. My name, my body, my silence, my restraint?
Gone.
Surrendered. To him. For him.
Even now, as the final tremor quaked through our bodies, my hands refused to let him go. I held him close, protective, possessive, reverent, my lips brushing his temple as if sealing a vow I hadn't spoken aloud.
"You're mine now, aren't you?"The whisper left me before I could stop it.
I closed my eyes. Breathed.
Let the thunder in my veins settle. Let the fire subside. Let him melt against me like he belonged there.
Because he did.
*****
I shifted, glancing down at him. Bare, beautiful, breathless. His body is a canvas of our shared hunger. His skin flushed in places my mouth had claimed. His eyes closed, lashes resting like black feathers against his cheeks.
And yet, a shiver ran down my spine.
Not from him.
No.
From… something else.
An unnatural tingle crawled up the back of my neck, like the press of eyes. Like something was watching me. Judging. Breathing down my metaphorical neck with pure condemnation.
"...Hm?"
I glanced to the side, the shadows shifting around the bedroom.
No footsteps. No sound. Just flickering candlelight and the rhythmic hush of our breathing.
Still, the sensation didn't fade.
It felt like a presence. Furious and unrelenting.
Like I'd been caught with my hand in the goddamn cookie jar. Or more accurately... my entire soul buried in someone else's.
I slowly turned my head toward the corner near the bed. Nothing.
But the hairs on my arms stood on end.
My eyes narrowed.
"...Strange."
The air wasn't cold. It wasn't even hostile. It was just… vibrational. Like a static hum. Like someone was flailing in the void screaming "YOU HUNKY MONSTER, HOW DARE YOU CORRUPT HIM."
I smirked a little to myself.
"…Weird."
But I couldn't shake it.
And– wait. That twitch in the candle flame?
That fleeting, faint shimmer?
Like something… pixelated?
My brows furrowed, suddenly alert. My body went still beneath the post-bliss haze. I reached instinctively for the dagger beneath the pillow. But the sensation– whatever it was, vanished the moment I focused on it.
Just like that. Gone.
As if it had never been there.
"...Huh."
I looked down at the boy curled in my arms. Still trembling slightly, but slowly falling into sleep. My hand caressed his back, soothing.
"Was it… just me?"
Or…
Was there something more?
Something unnatural?
I brushed my lips against his brow again and whispered,
"I don't care who watches. I won't let anyone take you."
His fingers twitched in his sleep. And I swore…
Out of the corner of my eye…
A faint middle finger flicked up in midair and vanished.
...No. That had to be my imagination.
Right?