"Tell me to stop," I say. My voice scrapes low, guttural. "Say the word, Sharma. Say 'back off' and I will. I'll walk away. I'll let you poison your system with those chemicals. I'll watch you choose loneliness over—"
"Over what?" Her chin lifts, but her pupils are saucers, black swallowing brown. "Over you? Over being your convenient fuck while you play at being the fun brother? I'd rather—"
"You'd rather what?" I lean in until our foreheads nearly touch. Her breath gusts against my mouth as she huffs. "Tell me. Look me in the eye and tell me you don't want this. That you don't smell like slick right now. That your thighs aren't aching."
Her silence screams.
I inhale, dragging her scent deep—hibiscus and sugar, the omega breaking through, wet and ready and furious about it. My cock throbs, hard enough to split my zipper. The knot swells at my base, heavy and insistent.
"You're lying," I whisper. "To both of us."
She doesn't answer. Her hands fist tighter in my shirt, pulling me closer even as her mouth opens to protest.
I don't give her the chance.
I bend and lift her, one arm behind her knees, the other banding her waist. She weighs nothing. She weighs everything. Her yelp cuts off as I crush her against my chest and stride down the path, away from guest services, toward her bungalow.
"Put me down," she gasps, but her legs hook over my hip, ankles locking at the small of my back. Her heat presses against my waist, scalding through the fabric.
"No."
"Roan—"
"Last night wasn't enough." I kick open the gate to her private entrance. "You want to leave? Fine. But you're not drugging yourself to do it. You're not running from this because you're scared."
"Fuck you."
"Soon."
I carry her through the darkened living room, nearly tripping on a nest of sheets, towels, and blankets on the floor. Into the bedroom that still smells like us. I change directions. I was heading towards the mattress but I can't walk past the nest. Not when it means that some part of her does acknowledge my claim. She wanted to surround herself in my scent. In our scent. I want the same fucking thing. I want to drown in her sweet aroma, surrounded by slick. I want to climb into her nest and never leave.
I lower her. Pulling more pillows from the bed so that she has a cushion to protect her from my darkest intentions. She bounces, hair wild, dress rucked up her thighs.
Her scent floods the room—pussy and rage and want.
I tear my shirt over my head. She scrambles backward, but her legs spread, knees falling open in biological betrayal. The air between us hums with the frequency of the bond, that terrible, perfect resonance that says *mine* and *yours* and *now*.
"Don't you dare," she pants, but she's already reaching for me, fingers scrabbling at my belt.
I crawl into her nest and catch her wrists, pinning them above her head with one hand. With the other, I rip her underwear down her legs—lace, expensive, soaked. The fabric catches on her ankle before I fling it aside.
"Tell me to stop," I challenge again, dragging my nose up her throat. She arches, spine bowing off the pillow, presenting her neck in submission even as her mouth forms curses.
"Last time," she lies, her voice breaking. "This is the last time."
"Sure." I free my cock, heavy and weeping, and notch it against her entrance. She's dripping, slick coating my shaft before I even push. "Say it again when I'm knot-deep."
I thrust in one brutal stroke.
She screams. Not from pain—from recognition. Her pussy clamps around me, wet and furious, muscles fluttering in protest and welcome. I bottom out, hips flush against hers, and grind, letting the knot swell to press against her opening.
"Fuck," she sobs, her head thrashing. "Fuck, fuck, you feel—"
"How do I feel?" I pull back and slam forward, chasing the angle that makes her toes curl. "Tell me."
"Like—" She bites her lip, drawing blood. I lick it away, copper and salt, and she moans into my mouth. "Like you're trying to break me."
"I'm trying to fix you." I roll my hips, setting a punishing rhythm. We rut in cracking staccato beats. "I'm trying to fix us."
