Page 129 of GlitchBorn Heart

“Because I wanted to know if my desire could be coded. If longing could turn into data.” His voice lowers. “And because I couldn’t stop thinking about you after we met at STATIK.”

My breath catches. “You’re obsessed,” I tease.

He snaps back to his practice. “Yes.” Zero denial. “So I’ve been told.”

I finally speak the question I’ve been choking on since the moment I saw that mask in his apartment. “The holo-girl. A PleazureHolo? Why did you tie her up like that?”

Kael doesn’t stop, doesn’t withdraw. “You mean why did I tie you up?”

His expression hardens into something more calculated. He snaps a block, palm flattened, inches from my face. “Control,” he says simply. “She was coded for dominance. I wanted discipline.”

“What?!” I snap, heat flooding my cheeks. “Control? You were very dominant, Kael. Binding someone, watching them squirm? What does that do for you?” I coax him to share.

His lips twitch. “Focus. The same as any fight. You restrain your opponent or your partner until the only option is surrender. In the dojo, in the RedRoom, it’s no different. The body only reveals its truth when it’s pushed to the edge of what it can endure.”

The calm way he says it makes goosebumps raise. He isn’t ashamed. He’s telling me he likes it.

My eyes widen. “Do you like it? Does it turn you on?” My voice gets higher as if I’m daring him to play one of his games with me.

He continues moving through his form. “It makes my cock hard if that’s what you’re asking.”

I bite my bottom lip, ashamed that I’m so aroused talking to him about this. “You think tying someone up is the same as sparring?”

He freezes. His gaze darkens, pinning me to the step I’m sitting on. “Yes. Because both teach you where the line is and what happens when you cross it.”

I shake my head, a half-laugh escaping. “That’s not training. That’s a kink.” I smile, barely able to contain my excitement.

Kael drops to his knees in front of me. His voice is a low growl that ignites every nerve ending in my body. The scent of his sweat mixed with warm spice floods my senses. “You think mastery and desire are separate things, Lyra? They’re not. I train to control my fists, my blade. But when I tie someone up, I train to control their desire. It may be a kink...but it’s also discipline.”

For a moment, I pause. “Martial arts, that’s what this is really about? Not the fact that you’re getting your rocks off?”

Kael nods, eyes unblinking. “Maybe. It all comes back to the same thing. Restraint. Power isn’t about how hard you hit; it’s about how much you hold back. The RedRoom was just another mat. Another form. But with really good sex as a reward.”

My mouth goes dry. “So, what am I, then? Another sparring partner? Another lesson?”

The look he gives me is so intense I feel it drag me under. “No.” He says it so low it sounds dangerous. “You’re the exception.”

His words echo in my mind: You’re the exception.

I swallow hard, readying for the wicked game we’re about to play. My pulse heightens. “You think you’ve got it all figured out, don’t you? Do you have me figured out?”

His smile is still threatening. “Not yet. But I will.” He leans in closer, his voice smoky. “So, tell me, Little Taiyō. What gets your rocks off? What makes you aroused...makes you soaking wet?” He emphasizes the last two words.

I clench my thighs. I shouldn’t tell him. I should lie. It’s not like we’re dating or anything, right? But my body is telling me I want this. The truth slips out like a confession I can’t stop. “Masks. Masked men,” I whisper, looking up to the display on his wall. His brows lift, and I force myself to keep going. “No, really. Not knowing who’s wearing it. The danger of not knowing who you’re with. The reveal of who’s behind it at the last second. It’s...hot.”

What the fuck, Lyra. Why are you telling him what gets you off?

Kael could make me forget my own name.

His lips curve like he knows he’s already won our game. “So, that night in the RedRoom...”

“Don’t!” I cut in, heat flooding my face. “Don’t use it against me. I know I’m like some stalker or something.”

“I won’t.” His tone shifts to a softer one, though the glint in his eyes promises he’s already going to use the information to his advantage. “Go on. What else makes your pussy throb, Taiyō?”

I bite my lip again, hating how shaky my voice sounds. “I like praise. The other night when you praised me, called me your good girl for winning our game? It unravels me, Kael.”

Oh, My Stars. Did I just say that out loud too?