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“That sounds dangerous.”
“It’s supposed to.”
His eyes flash brighter.
Then he kisses me back properly.
The controlled tension inside him uncoils gradually beneath my hands, not into frenzy but into responsiveness. Every breath we share drags the bond deeper, threading heat through my nerves in long steady currents instead of jagged violent spikes. I feel his power changing shape around me, infernal energy folding inward rather than exploding outward.
Good.
That’s exactly what I wanted.
I slide one hand upward into his hair, fingers brushing the base of one horn where exhaustion has weakened the glamour completely. The contact sends another violent pulse through the bond. Corin groans softly against my mouth, and the sound vibrates all the way through me.
“Isolde,” he says hoarsely, pulling back just enough to look at me. “You feel—”
“I know.”
The room itself feels warmer now. Firelight catches gold beneath his skin in slow pulses instead of uncontrolled flares. The hunger no longer claws outward searching for escape. It coils around our shared breathing rhythm instead, attentive and terrifyingly focused on me.
I guide him backward toward the narrow couch beside the hearth.
He follows immediately.
Good decision-making remains compromised.
We settle together in front of the fire while the bond keeps reshaping itself between us. Corin kisses me slowly and deeply, his hands gradually losing their fearful restraint as confidence replaces panic. Every measured touch redirects another sharp edge inside him. Every steady breath smooths another violent current into controlled heat.
Corin rests his forehead briefly against mine while his hands tighten carefully at my waist.
“You’re stabilizing me,” he says quietly.
“No,” I whisper, brushing my thumb along his jaw. “We’re stabilizing each other.”
His eyes close again.
The bond sinks deeper beneath the words, settling between us with fierce certainty. Corin’s power no longer feels like a hurricane battering against its own walls. It settles beneath my senses in a controlled coil, strong and dangerous but finally directed instead of drowning him.
The difference shows immediately in his posture. His shoulders lower. His breathing steadies naturally instead of by force.
When he opens his eyes again, the gold remains but the violence behind it has quieted.
“There you are,” I murmur.
A faint smile touches his mouth. “Was I missing?”
“Loudly.”
“That sounds embarrassing.”
“It was exhausting.”
He laughs softly and kisses me again, slower this time, warmth spreading through the bond in steady waves.
Corin mixes urgency and care as he disrobes me. When my clothes fall away and he gazes on my next breasts, his eyes flare with unmitigated heat. I only have to give the slightest pull on the back of his head and he buries his face in my soft, pliant flesh. I gasp, letting my eyes close as his hot mouth grazes my nipple.
His hands slide up my ribcage, cupping my breasts and then kneading them. I exult in this worship of my body, and through the bond I can feel how much he wants this. How much he wants me. It’s heady, flattering, yet somehow grounding all at once.
