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Kaia didn’t know what to do. The only part of her she could move was her chest, barely. She could arch up just an inch or so, but her arms and legs were immobilized beneath her opponent.
But Kaia had long learned not to thrash or panic. He only got more excited if she did that. Staying calm didn’t give him the same pleasure. To Kaia, that was a win as well as a safety mechanism.
“What the fuck, Orion?” She wheezed as he slammed his chest into hers, forcing the breath from her lungs.
His hair had fallen, shrouding his eyes, but she still felt them on her, and they were freezing. They’d never done this before. Not like that—they’d been training standing grapples. Doing this lying down was… wrong.
What she hated even more was the bite in his voice as he tilted his head to the side. “Go on then, princess. Kick my ass.”
This wasn’t training, and they knew it.
He wants me to struggle.
Twisting her neck to create distance from his mocking glare, Kaia tried to notice any obvious weak spots in his position. But she couldn’t even try to knee him anywhere.
She picked at the side of her thumb with her index finger—the little movement she could manage—wincing through the pain in the tendons of her locked-down wrist. She saw no way out of this, and his goddamn job was to teach her, not expect her to do it on the first try. He was just taking revenge.
“You’re an asshole.” Her voice was hoarse, and even she was surprised by the sting of angry tears behind her eyes. What the fuck was wrong with her? She looked off to the side, staring at the corded forearm in front of her nose.
“You need to learn not to get cocky. Don’t fuck around, princess. If you escape, it’s only because I let you. You’re weak, Kaia, but it’s not your fault. Everyone is. All you can do—” he grunted, pinning her down with an elbow and freeing his hand to grab her chin, yanking her face to his “—all you can do is get strong enough to handle it. Understand?”
His hand on her cheeks was a bruising clamp. The hair in front of his face shifted, revealing one blue orb flicking to her mouth as she blinked away the wet rage pooling in her eyes.
“Do you understand, Kaia?” he demanded.
“Uh-huh,” she couldn’t get actual words out with him holding her mouth like that, but the grunt of ascent seemed to be enough because he let go of her face and instead let his hand rake down her neck, then throat, and then lower.
Kaia didn’t really think through what she did next. Her body simply reacted without asking her head for permission. With a sharp intake of air, she pitched her head forward. She saw his eyes widen before they blurred out of her view. He’d been just close enough above her for her teeth to connect with his neck. She bit, and she made it count. Kaia kept her teeth clamped into his flesh even as he tensed under her jaws, latching on and sucking the spit gathering at her lips back into her mouth.
“What thefuck!” Orion jerked back, but Kaia didn’t let go. Her head rose a few inches off the floor as he tried to pull away. Ringing exploded in her ears and her squeezed-shut eyelids blotched white as he slammed back to the ground, hitting the mat hard. But still she held on.
He finally released her wrists to grab the back of her hair and haul her off of him. Her teeth felt they were going to break with the force it took, because a part of her didn’t want to give in. Not this time. That part wanted to take it all the way, to hold on until he had to rip his fucking throat to be free of her because fuck him, he deserved it.
But another, harder yank at her scalp made her falter and loosen her jaw. It was enough for him to peel her off. Kaia took advantage of his momentary shock and swung a sloppy punch at his temple. It connected with a satisfying crack and a bolt of pain shooting up her forearm, but she had no time to dwell on it. She was already twisting out from beneath him.
She didn’t actually get away. Orion regrouped fast enough to grab her before she did, clasp her ankle and hoist her back, driving her shirt up her stomach before she could so much as clamber to a crawl. He pinned her face down beneath him. Steel hands ground her upper arms ruthlessly into the mat.
His next move was worse than all the hurt radiating from everywhere.
He rolled his hips against her, grinding his terrifying hard-on into her rear, and fuck if her first instinct wasn’t to shift back to meet him for just a split second. She stopped that shit real fast, but it had been enough. The sound that escaped his throat was something bare, splayed raw for her ears, and it was followed by a strained growl: “Not goddamn now, Kaia. Don’t fuck with me.”
Her nerves were aflame, and the batshit crazy part of her was screaming to disobey. Make him break enough to break her. Chase the friction back against him. Catch his eye and dare him to do it.
Kaia pushed the crazy way down. Her cheek was flat against the mat, and she resisted the instinct to look back over her shoulder. See if there was anything human in his eyes, or if that was gone now.
She got a hold of herself. She had to be careful.
Don’t look him in the eyes.
She flopped her legs and hips limply to the mat.
Don’t struggle.
She forced her body to relax under the monster above her, tension pooling out of her and into the floor.
Don’t make it worse.
Kaia breathed. Slowly. She smoothed her expression and stared at a random spot just ahead—a little rip in the edge of the mat.
