Chapter 28 · Ch28

Morning "Don't move," Callum said, thumb on the live mark at my wrist, and I moved anyway — toward him — because morning light on a claimed body was not a reason to put armor back on.

"I want you without a council," I said.

"Without a bride. Without a lie." He let me push him into the sheets. I climbed. I asked. He asked back.

"Look at me while I take you," I told him, and I sat down on him slow, the longest merge, no performance of Alpha and archive. We stayed there, talking with breath, coming apart together, marking like a promise instead of a weapon. After, I said, "If they call a session, we go late."

"We . Please. I want you. Don't stop. The talk went low. That's it. I've got you. Come for me. He shoved my shirt off. Clothes already wrecked. Full weight covering me. I trembled and still pulled him in. He slid inside because I opened the door this time. Slow, then a rhythm we chose, tight/slick, no audience. We changed nothing about the plot and everything about the pace. I came with him, marked, asking, answering.