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A dark thought entered Zane’s head and his eyes narrowed. “What about you? How many people have you made dinner for?” Pavel chuckled. “Aside from my brother and my parents, only you, baby.”
He’d been calling him that a lot more frequently. Baby. It made Zane’s ears heat and he didn’t understand why. But he didn’t entirely dislike it either. “How many people have you called that before?”
He came over and held out a hand to Zane, but Zane glanced at it, still a bit miffed by the images his imagination had conjured of Pavel in bed with someone else, whispering sweet nothings into their ear instead. “Answer the question, Hart.”
“There’s no reason for you to be jealous.” “I’m not,” he snapped. “So you won’t care if I say I’ve called—” Pavel’s brow winged up when suddenly Zane’s hand was at his throat. “We’re playing nice tonight, remember, gorgeous?” “Tell me you weren’t just about to lie to get a reaction out of me and I’ll let go.”
“I haven’t shared my bed with anyone since you and I reunited.” “What does that mean?” Pavel sighed, his warm breath fanning across Zane’s cheek. “The last time I fucked someone who wasn’t you, I was seventeen.”
Zane didn’t want to dwell on the spark of relief knowing Pavel hadn’t been with anyone else brought him.
“Would you prefer I shapeshift into someone else? Kazimir, perhaps?” “Try it,” Zane growled, “I fucking dare you. See what happens.”
“I love when you get all possessive.” Pavel ran his hand through Zane’s hair and handed over the fork, waiting for him to finally take it back before turning to continue eating.
“You did it on purpose, didn’t you? Fucked me there so that Lyra would see.” It’d been their first time and Zane couldn’t help but feel used all of a sudden. He set his fork down and went to stand, but Pavel was quicker than him, slapping a hand over his thigh to keep him in place.
“I fucked you there because I knew a pool was how you’d lost your memories of me,” Pavel quietly explained. “It was cathartic for me, more than anything. Lyra never came to mind. I also knew I could distract you by holding you under, long enough to cut you open and slip the small tracking device I had custom made beneath your skin.” Zane felt some of the tension leave him. “Really?”
“Yeah, baby. Now,” he removed his hand and Zane instantly missed the warmth of his touch, “finish eating. I bought a dark cherry hot cocoa mix I’m dying for you to try.”
“That’s fine.” Pavel leaned back against the island bar, crossing his arms as Zane took over the cleaning. “I can, and I also happen to own a building with a five-star restaurant in it.”
“These aren’t just my things,” Pavel said. “They’re ours. Everything in this house and on this island. Everything back in Valeo as well. You own all that I have and all I’ll ever acquire. I’ve told you that before.” He’d said that he was Zane’s and Zane was his, sure, but…
“I don’t like a live audience,” he hated the hitch in his voice. “No one else is here,” Pavel reassured him. “No one else will ever be invited in. They’re just getting a glimpse, that’s all.”
Just before his cheek could connect with the table, his face was cradled by a warm palm and lowered. “No hitting your head,” Pavel chimed, sounding rather pleased with himself as he wandered around the table, “I remembered.”
That shouldn’t be a turn-on. Having all of his attention on him should not be hot.
“I’m showing you how badly I want you,” Pavel insisted. “Teaching you that giving in to me is the best way to gain what you want. It’s positive reinforcement at its finest.”
“Last I checked, you’re still waiting to be punished for leading me on all month. I really didn’t like having to stand there and watch you chat up your ex, gorgeous. Don’t even get me started on that sham of a date you went to at my club. I think I’ve been too nice to you lately. You’ve forgotten the most important rule in these games of ours.”
“What rule?” “You belong to me. To me, and only me.”
“Try.” Pavel draped his body over his and breathed against the curve of his neck. “Try, bashert. The more you run from me, the more desperate to own you I become. Today, I’ll mark you up all over. I’m going to leave physical, irrefutable proof of who you belong to. You can try to stop me, but you can’t. I’ve hit my limits. I have you where I want you, captured, naked, and alone. You’re mine to do with as I please, no matter how loudly you protest.”
“It was, but so is this. Talking right now isn’t necessary. Your wants don’t matter here, baby. Only mine do. And I want you. I want you so badly it hurts.”
“Yes, well, this time it’s happening because I’m losing myself a little. If I were a better man, I’d free you and tell you to lock yourself in a room away from me. But I’m not a good person, and there was never a chance of you escaping this.”
“I have no idea where your mind just wandered off to, gorgeous, but I’m warning you, whatever it is you think you’ve schemed up, let it go before I find out what it is and get really angry. I might be genetically programmed to want to take care of your sexual needs, but there’s nothing keeping me from making you suffer in the process. I can make it hurt. I like delivering pain. I’ve only been holding myself back all this while for you.”
“I’ve dreamed of dressing you up like this for years. You look so sexy adorned in chains. So…” “I believe the word you’re looking for is imprisoned,” Zane drawled. “Thanks, gorgeous.” “Don’t mention it.”
He sighed and dropped his hand, circling once more. “But that’s not really befitting a prince. Gold,” he snapped his fingers, “gold is much better. It also happens to go well with your complexion.”
“Even if Lyra gave him the go-ahead, I would never let him touch me.” “Don’t worry. That will be dealt with.” He hadn’t known that either, not until Zane had mentioned the deal with his grades.
“Are you afraid to become her Royal Consort, is that it? Do you want it but fear her too?” If Zane had feelings for Lyra, Pavel didn’t know what he’d do. He didn’t know what he could do.
People like Zane didn’t fall easily, didn’t grow attached. If he’d managed to develop a connection to Lyra, a real one involving emotional entanglements and everything, it’d be near impossible for anyone to sever them, let alone Pavel.
It’s always the hard way for you, isn’t it, baby? You’ve always got to push everyone past their limits just to see what will happen. Well, now that you’ve found out, how do you feel?” “Okay, okay, I get it.”
“How do you know I can?” “You’re the keyholder.” Oh. That was cute. Or actually… His eyes narrowed. “Have you played this game with someone else, Zane?”
“You were never caged by Kazimir Ambrosee, gorgeous,” he cut him off, figuring now was a great time for confessions. “He was never your keyholder. He was never your anything other than a boring fuck buddy to get you through the worst of your lust.”
“So, we’ll be even? I’ve been thinking a lot about what your brother said about you. About how you need an eye for an eye. I’m not sure this is good enough to satisfy you…” “It is.”
“Whatever I want?” Pavel danced his fingers across the center of Zane’s chest. “Yes!” He nodded vehemently. “Whatever you want. I’ll do it. I’ll give it to you. Just. Make. It. Stop.”
“It’s going to happen, baby.” His hand settled on the cage. “I went through a lot of trouble to make sure it would. I need the whole planet to know who you belong to, and I need them to know it fast. Most of all, I need you to hurry up and realize it. If you think about it, you need that too.” “Do I?”
“A public claim?” Zane sounded out of breath, even more so than a moment ago. Was it fear? Or desire?
“Wanting me badly enough you feel the need to show the entire university who I belong to?” Zane snorted. “Yeah. That’s so hot. I hate it. But it’s so hot. I love feeling wanted. Desperately. Are you desperate, Pavel?” “Gods, yes.” “Then okay.”
Zane began to mindlessly beg, and Pavel couldn’t tell what it was for. If he wanted him to stop or keep going. So he kept going.
“What did you do?!” Zane demanded. “Marked what’s mine.”
Recalling that the cameras were still rolling, Pavel hit the button to shut them off. There was no reason to share this. This moment, soft and sweet between the two of them, wasn’t meant for anyone else.
“Pavel.” Zane angled his head at him over his shoulder, still unable to see with the blindfold on. “We’re even now, right? For…everything?” It was cute that he didn’t want to risk bringing up that month or the dates he’d gone on. “Yeah,” he smiled at him. “We’re even, gorgeous.” They were so, so much better than that.
He should be furious. It’d hurt, he’d been marked without his permission, and it’d been made with his knife. And yet… Zane’s fingers passed over the cut, the sting only making him tip his head in curiosity. Damn it. He liked it.
Well, that was until Pavel. He topped everything. Every experience Zane had had with any other partner, completely blown out of the water. They were incomparable. Which was so annoying.
“What are you doing out of bed?” a sleepy voice drifted toward him a moment before Pavel entered the bathroom rubbing at his eyes. He came over and hugged him from behind, clearly uncaring of the way Zane growled at him in warning and stiffened at his touch. He buried his face against his neck and clung. “Come back.”
He’d dressed in a loose forest green shirt and a pair of pajama pants in the same shade that had been left out, hating that his first thought after stepping into them had been whether or not Pavel was dressed in the matching set.
He frowned. It was a person. A man with his face buried between his arms, the top of his head barely peeking out from beneath a bundle of blankets that obscured practically all of his body and concealed his identity.
Was this a past lover? Someone Pavel had cared about? Or a mere infatuation he’d sketched on a whim? Hadn’t he promised there’d been no one but him?
What was there to be envious of? So what if Pavel had lucked out and his adoption had been to a welcoming and loving family? Not everyone could be so lucky, and besides, it wasn’t like Zane was unfortunate.
There were dozens of drawings inside, maybe hundreds, and it took him a moment longer than it should have for him to recognize what he was seeing. Himself.
“Tell me about these.” Zane set the box down, pretending not to notice when Pavel instantly took it, and picked up a few of the photos of him sleeping. “These. Explain these.” “Sometimes I…” He cleared his throat. “I like to sneak into your room and watch you.”
Which meant…those rings had been here well before Aodhan had shot him and he’d learned Zane needed to marry someone to escape from Lyra. “You,” he took in all of the stuff and let out a low whistle, “are certifiably insane. And you must really, really like me.”
