Page 26 of Fourth

IT WASN’Tviolent. It wasn’t cruel. It was inevitable.

Riv’En traced his hand up Maya’s thigh, not hard, not demanding. Just a stroke. Adetermined pass of his palm, gliding up from the curve of her knee to the inside of her thigh. Her body shuddered under his touch, asharp intake of breath escaping her lips. She trembled, every inch of her hypersensitive, and it did something to him—dragged heat lower in his spine, tightening until it stretched thin aswire.

He didn’t rush. Each pass wasn’t meant to overwhelm. It was meant to make her sense him. Every inch. Every flicker of contact. Her skin flushed beneath his hands, her breath stuttering faster. Her pulse raced against his fingertips.

When his hand slid between her legs, there was no hesitation. No pause. His fingers traced a line up her inner thigh, higher, until he found the slick heat waiting for him. She gasped, her body jerking into his touch. Riv’En stiffenedagainst the immediate surge that rose inside him. Ancient drive. That relentless Elaroin domination scraped raw by the scent of herneed.

Slow. He made himself moveslow.

His rough fingertips slid through her slickness, spreading it, testing it. One stroke. Another. Each movement drew a sharper response from her, hips moving, hands clutching at his shoulders. Her nails dug into his skin, but he barely registeredit.

His focus narrowed on the heat between her thighs, to the way her body writhed and tensed beneath him. It wasn’t domination sharpening anymore. It was slipping. Fracturing. Each flex against his grip, each shudder in her breath, pushed him closer to an edge he wasn’t sure he could hold. His body knew what came next. His mind fought to stay steady, but it was a losing battle.

Her breath came in uneven bursts, each one harsher than the last. Her skin flushed dark with arousal, tension vibrating through every line of her body. And still he watched, holding himself steady, tracking every shift of her body, every subtle arch of her back. Measured, yes, but only barely. His focus hung by a thread now, stretched so tight his entire body vibrated with it. And when her body reached the edge of breaking, her legs trembled and her breath caught in that final frantic pulse, he knew it wastime.

He pulled his handaway.

Riv’En tightened his grip on her, holding her steady, branding her with that final contact. And then, with a last sweep of his thumb over the curve of her hip, he releasedher.

One last time.

“Run,” he whispered harshly.

Her breath shuddered. Her body shuddered like a live current beneath his hands, heat radiating off her in waves he could almost taste. But she didn’t freeze. Her eyes locked onto his, wild and primitive, then she ran. Her camouflage flickered in and out, her form shimmering and breaking apart withneed.

Riv’En let her go.

But only for a moment.

He needed her too much to let her go for long or very far. This time when he caught her, there was no warning. He appeared behind her, arms wrapping around her, lifting her off her feet. Her back slammed against his chest, soft but unyielding. Her breath rushed out, but she didn’t struggle. Not really. Her body arched back into his as if she alreadyknew.

His mouth brushed her ear. “Enough.”

His voice came rougher than he intended, threaded with a need too old and deep to suppress—not just warrior’s drive, but something more ancient, more primal. The kind woven into his bloodline, into the marrow of every Vettian and Elaroin.

He turned, carrying her deeper into the trees, each step marked and sure, until they broke into a clearing.Sunlight cut down through the canopy, painting gold across grass and shadows. Riv’En registered it first as terrain—open ground, clear sightlines. But the longer he stood there, holding her in his arms, the more he acknowledged the rightness ofit.

This clearing seemed chosen, as if the ship or the planet itself had placed them there for a reason. Aquiet space outside the chase, outside the fight, where the only thing left was the two of them. Her body against his. Her heartbeat under his hands. The inevitable waiting. Dust motes floated in the air, hanging like suspended stars.

Riv’En dropped to his knees, lowering her down onto the grass. His hands didn’t leave herskin.

Her heartbeat pushed steady and strong beneath his palms, faster than before but not panicked. It echoed his own. Her body burned beneath his touch, heat radiating like a living flame, not just from arousal but from the bond humming between them, old and inescapable. Having her under his hands wasn’t just contact. It was confirmation. That she was his. That she was meant tobe.

He didn’t speak. Words were uselessnow.

His mouth found hers, rough and hot. He consumed her breath like it was the only thing that existed. And for a second, he sensed her mind splinter—torn between surrender and fight.

But her hands rose, clutching at his shoulders, pulling him closer.

She wasn’t running anymore.

His hands followed the curve of her spine, memorizing the shape of her, every hollow, every soft place. One hand cupped her hip, the other dragging down until he gripped her ass, pulling her tighter against him. His cock slid against her thigh, thick and hot as it pulsed betweenthem.

He watched her as he moved, eyes burning bright, every breath sharpened by her scent. Her Mating Flame glowed now—just above her heart, low on the inside of her left collarbone. Riv’En saw it pulse in time with her heartbeat, and desire tightened low in hisgut.

He recognized what it meant. Not as a theory. Not as protocol. The Mating Flame wasn’t just some genetic marker or ancient story passed down through Elaroin legend. It was thebond. His bond. Hers. It had ignited. And there was no turning back from itnow.

For a flickering moment, it reached through him like a second pulse. Not just hers. His too. The bond was not a one-sided signal. It was alive between them, roiling through his blood, rewriting the cadence of every bit of knowledge he had ever relied on. It was a claim—hers on him, his on her—burning steady, undeniable.

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