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The rest of dinner is a blur of tension and awkward conversation, but I’m only half paying attention. All I can focus on is Mal’s hand on my thigh, the feeling of his fingers pressed against my skin, grounding me and pulling me further into the dark, dangerous world we’ve built for ourselves.
After dinner, there’s more drinks, and of course dessert, and a bit more chatter. But eventually Sota announces he’s going home. Kir and Isaak depart soon after to their hotel in central Kyoto.
I love him to bits, but mercifully, they take Damian with them.
When they’re gone, Mal stands from the table, conspicuously holding my hand for the rest of them—if they still weren’t aware of what was going on between us—to see. Then, wordlessly, with my face throbbing as I shoot Annika a grin, Mal leads me from the room out of the house, and back to the guesthouse.
He ushers me in and then steps back outside for a moment. When he returns, the tension between us shifts, morphing into something heavier and more dangerous. Mal pulls me close, hishands gripping my waist as he presses me against the wall, his body crowding mine, and I can see the possessiveness burning in his eyes.
“Just so we’re fucking clear,” he growls, his words vibrating through me. “You’remine. I’m not fucking sharing you with anyone.”
I swallow hard. “Okay, just so long asyou’reclear that Damian’s like a brother to me. It’s not?—”
“Are you related by blood?”
I frown. “What?”
“Is he a blood relation. Do you share DNA. Were his parents your parents.”
I roll my eyes. “No?—”
“Then he’snotyour brother,” Mal grunts, his voice rougher now. “He’s not your brother, and he sure as hell isn’t mine. He’s just another man trying to take whatbelongsto me.”
There’s something dark and raw in the way he says it that sends a shiver down my spine. But it’s not fear—it’s a twisted kind of excitement, a pull I can’t explain, like I’m addicted to the madness that is Mal Ulstäd.
He presses his body closer, pinning me to the wall as his hands trail up my sides, his touch possessive and firm. “I won’t share you, Freya,” he growls again, his voice a low rasp in my ear. “I don’t care if he sees you as a sister or what your relationship is with him. To me, he’s just competition. And I. Don’t. Lose.”
I should be pulling away, telling him to stop being so controlling, but the truth is, I don’t want to and I’m not sure I could if I tried.The intensity of his gaze, the sheer force of his will, pulls me in deeper every single time.
“Mal...” I whisper, my voice trembling with a tangle of emotions I can barely sort through. “It’snotlike that with Damian. He’s always been protective of me, but that’s it. He’s the one that got Annika and I out of running scams and trying to steal watches, introduced us to Kir… He gave us the life we have now.”
His grip tightens slightly, and his eyes flash with something dangerous, possessive and fierce. “Just the same,” he growls, his voice rougher. “You’remine. Not his. Nobody else’s. Just mine.”
There’s an intensity in his words that should terrify me, but instead, stirs something deep inside me—something dark that I’ve been trying to deny. As much as I want to push back and tell him to ease up, part of me craves this—the way he claims me so ferociously and makes me feel like I’m the only thing in the world that matters.
“You like this, don’t you?” he murmurs, as if reading my thoughts. “Youlikethat I won’t share you with anyone.”
I swallow hard.
He’s right. And I hate that he’s right.
But I don’t say anything. I can’t. Instead, I just stare up at him, my heart pounding, my body betraying me as the truth settles deep in my chest. I do like it. And I want everything he’s offering, even if it’s dangerous and twisted.
Mal’s lips curl into a dark, satisfied smile, his hand sliding around to the back of my neck, pulling me closer. “You’re mine,” he whispers in a low, possessive growl that sends a shiver down my spine. “And I’m never letting you go.”
His mouth crashes to mine, and the rest of the world falls away.
Later,as we lie together in the dark, the silence between us feels heavy with all the things we still haven’t said. I can feel the weight of Mal’s arm draped over my waist, the slow rise and fall of his chest against my back. There’s a stillness in the air, but I know it won’t last.
I turn slightly, glancing up at him in the dim light. His eyes are closed, but I can tell he’s not asleep. There’s too much tension in his body. He’s still brooding, caught up in his own thoughts.
“Mal?” I whisper.
His eyes open slowly.
“Why are you like this?” I ask softly, my fingers tracing the lines of his arm as it rests around me. “Why don’t you let anyone in?”
His expression tightens slightly, as if my question has touched something raw inside him.
