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“This pain tells you who holds control.”

He held tight.

“It’s the power in restraint. The space between can begiven…and what can betaken.”

His grip deepened. Harder. He pulled her head back completely, his body moving in behind hers—heat at her spine, mouth at her ear. “And the third kind of pain,” Omnis whispered, “opens.”

Her stomach dropped with the skip of her pulse. His grip was tight, inescapable, commanding. But the way he breathed against her neck—Oh God.

He pulled tighter. Lips hovered just above her skin. Heat. Breath. Power that had nothing to do with force—onlycontrol.

“This pain,” he murmured. “It strips away the walls you think protect you.”

Her stomach tightened.

Her chest heaved.

“It makes you ready.” His grip eased—not fully, just a breath. Enough to make her feel his choice to hold her there. “Now…tell me what you’ve learned, Kitten.”

She swallowed hard. Struggled to find words in her scrambled brain. “Pain...” Her voice wavered, cracked. “Pain...canreshape you.”

Omnis’ breath came low and approving. “Good girl.”

His grip tightened sharply. His mouth brushed her throat. Then he kissed her. A slow, firm press of those lips on her raging pulse.

She gasped sharply, her whole body now arched into the hold.

Omnis exhaled against her skin.

“Lesson complete.”

But he didn’t release her.

“Do you feel it?” he asked at her ear, like a secret. “How it reshaped you?”

Zero’s quiet chuckle rolled smoothly from behind her, rich with satisfaction, as if something crucial had finally clicked into place.

Cat drew a slow, steady breath, awareness prickling across her skin as Omnis stood before her again, steady gaze silently anchoring her in place. “You understand now?” Omnis’ voice was quiet, controlled, resonating deeply within her.

Cat exhaled shakily with a nod. “Yes,” she said, meeting his gaze, every fiber in her tingling with all her newfound clarity.

CHAPTER FOUR

Dead Reckoning

Cat lay flat on her back, arms stretched out over the blanket, her breath slow and deliberate. If she didn’t move, if she stayed perfectly still, maybe she could keep herself from completely unraveling. Maybe she could pretend her body wasn’t still buzzing, her skin still burning from phantom touches that weren’t real.

Her chest rose and fell in measured breaths, but her mind refused to obey the same discipline. Thoughts scattered, looping back to the same thing again and again. The weight of Omnis’ hand in her hair, the slow, deliberate pull. The tension of it. The sharpness. The pressure that somehow didn’t just hurt—it rewired her.

And then… the kiss.

Her stomach twisted, legs shifting involuntarily beneath the blanket as a new wave of heat swept through her. The memory was too vivid, too sharp—his lips, the press of them against her skin, the way his fingers stayed tangled in her hair like he owned it. Owned her.

Cat squeezed her eyes shut.

They’re all the same people.

They’re all the same people.