He kisses me like it’s a punishment.

Hard. Bruising. Furious.

Like he wants to make me regret every second that brought us here and can’t help tasting me anyway.

I bite his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood and he groans against my mouth, the sound guttural, almost broken. His hand fists in my hair, dragging my head back so he can look at me, and his eyes—gods, his eyes—they aren’t cold now.

They’re wildfire.

“Tell me to stop,” he rasps, voice shredded.

I drag my teeth over my bottom lip, my pulse thundering like I’ve stepped off another cliff.

“Finish what you started,” I breathe.

His mouth is on mine again, brutal and demanding, and this time when he kisses me, it’s not careful—it’s catastrophic.

Ambrose’s mouth is savage when it crashes back to mine, no more games, no more restraint. His kiss isn’t a question—it’s a brand. Possession, punishment, inevitability all stitched into the brutal way he claims my lips.

He shoves me back onto the bed, body covering mine in a blur of heat and fury, hands sliding up my ribs like he’s mapping out the places he wants to wreck. His grip bruises as he fists the hem of my shirt and drags it up, over my head, flinging it somewhere behind him without care.

I rake my nails down his chest in answer, dragging red across his skin just to watch him hiss. He leans down and bites myshoulder hard enough to make me gasp, grinding against me like he wants to imprint himself on every inch.

“You’re a fucking nightmare,” he snarls against my throat, and I arch beneath him, pulse hammering, breath sharp.

“You’re the one crawling into it,” I snap back, catching his jaw between my teeth.

His fingers find the waistband of my shorts and yank them down without finesse, peeling them off like a problem he’s finally done tolerating. He doesn't slow, doesn't hesitate—he’s stripped me bare before I can blink, his hands sliding over every inch like he owns the outcome of this night, this binding.

I hook my legs around his hips and drag him forward, his cock heavy and thick against my thigh, leaking and ready. My nails catch at the back of his neck, tugging him down until his mouth is on mine again, filthy and furious.

The kiss tastes like everything we hate about this—how much we want it, how much we need it.

He grinds into me, dragging the head of his cock through the slick mess between my thighs, teasing, tempting, and I growl low in my throat.

“Ambrose,” I bite out, sharp as a blade.

He meets my eyes, dark and vicious, and slams into me in one ruthless thrust. My body arches, the stretch brutal and perfect, heat ripping up my spine. He doesn’t give me time to adjust, doesn’t slow—he pounds into me with punishing rhythm, hips snapping against mine like he’s trying to fuck the bond into my bones.

And I want it.

I meet him thrust for thrust, fingers clawing down his back, pulling him deeper, harder. His breath is ragged against my ear, his pace savage, ruthless.

There’s nothing gentle here. Nothing soft.

It’s a battle.

And I want to lose.

Ambrose fucks me like he’s trying to erase me. Every thrust is vicious, brutal, driving the air from my lungs in staccato gasps as he slams into me over and over, dragging me down into the same dark spiral he’s been drowning in since the night he met me. His rhythm is relentless, hips crashing into mine like he’s trying to stake his claim without saying the words.

The headboard knocks hard against the wall, a dull, steady beat, but neither of us cares. I arch beneath him, back bowing off the mattress, nails carving lines down his back just to feel something tear. His teeth scrape along the curve of my throat, the sharp bite of it making me moan, making me shove my hips up into his like I want him to ruin me harder.

And I do.

Because this is what Ambrose Dalmar doesn’t understand—he can’t negotiate his way out of this.

He braces one hand beside my head, the other sliding beneath my thigh, wrenching my leg higher so he can drive deeper, rougher. His breath saws out of him, ragged, sweat slicking his chest, his brow furrowed like he’s trying to figure out how we ended up here even as his body refuses to stop.

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