Page 39 of Claimed By the Vykan

She stepped closer—reckless, furious, trembling. “You didn’t ask. You didn’t give me a choice. You—” She drew in a shaky breath. “You can’t do things like that to people.”

Kyrax braced himself.

Her scent—faint, human, threaded with venom-haze—hit him full force. If he had not been wearing the mask, the effect would have been catastrophic. His pulse surged. Every instinct he possessed urged him to close the distance, to release more venom, to touch, to claim, to anchor himself in her rhythm.

He tightened his hands at his sides and stayed exactly where he was.

“I would never endanger you,” he said quietly. “Not with venom. Not with anything.”

She shook her head. “How can I believe that?”

“Because I am not reckless with what is mine.”

The words slipped out, powerful and unguarded—whether in anger or something else, he couldn’t tell.

Her pulse fluttered. He felt it like a whisper across his skin.

His restraint frayed another degree.

If he had been unmasked…

If she had been one step closer…

If he allowed instinct even an inch…

He would take her.

He would overwhelm her.

He would break the fragile safety she still possessed.

He forced a slow, measured breath through the mask vents.

Her eyes traced the movement along his armor, as though sensing the tension coiled beneath it. “You’re dangerous,” she whispered, more realization than accusation.

“Yes.” His voice deepened. “Which is why I must be controlled.”

“And you’re not?” she challenged.

“In this moment,” he admitted, “my restraint is… tested.”

Her breath hitched again—the sound soft, involuntary, and devastating to his balance.

She didn’t understand what she was doing to him.

Or perhaps she did.

Her defiance, her anger, her burn of survival—everything she felt sharpened on the bond and pulled at him with the force of a tide.

If he could scent her…

If the mask weren’t shielding him…

He would lose control.

He stepped back—not far, but enough to catch hold of instinct before it reached her.

“I came to see how you handled the initial stages of attunement,” he said. “I came to reassure you. But if I stay longer, I may do the opposite.”