Page 51 of Hunt Me

“First thing this morning.” I gesture to the empty packet in my trash can. “Washed it down with orange juice at six AM.”

The relief on her face is palpable. “Good. Because that man is?—”

“Unhinged?” I finish for her. “Dangerous? Completely fucking psychotic?”

“All of the above.”

But that’s not what makes my hands shake when I try to type. It’s not the fear that keeps replaying last night on a loop in my head.

It’s how turned on I was.

God help me, when Alexi talked about breeding me, about filling me with his baby, about watching my body change with proof of what he’d done—I came so hard I nearly blacked out.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

“You need to cut contact,” Maya continues, still hovering in the doorway. “Block him. Ghost him. Whatever it takes.”

“I can’t.” The admission burns. “He’s already in too deep. My systems, my life?—”

“Your head.”

I close my laptop, unable to pretend I’m working anymore.

“He’s dangerous, Iris. The Ivanov men don’t just ruin lives—they end them.”

Maya crosses her arms, leaning against the doorframe. “So why don’t you want to cut him out?”

The question hangs between us like smoke.

I could lie. Tell her it’s strategic, that I need to maintain access to the Ivanov systems. That breaking contact now would alert him to how rattled I am.

All perfectly logical reasons.

All complete bullshit.

“Iris?”

My nails dig into my palms. The words stick in my throat, refusing to form. Because saying them out loud makes it real. Makes it something I can’t take back or rationalize away.

“I don’t know,” I manage.

“Liar.”

Heat crawls up my neck. “He’s...” I trail off, searching for words that don’t make me sound insane. “Last night was?—”

“Was what?”

The best sex of my life. The most intense pleasure I’ve ever experienced. The only time I’ve completely lost control and didn’t hate myself for it.

I swallow hard. “Complicated.”

“Complicated how? Did he hurt you? Force you?”

“No.” The admission comes too quickly, too defensively. “I mean, it was intense, but I... wanted it.”

The silence stretches.

“All of it?” Maya’s voice drops, careful. “Even the breeding stuff?”