Page 21 of Pursued By the Dragon Alien

Something flickered in his expression—brief, fleeting, and gone before she could place it. He gave her arm the slightest tug, his grip gentle but insistent as he turned her against the wall and pinned her there. “No.” His voice was a low rasp, his breath warm against her ear. “I finally decided I couldn’t stay away from you.”

EIGHT

Razion

Razion didn’t have an answer—not one that made sense, anyway. All he knew was that staying away from Lilas had been a battle he kept losing. He’d told himself distance was the right call, that she was a distraction he couldn’t afford. He’d forced himself to walk away, to ignore the way his pulse kicked up whenever he glimpsed her, the way her scent lingered in the corridors long after she passed. He’d shoved his hands in his pockets rather than dwell on the way her willful, fuchsia gaze made his blood run hot.

It hadn’t worked.

Every time he closed his eyes, she was there. In his thoughts, in his dreams. His own mind had turned against him, replaying the memory of her standing in defiance, of the fire in her words, the heat in her stare. He’d told himself it would pass. He was good at restraint—at control. But then he’d walked past the dining hall, seen her with Cozax, laughing, looking so damn vibrant, and something in him unraveled.

Jealousy twisted in his gut. Not because she was smiling at someone else—but because he had denied himself that. He had been the one missing out on those sharp quips, that quick mind, how she challenged him in ways no one else ever had. He was fighting a battle he’d already lost.

He didn’t want to pretend anymore. Didn’t want to bury this fire under self-imposed rules and obligations.

So he’d stopped running. Stopped holding back.

And now, with her against the wall, her breath shallow, her body so close he could feel its warmth, Razion finally admitted the truth—he didn’t see how he could ever let her go.

Which was how he ended up here, pressing her against the cool metal wall of the corridor, her body warm beneath his hands, her sharp fuchsia eyes locked onto his like she was trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

Good question.

Lilas didn’t push him away. Didn’t tense. Just lifted her chin, mouth curving into something between a smirk and a challenge. “So that’s it?” she said. “You ignore me for cycles, avoid me at every turn, and now you’ve decided you suddenly care?”

“You think I don’t care?” he asked, his voice low. “That’s cute, Lilas. But I’ve been trying not to.”

Her breath hitched, just for a second. It was enough.

She narrowed her eyes, her voice sharpened like a blade. “Could’ve fooled me. You’ve been acting like I don’t exist.”

“And yet,” he said, leaning in, breathing her in, “somehow, I can’t stop thinking about you.”

He dropped his hands to her wrists just in time to feel her pulse kick. He felt it right beneath his fingertips, fast and erratic. Her scent, something warm and slightly floral, curled around him, tempting him to get closer. To press his mouth to the spot just below her ear and see if she’d shiver.

Instead, she sucked in a slow breath, steadying herself. “You were avoiding me and it wasn’t exactly subtle,” she said, quieter now, but just as sharp. “Neither is this.”

Razion dragged his gaze over her, taking in the slight flush to her bronze skin, the way her fingers curled like she was debating shoving him away or pulling him closer. “You’re right,” he admitted. “I should’ve stayed away.”

Her lips parted slightly, and for a second, something flickered there. Something unsure.

Almost vulnerable. “Then why didn’t you?”

Razion barely resisted the urge to press his forehead against hers. To answer her with something unguarded, something real. Instead, he exhaled roughly and let his grip on her wrists loosen just enough to give her a choice.

“I don’t know,” he said. “But I don’t want to.”

For a heartbeat, neither of them moved. The air between them crackled, heavy with things unsaid, with tensions neither of them were willing to name.

Lilas licked her lips, and Razion’s gaze followed the movement before he forcefully dragged his eyes back to hers. She studied him, her expression unreadable, but there was fire beneath it. “You made that pretty clear when you pinned me against this wall.”

Razion’s fingers twitched against her skin. She wasn’t wrong. He’d barely thought before he grabbed her, before he closed the space between them. He was always in control. Always measured. But with Lilas? His control was unraveling by the second.

“I won’t apologize for wanting you,” he said, roughly.

Her breath hitched again, but she didn’t look away. “But you wanted to stay away?”

Razion nodded slowly. “It seemed smarter.”

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