Page 104 of Unmarked

I hope it's not Lucian.

(Who am I even kidding?)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Rhea

The second the door opens, I feel it.

Not theoops-I-left-the-oven-onkind of trouble. No, this is themy-heat-just-got-a-sequelkind.

Because the second Theo steps inside the room, something deep inside me short-circuits.

My body, which was happily stretched out in post-orgasmic bliss with Ash’s scent stamped all over it thirty seconds ago, now decides it is once again feral. Ravenous.

Inconsolably horny.

Theo’s scent hits like a sucker punch - cedarwood, honey, something warm and grounding andoh my god, apparently my clit is back online.

Emergency status: red.

Slick status: catastrophic.

“What the fuck,” I whisper, dazed, eyes wide. “It’s happening again.”

Ash doesn’t even flinch - he just tugs his sweatpants back on like this is a normal afternoon and glances at Theo with all the chill of a man who already knows what page we’re on.

Possibly the whole chapter.

Theo, on the other hand?

Deer. Headlights. Full heart. Can’t compute.

His gaze sweeps over me, and I swear, it's as if he’s not sure whether to kneel or start reciting poetry. He sees the fingerprint marks Ash left on my skin, the mess between my thighs, the absolute state of my post-heat glow-up -

And the man looks like he just witnessed an angel descending in lingerie.

I sit up straighter. Let the sheet slip.

That’s right. Look at me.

Andoh, I feel good.

I feelpowerful.

I feel like my body finally remembered it’s allowed to be a problem on purpose.

Why did no one tell me it could feel like this?!When I was locked in here alone - desperate, humiliated,achingwith want and trying to ride it out on a pillow or with a fucking showerhead - it was unbearable. I thought then that my heat was a curse. A punishment.

Butthis?

Thisis hunger and fire andpleasurecoiled into every cell.

And now I want more. Now, I’m insatiable.

I am reborn - a very slick, verynakedphoenix; and I’m ready to light someone else on fire.

“Theo,” I say, breath catching.

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