Page 29 of Owned By the Hvrok

That would not do.

And yet—still—she glared.

Her fists were clenched at her sides. Her chin tilted up. Her eyes blazing.

As if she wasn’t naked.

As if she wasn’this.

How strange. How impossible these humans were.

And suddenly—shockingly—he felt it: the barest slip of his composure.

Interest had become something sharper. He was losing the cool distance he prided himself on, the detachment he used to remain unshakable.

He stepped back.

Out of reach.

Out of the spray zone.

Control. Reassert control.

He raised one hand and gave a quiet command in his native tongue.

The shower hissed to life.

Jets of calibrated mist burst from the wall, adjusting automatically to her physiology—cooler than a Hvrok would require, calibrated to her resting body temperature. Clean, sterile, and softly pressurized.

Water cascaded over her body in sheets.

She startled—but then, slowly, her shoulders eased. Her eyes fluttered closed. She tilted her face into the stream and inhaleddeeply, water gliding over her cheeks, down her neck, across her collarbones and breasts.

He watched it slide over the slope of her stomach, down the inside of her thighs.

For a moment—just one moment—she forgot him.

The anger slipped.

Her defiance paused.

And in its place was something simpler.

Peace.

Enjoyment.

Just a breath. A flicker of it. But he saw it.

And hefeltit, deep in the pit of something unnameable inside him.

It fascinated him.

She could still find pleasure, even here. Even under his watch. Even after everything.

Perhaps… that was the key.

Perhaps pleasure would bring her to heel faster than fear.

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