Page 69 of Owned By the Hvrok

A contract killer as infamous as he was didn’t get retrieved for free.

He would offer something better than the bounty on his head.

He would offerwealth.

Real wealth. Not credits in the public ledgers, but what he kept hidden, stored deep in black-market drives at his fortress on Ivokka. No one knew about those places. Not even his enemies.

The message went out.

There was no response.

Yet.

He hadn’t expected one immediately.

He would wait. They would come.

And in the meantime…

He looked down at her.

Still, soft, her breath brushing against his bare chest, her fingers curled slightly against the fur draped across her lap.

The storm howled outside, but here, in this chair, in his arms, she was calm.

And he…

He was curious.

She wasn’t afraid now. Her body had accepted his touch. Her mind was quiet.

Perhaps, now, he could entertain her.

Perhaps… he could see what other reactions he could draw from her.

Not because he needed to, but because, for the first time ever…

Hewantedto.

CHAPTER 34

His hand moved: slowly, deliberately.

At first, it was just the press of his palm over the thick fur at her side. A steady, grounding weight. But then his fingers shifted, brushing lightly against the back of her neck, just below the collar.

She tensed, not in fear, but insurprise.

Because the way he touched wasn’t rough. Wasn’t threatening. His fingers were large, thick, and roughened with the calluses of a thousand battles… but the pressure? It was gentle. Like heknewwhat skin could take. Like he was measuring her responses with each pass.

Maybe she shouldn’t be surprised anymore. This is how he’d touched her back in her chamber, when he was trying to warm her, to soothe her. Well, it was similar, butdifferent.

What is he doing?

She didn’t pull away.

Couldn’t.

He moved again, just slightly—his knuckles grazing the side of her throat, dragging slowly over the fine hairs there, sending a shiver right down her spine.

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