Page 17 of The Sin Binder's Chains

He exhales through his nose, the sound raw with suffering. “Are you doing this on purpose?”

I glance up at the sky, pretending to think. “Hmm.” I pause. “Yes.”

Elias twitches. His hands tighten around the reins, and if I listen closely, I swear I hear a faint, whispered “fuck” escape his lips. Good. Suffer. I should not be enjoying this. I should be mortified, embarrassed, at the very least uninterested in Elias of all people.

But I am enjoying this. Because he is suffering. And it’s glorious. I shift again, just slightly, just enough for the friction between us to change. His grip tightens, and I don’t even have to see his face to feel the way he clenches his jaw, how every muscle in his body is screaming at him to be stronger than this.

Spoiler: He’s not.

I press my lips together, fighting back a smirk. “Something wrong, Elias?”

He exhales slowly, carefully, like he’s trying to center himself. “I am experiencing… a crisis.”

I glance over my shoulder. “Elaborate.”

His head tilts back, as if he’s silently begging the universe to smite him.

“I am currently trapped in a situation,” he says, voice barely above a whisper, “where the woman I am desperately trying tobe normal around is deliberately fucking with me. And I- ” he swallows, dragging a hand through his hair, visibly struggling to keep it together, “ am one bad decision away from ruining both of our lives.”

I blink. “Ruining?”

Elias nods once, very seriously. “Permanently.”

I arch a brow. “Sounds dramatic.”

He makes a strangled noise. “Oh, does it?”

“Very.”

His fingers flex against the reins, shoulders tense, his whole body radiating the kind of energy that suggests he’s seconds from committing actual crimes.

“Luna,” he says, voice low, almost desperate.

I grin. Dark. Slow. Cruel. “Yes, Elias?”

He twists slightly, just enough to put his lips next to my ear, voice dropping into something dark, something that shouldn’t send heat curling through my stomach.

“Get the fuck off me,” he rasps, “or I swear I’ll make you wish you never started this.”

For a second, just a second, I hesitate. Because fuck, that was a threat. A very good one.

But then I smirk, tilting my head just enough for my cheek to brush against his.

“I love a good threat,” I purr.

Elias visibly clenches his jaw.

I wait for a response.

Nothing.

Just silence.

And then, He moves. I don’t mean a subtle shift. I mean a full-body, you fucked up, Evernight movement. Elias jerks the reins sharply, the wraith horse rearing slightly, and before I can react, he grabs me. A firm, unapologetic grip at my waist, lifting me just enough to slam me back exactly where he wants me.

And now, he’s the one pressing into me. I freeze. Because fuck, fuck, fuck, I did not think this through.

Elias leans forward, just enough for his breath to ghost over my throat.

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