Page 218 of The Sin Binder's Chains

Elias yelps, not a manly, noble sound, no. It’s a startled, undignified yelp, and he goes flying. He stumbles off the couch, arms flailing, knees buckling, and then crashes into me like a human wrecking ball.

We slam into the wall together.

Hard.

I grunt, wind knocked from my lungs, and blink at the mess of limbs tangled with mine.

Elias groans dramatically. “If this is how you’re going to call me to bed every time, at least let me take my pants off first.”

“Oh my god,” I mutter, shoving at his chest, but he doesn’t budge. Too comfortable, the smug bastard.

“Well shit,” I say aloud this time, mostly to myself. “That’s new.”

“I knew I was irresistible,” Elias mumbles against my neck.

“Get off.”

“Say please.”

I jab an elbow into his ribs. He wheezes.

“You two are fucking insufferable,” Riven snaps from somewhere in the room, his voice sharp, his anger immediately sparking on the edge of mine. I feel his bond tug in protest, territorial, volatile, always ready to escalate.

“Wasn’t me this time!” Elias calls over my shoulder, still splayed across me like a satisfied cat.

“You tackled her,” Lucien deadpans, still pacing like his nerves have nowhere else to go. “In the middle of a strategy meeting.”

“To be fair,” Silas says, raising a hand, “there was no actual strategy happening. You were monologuing. She was smirking. Riven was brooding. I was bored.”

“And I was practicing stillness,” Orin adds, without looking up from the ancient tome he’s flipping through. “Until Elias decided to go airborne.”

“I didn’t decide,” Elias protests. “She summoned me like some cursed siren, and I, ” He pauses, then eyes me with a slow, delighted grin. “Wait. You pulled me, didn’t you?”

“Shut up.”

“Oh, this is good.”

“I said shut up.”

“Admit it. You missed me.”

“I’m going to kill you.”

“That's how I know it's love.”

I finally push him off with a groan and stagger to my feet, brushing myself off like it’ll somehow clear the static in my chest. The bond is still there, bright and ridiculous, buzzing under my skin. It shouldn’t be that easy to tug on someone like that, but it is. Because it’s Elias. Because I let him in.

And now I can’t shut the door again.

Silas claps once. “Well. That was the most entertainment I’ve had all morning.”

“Good,” I snap. “Glad you’re all having fun. Meanwhile, two of our people are still missing, and the first sin binder is walking around like this is a second chance at world domination.”

That silences the room. Just like that, the laughter dies. But only on the surface.

Because beneath the sarcasm, beneath the chaos and bickering, something darker is blooming. We all feel it. Every bond I’ve formed tugs at me in different directions, shaping me, warping me, demanding things I’m not sure I can give.

And I wonder, not for the first time, if the chaos isn't just seeping into me, but coming from me now.

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