Page 58 of The Sin Binders Ascent

I move closer, the cuff tugging between us like a leash, and I swear I’d snap the damn thing with my teeth if I could. “You’re arrogant.”

“I’m aware.”

“Smug.”

He winks. “Can’t help it.”

“And you’rein my bed.”

He rolls his head lazily toward me. “Technically, you’re inourroom now. Sharing is part of the process, sunshine.”

“No. It’s not.”

“Then you should’ve read the fine print.”

“I didn’tsignanything!”

He lifts his head. Finally looks at me. “Neither did I. Yet here we are.”

And gods... that lands. Because he’s not wrong, is he? He’s in this just as much as I am,whateverthisis. Whatever manipulation, divine twist, or cosmic cruelty decided to chain me to a sin I never wanted.

But hate?

I wish it was that simple.

I narrow my eyes at him. “If you’re expecting pity,”

“Trust me,” he cuts in, voice dropping. That lazy edge softening. Just a breath. Just enough. “Pity’s not what I want from you.”

And it’s the first thing he’s said that doesn’t feel wrapped in performance. Which makes it worse.

I should walk away. I should yank the cuff, tell the others, scream into the sky that this is wrong. But instead, I just standthere. Staring at a man tangled in my sheets, like a curse I didn’t see coming.

“Get out of my bed,” I whisper.

He doesn’t move.

“Make me,” he says.

The knock is soft, deliberate. A warning tap that makes my spine tighten.

“Everything alright in there?” Caspian’s voice is lower than usual, edged with a calm that never really means calm. Not from him.

I’m already moving, jaw set, eyes locked on the door like it’s salvation. I don’t answer him with words,I just yank it open and throw my arms around him.

He smells like summer storms and sin. Like heat and want and something darker tangled underneath. My face finds the curve between his neck and shoulder as his hand lifts instinctively to my waist. And the moment I bury myself against him,safety, relief, something real,the cuff on my wrist yanks taut.

A sharp metallic screech. And then,

“Shit,”

Theo crashes to the floor behind me. There’s a dull thump of him hitting the rug, and a groan as he scrambles up, dragged by the force of the tether. I don’t even flinch. Caspian glances over my shoulder, a single brow arching like this entire thing is an inconvenience to the sanctity ofour space.

“Was that a body?” he asks, dryly. Amused. Dangerous.

“Yeah,” I murmur against him. “Unfortunately, it’s still breathing.”

Caspian’s arms tighten slightly around my waist, and his voice drops into that velvet tone he only uses when he’s being wicked. “You want me to make that stop?”

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