Bound by Chains, Burned by Desire

The cold bite of steel against her wrists was a cruel reminder—there was no escaping him.

She tugged at the chains binding her to the headboard, her breaths ragged as she struggled, but they held firm, unyielding. Just like the man watching her from across the room. Kim Taehyung leaned against the doorframe, his gaze dark, unreadable, yet brimming with something far more dangerous than mere amusement.

Possession.

"You're wasting your energy, sweetheart." His voice was a slow drag of sin, smooth as velvet, sharp as a blade. "Those chains aren't meant to break."

Her pulse thundered in her ears. She refused to cower. "What do you want from me?" she spat, fire lacing her words.

A smirk tugged at his lips as he pushed off the wall, his movements languid, predatory. "What do I want?" He came closer, the air between them turning electric. "Everything."

A shiver ran through her, but she lifted her chin defiantly. "You think you can keep me like this? That I'll just… submit?"

Taehyung chuckled, a low, dark sound. He reached out, his fingers tracing the column of her throat, pressing lightly over her pulse. "Oh, sweetheart," he murmured, his eyes gleaming with wicked intent. "You already have."

She hated the way her body reacted to him, how her breath caught, how her skin burned where he touched. It wasn't fear anymore, not entirely. It was something far worse. Something she couldn't control.

"I hate you." The words were a whisper, meant for herself as much as for him.

Taehyung hummed in amusement. "No, you don't."

His fingers trailed lower, brushing the strap of her dress off her shoulder. Her breathing hitched. "Stop," she forced out.

But he didn't. He leaned in, his lips hovering just over hers, their breaths mingling. "Tell me to stop like you mean it."

She clenched her fists, but the words wouldn't come. Because despite everything, despite the war raging inside her, she didn't want him to stop.

His smirk widened as if he had heard the confession in her silence. "That's what I thought."

The tension between them coiled tighter, suffocating, intoxicating. He pressed a kiss just below her jaw, slow, deliberate. She gasped, her back arching instinctively, and he chuckled against her skin. "You belong to me, sweetheart."

She should have fought harder. She should have resisted. But when his lips claimed hers in a brutal, punishing kiss, she knew she was already losing the battle.

And the worst part?

She wasn't sure she wanted to win.

The thought should have terrified her, but instead, it sent a different kind of thrill down her spine. His lips trailed lower, burning a path along her skin, igniting something dark and dangerous within her. She wanted to hate him—to push him away, to scream at him for taking away her control—but her body refused to listen.

"See?" Taehyung murmured against her throat, his voice dripping with smug satisfaction. "Your body craves what your mind refuses to accept."

Her breath hitched as his fingers ghosted over the sensitive curve of her waist, pressing possessively as if reminding her that resistance was futile. "You'll fight, you'll struggle," he continued, tilting her chin so she had no choice but to meet his gaze, "but in the end, sweetheart, you'll break for me."

A war waged inside her—logic screaming at her to resist, to hate him, to never surrender. But the fire in his eyes, the way he commanded her every reaction, made her question everything she thought she knew about herself.

And as he leaned in, his lips hovering just above hers, she realized something even more terrifying.

Maybe she wanted to break.

The thought twisted inside her like a venomous whisper, poisoning her resolve. She wanted to resist, to fight, but every brush of his touch sent a wave of heat coursing through her veins. His fingers tightened on her chin, tilting her head back, forcing her to hold his gaze—dark, consuming, inescapable.

"You're mine," Taehyung breathed, his lips just inches from hers. "No matter how much you deny it, no matter how hard you fight, you were always meant to be mine."

Her body betrayed her before her mind could catch up. A soft gasp escaped her lips, and he caught it with a smirk, his thumb tracing the curve of her lower lip. "Say it," he urged, his voice dangerously low. "Say you belong to me."

She clenched her teeth, shaking her head, but the defiance was slipping. She could feel it, sense it in the way her body yielded under his dominance, her breath coming in short, needy bursts.

He pressed his lips to her ear, his voice a sinful promise. "You will. And when you do, it won't be because I forced you. It'll be because you finally admit the truth."

His fingers trailed down her arm, slow and deliberate, igniting a path of fire that left her trembling. She swallowed hard, her breaths shallow, her mind battling the insidious pull of his presence.

"Why me?" she rasped, her voice barely more than a whisper, laced with frustration and something she refused to name. "You could have anyone."

Taehyung chuckled darkly, the sound vibrating against her skin. "Could I?" His hand wrapped around her wrist, fingers tracing the faint pulse beneath her skin. "And yet, here you are. Shackled, burning, and still pretending you don't want this."

She shook her head as if the motion alone could dispel the truth that lingered between them, thick and intoxicating. "You're insane."

"Maybe." He dragged his lips down the curve of her neck, the heat of his breath leaving her lightheaded. "Or maybe I just know what I want. And I always get what I want."

Her heart pounded in her chest, betraying her. "This isn't fair," she whispered, not sure if she meant his power over her or her traitorous reactions.

"Life isn't fair, sweetheart." His teeth grazed her collarbone, sending a shiver down her spine. "But this? This is inevitable."