Done with the games

Lukyan's POV)

Lukyan watched her eyes flicker with a hundred emotions.

Fear. Longing. Hope.

He wasn't letting her run from this.

Not anymore.

He took her face in his hands.

"Two years," he murmured.

She swallowed hard. "What?"

"That's how long we have left on this contract."

Larissa's lips parted.

"Lukyan—"

"Two years," he repeated, voice firm. Unshakable.

And then, with absolute certainty, he said—

"That's how long I have to make you mine for real."

Her breath shattered.

Her walls collapsed.

And for the first time since this all started—she let them.

---

Lukyan was losing his mind.

For years, he had trained himself to ignore this want. To live by the contract. To treat Larissa as nothing more than the woman who gave him his children.

But that was a lie.

Because now? Now, he knew the truth.

She wanted him.

She admitted she didn't want to leave.

But she still wouldn't let him touch her.

And it was driving him insane.

---

She had avoided him all day

After last night—after he told her he was done playing by the rules—she had locked herself back up, trying to rebuild the walls he had broken.

She hadn't let him into her room.

She hadn't let him anywhere near her.

And Lukyan?

Lukyan was losing control.

So now, he was here. Alone.

In his bed.

His body tight, aching, furious.

And there was only one thing on his mind.

Her.

---

He gritted his teeth, head pressed back against the pillows, his hand drifted down. gripping himself.

He exhaled sharply his jaw clenched.

This was pathetic. Weak. He should stop.

But his body didn't care.

But it was either this or spend another night losing his mind over a woman who wouldn't even let him touch her.

His body responded instantly.

Not when he could still feel her from that night. The way her nails had dug into his skin. The way her breath had caught when he touched her.

The way she had broken for him.

His jaw clenched. His hand moved rough, desperate, punishing.

He could almost hear her.

Her sharp gasps, the soft whimpers she had tried to hide.

He could almost taste her.

And fuck—he wasn't going to last.

His body tensed, muscles coiling, fire racing through him.

And when he finally shattered, his lips parted with the one name he never should have said aloud.

"Larissa."

---

Larissa sat in her room, staring at the locked door.

She knew he was angry.

Knew she had pushed him too far.

And now, she could hear him.

She wasn't a fool.

She knew exactly what those low, ragged breaths meant.

And God help her, her own body responded.

Heat curled in her stomach. An ache she hated.

Her legs pressed together, her breath shaky, her entire body betraying her.

Because she could have been in there with him.

Could have been his.

And that was the problem.

She was afraid to be his.

Because what happened when he changed his mind?

What happened when he decided this was nothing again?

So she stayed in her cold, empty bed.

Alone

And ignored the way her own body betrayed her.

---

Lukyan didn't sleep.

He stared at the ceiling, furious.

At himself.

At her.

At the fact that after everything, she still wouldn't let him have her.

But fine.

She wanted to fight?

Then he would give her a war.

Because this wasn't over.

Not even close.

---

Larissa barely made it through the next day.

Her body was exhausted, restless, on edge.

Because she had heard him.

She had heard everything.

And she hated herself for the way it made her ache.

For the way she had pressed her thighs together, for the way her body had burned at the sound of his pleasure.

But she had done the right thing.

She had kept her distance.

She had stayed in her own bed.

Because if she let Lukyan take her again, claim her again, she wouldn't survive it.

Not when she still had to leave.

Not when this was never supposed to be real.

So she avoided him.

Again.

But Lukyan?

Lukyan was done being avoided.