Soren kissed her back.

Her lips were cold at first, the frost on her skin bleeding through his shirt where her hands pressed against his chest.

The dark room swallowed most of the sound when the door clicked shut behind them.

He pulled her in closer, one arm sliding around her waist, and she stayed right there without pushing away.

The faint cold-light from her collarbone glowed against his skin.

She made a small sound into his mouth. Her fingers curled tighter in his shirt.

When they came up for air her breath misted white between them.

"I don’t know how to start," she said.

Soren walked straight to her. He took her hands without asking first. The cold locked his fingers for half a second. Then he closed them around hers and held on.

"Breathe slower," he said. "You’re pushing frost out on every exhale."

She looked at their joined hands. "Am I hurting you?"

"You’re not. Just breathe." Soren lied.

The bond opened wider than it had before.

Fragments of memories came through.

A girl standing at the edge of a crack in the ground.

Cold pouring in with purpose.

Her beast gone before she could stop it.

He saw it and said nothing. He just held her hands tighter. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

She started shaking. The frost tried to climb again.

"Stay here," he said.

Soren pulled her in. One arm went around her waist.

Selah did not push away, she put her forehead rested against his collarbone. Cold bled through his shirt from her skin.

The alignment needed more than this and they both knew it.

Yara had shown them what the bond actually demanded when it wanted real change.

Selah’s breath hitched against his neck.

"The cold is getting worse," she said. "If I lose control the wards might not hold."

"Then stop holding it back," Soren said.

She tried to answer but Soren kissed her before she could finish.

She made a small sound against his mouth. Her hands came up to his chest.

He backed her toward the wall without breaking the kiss.

Her shoulders hit the stone.

Soren pulled her jacket off and dropped it, his followed.

Then he got her shirt up and off, Selah helped with his.

Her body was cold against his chest but warming where they touched.

He lifted her and her legs went around him.

He pushed her pants down the rest of the way and got his own open. He lined up and pushed in.

She was tight, her pussy gripped him cold and slick at first. The bond pulled heat through both of them until she warmed around him.

Her walls clenched hot and wet with every inch.

Soren set the pace deep and steady with one hand in her hair and the other under her thigh.

He pushed in slowly.

"Look at me," he said against her mouth. "Right here."

She did.

Frost tried to form on her shoulders again but melted the second it touched his skin. Every time she tightened around him he slowed just enough to make her chase it.

"Wrap your legs tighter," he said.

She tried, her thighs shook. "I can’t... Soren... it’s too much..."

"You can, just breathe through it."

She breathed then he pushed deeper.

"Don’t stop," she whispered against his neck. "Please... don’t stop."

He didn’t. He kept the same deep pace and watched her face.

When she came, her whole body locked up, she bit his shoulder hard to muffle the moan. "Ahh... fuck..."

He followed right after, buried deep. Holding her through it.

He stayed inside her and kissed her slower.

Selah’s body was still shaking, he held her up with both hands under her thighs and started moving again.

She made a surprised sound. "Again...?"

She saw Soren didn’t respond and just nodded against her shoulder. Arms tightening around his neck.

He took his time this round. Every thrust pulled another small sound out of her.

"Harder," she breathed. "Soren... harder."

He gave her what she asked for. Her nails dug into his back amd her pussy clenched tight around him with every stroke.

She came again with a broken cry against his skin. "Uhh... Soren...!"

He followed her over. Slower and heavier than before.

He let her down after that. Her legs didn’t want to hold her. He kept one arm around her waist and walked her to the wall so she could lean.

A notification dropped into his vision.

[DING! ... Bond alignment complete. Selah Young. Obsession Index: 43/50 ... 37/60. E-rank scaling active. New ability: Permafrost Domain. Soul integrity: 58% ... 63%.]

The cap had jumped.

There was now room to breathe. Soul integrity up four points, the alignment fed something back instead of only taking.

Selah looked at her hands and there was no frost, just her normal human skin.

Faintly pink at the fingertips where the blood had come back. She turned them over once.

"I’m warm!" she said.

She looked up at him. "The scan is in four hours."

"It will pass," Soren said.

"You don’t know that."

"I know your readings will match E-rank now. That’s what matters."

She was quiet for a second. "Yara went first."

"She did."

"I was angry about that."

"I know."

She looked at his shoulder where she had bitten him, the mark was already darkening. "I didn’t mean to bite that hard."

"You did what you needed to do."

He pulled his shirt back on and she reached for her jacket.

Her hands were still slow from the aftershocks so he helped her get one arm through without commenting on it.

Outside the door Hansel’s beetle shifted its weight.

The corridor creaked, footsteps came down the hall, heavier than Hansel’s and slower like someone who did not care if they were heard.

Selah froze. "That’s not Hansel."

"No."

Hansel had brought food earlier as an excuse to check on them but they had sent him away, Selah had told him he didn’t have to worry about them fighting.

The footsteps stopped right outside the door.

The handle turned.

Soren stepped in front of her without thinking. He waited to see who walked in.