When Desire Learns Your Name
Kai tried to pretend nothing was happening.
He went to class.
He went to work.
He laughed at Leo's jokes.
He answered his mom's texts.
On the outside, life looked normal.
Inside, everything was breaking apart.
Every quiet moment, Lucien invaded his thoughts.
The way his voice dropped.
The way his eyes burned.
The way his touch lingered.
Kai hated it.
Kai craved it.
Both truths existed.
And that terrified him.
Leo noticed first.
"You're quieter," Leo said as they walked across campus.
"I'm tired."
"You've been tired for two weeks."
Kai shrugged.
Leo stopped walking.
"Kai… are you in danger?"
Kai opened his mouth.
Closed it.
"I don't know."
Leo's face hardened. "Then you need to stop seeing him."
Kai laughed weakly. "I don't think that's an option."
Leo grabbed his arm. "You always have a choice."
Kai looked away.
He wasn't sure anymore.
That night, Lucien didn't text.
He didn't call.
He didn't appear.
The silence was worse.
Kai kept checking his phone.
Stupid.
Desperate.
Pathetic.
At midnight, there was a soft knock at his door.
Not the balcony.
Not the window.
The door.
Kai's heart raced.
He opened it.
Lucien stood there.
No suit.
Black shirt.
Hair slightly loose.
Looking… human.
Dangerously so.
"You didn't summon me," Lucien said.
"I don't summon you."
Lucien stepped inside anyway.
Kai closed the door.
Because of course he did.
Lucien studied him.
"You're unsettled."
"Because you stalk me."
Lucien accepted that with a nod.
"You didn't tell me to stay away today."
Kai opened his mouth.
Had no defense.
Lucien stepped closer.
Slow.
Unrushed.
"You think about me," Lucien said.
Kai's voice shook. "Stop."
Lucien lifted Kai's chin gently.
"Say you don't want me."
Kai tried.
He couldn't.
Lucien's thumb brushed over Kai's lower lip.
Barely there.
Kai sucked in a sharp breath.
Lucien's eyes darkened.
"That sound," Lucien murmured. "You make it only for me."
Kai whispered, "This is wrong."
Lucien leaned in.
"Wrong things are often the most honest."
Their lips brushed.
Not a kiss.
A question.
Kai didn't pull away.
Lucien answered the question.
Soft.
Slow.
Possessive.
Kai melted.
Hands fisted in Lucien's shirt without permission.
Lucien deepened the kiss.
Not rushed.
Not gentle.
Claiming.
When they pulled apart, both were breathing hard.
Lucien pressed his forehead to Kai's.
"You will be mine," he said.
Kai whispered back, defeated—
"I already am."