Chapter Twenty eight: The Bound Dominion (Uncensored)

The salt spray whipped off the churning ocean below, but the cold could not touch them. They were wrapped in a suffocating, feverish heat, a tangled knot of muscle, breath, and desperate adrenaline that demanded absolute surrender.

Adrian’s grip on Mari’s waist tightened to a bruising, possessive pressure, lifting her higher against his lap until there was not a fraction of air left between their bodies. His dark, feral eyes burned into hers with a raw, naked hunger, stripping away all the violence and chaos of the run into something heavy, electric, and blindingly intimate.

"Look at me," Adrian growled, his voice a deep, gravelly vibration that rattled straight through her ribs.

Before she could draw breath, his mouth crashed down onto hers. It was a fierce, consuming claiming—rough, desperate, and entirely unhinged from everything except the terrifying realization that she had almost slipped through his fingers. His tongue parted her lips, tasting of copper and smoke, drinking in every ragged gasp she made. His large, calloused hand slid up from her hip, tangling ruthlessly in her hair to tilt her head back, anchoring her entirely to his kiss as if he wanted to swallow her whole.

Mari let out a low, breathless moan, her fingers instinctively twitching to grip his shoulders. The sharp flash of pain from her biosynthetic braces only grounded her deeper into the sensation, turning the agony into fuel. She arched against him, matching his desperate, punishing rhythm, completely drowning in the weight of his devotion.

Sera watched them, a dark, heated, wicked smile curving her lips. She didn't wait. Shifting closer until her body pressed flush against Adrian’s side, Sera slid her cool, winter-kissed fingers under Mari’s jaw, forcefully turning her face away from Adrian just enough to claim her own.

Sera’s kiss was a sharp contrast—intoxicating, predatory, and achingly tender all at once. It tasted of ice and winter wind, her lips parting over Mari’s with a possessive urgency that made Mari’s pulse hammer wildly. Sera’s thumb traced the sensitive line of Mari's throat, pressing firmly, bruisingly over her racing pulse point before slipping lower, mapping the curve of her collarbone as if memorizing every inch of skin she owned.

"Greedy bastard," Sera murmured against Mari’s lips, pulling back just enough to let Adrian reclaim her mouth, though Sera’s hand stayed locked on Mari's nape, refusing to let go.

Lena knelt beside them on the cold rock, her breathing shallow and erratic, her eyes blown wide with an aching, worshipful devotion. She trembled as she reached out, her fingers skating slowly, reverently up Mari’s thigh, tracing the line of her hip with a trembling intensity that exposed every hidden desire she carried.

"Mari..." Lena breathed, her voice a fragile, desperate plea.

Mari broke away from Adrian and Sera, her chest heaving, her eyes locking onto Lena with molten heat. She leaned down, ignoring the screaming protest of her forearms, and captured Lena’s mouth in a deep, bruising kiss that made the tech expert gasp and shudder violently against her side. Lena looped her arms tightly around Mari’s waist, pulling her down, burying her face in the crook of Mari’s neck, offering up her entire soul to the center of the storm.

They were a closed, unbreakable loop. Adrian anchoring them with brute, unyielding strength; Sera searing them with her cool, lethal fire; Lena holding them together with frantic, worshipful devotion; and Mari, the bruised and lethal heart keeping them all in orbit.

Adrian’s hand slid down from Mari's hair, mapping the heavy curve of her spine, pressing her flush against his chest so hard she could feel the chaotic, matching rhythm of their heartbeats.

"You're mine," Adrian whispered against her skin, his lips brushing the shell of her ear as the golden morning sun flooded the cliffside, washing them in the light of a world they had just broken open. "All of us. Forever."