Page 104 of Zenith Tower

I drew back and pushed into her again.

Her nails pressed into my shoulder. I kept the first strokes slow, learning the angle that made her thighs open farther and the depth that pulled a low sound from her. When she lifted her hips to meet me, I let the rhythm quicken.

The bed struck softly against the wall.

Astra caught my lower lip between her teeth. “I can take more.”

I gripped her hip and drove deeper.

Her breasts moved against my chest when I bent over her, and her mouth stayed close enough that every broken sound touched my lips. The line burned between our wrists. Her pleasure reached me through it without replacing the pressure gathering in my own body.

I slid my hand beneath her and lifted her hips. The change in angle made her cry out. She covered her mouth, glancing toward the door.

I caught her wrist without pulling. Her gaze moved from the corridor to my face. Then she lowered her hand herself.

I kissed the center of her palm and kept it beneath mine against the bed.

Then I drove into her again.

Astra’s rhythm broke first. Her legs locked around me, and her muscles tightened around my cock in quick, hard pulses. I felt her climax through the bond a breath before it showed in her face, the pleasure striking through both of us while she held me deep inside her.

I kept moving through it, slower now, each contraction pulling at what remained of my restraint.

She opened her eyes.

“Jonah.”

Hearing my name in her voice pulled the last of my control loose.

I buried myself in her and came inside her, my forehead pressed to hers, my hand gripping the curve of her hip. Copper light surged along both our arms and then settled into a low, steady glow.

For a while I remained over her, breathing hard, careful not to let the injured arm collapse.

Astra touched my face. “Come down.”

I eased out of her and lay beside her.

She turned into me at once. I drew the blanket over us and settled her head against my chest. The new bond remained open, quiet now, carrying the soft aftershocks of pleasure and the sleep overtaking both our bodies.

My Mark still showed in full.

Astra traced one copper channel from my wrist toward the bandage. I watched her fingers move over skin I had spent most of my life keeping covered.

“It’s quieter,” I said.

“The bond?”

“My head.”

She lifted her face to look at me.

“I thought letting the Mark surface would make everything louder,” I said. “It was the effort of hiding it that made the noise.”

Astra rested her palm over the completed line.

Beyond the door, the Tower remained awake. Boots crossed the junction. A key entered a lock and withdrew without turning. Somewhere farther down the corridor, the administrator spoke to a steward, her voice low and unyielding.

Morning would bring the Council’s answer. Marrow would bring his evidence. Astra’s third bond would be visible the moment she left this room.