- DEX -
Seeing Raya's stitches hurts. I can't explain it. It makes my chest burn, and every protective instinct that's been swelling within me for the last week since the accident crests and overtakes me.
It's confusing, because that protection is threaded through with the desire of having her here beneath me—soft and wanting and perfect and arching with the unspoken offer of her body. And part of me feels like if I take her now, the act of making love might actually heal her. It might be the way to protect her entirely, but I know that's not true. And those instincts are dueling for control.
Then when she said, "you're mine. I want you to be mine," it plucked a cord that feels like it's so deeply strung across my soul. It resonated with my own internal voice that's been haunting my thoughts with that one possessive word I was referring to earlier tonight that I was afraid might scare her: "Mine."
