~ CASIMIR ~
I was slick with sweat, could feel it trickling down my spine despite the fact that I hadn't worn a shirt. As I stepped into the dark den I turned to bar the door. But when I reached down to pick up the beam, pain spasmed at the hollow of my back. I hissed against it as I dropped the thick bar into the brackets, but was forced to take a moment, leaning on it, gripping it until my knuckles turned white as I fought the cord of the bond in my chest that was thrashing, whipping like a striking snake.
It took moments to wrestle back under control, behind my cold steel defenses. But I did it.
Jaw tight and back teeth clenched, I turned, looking for Toree- and found her just a few feet away, kicking off her heels and already shimmying her leather pants past her hips, leaning forward so I was treated with a view of the dark valley between her breasts in that wisp of a top.
