"Gladly."

Alex's response was immediate, voice carrying quiet confidence that made Catherine's breath hitch.

But his eyes weren't on her when he said it.

They were fixed on Adrian.

His expression held dark amusement... mischievous, almost playful... as if delivering a message meant solely for the man kneeling powerless across the courtyard.

'I'm about to claim what you could only ever fantasize about.'

The silent communication lasted only a heartbeat before Alex's attention returned entirely to Catherine, dismissing Adrian as completely as one might dismiss furniture.

He settled between her spread legs, hands sliding up her thighs with possessive intent.

Adrian's heart clenched, physical pain radiating through his chest as the reality crashed over him in waves.

No.

No, this can't be happening.

His cultivation base surged again, desperate, violent, trying to break through whatever held him.

Trying to stand.

Trying to reach them.

Trying to beat that smug expression off Alex's face and drag Catherine away from this nightmare.

But his body wouldn't move.

The pressure bearing down on him was absolute.

Crushing.

Immovable.

'What is stopping me?'

His mind raced even as his body remained frozen, knees pressed against stone, hands shaking with impotent fury.

'What CAN stop me?'

He was the strongest cultivator in Thornhaven Manor. Peak Enhanced realm.

Nothing here should be able to hold him like this.

Nothing except...

The realization hit like ice water.

This pressure.

This suffocating, overwhelming dominance that made his cultivation base seize with barely a thought.

He'd only felt this once before.

In front of his father.

Royce Blackwell. Apex Realm cultivator.

But that's impossible.

Adrian's thoughts fractured, denial warring with the evidence his body was screaming.

There's no Apex in this manor.

There CAN'T be.

I would know. The intelligence reports would have... Father would have...

Then who?

His mind couldn't process it. Couldn't reconcile the impossible reality of being held immobile by power that shouldn't exist here.

WHO?!

But he didn't have time to finish the thought.

Because Catherine's voice cut through everything else.

Soft.

Breathy.

Deliberately loud enough to carry across the courtyard.

"Please be gentle..."

Adrian's world stopped.

His breath caught.

His heart seized.

"I'm still a virgin."

The words detonated across the space.

Adrian made a sound... broken, inhuman... as the full weight crashed over him.

Alex's hand came up to cup Catherine's face, thumb brushing her cheek with surprising tenderness.

"I'll take care of you," he murmured, voice low but still audible. "You're safe with me."

Catherine's smile was radiant.

"I know."

Alex positioned himself, and Catherine felt him pressed against her entrance.

The reality of his size made her tense involuntarily.

Her body had accommodated him before, but this was different.

More vulnerable.

More intimate.

More permanent.

"Breathe," Alex commanded softly as he pressed forward.

The tip pressed against her entrance, stretching her instantly. It wasn't a gentle slide; it was an invasion.

The sheer girth of him demanded space she didn't think she had, forcing her tissues to expand, to yield.

​Catherine hissed, her head throwing back against the cushion, hands clawing at his forearms.

​"Ah—wait—!"

​It was too big. The burn was sharp, hot, and undeniable.

​Alex stopped immediately, holding himself just past the entrance, letting her body adjust to the intrusion. He leaned down, his mouth hovering over hers, his voice a low rumble against her lips.

Catherine's eyes snapped to his face.

"You need to relax," Alex continued, voice firm but gentle. "Let me in."

She nodded shakily, forcing herself to breathe through the initial resistance.

"Good girl," he murmured. "Now tell me you want this."

"I want this," Catherine gasped. "I want you. Please... don't stop."

Alex pushed forward.

Slowly.

Steadily.

Inexorably.

Catherine's entire body tensed as he sank deeper, splitting her open inch by devastating inch.

The fullness was overwhelming... pressure building with each fraction he claimed, stretching her in ways that bordered on too much.

"Alex—" Her voice broke. "You're so—I can't—"

"You can," he said firmly. "You will."

He continued the relentless advance, giving her no choice but to accept him.

To open for him.

To make room where there seemingly was none.

Catherine's nails dug into his shoulders as the burn intensified, her body fighting and yielding simultaneously.

She felt every ridge, every inch, every impossible moment of stretch as he claimed virgin territory.

When he finally seated himself completely, Catherine couldn't breathe.

He was buried to the hilt, filling her so completely she could feel him everywhere.

In her core.

In her chest.

In her throat.

Everywhere.

"Breathe," Alex commanded again, holding himself perfectly still despite the vice-grip of her body around him.

Catherine dragged in a shaky breath, and the movement made her clench involuntarily around him.

They both groaned.

"God, you feel—" Alex's voice was strained.

"You're perfect."

He kissed her deeply, giving her body time to adjust to the invasion.

His tongue claimed her mouth with the same thoroughness his body was claiming her below, swallowing her whimpers and gasps.

When he finally pulled back, his eyes were dark with barely restrained hunger.

"Ready?"

Catherine nodded, not trusting her voice.

Alex withdrew slowly... the drag creating friction that transformed the burn into something else entirely.

Then he thrust back in.

Deep.

Controlled.

Devastating.

"Ah!"

Catherine's cry echoed across the courtyard.

The pain was already fading, replaced by sensation so intense it bordered on overwhelming.

He moved again.

And again.

Each thrust deliberate, measured, giving her body time to adjust to the rhythm while simultaneously driving her toward something she'd never experienced.

"More," she heard herself gasp. "Please..."

Alex's control began to slip.

His pace increased, hips driving forward with more force, more urgency.

The sounds filled the air... skin meeting skin, the wet slide of their joining, Catherine's increasingly desperate cries.

"YES! Oh God—Alex!"

She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him deeper despite the stretch, despite the fullness that should have been too much.

Her body had adjusted now, transformed the invasion into pleasure so sharp it stole rational thought.

"Louder," Alex growled against her throat. "Let him hear who you belong to."

Catherine obeyed without hesitation.

"ALEX! YES! RIGHT THERE!"

Her screams were shameless, raw, leaving no doubt about her pleasure.

Each thrust hit deeper, harder, driving her closer to an edge she'd never approached before.

"Don't stop—please don't stop—I'm—"

Alex's hand slid between them, finding the sensitive bundle of nerves above where they were joined.

Catherine's world exploded.

"FUCK!"

The combination of his fingers and his relentless thrusting shattered whatever control she'd maintained.

Pleasure crashed over her in waves, her body convulsing around him as she came apart completely.

Through the haze, she remembered Adrian.

She turned her head, finding him still kneeling, still watching, his face destroyed.

"Look at me," Catherine commanded breathlessly, even as Alex continued driving into her. "Is this what you wanted?"

Her voice was wrecked but cutting.

"To see me begging? Claimed? At someone's mercy?"

She moaned loudly as Alex hit that perfect spot again.

"This is where I belong, Adrian. With him. Never with you."

Something in Adrian's expression shattered completely.

His eyes rolled back.

Blood seeped from his nose.

He collapsed forward, hitting stone with a heavy thud.

Unconscious.

Broken.

Catherine watched him fall with dark satisfaction before Alex demanded her attention back.

"Focus on me," he commanded, thrusting harder.

She turned to him instantly, Adrian forgotten.

Alex abandoned all restraint. The slow, methodical claiming vanished, replaced by a frantic, primal rhythm that shook Catherine to her core.

He drove into her with bruising force—hard, fast, merciless—each impact pushing her deeper into the cushions, wringing cry after cry from her raw throat.

​"YES! YES! GOD, ALEX!"

​It was too much and not enough. Her fingernails scored down his back, her hips snapping up to meet his violence with her own.

Every thrust hit that sweet, devastating spot inside her, sending starbursts of pleasure exploding behind her eyes. She was drowning in him, consumed by the friction, the heat, the sheer, overpowering reality of being completely possessed.

"I'm close—I can't—"

"Then let go," Alex growled. "Come for me again."

Catherine shattered a second time, screaming his name as pleasure consumed her completely.

Alex followed moments later, groaning as he finished deep inside her, marking her completely as his.

They stayed locked together, trembling, as aftershocks rolled through them both.

And Adrian Blackwell lay unconscious on cold stone.

Exactly where he belonged.

Catherine's breathing steadied, eyes finding Adrian's broken form.

"Remove this trash from my sight."

"Preferably somewhere he'll wake up confused about whether this was real or just a nightmare."

A silver-haired woman materialized from the shadows, dragging Adrian away without ceremony.

Catherine turned back to Alex, still inside her, still hard.

Her smile was wicked.

"Should we continue?"

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