Night fell over Thornwick like a curtain.

The group had spent four hours walking through disappearance sites—empty homes, abandoned alleyways, sealed sewer entrances.

By the time they reached the only inn still operating in the district—a three-story building called the Pale Mare—everyone was tired, dirty, and irritable.

The lobby was small but clean. Warm light from wall sconces. A wooden counter. A young woman with auburn hair and a tired smile standing behind it.

"Five rooms," Byron announced, approaching the counter with a disgusted expression. "Separate. Clean. Hot water if you have it. Also, any luxury still available"

The receptionist tapped at a ledger. "I have three rooms available. Two singles on the third floor, one larger room on the second."

"Three," Byron repeated flatly. "There are five of us."

"Thornwick isn’t exactly a tourist destination right now, sir."

Byron’s eye twitched.

Before he could argue, Sage moved.

She flowed past him—not walking so much as gliding—and placed one hand on the counter with a smile that made the receptionist blink twice.

"One room," Sage said. "The large one. For myself and—" she tilted her head toward Kael, "—him."

Silence.

Zane looked at the floor. Mira pushed her glasses up and studied the ceiling with sudden intense interest. Byron’s face went through approximately seven shades of red.

"You—" Byron started.

"Two singles left," Sage continued, not looking at him. "That’s you two." She glanced at Mira and Zane. "Problem solved."

Byron’s mouth opened and closed.

Kael leaned against the wall by the door, arms crossed, expression perfectly neutral.

That was somehow worse than if he’d laughed.

"I’ll take a single," Zane said quickly, already reaching for his coin pouch.

"Same," Mira said, handing over credits without looking at anyone. Her glasses caught the light as she turned. "We should meet early tomorrow. Dawn, I think. The mission timer starts at sunrise, so every hour counts."

She looked directly at Kael and Sage.

"Especially you two."

Sage winked.

Mira’s expression didn’t change, but something behind her glasses suggested she’d already calculated exactly why they’d be late and exactly how little she wanted to think about it.

"Fine," Byron bit out. "Dawn. In the lobby. No one is late. That’s an order from your group leader."

He grabbed a key from the counter and stalked up the stairs without waiting for acknowledgment.

Zane followed at a near-run.

Mira collected her key, paused, and looked at Kael one more time.

"Don’t break her," she said quietly. "We need her combat-ready."

She went upstairs.

The receptionist held out a key with a small, knowing smile.

"Second floor. End of the hall. Hot water is available for another hour."

Sage took the key.

Kael pushed off the wall and followed her up the stairs without a word.

The door clicked shut behind them.

The room was larger than expected—wooden floors, a proper bed with actual linens, a desk by the window, and a chandelier hanging from the ceiling that cast warm golden light across everything. The hot water pipes in the corner hissed faintly. Clean towels stacked on a chair.

Nice. For a dying city.

Sage dropped the key on the desk and turned to face him.

Kael tilted his head.

"Why same room?" he asked with a clueless and innocent expression. The expression of a man who had absolutely no idea what was happening.

Sage stared at him.

"You know why."

"I genuinely don’t. We could have coordinated. Taken watches. There’s a mission to—"

She grabbed his collar and pulled.

His back hit the door with a solid thud. Sage pressed against him, her massive breasts flattening against his chest, golden eyes burning inches from his face.

"You," she whispered, "Stop pretending like you don’t know what I want."

"I’m quite the excellent actor."

"Stop acting. To a fox like me, it is terrible."

Her tails swished behind her—agitated, wanting, curling and uncurling in patterns that betrayed every thought she wasn’t saying.

Kael smiled.

"Tell me what you want, Sage."

"You know what I—"

"Say it."

She bit him. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Her teeth sank into the junction of his neck and shoulder—sharp, painful, enough to draw blood. Kael hissed through his teeth, more from surprise than pain.

"That hurt," he said mildly.

"I don’t care."

He grabbed her jaw and kissed her.

With one hand already sliding into her hair while the other found the small of her back and pulled her flush against him. Sage melted into it with a sound that started in her throat and ended somewhere lower—a whimper that she’d deny if anyone ever mentioned it.

He walked her backward without breaking the kiss.

Her legs hit the bed.

He pushed.

Sage fell onto the mattress, silk silver hair fanning across the sheets, chest heaving, eyes half-lidded and needy. Her tails splayed out beneath her, trembling.

Kael stood over her.

His fingers found the collar of her dress.

Slowly—so slowly— he pulled it down.

Fabric whispered over her shoulders. Exposed collarbone. The tops of her breasts, straining against thin fabric. The dress caught at her hips, bunched and refusing to go further without help.

Sage lay there, breathing hard, watching him with eyes that held nothing but want.

"You’re taking too long," she breathed.

"Patience, love. Patience"

"Fuck patience."

He smirked—that arrogant, insufferable smirk—and hooked his fingers into the fabric at her hips.

"Since you asked so nicely."

The dress came off.

The chandelier light caught every curve, every plane of golden-tanned skin, every place where her body was soft and where it was firm. Her breasts spilled free—massive, heavy, nipples already hardened in the cool air. Her stomach was flat, toned from combat training, hips flaring into thighs that had gripped him that first night and never let go.

"Prepared?" he murmured.

Kael knelt on the edge of the bed.

His hands found her ankles. Slid up. Slow. Deliberate. Tracing the inside of her calves, her knees, the sensitive skin of her inner thighs.

Sage’s breath hitched.

"Kael—"

"Shh."

His thumbs traced circles on her inner thighs—close, so close, but never touching where she needed it most. Her legs fell open wider without conscious thought. Her tails curled around the bedsheets, twisting, pulling.

"You’re being cruel," she whispered.

"Am I? Then beg."

"Please—"

"Please what? Show some sincerity, Sage."

She glared at him through half-lidded eyes, but there was no heat in it. Only desperation.

"Touch me."

His hands stopped.

"Where?"

Her jaw clenched. Her cheeks flushed darker.

"Where I need you."

"Be specific."

"Kael, I swear to every god that exists, if you don’t put your hands on my pussy in the next five seconds, I will flip you over and take what I—"

He touched her.

One finger. Slow stroke along her slit. Slick, soaking, swollen with need.

Sage’s entire body shuddered.

"There," she gasped. "There. Please. More."

Kael smiled and leaned down.

"Good girl."

Her moan filled the room as his mouth replaced his finger.