The bound by ink and blood

Blood bound

Chapter 2: Blood bound

Lila stood pinned against the cabin wall like she’d been slapped across the face by a ghost. Her chest rose and fell too fast, eyes wide with the kind of horror that hollowed you out from the inside. The fire crackled on behind Jax, indifferent to the way her entire world had just splintered again.

“Say that again,” she whispered, her voice cracking on the words. “Tell me you didn’t just suggest I let you f**k me as part of this twisted revenge plan.”

Jax moved closer, slow and deliberate, like he was approaching a wounded animal that might bolt. “You heard me, Lila. The only way this works is if you stop pretending. No more ‘just friends.’ You become mine body, soul, revenge partner. You spread your legs when I need you to. You take my c**k whenever and however I want. You let me own that p***y until the people hunting us believe it.”

Her breath hitched, sharp and painful. She tried to press back further into the rough wood, but there was nowhere left to go.

“You’re out of your f*****g mind. You killed my parents… and now you think I’m going to let you inside me? After everything?”

“Yeah.” His voice came out rough, edged with something that might have been regret if she let herself believe it. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Because right now it’s the only thing keeping you alive.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small folding knife. The blade caught the firelight. Lila’s stomach dropped.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Proof,” he said quietly. Before she could react, he pricked the tip of his finger. A drop of blood welled up, dark and immediate.

A sharp sting bloomed on her own fingertip at the exact same moment. “Ow f**k!” She clutched her hand, staring at the tiny bead of blood that mirrored his. The pain wasn’t just similar. It was identical. Echoing.

“Nanites,” Jax explained, holding up his bleeding finger so she could see. “They’ve been in the tattoos since the day we got them. Pain, pleasure.Everything flows both ways now. I had them put in because I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you. Thought it would keep you safe. Now it might be the only thing that keeps us both breathing.”

Lila stared at the blood on her skin, a sick wave of betrayal crashing over the fresh grief. Those matching compass tattoos the ones they’d laughed about getting on a drunk night years ago had never been innocent. He’d marked her long before tonight. Long before she knew what he really was.

“You put that s**t in our friendship tattoos?” Her voice shook. “All this time?”

He stepped fully into her space, crowding her without touching. Then he pressed his bleeding finger to her lips, smearing the warm metallic taste across them. She should have pulled away. She didn’t. The nanites flared hot between them, and suddenly his hunger slammed into her like a second heartbeat raw, desperate, years in the making. Her body answered before her mind could catch up. A deep, unwanted throb pulsed low in her belly.

“See?” Jax groaned softly, the sound vibrating through the link. “Your body already knows. Your p***y’s getting wet for the man who destroyed your family. That’s how deep this connection runs, Lila.”

“Shut up,” she hissed, cheeks burning with shame. But her hips shifted forward anyway, traitorous and aching. The grief for her parents sat like a stone in her chest, heavy and sharp, while her n*****s tightened against her shirt. The contrast made her want to scream.

“Why?” He leaned in, lips brushing the shell of her ear, breath warm. “I can feel everything. How soaked you are. How your c**t throbs even while you hate me. I spent years watching you, wanting you, jerking off in the dark to the thought of this exact moment burying myself inside the only woman who ever mattered.”

Lila shoved at his chest, but there was no real force behind it. Her other hand betrayed her completely, pressing against the hard length straining in his jeans. He was thick, burning hot even through the denim. “This doesn’t mean I forgive you,” she whispered, voice thick with tears she refused to shed. “This doesn’t make any of it okay. You still killed them.”

“I know.” Jax rocked into her palm, a low sound escaping his throat. “I don’t want your forgiveness. I want you dripping down my c**k while you call me a monster. I want you coming so hard that the hate blurs, even if it’s only for a few minutes. I want to feel what it’s like to finally have you.”

He ducked his head and bit the side of her neck, sucking hard enough to leave a mark that would bruise by morning. Lila moaned despite herself, the sound raw and broken. The nanites carried the sharp pleasure straight back to him, feeding it between them until it felt impossible to tell whose need was whose.

“If I say yes” Her voice trembled as his hand slid down, cupping her possessively through her jeans, rubbing with just the right pressure. “What happens tonight?”

“Tonight I start claiming what’s mine.” His fingers pressed firmer, drawing another involuntary roll of her hips. “Every thrust. Every drop. You’ll feel it all through the link until you understand exactly who you belong to now.”

She rocked against his hand, breath ragged, tears finally slipping free. The grief and the heat twisted together into something ugly and addictive. “And if I say no?”

Jax pulled back just enough to meet her eyes. His gaze was dark, desperate, and terrifyingly certain.

“Then we’re both dead before sunrise.”