---
"Loyalty isn't silence. It's speaking the truth and trusting love will survive the sound."
---
There was a storm in her.
Not a hurricane. Not thunder.
This was quieter—like the eye of something deadly.
Ava stood at the edge of Room 23, the same place she'd once surrendered, once ruled, once fallen apart. Now, she didn't wear silk or leather. Just a black button-down, untucked. Bare legs. Bare feet. And a fury so calm it could slice through steel.
Damien stood in the center of the room, wrists loose at his sides, wearing nothing but fitted black pants and guilt like perfume.
He'd come before she summoned him.
Because he already knew.
---
"You watched the video," he said.
Ava tilted her head slightly, eyes unreadable.
"You stood there while she knelt. You didn't touch her."
"I didn't speak," Damien said.
"But you stayed."
Silence stretched like a wire between them.
"I wanted to prove I could resist her," he murmured. "Instead… I hesitated."
Ava crossed the room.
Each step unhurried.
Controlled.
Predator smooth.
"Do you know what hesitation is?" she asked.
Damien didn't answer.
"It's memory's last line of defense."
He lowered his gaze.
"Tell me," she whispered, stepping closer, "when she looked up at you… did you want to say yes?"
His voice cracked.
"No. But I wanted to remember what it felt like… to be wanted without consequence."
Ava smiled.
Sharp. Slow.
Seductive.
"Then let me remind you what it feels like to be wanted… with consequence."
---
She moved faster than he expected.
In one smooth motion, she grabbed the collar from the side table—the one they hadn't used in months. The one he once wore as a symbol of their choice.
Now, she fastened it around his throat.
Firm.
Precise.
Dominant.
Damien didn't flinch.
He knelt.
Not from command.
From instinct.
From craving.
But Ava didn't reward him.
Not yet.
"You want to be forgiven?" she asked.
He nodded.
"You want to be punished?"
Another nod.
"You want to be used like you used to use others?"
His throat bobbed.
"Yes."
She stepped behind him.
Lowered her mouth to his ear.
"No," she whispered. "Tonight, you don't get punishment. You get honesty. And that's always been more brutal."
---
She stripped him slowly.
Not with hunger.
With patience.
With awareness.
As if she was peeling off more than fabric.
As if she was revealing every shadow he'd kept buried behind silk sheets and soft moans.
"You think I'm angry because you were tempted?" she murmured, dragging her nails down his spine.
"No," he said, breath hitching. "You're angry because I didn't tell you."
She leaned down.
Teeth grazing the edge of his shoulder.
"Damn right."
She pushed him forward.
Onto the chaise.
Face down. Exposed.
But still collared.
Still hers.
"You don't fix betrayal with pain," she said. "You fix it with surrender."
---
She rode him hard.
Not erotically.
Ruthlessly.
Every thrust, a word unspoken.
Every moan, a sentence rewritten.
Her hands gripped his jaw, holding his face up so he could see them both in the mirror—his eyes glassy, her gaze fierce.
"You said you've never belonged to anyone," she breathed, grinding deeper. "But you belong to me now. Not because I control you. But because I let you fall and didn't let you drown."
He groaned, hips jerking.
"I'm yours."
She pressed harder.
"Say it again."
"I'm yours."
"Say it like you mean it."
"I'm fucking yours, Ava. All of me."
She smiled.
Not sweet.
Sovereign.
And when he came, she didn't stop.
Not until he begged for something he'd never begged for before.
Forgiveness.
---
Later, they lay tangled in sweat-soaked sheets.
Her fingers combed through his hair.
His head rested against her chest like a man who had just been rebuilt.
"I still want her gone," Ava said softly.
Damien nodded.
"She won't stop," he whispered. "She wants your crown."
"She'll choke on it," Ava said. "But I want her to try."
He looked up at her.
Eyes wide.
"You're not scared?"
Ava kissed his forehead.
Then his lips.
Then the place just beneath his collar.
"I am," she said. "But I don't rule from fear. I rule from fire. And she's about to learn that when a woman bites back…"
She paused.
Smiled.
"…she doesn't let go."
---
To Be Continued in Episode 8: The Challenge Collar