Chapter 30 Jabari #2
Nyx corrected instantly.
Better.
Her eyes flicked sideways toward me.
“You hovering?”
My mouth curved.
“Darlin’, if I get any closer you’re gonna accuse me of crowdin’.”
“Maybe you are.”
“Maybe you like it.”
Kairo snorted quietly behind us.
Elijah didn’t look up from his phone, but the corner of his mouth twitched.
Nyx stepped toward me.
Testing.
The space between us tightened until I could feel the warmth rolling off her skin. Sweat had started to gather along her hairline now, dark curls clinging to her temple. Her breathing was deeper too—steady but heavier from the drills.
“Show me,” she said.
That did something dangerous to my restraint.
I stepped behind her.
Close.
Not touching at first.
Then my hand settled lightly at her waist, guiding her through the next turn.
“Step here,” I murmured.
Nyx shifted, pivoting under my arm.
Her body moved smoother this time, balance settling as she turned.
When she faced me again, her breath brushed warm against my jaw.
“You’re improving,” I said.
Nyx lifted her chin.
“Don’t sound so surprised.”
“Darlin’, I ain’t surprised.”
My gaze moved slowly over her stance, the strength settling into it.
“I’m impressed.”
Across the mat, Kairo had gone still.
The easy grin he’d been wearing softened into something quieter.
Elijah’s attention lifted from his phone now too, sharp and focused the way it always got when something important unfolded in front of him.
Malachi hadn’t moved at all.
But his gaze never left Nyx.
Nyx stepped closer.
The air between us felt thicker suddenly.
“What else?” she asked.
My smile came slow.
Dangerous.
“Oh,” I said softly.
“We got plenty more to teach you.”
Nyx’s gaze didn’t drop.
Instead she moved closer still, until the space between us shrank to a breath.
Her voice lowered.
“Don’t teach me control,” she said quietly. “Teach me how to choose it.”
A hard truth hit me square in the chest, clean and bright. That was what she had always needed. Not softness. Not permission. Choice.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, and my voice held polite menace even as my hands stayed gentle. “Chosen is my favorite kind.”
I kissed her slow, controlled, the kind of kiss that promised restraint. Her fingers curled into the front of my shirt. My alpha stayed calm, but my body still knew hunger, and the bond hummed.
When I pulled back, I kept my forehead close to hers. “You feel safe?” I asked.
“Yes,” she breathed.
“You feel wanted?”
“Yes.”
“You feel like you belong?”
Nyx swallowed, then nodded, eyes shining without tears. “Yes.”
Kairo’s voice came soft from behind her. “You do.”
Elijah stepped in just enough to be heard, not enough to crowd. “Always.”
Malachi’s hand finally landed at the small of Nyx’s back, a firm, possessive touch that still left her room to move. “Mine,” he said, quiet.
Nyx didn’t flinch. She didn’t shrink. She tilted her head back and looked at him. “Ours,” she corrected.
Malachi’s eyes went darker. Then his mouth curved, just a fraction,.
Nyx turned back to me, and the command in her gaze made my spine go hot. It was not fear this time. It was hunger with a crown on it, and I had always been a man who understood how to kneel without losing power.
“I want you on your knees,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am,” I answered.
I dropped down slow and deliberate, giving her the show she wanted, giving the room the truth of who held the reins right now.
My hands stayed open at my sides for a beat, because control that was chosen started with permission.
Then I reached for her hips, firm but not trapping, anchoring her the way she had asked.
Nyx’s fingers slid into my hair, not yanking, just holding, and the tug went straight through me. I kissed the inside of her wrist, then her palm, then the soft pad of her thumb, each one a vow I did not need to speak out loud. My voice stayed low when I looked up at her.
“You tell me what you want,” I said. “I’ll do it.”
Her throat worked as she swallowed. “I want to see you choose to behave,” she whispered. “I want to know you could be dangerous, and you decide to be mine instead.”
Something in my chest cracked open, ugly and beautiful at once. I had been dangerous my whole life, and nobody had ever asked me to choose softness without confusing it for weakness.
“Yes, darlin’,” I murmured. “You feel me?”
I stayed on my knees while she moved around me, slow and deliberate, letting her take her time with it, letting her build the moment.
Kairo’s breath went shallow behind her, and Elijah’s gaze stayed locked on her hands.
Malachi watched from the edge of the room, still as judgment, but his eyes were hungry and proud all at once.
Nyx tipped my chin up with two fingers. “Open,” she said.
I opened, and she pressed her thumb to my tongue. Her gaze never wavered, and the power of it had my body hardening too fast, too eager. I kept my hands where they belonged, because she asked for chosen control, and I was going to give it to her until she believed it down to her bones.
“Good,” she said, and her voice went quiet. “That’s my Jabari.”
Praise hit me harder than pain ever had. I leaned forward and kissed her thigh through her leggings, slow, reverent, then higher, and she sucked in a breath. I loved that it did anyway.
“Tell me to stop,” I said against her skin. “Tell me to slow down. Tell me anything, and I’ll obey.”
Nyx’s fingers tightened in my hair. “Don’t stop,” she whispered. “But don’t take. Ask.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I turned my face up to her again. “Can I touch you?”
“Yes,” she said.
I slid my hands up her hips, then under her shirt, palms warm against her skin.
I kept it slow, because she wanted choice more than speed, and I wanted her to feel every second of being claimed without being cornered.
When I brushed my thumb under the swell of her breast, she shivered, and the sound she made turned my blood into fire.
Kairo stepped closer, not crowding, just offering. “You want my hands?” he asked her softly.
Nyx’s gaze flicked to him. “On my waist,” she said, breath rough. “Hold me.”
Kairo’s hands landed gentle but sure at her waist, grounding her. Elijah moved in on her other side without a word, his palm sliding to her lower back, steadying. Nyx did not look away from me as she gave the next command.
“Stand,” she told me.
I rose slow, careful, staying close. My body was hard and aching because the desire to press her into the mat and take what I wanted was hot and immediate. I could do it. I could overwhelm her, and she would still want me, because she trusted me.
That was exactly why I did not.
I cupped her face, my palms warm against her skin, thumbs brushing slow arcs along the curve of her cheeks. Her pulse fluttered just beneath my touch, quick but steady, and the way she held my gaze told me she wasn’t shrinking from the moment—she was standing squarely inside it.
“Tell me what you want now, darlin’,” I said quietly.
Nyx swallowed. The movement was small, but I felt it under my hands. Her eyes stayed locked on mine, bright and unflinching, the kind of look that came from someone who had fought too hard to have her voice taken again.
“I want you in my mouth,” she said.
Her voice didn’t shake.
“I want to taste you and know you’ll let me lead.”
The words hung in the air between us.
Behind her, Kairo’s breath caught softly, the sound quick and surprised before he smoothed it away.
Elijah’s jaw tightened, the muscle flexing once as his attention sharpened.
Malachi didn’t move, but his gaze grew darker, more focused, like he was watching a line being drawn and choosing to respect it.
I studied Nyx for a moment longer, making sure the certainty I heard in her voice matched what I saw in her eyes.
Then I nodded once.
“Yes, darlin’,” I said, the manners in it quiet but deliberate. “Only if you want it. Only the way you want it.”
Nyx held my gaze another heartbeat, measuring the promise there.
Then she nodded.
“I want it.”
We moved to the mat, not hurried, not frantic. Nyx sank down in front of me, hands at my belt and I let her. I let her set the pace, let her decide how fast and how deep, and I breathed through the need to take over while my hands stayed open and gentle at her shoulders.
I watched her mouth close around me, and the sight nearly broke my restraint clean in half.
My dick throbbed as she worked her tongue slow and sure, lips catching the ring at the underside of the head before she adjusted and took me deeper, eyes never leaving mine.
The power of it made my legs want to shake, and I forced myself to stay still, because she wanted proof I could choose control.
“Yes, baby,” I breathed, voice rough. “Just like that.”
Nyx pulled back a fraction. “Ask,” she reminded.
I swallowed hard. “Can I hold your head?”
She nodded, and when my fingers slid into her hair, it was gentle. It was possession with manners, and she let it happen because she was the one who gave it to me.
Kairo’s hands stayed on her waist, keeping her steady.
Elijah’s palm stayed at her back, grounding her breath when it started to hitch.
Nyx took me deeper, slow and controlled, and my body burned with the urge to thrust. I did not.
I let her use me the way she wanted, and the discipline of it felt like devotion.
When she pulled off me again, her lips glistening, she looked up. “You’re shaking,” she said.
“Yes, darlin’,” I admitted. “You got me on my last nerve.”
She smiled, wicked and satisfied. “Good.”
I laughed once, low and broken. “You want me to come?”
Nyx’s eyes darkened. “Not yet.”
Kairo let out a breath. Elijah made a small sound in the back of his throat, controlled and tight. Malachi finally stepped closer, his shadow falling over all of us.
“Look at her,” Malachi said to me, voice quiet and absolute.