Page 76 of Anomalies

“Call me anything else,” he growls.

“Why should I?” My voice shakes as I’m forced to meet his gaze head-on. “You never take my name preferences into consideration.”

“Because, Chaos.” He nods to his discarded vest on the ground—the Captain’s armor. “I don’t want to be that with you.”

Silence falls—heavy and thick with something electric. Something I can’t quite place.

“Why?” I ask, but it comes out as a whisper. I’m so close now that I can see all the raised skin on his chest and ribs. Every inch of him is either ink-filled or scar-flecked and I–

You cannot touch, Lucina.

Callan snakes his hand out from under the couch and straightens, pulling my attention upward. “Because it’s different, isn’t it?” The Captain grips my wrist gently, slowly pulling my bandaged hand towards him. “This.”

I suck in a breath when he presses my fingertips into the skin beneath his jaw, and his pulse flickers in response to the touch. My thumb brushes against it as he guides my hand down the side of his neck, then back up again.

His pulse flickers again. A subtle stutter that’s impossible to miss.

“It’s you that does that.” Callan drags my thumb across it again, and my gaze snaps to his. “Only you.”

I don’t have the discipline for this right now.

“And I have I feeling…” he murmurs, his voice dropping deeper as he peels my hand away, then moves my fingers carefully atop his, raising his hand to my throat.

There is nothing I can do to stop my pulse from jumping.

If my life had depended on it…I’d be dead.

Callan’s eyes light up when his calloused fingers skate over it, that flicker. “You feel it too.”

My cheeks redden, my mouth opening to respond, but I can’t. I can’t even move properly without trusting myself not to close the distance between us.

Maybe it’s another distraction…

But I can’t think of two people who need it more.

Callan’s nostrils flare when he sees the color that blooms over my cheeks. The grey rings around his eyes bleed into the silver, darkening his irises until I can’t breathe. He’s looking down at my lips now, his fingers moving along my neck, and when his thumb skates over the heartbeat there, my pulse skitters like lightning.

I exhale a heavy breath, and he groans in response, sliding his hand back into my hair. Then he tugs on it just enough that my eyes are forced up to his. “Lucina, I’d like to kiss you. And you only have about five seconds to stop me.”

I count the seconds in my head, and for a moment, I almost stop him. For a moment, I’m reminded of just how messy this could get. But that moment is fleeting, and when his other hand slides over the top of my thigh and squeezes⁠—

I count the fifth second and I have no shame in pulling him towards me, a deep groan slipping past his lips the second I have them on mine.

I don’t give myself the time or space to regret it, I just melt into the arms that are already open and waiting for me.

The perfect distraction.

“See?” he whispers against my mouth, his thumb jerking my chin up and tugging it closer. “Chaos.”

Fire catches beneath my skin at his words. It’s slow at first, a gentle exploration as if we have all the time in the world, but when my fingers slide through his hair, everything spirals out of control.

My lips part, and his tongue sweeps in, the hand on my thigh getting higher and higher as I fall deeper into the madness that is the Captain. His smell, his taste, his overwhelming yet calming presence that pushes me and grounds me all at once. I kiss him until he tastes like ash and fire and smoke, his fingers tangling through my curls, tugging gently to pull me closer.

Gods, I need to be closer.

It’s feverish now, the way we move, frantic and hungry and perfectly matched—as if we were meant for this and this alone. Everything else melts away, and he’s the only thing holding me to this world. I have no power over the tight coil winding low in my stomach, the crackling fire licking my veins, the electricity that pricks my skin and sends my pulse flying⁠—

“Callan,” I warn, when his teeth graze my neck and his mouth finds that pulse, reveling in the way it skips for him.