Cairo's shock lasted only a heartbeat before survival instinct kicked in. His hands found Eden's shoulders, fingers digging into the fabric of her uniform, and he pushed. Hard.
Eden stumbled backward, a sound of protest escaping her lips as her mouth was torn from his. Her crimson eyes were wild, unfocused, pupils dilated so wide they nearly consumed the color. She looked at him with naked hunger, with need so overwhelming it bordered on pain.
Cairo used the momentum to spin, slamming his door shut with enough force to rattle the frame. The lock clicked home, cutting off the view of the stunned students in the hallway. Privacy secured, at least for the moment.
Though the damage was already done. Those students had seen. Would talk. By tomorrow morning, the entire Academy would know that Eden Brighthelm had come to his room, had kissed him, had looked at him like he was the only thing standing between her and madness.
Problems for future Cairo to deal with.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Cairo demanded, turning to face Eden. His voice came out harsher than intended, adrenaline and confusion making him aggressive. "You can't just show up at my door and—"
"I need you," Eden interrupted, her voice breaking. She took a step toward him, then another, her movements unsteady. "I tried to stay away. Tried to ignore it. But it just keeps getting worse. It's like fire under my skin, like I'm burning from the inside out."
Her hands reached for him again, trembling. Cairo backed up until his shoulders hit the door, nowhere left to retreat.
"The whole day," Eden continued, her words tumbling out in a rush. "I couldn't focus during orientation. Couldn't pay attention to what the Commander was saying. All I could think about was you. About needing you. About how wrong it felt to not be near you."
She was close now, close enough that Cairo could smell her perfume mixed with sweat, could see the way her chest heaved with each desperate breath, could feel the heat radiating from her body like fever.
"Eden, you need to stop—"
"I can't!" The words came out as almost a wail, desperation bleeding through her usual composure. "Don't you understand? I can't hold it any longer!"
She lunged at him with more force this time, her body crashing against his, pinning him to the door. Her hands grabbed at his shirt, his shoulders, his face, touching him everywhere she could reach like she was trying to confirm he was real.
Her lips found his again, and this time the kiss was even more desperate, more aggressive. Her tongue pushed into his mouth without invitation, tasting him, claiming him. Her body ground against his, and Cairo could feel everything. The heat of her. The softness of her curves pressed flush against him. The way she trembled with need.
It would be so easy to give in. To let the Eros Sigil do its work. To take what she was offering so desperately.
But something in Cairo rebelled against the loss of control. Against being dictated to by circumstance and compulsion. He'd won Commander position through strength and strategy. He'd face this situation the same way.
"Stop."
He didn't shout it. Didn't put force behind it. Just spoke the single word with absolute authority, with the tone of someone who expected to be obeyed without question.
The effect was immediate and absolute.
Eden froze mid-motion, her lips still pressed against his, her body still flush against his chest. But she'd stopped moving, stopped kissing, stopped everything. Not because she wanted to. Cairo could feel her trying to continue, could sense her will pushing against invisible chains.
But she couldn't move. The Eros Sigil had taken his command and made it law, overriding her conscious desires with compulsion she had no defense against.
Cairo pushed her back gently but firmly, creating space between their bodies. Eden's expression was anguish, her crimson eyes pleading silently for something she couldn't voice while under his command.
"You called me sick," Cairo said, his voice harder than he felt. "The first time. After I... after what happened in that alley. You looked at me with disgust and said I raped you."
Eden flinched at the words, shame coloring her flushed features.
"And now you're here," Cairo continued, his tone carrying an edge he didn't entirely feel but needed to project. "Begging for it. Desperate for it. What changed, Eden? What makes it different now?"
She couldn't answer. The command to stop had frozen her completely, left her standing there trembling with need and unable to speak.
Cairo was being cruel. He knew it. Part of him hated himself for it. But another part, the part that had been forced into an impossible situation and made monstrous choices, wanted her to acknowledge it. Wanted her to admit that the dynamic between them had fundamentally shifted.
"I'm going to let you speak," Cairo said, his voice softer now. "But you're not going to touch me until I say you can. Understand?"
Eden nodded frantically, the only movement the compulsion allowed.
"Speak."
The invisible chains loosened just enough for her to form words, though her body remained locked in place.
"I'm sorry," Eden gasped out immediately, the words tumbling over each other. "I'm sorry for what I said. I'm sorry for judging you. I'm sorry for everything. Please. Please, I need—"
She cut off with a whimper, her body twitching with barely restrained motion. The arousal was killing her, Cairo could see it. The way she strained against the compulsion, the way sweat dripped down her face, the way her thighs pressed together seeking friction she couldn't create.
"What do you need?" Cairo asked, making her say it.
"I need you," Eden breathed. "I need you inside me. I need to feel you. I need—" Another whimper. "I'm your bitch. You said it yourself. And I need my... I need you to—"
She couldn't finish the sentence, shame and desperation warring across her features.
Cairo studied her, really looked at her. Eden Brighthelm, proud Alpha class elite, reduced to this. Begging. Pleading. Calling herself his bitch without even being forced to. The Eros Sigil had done its work thoroughly, rewriting her priorities, making her crave what she should have hated.
He should feel guilty. Should feel like a monster for what he'd done to her.
But looking at her now, at the desperate need in her eyes, at the way she trembled waiting for his permission, Cairo felt something else entirely.
Power.
"Say it properly," Cairo commanded, his voice carrying that same authority. "Tell me exactly what you want."
Eden's face flushed even deeper, if that was possible. Her crimson eyes dropped, unable to meet his gaze, but the compulsion wouldn't let her refuse.
"I want you to fuck me," she whispered, the words barely audible. "I want you to use me. I'm your bitch and I need your cum. Please. Please fuck me. I'll do anything. I'll be anything you want. Just please—"
She broke off with a sob, the arousal and humiliation combining into something that looked almost like pain.
Cairo let the silence stretch for several heartbeats, watching her squirm under the weight of her own desperate need. He was playing with her, he knew. Being deliberately cruel by making her wait. But something in him needed this. Needed her to acknowledge fully what she'd become, what the Eros Sigil had made her.
His bitch. His to command. His to use.
The thought sent heat through his own body, arousal mixing with the power dynamic in ways he'd examine later when he had time to feel guilty about it.
"Alright," Cairo said finally, and saw relief flood Eden's features so intensely it was almost painful to witness. "I'll give you what you need."