She reached into the drawer, inspected the date and seal, then opened the packet carefully at the marked edge with her fingers.

"You bought an entire box for general safety?" she asked.

"Greyhaven sold them by the box," I said.

"A terrible burden," Liora murmured.

She took her time rolling the condom down my cock, watching my face while her fingers followed it to the base. Then she closed her hand around me and gave one deliberate stroke through the thin material.

My stomach tightened. I caught the mattress in one hand and let out another low sound.

"Functional," she decided.

"That is a cruel word in the circumstances," I said.

"You will recover," Liora promised.

She pushed me onto the mattress and climbed over my hips before I could answer.

She still led. That was preference rather than necessity. Liora straddled me, took my cock in one hand, and rubbed the covered head through her wet folds. The slick drag made me tense beneath her. She did it again, eyes fixed on mine, and shivered when the head passed over her clit.

"You are enjoying this too much," I said.

"I have spent weeks unable to touch you." Her teasing faded into something more direct. "I intend to enjoy all of it."

She positioned me at her entrance and lowered herself slowly. The pressure built by degrees as her body opened around me. My hands tightened at her waist, not forcing her down, only holding on while every small movement pulled a strained breath from my chest.

Halfway, she stopped. Her eyes closed, and a soft moan trembled out of her.

"Liora?"

"Give me a moment." Her fingers spread over my chest. She breathed once, then sank the rest of the way until her hips settled against mine. "Gods."

I exhaled through my teeth. "That was going to be my report."

Her eyes opened. "Still alright?"

"Very." My voice came out lower than intended. "You?"

"Also very." Her tail looped tightly around my thigh. "Excellent report."

For several seconds, neither of us moved. The stillness was not uncertainty. It was the effort of feeling everything without losing the moment too quickly. She was warm around me, close enough that I could feel the rapid beat of her heart beneath my palm.

Then Liora lifted her hips and began to ride me.

The first movements were slow. She rose almost to the point of separation before lowering herself again, taking me in one steady motion. Each descent pulled a quiet moan from her and a rougher sound from me. Her breasts moved with the rhythm. I caught one in my hand and rolled the nipple beneath my thumb.

"Mm—yes." Liora leaned into the touch, eyes half closed. "Harder."

I pinched gently and felt her tighten around me. My groan met hers between us.

Her pace quickened.

I knew more this time. I met her rhythm instead of waiting for instruction, guided her hips when they faltered, and used my thumb where I had learned it made her lose control. Surprise crossed her face at the first touch to her clit. Then her head tipped back, and an open moan filled the little office.

"Attentive," she managed.

"I said I was."

"Do not become smug while inside me."

"There seem to be very few better times."

She silenced me with a kiss and rode me harder. Her claws pressed into my chest without breaking skin. Her ears lay flat, and her tail pulled against my thigh every time she drove herself down. The quiet room filled with the creak of the mattress, our uneven breathing, and the sounds neither of us had reason to restrain.

The narrow mattress shifted beneath us. I planted my feet and thrust upward to meet her.

Liora’s mouth opened against mine. "Ah—"

The startled moan went through me. I did it again, harder.

"Again," she gasped.

I caught her hips and met her a third time. A grunt tore out of me with the effort. Liora answered with my name, dragging her claws lightly down my chest as she braced herself.

She changed the angle, leaning back with one hand on my leg, and I understood why when the next thrust made her whole body shudder.

"There?" I asked.

"Yes. Right there." Her words dissolved into a moan when I repeated it. "Don’t slow down."

I kept the same depth and rhythm, one hand holding her hip while the other circled her clit. She met every thrust now, no longer riding with deliberate control but chasing the pressure. Her breasts shook with each movement. Her hair clung to her cheeks, and every breath left her as a gasp, a curse, or my name.

My own control had narrowed to the grip of her around me and the need to keep giving her exactly what made that grip tighten. Each time I thrust up, a strained grunt escaped me. Liora seemed to like the proof that I was losing composure; her eyes fixed on my face even when her own could barely stay open.

"Adrian—ah—look at me."

I did.

Her hips faltered. I took over the rhythm, pulling her down as I thrust up, and her cry sharpened.

"Close?" I asked, though her body had already answered.

Liora nodded, then forced the word out between gasps. "Yes. So close. You?"

"Yes." I was barely holding the pace. "With you."

"Then don’t you dare stop."

I held her against me and kept thrusting while my thumb moved over her clit. Her pussy tightened around my cock in quick, involuntary contractions. Her tail locked around my thigh. One of her hands closed over mine, pressing my fingers harder against her as the other dug into my shoulder.

"Adrian—Adrian, I’m—"

The rest vanished into a broken cry. Her head fell back, and her entire body clenched around me as she came again. The contractions dragged a helpless groan from my chest. I managed two more uneven thrusts before the pleasure broke through what remained of my control.

"Liora." Her name came out as a hoarse grunt as I came, hips lifting hard against hers. The condom remained secure between us.

She kept moving through it, slower now but insistent, drawing out every pulse until neither of us could manage the rhythm. Then she folded over my chest, trembling, her face pressed against my neck while we fought for breath.

For a while, the only useful thing either of us did was hold on.

Her skin was damp against mine. Her tail remained looped around my thigh, but the grip gradually loosened. I kept one hand at the base of her spine and the other around her shoulders. Whenever an aftershock moved through her, I felt it everywhere we were still joined.

Eventually Liora lifted her head. Her hair was a disorder around flattened ears, and satisfaction had made her smile lazy.

"Still smug?" she asked.

I took a breath before trusting my voice. "Temporarily unable to organize it."

"Good. I have at least a minute."

We recovered enough coordination to separate and deal with the condom. I held its base while withdrawing. Liora gave a small, oversensitive gasp, then tied it off carefully and dropped it into the waste bin. Afterward, she pointed at the water jug until I drank.

The ordinary parts mattered too. Water. A cloth. Liora hissing at the cold and accusing my entire world of hostility when it touched her skin. Her checking the dressing on my palm to make sure it had survived our enthusiasm. Me inspecting the faint claw marks on my chest while she looked pleased with herself.

"Those are going to show," I said.

"Good," Liora said.

"That was not a complaint," I told her.

"Better," she said.

Then we lay together beneath one blanket, her head on my chest and one leg trapped between mine.

"Say something insufferable," she murmured.

"The gates are shut," I said.

She raised her head. "That is not insufferable. That is the happiest anyone has ever sounded about a gate."

"Nothing is coming through them. Nobody is counting down to an ambush. Every other time you were here, we were preparing to run or fight."

Liora listened to the quiet compound for a moment.

"I know," she said. "That is why I stopped criticizing the office window."

[Relationship parameters updated.]

[Resonance: 55% → 62%.]

No milestone followed. No new Imprint formed. Her repeat chance remained an even roll after D, and direct summoning stayed locked.

Sixty-two was simply a number that had moved because something between us had become easier to hold.

Liora fell asleep first. I stayed awake long enough to check the timer.

More than five hours remained.

On the workshop bench, Pell’s field cases rested beside a greenhouse map covered in questions we could answer without entering the water. In the bed, Liora breathed against my chest while the gates remained shut.

For once, the timer was not close to zero.

I put my arm around her and slept.

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