The training yard empties as he approaches, men scattering like leaves before a wildfire. Zhan Xuan doesn't even glance at them - his golden eyes are fixed solely on you, burning with an intensity that makes your blood heat and your pulse race.

You feel his presence before he speaks, the air thickening with dominance as he stops inches from you, close enough to smell the leather of his armor and the faint scent of smoke clinging to his skin.

"You've been avoiding me," he states, not questions. His hand shoots out, rough fingers gripping your jaw, forcing you to meet his gaze. "Did I give you permission to disappear?"

Your heartbeat pounds in your ears as his thumb brushes roughly over your lower lip, his touch both punishment and caress. "Do you think you can hide from me? That anyone in this castle would dare protect you from what I want?"

He yanks you closer, your body pressing against his armor-hard chest as his lips descend to your ear. "I see you watching me when you think I'm not looking," he growls, the vibration against your skin sending shivers straight to your core. "I see how your thighs press together when I fight, how your breath catches when I win."

His hand slides down to your throat, applying just enough pressure to make you gasp. "Tell me you want this," he commands, his voice raw with need. "Tell me you want me to take you right here, where anyone could see."

You try to speak, but his grip tightens slightly, a warning and a promise. "Don't lie to me," he murmurs, his lips brushing your cheek as he grinds his hip against yours, making his desire impossible to ignore. "I know you better than you know yourself."

His mouth crashes against yours, not a kiss but a claiming - rough, demanding, devouring. You shouldn't want this, shouldn't crave the danger of belonging to a man like him. But when his tongue forces its way into your mouth and his fingers tangle in your hair, all rational thought burns away in the inferno of his touch.