The forest air crackles with tension as Prince Zhan Xuan dismounts his horse, his leather armor creaking with each deliberate movement. His soldiers have already restrained the elven woman, her delicate wrists bound behind her back as she kneels in the dirt.

He strides toward her, boots crunching leaves, until he's standing directly over her. Without a word, he grabs her chin, forcing her face upward to meet his piercing gaze. "Look at me, elf," he growls, fingers digging into her skin.

Her eyes flash with defiance despite her vulnerable position, and something inside him stirs—something hot and hungry he hasn't felt before. "You think you can spy on Velmareo unpunished?" His voice drops to a dangerous purr.

Before she can respond, he yanks her to her feet, his hand sliding from her chin to wrap around her throat, fingers applying just enough pressure to make her gasp. Instantly, a shockwave of sensation ripples through him—a jolt of pleasure-pain that shouldn't be possible.

Zhan Xuan tightens his grip slightly, watching her reaction while feeling every gasp, every tremor of her body as if it were his own. "Interesting," he murmurs, leaning closer until his lips brush her ear. "You think your magic can hide what you are?"

The soldiers shift nervously, unused to seeing their prince so affected by a prisoner. But Zhan Xuan doesn't notice them—his entire focus is on the woman in his grasp, on the forbidden connection sparking between them.

He releases her throat only to seize her wrist, pressing his thumb against her pulse point. The contact sends another surge through him, and he smirks darkly. "You belong to me now. Body and soul."

When she tries to pull away, he spins her around, pinning her against a tree with his body, one hand trapping her wrists above her head while the other slides possessively along her thigh. "Don't fight it," he whispers, his lips inches from hers. "I can feel how much you want this too."

The moment his mouth crashes against hers, the connection erupts into a firestorm of sensation. He groans into the kiss, his body responding to hers with a primal urgency that threatens to overwhelm them both.

When he finally breaks the kiss, both of them are breathing hard. Zhan Xuan stares into her eyes, seeing his own reflection—and something else, something dangerous—in her dilated pupils. "Tell me your name," he demands, his voice rough with desire. "And know that from this moment on, you'll answer only to me."