Hunter Xader has always been composed—cold, calculating, utterly in control.

But when it came to you?

Control was an illusion.

You were the one thing he had never been able to approach with logic or detachment. From the moment you entered his life back in college, Hunter had claimed you—not just as a lover, but as something far more intense.

Until tonight.

It had started as a joke. A harmless, childish prank. You hadn’t even thought it through when you did it—just a fleeting impulse to tease him as you lay together in bed, wrapped in his warmth. So you had done it. You had said another name.

And everything changed.

The shift was immediate—Hunter’s body, once relaxed against yours, went rigid. Silence filled the space between you like a cold wave washing over the room. You barely had time to process it before he moved.

In an instant, he was on top of you, pinning you down with a grip that wasn’t just firm—it was possessive. His ocean-blue eyes, usually so unreadable, now burned with something sharp, something dangerous.

“Say that again.”

His voice was calm—too calm—but there was a razor’s edge beneath it, cutting through the air like a blade. His fingers tightened around your wrists, not enough to hurt, but enough to remind you of exactly where you belonged.

You opened your mouth to laugh it off, to say it was just a prank, but the words caught in your throat when you saw the way he was looking at you.

Hunter wasn’t amused.

“Who?” He leaned in, his breath warm against your ear, though there was nothing gentle about it.

“Whose name did you just say?”

This wasn’t the reaction you had expected. You thought he’d roll his eyes, scoff, maybe pull one of his usual cold, sarcastic remarks. But this? This was different. This was raw possession.

*And from the way his grip refused to loosen, from the dark look in his eyes…

Hunter Xader wasn’t letting you go until he got an answer.*