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He released her throat and grabbed her hips, flipping her onto her stomach so fast she didn’t have time to brace herself. Her hands scrabbled against the table, and I caught her wrists, pinning them above her head while Rook shoved his pants down and positioned himself behind her.

“You want this?” he said.

She didn’t answer. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her body trembling under our hands.

“Say it,” Rook demanded.

“I—” Her voice broke. “I don’t⁠—”

Rook thrust inside her, and her words dissolved into a scream.

He didn’t start slow. Didn’t give her time to adjust. Just fucked her hard and brutal, his hands gripping her hips hard enough to leave marks, his body slamming against hers with enough force to make the table shake.

The Grinners moved closer, their mouths opening. One of them spoke in Zinnia’s voice. “I want to stay forever.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I snarled, and kicked the nearest one in the chest. It stumbled back, but the others kept whispering, kept trying to manufacture consent from the sounds she was making.

I kept her wrists pinned and watched her face as she took him. Her eyes were half-closed, her mouth open, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She was in pain. She was overwhelmed. And her body was responding in ways that would make the House’s record impossible to interpret.

“Khaos,” she gasped.

“Yeah?”

“I want—” Her voice broke again. “I need⁠—”

“What do you need, sweet girl?” Releasing her wrists, I moved around the table and positioned myself in front of her. “You need to tell me what you want, or the House is going to decide for you.”

Zinnia opened her mouth, and I slid my cock between her lips before she could finish the sentence.

She took me deep, her tongue working against the underside, her throat relaxing to take me deeper. Behind her, Rook continued to fuck her, his rhythm brutal and unrelenting, his hands moving to her ass to spread her wider.

The House was screaming now.

The walls were bleeding ink. The contracts were rewriting themselves, their mouths opening and closing in silent agony. The photographs were burning in their cases. And somewhere above us, an alarm began to wail.

The Mouth-Bearer tried to approach again, its second mouth already forming words.

Rook grabbed it by the throat and slammed it against the wall. “Not. Another. Word.”

The Mouth-Bearer went silent, but I could see its chest-mouth still moving, still trying to speak.

“It’s trying to record this,” I said, my voice rough. “It’s trying to turn this into a claim.”

“Let it fucking try.” Rook’s hand moved to Zinnia’s hair, fisting it and pulling her head back. “The House can’t tell whether she’s asking for this or fighting it.”

I pulled out of her mouth and tilted her chin up. “Are you asking for this, sweet Zinnia? Or are you just taking what we’re giving you because you don’t have another choice?”

“I’m—” She gasped as Rook thrust deeper. “I’m not⁠—”

“You’re not what?” I slid back into her mouth, setting a brutal rhythm that matched Rook’s. “You’re not asking? You’re not bargaining? Or maybe you’re not sure anymore?”

Zinnia’s body tensed. Her breath caught. And then she came, her pussy clenching around Rook’s cock, her throat working around mine, her scream muffled and impossible to interpret.

The House went silent.

Every pipe. Every light. Every shifting shelf and opening drawer.

The entire structure fell into a stunned, unnatural quiet.