58 | Dare

*** Kirk’s POV

“In my game, I ask the questions, and if I like your answers, I’ll reward you,” I whispered, my breath grazing Red’s ear and trailing down her neck. Her skin was smooth, and I noted, just as I suspected, no mate mark. The thrill of control coursed through me, heightened by the lack of any visible bond on her.

“Let me guess,” she quipped, tilting her head slightly in response to my closeness, “If you don’t like my answers, you’ll punish me? So original.”

“I’m all about originality, baby. If I don’t like your answers, I’ll just slit your throat instead,” I said smoothly, letting my words hang in the air like a knife. Grimnir stirred in my mind, pleased at the threat.

She snorted a laugh, the sound light but unimpressed. “Well, that would be original for a cop... unless, of course, you’re crooked,” she mused, her voice dripping with amusement as she trailed off.

“I’m straight as an arrow, baby,” I growled, grinding my hips forward into her backside, feeling the tension betw