<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ccff99">Ayla tried to think about what the connection had felt like the night before. She’d been constantly checking in, hovering, to see if he’d woken up. But had abandoned that when she was distracted by other things. He’d been asleep, so perhaps not regulating the connection. But she couldn’t get it to open up, no matter how hard she tried.</span><br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ffcc">Alexi too was struggling, but suddenly distracted by lips pressing against his, as Lucian pulled away, the two opened their eyes. Both aware of what had happened with the kiss, as per usual, but not getting the reaction that they’d wanted. </span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4dffa6">“That… didn’t work.”</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ffcc"> he said slowly.</span>