The first reaction to the lust aura returning, was Anna quickly growing panicked, and moving away from him again. She looked at him with a complicated expression, mixing fear, respect, and heaps of barely suppressed lust. 

Kane once again confirmed to himself that Anna was likely afraid of her own nature as a hareling, which he could somewhat understand.  

Even on Earth, many harelings had trouble controlling their inherently lustful instincts, which meant many of them were either powerful rapists, or weak and being exploited, with men and women on both sides.  

Of course, there were also plenty of harelings who were able to become powerful while channelling their lust in a healthy way, it just wasn't easy. Particularly because harelings were very popular in brothels. 

'If I can get her to accept her nature, and help her release her lust in healthy ways, I'll probably turn her into an extremely loyal follower. Especially since she already considers me someone to be respected,' Kane thought to himself, already making plans to increase his control over at least one of these bandits. 

Then, he shrugged inwardly, 'Besides, it will probably be good for her in the end,' before grinning lustfully, 'And a lot of fun for both of us.' 

Regardless, it was clear that Anna wasn't going to be first, so he turned to the other three instead. 

The ramling looked at him with equal amounts of respect as Anna, but without any of the fear, and only some of the lust, which she didn't even suppress. Instead, she looked at him hungrily and eagerly. Kane quickly realized this one was going to be easy. 

The enthusiastic ramling took a step forward, clearly intending to be the first to accept his mark. Yet, she was stopped by a stern Aelia, who was suppressing the lust with impressive fortitude. "I'll go first," the woman said sombrely. "If I'm to lead you in the future, I should do so from the front." 

While the ramling looked a little disappointed, Anna and the other human, who appeared mostly embarrassed due to the lust she felt, both looked at her with relief and appreciation. Kane, meanwhile, felt his respect for her rise. 

He wasn't about to deny her, so he grabbed the hand Aelia offered him. Aelia tensed in preparation of whatever he was going to do, but that only made it easier for Kane to do what he needed to do, as she simply wasn't expecting it. 

With a slight grin and fluid movements, he used his grip on her hand to pull her closer to him, while using his other hand to grab her chin. Before she could respond, his lips were already planted on hers. She opened her mouth in surprise, but Kane just used that chance to have his tongue enter her mouth. 

Totally surprised and overwhelmed, Aelia's eyes widened. At the same time, her mouth was filled with a heavenly taste as a soft pleasure radiated outwards. 

But as that feeling was about to overwhelm her, she managed to stamp down on it quickly. Her eyes widened, and she instinctively tried to pull back, but couldn't, as Kane's hand had shifted from her chin to the back of her neck, and the other to the small of her back, holding her in place. 

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Her eyes narrowed angrily as she prepared to bite down on his tongue, but then a different feeling filled her. Energy was flowing out of Kane and into her, and she quickly realized he was applying the mark. 

She scowled a little, and when the mark crashed against her resistance, she didn't relent at first. She knew that she could. The energy rippling into her wasn't designed to pierce defences, which was why this method required someone to willingly submit to the Mark of Loyalty. 

Meanwhile, Kane looked at her curiously, even as he continued exploring her mouth and trying to entice her stubbornly passive tongue with his own. 

For a moment, they remained in this stalemate as they looked into each other's eyes, Kane with interest, and Aelia with a little annoyance. Their kiss was one-sided and boring, but that wasn't his goal anyway. He wanted to apply the mark and see her reaction at the same time. 

'Although it would be far more interesting if she engaged a little,' Kane chuckled inwardly as he continued kissing her. 'This feels far too clinical.' 

But Aelia realized that, and she just wanted to see if she could get a rise out of him by resisting. In the end, however, Kane just continued enticing her with his tongue as he looked at her with an amused gaze, until Aelia eventually had enough of their stalemate and just decided to get it over with. 

So, her defences finally started crumbling. Instantly, Kane's energy responded by spreading throughout her entire body, causing Aelia to be filled with a warm, pleasurable feeling that she tried desperately to ignore. 

But Kane wouldn't let her. He continued enticing her tongue into responding to him and was finally making some progress. With pleasure filling her from two sides, Aelia's eyes fluttered a little. She finally moaned softly as her tongue started coming to life. 

But before things could go much further, the energy in her body started consolidating around her three cores, winding itself around them like steel threads. Instantly, the same rune as appeared on the shard of lust, now shortly flashed in her eyes, before disappearing again. 

At the same time, Aelia felt a connection form between her and Kane. The shock of it caused her to gasp, and break out of the pleasure filled kiss she was reluctantly enjoying before. Fortunately, this time, Kane elected to let her go, with a small, slightly smug smirk on his lips. 

After gasping and being released, Aelia quickly took a few steps back and breathed heavily. Her appearance was a little haggard as she looked at Kane with an accusatory gaze.  

Yet, to her annoyance, she felt some of her frustration being replaced by an instinctual reverence, and whenever she thought of harming him, her body simply wouldn't obey her. 

But despite her annoyance, she realized her new boss hadn't lied, as she could instinctively tell what this mark could, and couldn't do. That knowledge, at least, filled her with a hint of relief. 

So, she quicky composed herself, and ignored his amused look, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of embarrassing herself. "You could have just told me you wanted to kiss me," she muttered, in an attempt to take back some of her lost pride. 

Unfortunately for her, the lust that now flowed through Kane's body led him to take her up on that offer. "Oh?" he grinned, as he stepped a little closer to her. "So, if I told you I wanted to kiss you again…?" 

Aelia was a little caught off guard. Her previous remark was something she said out of reflex, partly to hide her embarrassment, and partly because it did feel good.  

But she quickly recovered, and scoffed, turning her face away from him, "Then I'd say you already got your kiss, and not to get greedy." Before narrowing her eyes, "Unless you want to force the issue?"  

Kane grinned and shook his head, quickly realizing this Aelia wasn't going to be easy. 'But I like a challenge,' he thought to himself. 

"No need for that," he answered Aelia, before turning to the other three bandits. "I still have three others waiting for me, after all."