The Alpha's Healer: Fated Mates, Forbidden Bonds

5 - First Kiss

Lucia

“Have you ever kissed anybody, sweet bird?”

Ragnar’s voice was low and openly hungry now. His thumb traced over her lips as he held her captive in his predatory gaze.

“Not..not really.”

Not in the way he meant.

"May I?" he asked, his gaze dropping to her lips, his voice a purr that curled low in her belly.

Lucia hesitated. Her skin ached for touch. Her loneliness whispered yes. Her good sense had been left behind in the clearing.

"Yes."

The moment Ragnar’s lips touched hers, Lucia felt her world tip.

It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t gentle.

It was a deliberate claim disguised as a kiss. His mouth moved over hers with dark intent, coaxing her open, tasting her, devouring her hesitation.

His hands slid around her waist, possessive and hot, tugging her flush against the hard length of his body.

“Open your mouth,” he coaxed, his voice an almost inhuman growl. “Let me taste you.”

She obeyed. The slow slide of his tongue against hers was an unfamiliar sensation. He was patient with her, letting her explore the sensations and enjoy the push and pull of their mouths against each other.

Lucia let out a soft moan, her hands caught between them, unsure whether to hold him or push him away. His scent overwhelmed her—wolf, spice, something raw and male. Her head swam.

Then his mouth broke from hers and trailed along her jaw, down the column of her neck. She felt his tongue slide against the sensitive skin there. It lit her up.

"You taste like moonlight," he murmured against her skin. His voice was thick with ravenous desire. "I could lose myself in you."

His grip on her grew tighter, and one hand slid lower, over the curve of her hip, his thumb dipping just under the hem of her dress and caressing the soft flesh of her inner thighs.

Lucia’s breath hitched.

This had gone too far.

"Ragnar—"

He didn’t stop; he didn’t even seem to hear her.

The only response she got was a low, displeased growl before his mouth returned to hers, rougher now, his grip tightening as if he could mold her to his will. The pressure of his body pinned her to the tree. He wasn’t kissing anymore—he was consuming.

Panic flared.

Shit, had he lost control?

She pushed at his chest, but he was unmovable.

A snarl ripped through the clearing. Not a warning. A threat.

Before Ragnar could react, a large, dark form hit him like a thunderclap.

Lucia barely registered movement before Ragnar was wrenched away from her, thrown back hard enough that he crashed into the underbrush with a sickening crack of branches.

Kaelen stood between them, chest heaving, fists clenched. His eyes blazed molten green, his canines lengthened and bared in a vicious snarl.

"Touch her again, and I will tear out your f*****g throat."

Ragnar staggered to his feet, blood trickling from a split lip, fury etched into every line of his face.

"She said yes." He growled it like a challenge. "You think you own her? She’s not even one of us. You do not command her!"

Kaelen didn’t flinch. He lunged.

The impact sent them both crashing to the ground, a tangle of limbs, snarls, and fists. The forest echoed with the sound of bodies colliding—bones, snarling breath, fists against flesh. Kaelen’s fury was feral, merciless. He punched Ragnar hard across the jaw, then again, until blood smeared across his knuckles.

Ragnar managed to slam a fist into Kaelen’s ribs, but it only seemed to enrage him further. Kaelen grabbed him by the collar, hauled him up, and threw him into a tree. The trunk shuddered with the force of it.

Lucia stared, her legs slowly giving out at the sight of such raw fury. In all her time with the pack, she had never seen anything like this.

Kaelen stood over Ragnar’s crumpled form, breathing hard, blood on his hands.

"Next time," he growled, voice trembling with restraint, "I won’t stop."

He turned toward her, the wild fury of his gaze settling on her. She swallowed loudly at the sight of it.

"Did he hurt you?"

Lucia shook her head. But she couldn’t speak. Could barely breathe as the beating of her heart only increased, oxygen becoming hard to come by.

“I..I should check on Ragnar,” she said when she finally regained the powers of speech.

But that was apparently the wrong thing to say. She winced at the ominous, furious growl that ripped from Kaelen’s chest and let out a small shriek when she found herself roughly picked up and tossed over the Alpha’s shoulder like she weighed nothing.

---------

The silence between them was thick as Kaelen stalked ahead, jaw tight, fists still flexing like he hadn’t yet finished beating Ragnar into the forest floor.

He had finally put her down just a minute ago after a long struggle and lots of yelling on her part, but he was still pulling her along by the hand as if she were a misbehaving child.

The Alpha was clearly still furious. His whole body radiated a heat that pulled at Lucia, even as her own steps lagged behind.

He didn’t say a word.

He didn’t even turn to look at her as she glared daggers at his broad back.

The celebration was still going on behind them, but it might as well have been a different world. The forest was hushed now, heavy with the aftermath. Her lips tingled.

Lucia finally yanked her arm free. “Are you going to say something? Or just keep dragging me along like a rag doll?”

Kaelen stopped. His shoulders stiffened. Then he turned, eyes blazing in the moonlight. But it wasn’t anger this time, not completely. He looked hurt.

“You let him kiss you.” The words were low. Accusatory. Unfair.

“And what’s wrong with that? You don’t get to act like I belong to you.”

He stepped closer, and she took a tentative step back in response.

His presence hit her like a wall, but far worse was the hint of betrayal in his voice. “You said yes.”

Her breath caught. Heat flared in her cheeks—humiliation and anger mixing in her gut.

“You are unbelievable.” Her voice cracked. “I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Kaelen’s nostrils flared. He paced away a few steps, then spun back, his control slipping. “It should’ve been me.”

The words hit her like a physical blow.

Lucia blinked. “What?”

Kaelen’s jaw clenched. He looked truly wild now, continuing his restless pacing around her as if his energy was about to flow out of his skin if he didn’t move. “Your first kiss. It should have been me.”

Lucia’s heart kicked painfully in her chest. “It was you,” she snapped. “Or did you forget the time by the lake? When we were seventeen? You kissed me. You started that. And then you turned your back on me.”

A beat of silence passed.

Then Kaelen laughed—but it was bitter. Harsh. “That doesn’t count.”

Lucia reeled, fighting the urge to slap some sense into him. That would go very badly for her.

“The hell it doesn’t!”

He stalked toward her again, voice rising. “It was a mistake. A stupid impulse. You were just a kid.”

Her spine straightened. “So were you. Doesn’t mean we didn’t know what we were doing.”

She looked away. She did not want to see the regret in his eyes. It was unfair, and much too late. He had destroyed her childish faith in him, making her an outcast. Her place in the pack had been tentative before that, but after the Alpha publicly turned his back on her, her life became much harder.

She owed him nothing.

“I told myself I could stay away from you, that you were better off without me near. I thought I could ignore it. Bury it.” His voice dropped, rough and low. “But then I saw his hands on you. His mouth on you. And I—” He stopped, fists clenched. “I wanted to kill him.”

Lucia stared at him, heart pounding with heat and fury.

“You have no claim on me. You can punish Ragnar for losing control, but not for kissing me.”

It was hurtful, but necessary. He needed to hear it. She took another step back, ready to flee if he took it badly (not that she would get very far). But his posture relaxed slightly, the tension easing out of it as if he had finally heard her.

“You speak sense,” Kaelen responded with the more formal tone he usually reserved for pack business. “But Lucia, there is something that you need to understand.”

He pulled her towards the small cottage she usually lived in with his mother. His own childhood home. Clearly, she was banned from falling asleep among the books in the lodge tonight.

“We look like people, so I sometimes think you forget that we are not. I am not human, nor is Ragnar. We have our own ways, our own instincts. Sometimes, our reactions are beyond our control.”

She stared at him, slightly offended. “You think I don’t know that?! I’ve grown up with only werewolves for company. I’m very well aware of our many differences.”

His gaze was stern, that of the Alpha, not her childhood friend. She quieted and lowered her eyes.

“You almost caused an incident today, and you are unaware of it.”

“An incident? What did I do?”

“Your scent has been getting stronger lately. Did you know that? It’s also changed…parts of it are familiar to us.”

She shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me? Is it the new shampoo the scouts brought me from the last ranging?”

He gave an exasperated sigh as if he was conversing with the biggest i***t. “I’m going to say it straight, so there’s no chance of you misunderstanding.” He took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Lucy, tonight we could all smell you, even across the clearing.”

He leaned in to whisper in her ear. “And you smelled like a b***h in heat.”