WANTED FOR THE FIRST TIME
1690 Words
By the next morning, the entire house felt different.
Not louder, not worse, but tense.
Like everyone could sense something shifting underneath the surface, but nobody wanted to say it out loud first.
Servants whispered more carefully when I walked past.
The guards near the entrance kept glancing toward the dining hall.
Even Selene looked irritated before breakfast had properly started.
And somehow…
I already knew why.
Alpha Kael had defended me twice in one night.
That alone was enough to make this house unstable.
I stood quietly near the kitchen entrance helping arrange breakfast trays while trying very hard not to think about him.
Or his voice.
Or the way he looked at me like he was trying to solve something.
Or the stupid sentence still replaying inside my head from last night.
You shouldn’t let people make you feel invisible.
The problem was…
Nobody had ever spoken to me like that before.
Not Father.
Not people in this house.
Not anyone.
It should not matter this much.
Yet somehow it did.
“Kira.”
I looked up instantly.
Bruno leaned against the doorway watching me carefully.
“You look exhausted.”
“I barely slept.”
“I can tell.”
He stepped fully into the kitchen before lowering his voice slightly.
“What happened last night?”
My stomach tightened immediately.
“Nothing.”
“Kira.”
“Nothing happened.”
He stared at me for another second like he clearly didn’t believe me.
Honestly?
I didn’t blame him.
I didn't even fully understand what was happening anymore.
Bruno sighed softly.
“Father’s angry.”
That didn’t surprise me.
Father treated embarrassment like physical injury.
And last night probably felt humiliating to him.
Especially because Kael corrected him publicly.
“He thinks people noticed tension during dinner,” Bruno continued carefully.
“There was tension during dinner.”
“That’s not helping.”
I rubbed my forehead tiredly.
“Why does everyone keep acting like I caused it?”
Bruno’s expression shifted slightly.
Because we both knew the answer.
In this house, problems somehow always became my fault eventually.
Before he could answer, hurried footsteps echoed through the hallway.
Then Remi appeared dramatically through the kitchen doors, looking completely horrified.
“Oh, this is bad.”
Bruno frowned instantly.
“What happened?”
Remi grabbed my wrist immediately.
“Jasmine’s losing her mind upstairs.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
“She locked herself inside her room and started screaming at her maids.”
Bruno sighed tiredly.
“About what?”
Remi looked directly at me.
“That.”
My chest tightened painfully.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“She can’t seriously think—”
“She absolutely thinks so.”
Cold panic slowly crawled into my stomach.
This was bad. Very bad.
Because Jasmine wasn’t stupid.
Spoiled?
Yes.
Prideful?
Definitely.
But not stupid.
If she noticed Kael paying attention to me…
Everything could become dangerous very quickly.
“I didn’t do anything,” I whispered.
Remi squeezed my wrist gently.
“I know.”
But would Jasmine believe that?
No.
Because the problem wasn’t whether I encouraged Kael.
The problem was that he noticed me at all.
And girls like Jasmine weren’t used to losing attention.
Especially not to girls like me.
“She’ll calm down,” Bruno muttered eventually.
"No, she won’t,” Remi answered immediately. “You didn’t see her face.”
Neither of them noticed how quiet I became after that.
Because suddenly something uncomfortable settled heavily inside my chest.
I felt guilty.
Not because I had done something wrong.
But because some small ugly part of me…
liked it.
Liked that Jasmine was upset.
Liked that for once, someone looked at me instead of her.
And that realization made me feel horrible.
“You should avoid her today,” Bruno told me carefully.
It was already late.
The moment he finished speaking, heels clicked sharply against the hallway floor outside.
Fast and angry.
Then the kitchen doors swung open hard enough to slam against the wall.
Jasmine stood there breathing heavily.
Beautiful even while furious.
Her eyes landed on me instantly.
There it was.
That look.
The look people gave right before trying to hurt you.
“Leave,” she snapped toward the servants nearby.
Everyone scattered immediately.
Bruno straightened.
“Jasmine—”
“I said leave.”
The tension in the room thickened dangerously.
Remi stepped slightly closer to me instinctively.
Jasmine’s eyes never left mine.
And somehow that scared me more than yelling would have.
Because she looked calm now.
Too calm.
“What exactly are you trying to do?” she asked quietly.
Confusion flashed briefly through me.
“I’m not trying to do anything.”
A cold laugh escaped her.
“Really?”
Bruno frowned harder.
“You’re overreacting.”
“No,” Jasmine answered sharply. “I’m reacting correctly.”
Her gaze returned to me.
“You think I didn’t notice?”
My pulse quickened painfully.
“Notice what?”
“The way he keeps looking at you.”
Everywhere went silent.
I suddenly wished the floor would open beneath me.
“Jasmine,” Bruno warned.
But she ignored him completely.
“You enjoy this, don’t you?”
“No.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I didn’t ask him to talk to me.”
“But you keep talking back.”
The accusation hit harder than expected because part of me knew it was true.
I kept talking back.
Even when I shouldn’t.
Even when every instinct told me to stay away from him.
Jasmine stepped closer slowly.
“You know what’s pathetic?” she asked quietly. “The second someone finally notices you, you suddenly forget your place.”
Pain twisted sharply through my chest.
Remi moved immediately.
“Don’t talk to her like that.”
Jasmine laughed softly.
“Why? Because it’s true?”
“No,” Remi snapped. “Because you sound insecure.”
It was the wrong thing to say.
Very wrong.
Jasmine’s expression darkened instantly.
“Insecure?” she repeated slowly. “Over her?”
There it was again.
That same familiar humiliation.
Over her.
Like I was too insignificant to even compete with.
I hated how much those words hurt.
Bruno stepped forward quickly before the argument worsened further.
“This conversation is over.”
“No,” Jasmine said coldly. “It’s not.”
She looked directly at me again.
And smiled, not kindly, but dangerously.
“You can have his attention for now, Kira,” she said softly. “But remember something very carefully.”
My stomach tightened.
“He’s still choosing me in the end.”
Then she turned and walked out.
The silence afterward felt suffocating.
Remi exhaled sharply.
“She’s insane.”
Bruno rubbed his forehead tiredly.
“This is getting messy too fast.”
Too fast.
That was exactly the problem.
Everything was happening too quickly.
Kael noticed me.
Jasmine noticed him noticing me.
The tension inside the house grows worse every hour.
It felt unstable now.
Like standing inside something already beginning to collapse.
“I need air,” I muttered quietly.
Neither of them stopped me.
I walked quickly through the back hallway before slipping outside toward the eastern gardens.
The moment cold morning air touched my skin, I exhaled shakily.
Flowers lined the stone paths beautifully, but I barely noticed them while walking farther away from the mansion.
My thoughts felt too loud.
What was happening to me?
Why did his attention affect me this much?
Why did part of me want it to continue?
That was the most dangerous question of all.
Because deep down…
I already knew the answer.
For the first time in my life, someone looked at me like I mattered.
And I didn’t know how to let go of that feeling anymore.
“You disappear often.”
I froze instantly.
That voice again.
Slowly, I turned around.
Alpha Kael stood several feet behind me beneath the garden archway, dark eyes fixed entirely on me.
My heartbeat lost rhythm immediately.
“How do you keep appearing behind people?” I muttered before thinking.
Something almost amused flickered across his face.
“You weren’t paying attention.”
I should leave.
Immediately.
That was the smart thing to do.
Instead, I stayed exactly where I was.
Dangerous, stupid, and weak.
“You upset your sister,” he said calmly.
I looked away first.
“She was already upset.”
“She thinks you hate her.”
A bitter laugh escaped me quietly.
“Jasmine thinks everyone hates her whenever she doesn’t get attention.”
Kael studied me carefully.
“You don’t deny it.”
My pulse quickened.
“I don’t hate her.”
That wasn’t entirely true.
I envied her.
Resented her.
Sometimes I wanted to hurt her emotionally the same way she hurt me growing up.
But hate?
No.
Maybe not.
Kael stepped slightly closer.
“Then what do you feel?”
The question felt too personal again.
Way too personal.
I
“Why do you keep asking me things like that?”
“Because nobody else does.”
The answer stunned me silent.
For a second, neither of us spoke.
Wind moved softly through the gardens around us while tension settled heavily between us again.
Then unexpectedly—
Kael reached toward me slowly.
Every nerve in my body tightened instantly.
But instead of touching me—
His fingers brushed lightly against the side of my hair.
And pulled away a flower petal tangled there.
My breathing stopped completely.
The movement had been simple.
Yet somehow my entire body reacted to it.
Kael looked down briefly at the flower petal resting between his fingers before meeting my eyes again.
And suddenly the atmosphere between us changed.
Not curiosity anymore.
Not simple interest.
Something deeper.
This was more dangerous.
My chest tightened painfully.
I needed to leave.
Now.
But before I could move—
Voices echoed loudly from the mansion's direction.
Father.
And he sounded furious.
Kael’s expression darkened slightly.
Then we both heard the words clearly.
“Find Kira. Now.”
- Writer
