Chapter 12
888 Words
The cabin felt too small.
Or maybe Kael felt too big.
The storm outside raged against the walls, but Selene barely heard it. All she could hear was the sound of him—his breathing, low and uneven, the soft drag of his bare feet across the wooden floor as he paced like the room was shrinking around him.
His shirt hung over a chair, forgotten. Drops of rain slid down his collarbone, disappearing into the shadows of his chest. She pretended not to stare.
He pretended not to notice.
But he did.
Kael’s senses were too sharp for pretending.
Selene sat on the edge of the bed, soaked from the rain, clothes clinging to her in every place she wished they didn’t. She crossed her arms, but it did nothing to hide the shivers.
Finally, Kael stopped pacing.
His eyes—deep brown flickering with gold—dragged slowly over her.
“Take it off,” he said quietly.
Her pulse jumped. “Excuse me?”
“Your shirt,” he clarified, voice rougher than before. “It’s drenched. You’re freezing. I can feel it from here.”
“You can… feel it?”
His jaw flexed. “Everything. Your heartbeat. Your breath. Your shiver.”
He hesitated, voice dropping lower.
“And the way it changes when I get too close.”
Heat rushed through her.
Kael moved toward her—slow, powerful, like each step was a decision he barely trusted himself with. The firelight deepened every shadow across his muscles.
Selene swallowed. “You keep saying you won’t hurt me.”
“And I won’t.”
A pause, dark and honest.
“But the reason I’m dangerous isn’t because I want to harm you.”
“Then why?”
His eyes locked onto hers, unblinking.
“Because I want you.”
Her breath caught. The air between them tightened, pulsing with something hot and reckless.
Selene lifted her shirt slowly, fabric peeling from her skin. Kael’s breath hitched—silent, rough, impossible to hide. She let the shirt fall to the floor, standing in only her damp undershirt, barely covering anything.
Kael didn’t move.
He just stared.
Hunger flickered through his eyes—human hunger layered over something deeper, older, wild. His chest rose sharply. His hands curled at his sides like he was physically stopping himself from reaching for her.
“Kael…” she whispered.
“Don’t,” he warned softly, stepping closer. “Don’t say my name like that. You don’t know what it does.”
She stood, slow and unsteady. “Then tell me.”
He exhaled hard.
And then he shattered the distance between them.
Kael’s hand slid to the back of her neck, fingers threading into her damp hair. He pulled her in—not kissing her, not yet—but close enough that his breath brushed her lips and made her knees weaken.
“You don’t know what you’re doing to me,” he murmured.
“Then show me.”
A low, helpless growl vibrated in his chest. His forehead pressed against hers, their breaths tangling, her hands braced against his chest as if she needed to feel how fast his heart was crashing.
His fingers skimmed down her spine—slow, deliberate—leaving heat in every place they touched.
Selene gasped softly.
Kael cursed under his breath. “You’re making this impossible.”
She nipped lightly at his lower lip—not a kiss, just a tease. “Maybe I want impossible.”
He froze.
Then he lifted her chin with two fingers, forcing her eyes to meet his.
“If I kiss you,” he said, voice barely a whisper, “there is no going back.”
Her heartbeat thundered against his chest. “Who said I want to go back?”
The last of his restraint snapped.
Kael crushed his lips to hers.
The kiss was nothing gentle. Nothing careful. It was heat and want and years of loneliness breaking open at once. His hands gripped her waist, pulling her against him, her fingers curling into his hair as the world spun.
He kissed her like he’d been starving.
She kissed him like she finally understood why she came here.
His mouth moved to her jaw, her throat, slow and devastating, each touch sending fire spiraling through her. She arched into him, breathless, aching, everything inside her surging toward him with a need she didn’t try to hide.
Kael’s voice broke against her skin. “Selene… if you keep doing that…”
“What?” she whispered.
“I won’t be able to stop.”
“Then don’t.”
His lips trailed lower, heat chasing heat, his hands lifting her effortlessly as she wrapped her legs around his waist—
BANG.
Something slammed into the cabin wall so hard the entire room shook.
Kael tore his mouth from hers, spinning around instantly, body locking into a protective stance as he shielded her behind him.
The gold in his eyes burned like fire.
Outside, something growled.
Deep.
Wrong.
Hunting.
Kael’s voice dropped to a lethal whisper.
“Get behind me. Now.”
But even with danger pressing against the walls, the heat between them didn’t fade.
It only sharpened.
Because they both knew:
What almost happened wasn’t going to stay “almost” for long.
- Writer
