Luna Burn

Chapter Eight — Kade

“She wasn’t just my mate. She was my undoing.”

I didn’t remember shifting.

Didn’t remember crossing the clearing.

All I saw was his hands on her. His scent on her skin. And the look in her eyes—guilt, ache, heat.

She kissed him.

She let him.

And my wolf snapped.

I tackled Ronan hard, our bodies slamming into the forest floor, claws raking, fangs flashing. He fought like an animal—dirty, brutal, vicious. But I was Alpha. And I wasn’t losing her.

Not again.

“You think you can just take her?” I growled, pinning him by the throat. “She’s mine!”

Ronan grinned, blood running from his lip. “Then why does she still taste like me?”

My fist connected with his jaw. Bone cracked. He spit blood—and laughed.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?” he hissed. “Knowing your bond will never burn the way we did.”

I would’ve torn his throat out.

But she screamed.

“Stop!”

Her voice—cracked and panicked—cut through the haze. My claws retracted. My wolf howled in rage, but I let Ronan drop.

He stumbled back, eyes wild.

She ran to me.

And not him.

That should’ve felt like a win.

It didn’t.

⸻

Later.

Back in my quarters.

She stood with her arms crossed, blood on her collarbone, lips still swollen from his kiss. The silence between us was thick enough to choke on.

“You shouldn’t have followed me,” she said.

“You shouldn’t have let him touch you.”

“He wasn’t going to hurt me.”

“That’s not the point.”

She looked away. “You think the bond gives you control. It doesn’t. I didn’t ask for it. And I won’t be owned.”

“I don’t want to own you, Aria,” I said, stepping closer. “I want to keep you.”

Her breath hitched.

I reached for her—slowly this time—and she didn’t pull away.

My fingers brushed her cheek, tracing the bruise forming on her jaw. “Did he hurt you?”

“No,” she whispered.

“But you let him kiss you.”

“I didn’t plan it—”

“Don’t lie to me.”

Silence.

Then her eyes filled with tears.

“I didn’t know how much I missed him until I saw him,” she whispered. “But I didn’t know how much I needed you… until you pulled me away.”

Something shattered in me.

I grabbed her face, kissed her hard—desperate and raw. She whimpered into my mouth, hands tangling in my hair, bodies colliding like they’d been waiting lifetimes.

My hands slid down her spine, yanking her closer until I could feel her heartbeat pounding against mine. Her thighs wrapped around me before I lifted her, pressing her back against the wall, mouths still locked in a searing kiss.

I growled low. “Tell me you’re mine.”

She moaned, hips grinding against me. “I’m yours.”

My mouth trailed down her throat, biting softly at her pulse point—claiming. Marking. Her scent was like wildfire and honey, and the bond between us burned hotter than ever.

Clothes disappeared.

Skin met skin.

I took her on instinct, raw and powerful, her cries muffled against my neck as I moved inside her like I was trying to carve my name into her soul.

“Say it again,” I growled into her ear.

“I’m yours,” she gasped, fingers digging into my back. “Kade… I’m yours.”

The pleasure was sharp. Blinding. Not just physical—spiritual. Like we were stitching each other together and breaking all at once.

It wasn’t just s*x.

It was war.

And we both lost beautifully.

⸻

Later, as she lay tangled in the sheets beside me, skin flushed and bitten, her fingers found mine.

“Ronan’s not done,” she whispered.

“I know.”

She turned to me, eyes vulnerable and wide. “What if he comes back? What if he tries to take me?”

I leaned in, kissed her slowly—sweetly, for once.

“Then I’ll kill him.”

And I meant every word.