KAEL…
1015 Words
CHAPTER 5
ANDREA’S POV
Pain was an old friend.
It curled around me, wrapping tight, sinking into my bones, whispering in my ears like a cruel lullaby. Every breath I took was jagged, scraping against my ribs like broken glass. My body throbbed… dull in some places, sharp in others; but it all blended into one unbearable ache.
For a moment, I floated between consciousness and darkness, uncertain where the nightmare ended and reality began.
Then, warmth.
It spread through me, unfamiliar but steady, pressing against my skin, wrapping around me. Arms. Someone was carrying me. I could feel it…
I should have been afraid. Of course, I was afraid.
My lashes fluttered open, and the world swam in and out of focus. The moon hung overhead, silver and bright, painting the night in cold light.
A scent filled my lungs… deep, grounding, unmistakable. Pine and leather. Strength and something else, something dark, something primal. Something manlyyyy…
I heard a name hovered on the edge of my mind before my vision cleared just enough to see his face.
Shock rippled through me, followed by a sharp spike of fear. I had heard of him before… But Why was he here? Why was I in his arms?
Panic clawed up my throat, but my body was too weak to fight. I tried to move… tried… but my limbs felt like a heavy rock, trembling even under their own weight. Still, I forced myself to speak, to push through the haze.
“P… put me down,” I whispered, my voice raw and barely there.
His grip on me tightened. Not in restraint. Not in cruelty. But in silent refusal.
“You’re safe now.” His voice was low, steady—too steady.
Safe??
The word barely registered. It felt foreign, impossible. A lie. I’ve never felt save…
My lips parted, but I didn’t have the strength to argue. Safe had never been real. Not even for a moment..
Memories crashed over me in waves. The chase. The hands grabbing me. The crack of a fist against my jaw. The moment I realized I wasn’t going to make it.
I had been ready to die. I should be dead. Why didn’t he just let me die?
Yet here I was. Alive…
Alive, but at what cost???
A lot of thoughts kept on running in my head.
A tremor ran through me, my fingers curling weakly against the fabric of his shirt. I didn’t even realize I had grabbed onto him until I felt the firm muscle beneath my fingertips.
“Stefan…?” His name fell from my lips before I could stop it. A question. A plea. A whisper of dread.
His body went rigid.
The shift was instant, like a winter wind slamming into bare skin. His muscles coiled, his hold on me careful but unyielding, his breath sharp as if the very mention of his name had cut him open.
“Forget him.”
Two words he said was Sharp… felt absolute and Final.
But how could I?
How could I forget the man who had stripped me of everything? The man who had held me close only to discard me like I was nothing? The man who had whispered sweet things one night and then named another as his Luna the next? The man who had disvirgined me??
How could I forget that I had loved him? That I had been a fool?
I squeezed my eyes shut, swallowing down the bitter truth. Forgetting wasn’t an option. But maybe surviving was.
Maybe this was my second chance.
But why was he the one offering it?
I forced my eyes open again, studying his face through the haze of pain. His jaw was tight, his lips pressed into a hard line. But it wasn’t anger that lingered in his expression.
It was something else.
Something I couldn’t name.
“Why… why are you here?” My voice cracked, but I needed to know.
His gaze flickered down to me, something dark and unreadable flashing through his eyes.
“I don’t know yet,” he admitted. His voice was softer now, almost reluctant. “But I wasn’t about to leave you there.”
There.
The clearing. The blood. The men.
My breath hitched. I hadn’t even asked if they were gone. If they were dead.
The memory of their laughter sent a cold shiver down my spine. The way they had looked at me. The way they had touched me.
I curled inward, or tried to, but Julian’s hold on me didn’t allow it. His arms tightened, pulling me closer, his warmth bleeding into my skin like a lifeline.
“You’re safe,” he repeated and it sounded almost like a promise.
I wanted to believe him.
I really, really did.
But safety was an illusion I had never been able to hold onto.
And the last time I’d trusted a man, it had cost me everything.
I didn’t believe me.
He could see it in my eyes, the way they darted to the shadows, the way my body curled in on itself like she was waiting for another blow to land.
I had spent too long being afraid. Too long expecting pain.
A slow, steady rage built in my chest.
I didn’t let myself look back at the clearing. Didn’t let myself think about what I might have found if I had been even a few minutes late.
But I wasn’t late.
And they would never touch me again.
I had to come to terms that I was his now.
His to protect.
His to heal.
His to keep safe… whether i believed it or not.
The world blurred again, my exhaustion dragging me under like a relentless tide. But before the darkness swallowed me completely, I felt it..
A hand. His hand.
Brushing, gentle but deliberate, pushing a strand of blood-matted hair from my face.
His touch should have burned. Should have scared me.
But somehow, impossibly…
It didn’t.
“What’s your name?” I asked him
Faintly..
“Kael”… He answered.
- Writer
