The Alpha King’s Warning
747 Words
For a long moment, the room stayed silent.
Kairo didn’t look away from her. His chest still rose and fell too fast, the muscles in his jaw rigid as if he were holding back something explosive beneath his skin.
Aria tightened her grip on the towel.
“I’m fine,” she whispered.
“You’re not.”
His voice was low, dangerous.
“You were attacked inside my own wing.”
Aria swallowed hard. “Who was she?”
Kairo didn’t answer immediately. He exhaled slowly as if choosing his words carefully or suppressing the urge to rip the stone walls apart.
“Not a wolf,” he finally said. “Not anymore.”
Aria’s heart dropped. “Then what—?”
“Something corrupted.” His eyes darkened. “Something that isn’t supposed to be near you.”
Near her.
The way he said it, possessive and furious made heat climb up her throat.
He stepped toward her.
Aria stepped back instinctively.
Kairo halted instantly, hands lifting as if he didn’t trust himself to come closer.
“You’re still afraid,” he murmured.
“I’m not afraid of you,” she said, though her voice trembled at the edges.
His eyes flickered.
“That’s the problem,” he whispered.
His words made no sense, but the way he watched her like a man fighting a war inside his own ribs, made her pulse throb.
He turned away abruptly, dragging a hand over his mouth.
“I shouldn’t be in here,” he muttered.
Aria blinked. “Why?”
Kairo gave a low, humorless laugh which sounded rough and broken.
“Because you’re standing there,” he said quietly, “wet… fragile… smelling like heat and fear and moonlight.”
Her breath caught.
“And every instinct in me, every feral and unrestrained part wants to pull you against that wall and make you forget you were ever afraid.”
Heat slammed through her.
Her knees almost buckled.
Kairo’s fingers dug into his palm, claws pricking his skin.
“I can’t be near you when I’m like this,” he growled. “Not unless you want me to break every rule I’ve made for your sake.”
Aria’s voice was small. “I don’t want you to leave.”
Kairo froze.
Slowly… painfully… he turned back toward her.
“Say that again.”
Her lips parted.
“I said I don’t want you to—”
He crossed the room in one movement — not touching her, but close enough that the air between them burned.
Aria’s back nearly hit the wall.
Kairo braced one hand beside her head, but didn’t touch her.
His voice was a whisper.
A warning.
A prayer.
“You don’t understand what you’re doing to me.”
Her breath fluttered. “Then tell me.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw.
“If I tell you, I won’t be able to stop.”
She didn’t look away.
“Kairo.”
He inhaled sharply, his name on her tongue doing something to him he couldn’t hide.
His eyes closed for a moment, his forehead dropping to hers very gently.
Not touching skin.
Just breath to breath.
Aria’s heart hammered.
His voice was a ghost against her lips.
“Aria… you have no idea how badly I want to taste you right now.”
Her knees weakened.
“But not like this,” he forced out. “Not while you’re shaken. Not because of fear.”
She didn’t know who moved first.
Maybe both.
But her fingers brushed his chest, lightly.
He jerked back as if burned.
“No,” he said hoarsely. “Not yet.”
The yet echoed in her spine.
She swallowed. “Then what now?”
Kairo exhaled shakily.
“Now I find who entered my wing… and I make sure it never happens again.”
His eyes lowered briefly to the towel clutched desperately around her body.
Heat flickered deep in his gaze.
“Get dressed,” he murmured.
Aria’s breath hitched.
“Why?”
“I’m taking you somewhere.”
“Where?”
His jaw tightened.
“Where no one can touch you. Not even by mistake.”
He opened the door, but paused before stepping out.
His voice dropped to a lethal whisper.
“And Aria…?”
“Yes?”
“If anything like that happens again…”
He looked over his shoulder, eyes glowing gold.
“I will burn this entire castle to the ground.”
- Writer
