The Awakening Begins
757 Words
Aria’s heart didn’t stop racing even after Kairo disappeared through the gates with the guard.
The moment he left, the courtyard felt colder.
The air felt thinner.
Her body felt… wrong.
Too warm.
Too tight.
Too aware.
She pressed a hand against her chest, trying to calm her pulse, but the pounding only got worse. It throbbed in her ears, her throat, all the way down her spine.
Kairo said this would happen.
That the bond would wake.
That her body would respond before she understood what was happening.
Aria closed her eyes and inhaled slowly—
And gasped.
She could smell him.
Not faintly.
Not in memory.
His scent wrapped around her as if he stood behind her, arms around her waist, breath on her neck.
Storm.
Fire.
Pine.
Heat.
Her legs trembled.
“No,” she whispered. “Not now…”
But the heat spread lower, curling through her belly, making her thighs press together involuntarily.
Her breathing turned shallow.
Gods.
This wasn’t normal.
This wasn’t just attraction.
This was the bond grabbing her by the throat.
She stumbled back inside the king’s wing, gripping the walls for balance as her pulse hammered harder and harder, like her heart was trying to break out of her chest.
Her room felt too hot.
The air too thick.
Her skin too sensitive.
She barely managed to shut the door before her knees buckled.
She sank to the floor, gripping the edge of the bed as a wave of heat crashed over her, thick, consuming, terrifyingly intimate.
“Kairo…” she breathed helplessly.
Her body clenched.
Her breath hitched.
Her nails scraped the stone.
It felt like hands were on her, not real ones, but the bond itself, pulling, tugging, demanding.
Her heart ached with a painful, hungry longing she didn’t understand.
Her skin burned everywhere he had touched her.
Her lips tingled where he almost kissed her.
Her neck throbbed where his breath had brushed her skin.
Her thighs ached with a heat so intense she pressed them together, trying to stop the feeling…
But it only made it worse.
“Please…” she whispered, not sure to who, not sure for what.
Her vision blurred.
Her body trembled uncontrollably.
This wasn’t desire.
Not like she’d ever known.
This was instinct.
Bond instinct.
Mate instinct.
And Kairo wasn’t there to ground her.
Or hold her.
Or stop her from spiraling.
She forced herself onto the bed, gripping the sheets as another wave of heat crashed through her spine.
It tore a soft helpless, breathy, and desperate sound from her throat.
Her eyes widened at the noise.
What was happening to her?
Why was she…
A sharp knock slammed against her door.
Aria tensed, scrambling upright.
“Aria?”
She froze.
Kairo.
Even through the wood, his voice felt like a hand sliding down her back.
He was breathing hard too, she could feel it through the bond.
“Aria,” he said again, deeper. Rougher.
“Open the door.”
She couldn’t move.
If she opened it…
Gods.
What if—
Another wave hit her, stronger than before, making her gasp and grip the sheets again.
Outside the door, Kairo swore violently.
“Aria, open the door. Now.”
She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Wh-why are you back so soon?”
A beat.
His voice dropped to something dark.
Dangerous.
Barely human.
“Because your scent reached me halfway through the castle.”
Her breath caught.
“I told you not to leave my wing,” he growled.
“But you didn’t tell me your body was starting to burn.”
Her pulse stumbled.
“Kairo—”
“Open. The. Door.”
She swallowed hard.
“I… I can’t.”
A dangerous silence followed.
Then:
“Aria,” he said, voice tight with restraint, “if you don’t open this door in three seconds… I will break it.”
Her breath shook.
“One.”
Heat pulsed between her thighs.
“Two.”
Her body trembled, wanting him, needing him, drowning in the bond.
“Ka—Kairo, I—”
“Three.”
The handle twisted.
The door slammed open.
And when Kairo stepped inside—
His eyes weren’t gold.
They were black.
Completely.
Like a wolf who’d just scented his mate in heat.
He froze when he saw her.
Aria on the bed.
Flushed.
Breathless.
Shaking.
Eyes wide with fear and something she couldn’t hide.
His chest rose sharply.
His voice was a low, shuddering growl:
“Aria… what have you done?”
- Writer
