Chapter 3: Bound by Moonlight
606 Words
Elara wasn’t used to being warm.
She also wasn’t used to people respecting her boundaries.
Which made the fact that Kade hadn’t so much as brushed her in the past three hours… incredibly unnerving.
The fire crackled.
Kade sat across the room, sharpening a dagger with the kind of quiet intensity that screamed Alpha who has trauma but doesn’t talk about it. His shirt was back on. Unfair.
Elara cleared her throat. “So… is this how you usually spend your nights? Dragging half-dead women home and brooding near a fire?”
His lips quirked. “Just Wednesdays.”
She rolled her eyes. “What is this place? A hunting lodge? Murder cabin? Sexy hermit lair?”
He looked up slowly, gaze like a hot blade. “You think I’m sexy?”
Her face burned. “That’s not— I was being sarcastic.”
He smirked. “Sure you were.”
She pulled the blanket tighter around her. The oversized shirt he’d lent her hung off one shoulder, and every time he looked her way she had to resist the urge to crawl out of her skin—or into his lap. It was hard to tell which.
“You’re really not going to try anything?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.
“I told you,” he said, voice low. “I don’t touch what doesn’t want to be touched.”
“And you’re not going to… I don’t know. Push the mate bond thing?”
“I’m not a monster, Elara.”
The way he said her name sent a chill down her spine.
He stood and stretched—rude—and nodded toward the bed.
“You’ll take it,” he said.
“What? No—”
“You’re still healing. I’ll take the couch.”
“That’s ridiculous. You live here.”
“And you almost died in my arms, so shut up and take the damn bed.”
She blinked. “You’re bossy.”
“I’m an Alpha. Comes with the territory.”
He turned to grab a blanket and pillow, but not before she blurted—
“You can stay.”
He paused.
“I mean—” she coughed, flustered. “We can both fit. If you’re not gonna try anything.”
His head tilted slightly. “You sure?”
No, she wasn’t.
Not at all.
But her body was tired. Her wolf strangely calm. And the thought of being near him—close enough to feel his warmth, hear his heartbeat—was comforting in a way that scared her.
“I’m not scared of you,” she said, jaw clenched.
Kade walked over and pulled back the other side of the blanket. “Good.”
They laid down, side by side. Space between them. Silence stretched.
“You talk in your sleep,” he said after a while.
“Oh gods,” she groaned. “What did I say?”
“You said ‘Jaxon, don’t.’ Then you cried.”
Her whole body stiffened.
“I’m not asking for details,” he said gently. “But if he ever comes near you again—”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she whispered.
“I don’t.”
His voice was steel.
A long moment passed.
Then—
“Why did you help me?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But when I found you… it felt like I’d been waiting to.”
She turned her head to look at him.
Kade was already watching her.
“You’re trouble,” she whispered.
His lips quirked. “You have no idea.”
- Writer
