Chapter 5: The Mate Bond Burns
495 Words
She didn’t sleep that night.
Not really.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw him.
Not Jaxon.
Kade.
Pinning her to the tree. Breath hot against her lips. Muscles tense like he was fighting every instinct inside him.
She wanted to be angry. Wanted to scream. Wanted to pretend it didn’t mean anything.
But it did.
It meant everything.
⸻
The cabin was quiet the next morning. She found him outside, shirtless again (this man had a vendetta against clothing, clearly), splitting logs with single brutal swings of his axe.
She watched for a minute.
Then said, “You left me.”
He didn’t look at her. “I had to.”
“Because you were angry?”
“Because I wanted to kiss you,” he said, voice low, “and I didn’t trust myself to stop.”
Silence.
Then—quietly—Elara asked, “Why didn’t you?”
This time, he turned.
The look on his face was wrecking. All raw restraint and longing.
“Because I’m not here to break you.”
She stepped forward. “What if I’m already broken?”
Kade dropped the axe.
Walked up to her.
And touched her—just once—his hand cupping her cheek like she was made of stardust and threadbare hope.
“You’re not broken,” he whispered. “You’re surviving. There’s a difference.”
Her breath caught.
He leaned in slowly, giving her time to pull away.
She didn’t.
Their lips met—soft and sure and real. No growling. No dominance. Just the kind of kiss that stripped everything bare.
Elara gasped against his mouth. His hands slid down her waist, gripping her like he didn’t know how to let go. She pressed into him, heat spiraling low in her stomach, her wolf howling with need.
They broke apart only long enough for him to lift her.
He carried her inside.
Laid her on the bed.
He didn’t rush.
His hands worshipped her skin. His mouth left trails of fire down her neck, her collarbone, just shy of her breast before retreating like a tease.
“I want to go slow,” he murmured. “I want to know every inch of you before I even think about marking you.”
Her voice trembled. “Why?”
He looked up at her.
“Because if I don’t take my time, Elara… I’ll ruin you.”
She arched under him, gasping as his tongue traced a line across her belly. His fingers slid beneath the hem of her shirt—but paused.
“Tell me to stop,” he said, voice shaking.
She didn’t.
She pulled him back up and kissed him breathless.
That night, they didn’t have s*x.
But he worshipped her body with lips and hands and promises he never said out loud.
And when she finally fell asleep in his arms, she dreamed of nothing but stars… and a bond that felt like fire made flesh.
- Writer
