🔥 Chapter Fifteen: Cracks in the Fire
559 Words
🔥 Chapter Fifteen: Cracks in the Fire
By morning, Elara tried to act as though nothing had changed. She sat with the brothers as they prepared for the day, listening as Kael barked orders about watch rotations and safe routes.
But Theron’s steady gaze kept finding her across the circle, brushing against her like the memory of his touch. Every time, her pulse stuttered.
And Kael noticed.
He didn’t say anything at first, but his sharp eyes lingered too long, narrowing whenever she glanced at Theron. His jaw clenched as he sharpened his blade, the scrape of steel against stone harsher than usual.
When the others dispersed, Kael caught her wrist, dragging her a step aside. His grip was firm, his fire-tinged heat thrumming beneath his skin.
“What’s going on with you?” he demanded, voice low, dangerous.
Her breath caught. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t play innocent, Elara. I’ve fought beside Theron my whole life. I know when something’s shifted. And last night—” His gaze burned into hers. “Something changed.”
She opened her mouth, but the words tangled in her throat.
Kael’s hand tightened on her wrist, not cruel but insistent, his anger threaded with something else—fear. “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me he hasn’t—” His jaw worked, unable to say it.
Heat flared in his eyes, more than fire, something raw and unguarded. “Because if he has, Elara… then it should have been me.”
The confession stunned her, stealing the air from her lungs.
For the first time, Kael’s armor of fury cracked, revealing the hunger, the vulnerability he tried so hard to hide.
Elara’s breath hitched at Kael’s words. It should have been me.
Before she could form a reply, his hand slid from her wrist to her jaw, rough yet careful, tilting her face up to his. His eyes blazed, not just with fire but with want, with desperation he could no longer cage.
“Elara,” he rasped, the sound torn from his chest.
Then his mouth was on hers.
The kiss was nothing like Theron’s—no gentle currents, no patience. Kael kissed her like a storm, all heat and hunger, claiming and consuming in one breathless rush. His fire burned against her skin, dangerous, thrilling, but it didn’t scare her. It made her ache.
She clutched at his tunic, dragging him closer. He groaned into her mouth, the sound raw, guttural, as if he’d been holding back for far too long.
When he finally tore back, his forehead pressed to hers, his breath came ragged.
“Damn it, Elara,” he whispered hoarsely. “You’ll be the end of me.”
Her heart raced, starfire sparking wildly inside her. She could still feel Theron’s steady calm lingering in her veins, now colliding with Kael’s fire in a dangerous, intoxicating mix.
She should have said something—anything—but words failed her.
Kael lingered a second longer, lips brushing her temple, before pulling back, his jaw clenched as though he regretted nothing and everything all at once.
“If Theron thinks he can claim you,” he said, voice low, fierce, “he’s wrong. I won’t let him.”
And with that, he strode away, leaving her trembling, breathless, caught between fire and water, loyalty and desire.
- Writer
