Almost Kissed
1242 Words
I sat cross-legged on the bed, wrapped in a blanket that smelled like cedarwood and something darker—something that had to be Koda. My throat still burned, even though it was healed. Even though the wound that should’ve ended me was nothing more than a pale pink line now, like the moon had kissed it closed.
The room was quiet except for the low hum of wind outside and the occasional creak of the old house settling around us.
Koda was sitting nearby, arms resting loosely on his knees, watching me with a kind of careful stillness I wasn’t used to.
“I remember everything,” I said finally. My voice was still hoarse, but the words came easier now. “Ari shifted. She lunged. Then… the rogues.”
He nodded once. “I saw her go for you. I saw her shift when she wasn’t supposed to. And then—when the rogues came—I couldn’t get to you in time.”
I looked away, my fingers digging into the blanket. “She was going to kill me, Koda.”
“I know.”
“I was right there. And no one—” I swallowed. “You’re the one who pulled me out.”
His jaw tensed. “I followed your scent, but someone got there first. A black wolf. I saw it. I couldn’t track it far—your scent disappeared. But then… you came back. Naked. Barely breathing. In the middle of the battlefield. It was like you were dropped there.”
I shivered.
“I remember them,” I whispered. “People with blue eyes. Tattoos. Chanting. They said something… yee naaldlooshii.”
His head snapped toward me. “What?”
“That’s what they said. Over and over. I don’t know what it means. Or how I’m even alive.” I looked at him then, my voice sharp with fear. “How did I heal, Koda? I don’t have a wolf. I don’t heal like that.”
“I know,” he said softly, scooting closer. “And I promise you—we’ll figure out what’s happening to you. Together.”
The word together pressed on something in my chest.
I nodded slowly. “Are my friends okay?”
“Yes.” He gave me a small smile. “Maddy mind linked me last night. She checked in with Tally, Benji, Boris. They’re fine. Minor injuries. A couple broken bones. But they’re safe.”
A sharp ache bloomed in my chest. I hadn’t even been able to call out to them. No wolf. No mind link. Just silence.
“I hate it,” I admitted, voice cracking. “Not being able to feel them. Not being able to know they’re okay unless someone tells me.”
His expression softened. “I can’t imagine how that feels.”
I looked around then, noticing the deep red walls, the ornate wooden carvings lining the mantle, the heavy scent of sage clinging to the air.
“Where are we?”
“My pack lands,” he said. “This is my family’s home.”
I looked back at him. “So it’s true. You’re the future alpha.”
He didn’t flinch. “It’s not a secret.”
“Well,” I said, voice hollow, “I’m sure your council will love that you’re playing nurse to the wolf-less charity case.”
His jaw clenched. In an instant, he was in front of me. One hand on my cheek, the other curling around my waist.
“You are not a charity case,” he said, every word low and loaded. “You are not less. Do you hear me?”
His touch sparked again—an electric burn that ran across my skin like wildfire.
Do you feel it too? Or am I losing my mind?
He stared at me, onyx eyes fierce and unreadable. And then he leaned in—slowly, carefully—his lips just inches from mine.
I felt his breath. I closed my eyes—
“Boris,” I said. Quiet. But not quiet enough.
Koda blinked, pulled back an inch. “Not my name,” he said dryly.
I winced. “I’m with Boris. It’s not… right. He’s been good to me.”
Koda’s voice was quieter now. But not cold. “Is he your mate?”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. “No.”
“Then he’ll leave,” Koda said. “When he finds her. You know that.”
“I do.”
His expression shifted. “Is Ari yours?” I asked. The words were bitter on my tongue.
“No.” His voice hardened. “She’s not. She’s from an influential family. There’s pressure… expectations. If I don’t find my mate before my ascension, the council will force me to mark and mate her under the full moon.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “She almost killed me.”
He didn’t have a good answer for that. His silence said everything.
I turned away. “So she gets to nearly rip my throat out and still get handed a crown?”
“It’s complicated,” he said, voice tight.
“Of course it is,” I snapped. “Everything is. Except this—I want to go home.”
He looked at me for a long moment. “Millie…”
“Please,” I said. “Take me back.”
Koda didn’t argue.
He just nodded once, clipped and unreadable, and disappeared to grab clothes and keys. I dressed in silence, still in his shirt, paired now with a pair of soft sweats I didn’t recognize. Everything about me felt raw. Scrubbed down to the bone. Like if someone looked too closely, they’d see the seams holding me together.
By the time we stepped outside, the wind had picked up. His truck sat at the edge of the gravel drive, dark and waiting. I climbed in without a word. He didn’t open the door for me.
The engine rumbled to life. The tires crunched over dirt and silence.
The whole ride felt like balancing on the edge of a blade.
I stared out the window, watching pine trees blur past. My throat still burned with things I couldn’t say.
Like:
I didn’t want to like the way you touched me.
I didn’t want you to kiss me until I did.
I hate that I’m mad at you for something you can’t control.
He didn’t speak either. But I could feel him thinking. Could feel the weight of everything left unsaid hovering like smoke between us.
After miles of nothing but tension and road, he finally spoke.
“Didn’t mean to make things worse.”
I looked over, startled by how quiet his voice was.
“You didn’t,” I lied.
His grip tightened on the steering wheel. “You think I want Ari?”
“I think your pack does,” I said. “And that seems to matter more than what you want.”
He didn’t answer. Just kept driving, jaw tight, eyes locked on the road like he could outrun the truth.
I crossed my arms. “And for the record… if I hadn’t said Boris’s name, you would’ve kissed me.”
He glanced at me. “Yeah,” he said. “I would’ve.”
My heart flipped. Stupid. Reckless.
“And you would’ve let me.”
I said nothing.
Because he wasn’t wrong.
- Writer
