Tension Has A Taste
1391 Words
The days passed in a blur of sweat, bruises, and the kind of aching silence that comes with pretending I’m not falling apart inside.
I’d grown used to the ache in my arms, the sting of bark against my palms, and the smell of soot clinging to my uniform. I wasn’t quite thriving, but I was enduring. And some days, that was enough.
I was bent over a crate of rations when the letter came.
It was hand-delivered by a stone-faced omega, folded with brutal precision and sealed with the Alpha’s insignia, the blackthorn wolf, teeth bared.
I didn’t open it immediately. I wiped my hands first, heart already tightening like a coiled whip. By the time I broke the seal, my shoulders were squared, like armor snapping into place.
You are requested in the Alpha’s office at midday for inventory duty. Report promptly - Kieran Hale
Nothing else. No signature flourish, no unnecessary words. Just my name, his office, and a time that sounded more like a challenge than a request.
The knock echoed too loudly in the hallway.
“Come in.” His voice was low, smooth, unreadable.
I stood at the threshold of his office, fingers curled tight around thehem of my dress. The room was quiet, oppressively so, like the air itself was waiting to see who would speak first.
He didn’t look up. Just kept writing, jaw tense, forearms flexing with every stroke of his pen. My heart didn’t just flutter, it plummeted and soared all at once.
“You’re late,” he said, still not meeting my eyes.
“I’m early,” I replied softly, unsure where the courage to even say that came from.
He finally looked up.
And when he did, it was like the air in the room shifted.
There was a weight behind his gaze, sharp, penetrating, like he could see every breath I hadn’t taken yet. My mouth went dry. My fingers tingled.
“Come closer,” he said.
Two words. Low. Calm. Dangerous.
I took a slow step, then another. Every inch felt like I was moving deeper into something I couldn’t name, or escape.
He rose from behind the desk like a shadow stretching into form. I was suddenly very aware of how small I was in the space, how loud my heartbeat had become, how badly I wanted to run, or stay.
“You look exhausted,” he murmured.
“I’m fine,” I whispered.
He stepped closer. “You don’t lie well.”
I lowered my gaze, but he tilted my chin up with two fingers. The touch burned. Not like fire, like longing. Like a whisper against skin that hadn’t been touched in far too long.
“I don’t think you even realize what you do to me,” he said.
My breath hitched. “What… I do?”
His voice dropped lower, darker. “You walk into a room, and everything in me turns to instinct. Alpha. Man. Wolf. I can’t tell which wants you more.”
Heat flooded my face. “Kieran…”
His name felt dangerous on my tongue. Like I shouldn’t have said it, but couldn’t help myself.
His hand slid from my chin to the side of my neck, thumb brushing the pulse fluttering like wings just beneath my skin. His eyes flicked down to my lips, lingered, then back up to my eyes.
“I told myself to stay away from you,” he murmured. “I gave myself rules. Lines.”
I swallowed hard. “Then why am I here?”
“Because I want to break every single one.”
And then he kissed me.
Slow.
Intense.
Like he was giving me every chance to stop it and praying I wouldn’t.
His lips met mine with a heat that stole the air from my lungs. The kiss wasn’t violent, or hungry. It was measured. Torturously so. Like he was savoring it, savoring me.
I whimpered against his mouth, hands trembling at my sides until they found the fabric of his shirt. He pulled me closer, one arm curling around my waist, the other cradling the back of my head as if I were something precious. Breakable. Desired.
And I felt it, the restraint in him, coiled tight like a beast held at bay.
I gasped softly as his tongue brushed mine, tentative and deep, and his grip on me tightened, as though that single sound had undone something in him.
His mouth moved with reverence and ruin, like he was devouring every secret I didn’t know I was offering. And even though I should’ve been nervous, should’ve been terrified, I melted.
My knees buckled. He caught me. Of course he did.
And when he finally pulled away, breath ragged, his forehead rested against mine, both of us trembling.
“That…” he rasped, voice wrecked and low, “wasn’t supposed to happen.”
I nodded, dazed. “I know.”
His thumb traced my jaw. “But if I kiss you again, I won’t stop.”
I swallowed. “Maybe I don’t want you to stop.”
His eyes flared. Everything in him stilled.
He leaned in, barely an inch, lips brushing my cheek, then my ear, like a secret.
“You have no idea what you're doing to me.”
And just like that, he stepped back.
Distance. Ice. A wall slammed down.
But the tension?
Gods, the tension still crackled like lightning between us.
I stood there; heart racing, lips tingling, and spine still pressed to the desk like it had memorized the shape of him.
I left the room without looking back.
Because if I did…
I’d never leave.
The rest of the day passed in a daze. I smiled at everything, even the muddy footprints on my ration logs. I hummed while loading crates. Someone asked if I’d had a concussion.
I didn’t answer.
By the time I returned to my tiny, one, window quarters that evening, my cheeks still felt warm. Until I opened the door and saw Lena and Selene perched on my cot like suspicious cats.
“Took your sweet time,” Lena said, arms folded. “Let me guess, Inventory emergency?”
“Something like that,” I muttered, yanking off my apron.
Selene grinned. “You look like someone who just kissed a storm.”
I froze. “What?”
Lena narrowed her eyes. “Did you?”
“No.”
Selene snorted. “Liar. You’re flushed.”
“It’s hot out.”
“It’s spring.”
I groaned. “Please stop talking.”
Lena’s eyes sparkled. “Was it him?”
I didn’t answer.
Selene gasped. “It was him!”
I tossed a pillow at her, but she dodged it.
They burst into laughter, the kind that filled the tiny space like warmth. For a moment, I allowed myself to enjoy it. The weight on my chest didn’t feel so suffocating.
Then Lena sighed. “Ugh. Training was hell. Sebastian thinks he's the God of War just because he figured out how to twirl a blade.”
Selene looked up sharply. “Sebastian? Since when are you noticing Sebastian?”
“I’m not,” Lena said, a little too quickly. “He’s just loud.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Loud and… charming?”
Lena scowled. “He’s a walking bruise.”
Selene smiled knowingly. “Mm, hm.”
I let myself laugh again , really laugh. It felt strange and new.
Until the moment passed, and reality slipped back in like cold air under the door.
“I’m being briefed to assist with the alliance envoy,” I said, more to myself than anyone else. “Julia’s leading it, but…”
“But what?” Selene asked.
I hesitated. “She’s… strange. Smiles too easily. Looks at people like she’s already decided what they’re worth.”
Lena frowned. “Sounds like her usual self”
“No. This is different,” I murmured. “Like she’s waiting for something, and we’re all just pieces on her board.”
A beat of silence followed.
Then Selene asked quietly, “Do you think she’s dangerous?”
My answer was careful. “I think she’s playing a long game. And I don’t like games I can’t see the rules to.”
- Writer
