Close Enough To Burn
1106 Words
The cave had grown colder.
Aria sat pressed against the wall, cloak wrapped tightly around her, while Kael crouched near the entrance like a silent sentinel. The fire hadn’t relit since the wind had snuffed it out. Outside, the forest pulsed with unseen tension. Whatever had whispered “Found you” hadn’t shown itself again, but Kael refused to relax.
Neither did she.
Her body was still humming with heat that wasn’t from the fire or the cold air. Every time her eyes drifted to Kael, the strange magnetism between them pulled tighter, invisible but undeniable. The mark on her shoulder tingled with awareness, matching the steady rhythm of her heartbeat. Something deep inside her was stretching, waking, and it scared her more than the darkness outside.
He was pacing again, barefoot and shirtless, muscles tight and twitching like he was holding back a storm beneath his skin.
“You don’t have to stay so far,” he muttered suddenly, not looking at her. “The cold will make you sick.”
“I’ll live,” she said stiffly, arms crossed.
“You’re shivering.”
“I said I’m fine.”
He finally turned to face her, golden eyes catching what little light remained. “You’re the most stubborn girl I’ve ever met.”
“Not the first time I’ve heard that,” she said, though her voice lacked bite.
Without warning, Kael crossed the cave in three strides and crouched beside her. She tensed, heart leaping.
“Relax,” he said. “I’m not going to bite.”
“That’s a strange thing to say for someone who might literally be a werewolf.”
He huffed out something close to a laugh. “Touché.”
He sat beside her, closer than necessary. His skin radiated warmth, and the smell of pine, smoke, and something darker filled her senses. Her breath caught as the cloak brushed aside, and his thigh pressed lightly against hers. Electricity sparked in her veins, sharp and immediate.
“Why are you so calm about this?” she asked quietly. “About me?”
“Because I’ve known you were coming,” he said, staring into the shadows beyond the fire pit. “Even before I ever saw you. Every night for the last year, I’d dream of you. Always just out of reach.”
She looked at him sharply. “You didn’t even know me.”
“Doesn’t matter. The bond doesn’t wait for logic. It knows before we do.”
Aria’s throat tightened. The mark on her shoulder buzzed, and warmth bloomed beneath her skin. It responded to him, like a second heartbeat. Her breath trembled in her chest.
“You’re not scared of this?” she whispered. “Of what it means?”
“Terrified,” he said softly.
That surprised her. “Then why-”
“Because I’ve already lost too much to walk away from the one thing I might not.”
His voice was raw. Not aggressive. Not flirtatious. Just real.
Aria shifted toward him. Her fingers itched to touch him, to trace the mark she knew mirrored hers. She hated how badly she wanted to. But something inside her, a truth older than her bones, wanted him close. Needed it.
“Why do you look at me like that?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Because I don’t know how to stop.”
Her chest ached. His voice had cracked, just slightly, but it was enough to expose the emotion buried deep beneath his tough shell. Regret. Fear. Maybe even longing.
She should’ve pulled away. She should’ve thrown a sarcastic wall between them like always. But her fingers moved on their own, brushing his jaw, and he leaned into her touch like a starving man tasting sunlight.
“Kael,” she breathed.
“Don’t,” he murmured, even as his hand found her waist. “Don’t look at me like I’m worth saving.”
“Maybe you are.”
Their foreheads touched. His eyes closed, lashes trembling.
Her pulse was a wildfire now. Her skin tingled from where he touched her, and her mark flared, hot, glowing, alive. His scent overwhelmed her. She could feel his heartbeat through his chest, thudding in perfect sync with hers.
The air was heavy. Intimate. Something primal stirred in her gut, whispering to close the space between them. Just one kiss. Just one taste.
“Aria,” he said her name like it hurt.
“I know,” she replied, but didn’t pull back.
Their lips hovered, barely apart.
She could feel the warmth of him, the heat of something ancient reaching between them like gravity. His thumb brushed her hip, gentle, reverent. And for a breathless moment, time stopped.
Then-
A deafening snarl split the night.
The cave trembled. Dust fell from the ceiling. A scream, no, a howl pierced the silence like a blade. Kael surged to his feet, hand on the dagger at his hip.
“They’re here.”
Aria scrambled up, her heart now pounding from pure fear. Her mark still burned, but now it was pulsing with alarm. She grabbed the edge of the cloak and turned toward the cave mouth.
“What was that?” she demanded.
“Hunters,” he said, already moving. “But not human. They’ve been tracking us since the mark activated.”
“What do they want?”
“You,” Kael growled. “And they won’t ask nicely.”
Another howl echoed closer this time, guttural and inhuman.
Aria’s hands trembled. She looked down and saw her mark glowing again, brighter than before. She tried to cover it, but the heat spread up her arm like fire under her skin.
Kael saw it too. His eyes widened slightly. “You’re reacting to them. To their presence.”
“Why?” she asked. “What’s happening to me?”
“You’re waking up,” he said, voice tight. “Too fast.”
“Waking up to what?”
“Power,” he said. “And if you don’t learn to control it soon, they’ll take you... or destroy you.”
Aria’s breath caught as the ground outside cracked under heavy footsteps.
Kael turned to her, eyes glowing gold, wild and protective. “Stay behind me. No matter what happens, stay hidden.”
“But-”
“Aria,” he snapped, softer than a shout, harder than a whisper. “I can’t lose you. Not now. Not when I just found you.”
Then he stepped into the dark, facing the thing that wanted her blood, while behind her ribs, something ancient pulsed in answer.
- Writer
