Chapter 31 PROTECTIVE ALPHA
Adam had never seen Kael like this.
His eyes were wild and glowing with predation. His shoulders trembled with barely restrained violence. His canines had sharpened, visible even in the dim light.
The intruder struggled, kicking, choking, trying to lift the knife again.
Kael didn’t give him the chance.
He grabbed the man by the collar and yanked him forward with inhuman strength, spinning and throwing him across the room. The man crashed into the coffee table, shattering it into splinters.
Adam gasped, hands flying over his mouth. His pulse hammered painfully.
Kael didn’t even look winded.
He stalked across the room with the calm, lethal confidence of a predator approaching a cornered animal. The intruder crawled backward, shaking, trying to escape. Kael seized him by the throat and slammed him flat against the floor.
“You shouldn’t…” Kael growled, voice layered with an Alpha resonance Adam had never heard, “…have stepped into my home.”
The intruder whimpered. Kael leaned closer, golden gaze burning holes through him.
“And you,” Kael finished darkly, “do not touch what’s mine.”
The man gagged.
Adam finally found his voice.
“Kael, stop!”
Kael froze for a moment; not fully… his body remained rigid, muscles coiled to crush windpipe and bone. But his eyes flickered. The gold dimmed. His chest rose and fell, trembling from the clash between instinct and restraint.
Slowly, painfully, Kael loosened his grip.
The intruder dropped instantly, gasping and coughing into a death spasms.
Kael stood there for a second, shoulders broad and heaving, claws half-extended, jaw clenched so tightly Adam thought he might crack a tooth. Then he turned.
And the feral Alpha vanished.
The moment he saw Adam trembling, everything inside him softened.
“Adam.” His voice was hoarse. Human again. “Sweetheart, are you hurt?”
Adam shook his head, but his whole body shivered with adrenaline. Kael crossed the room in three long strides and dropped to his knees beside the couch.
He wiped his hands on his pants before he cupped Adam’s face, brushing over his cheeks, jaw, temples, as if checking for injuries invisible to the naked eye.
“You’re shaking,” Kael whispered. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t… I didn’t mean for you to see me like that.”
Adam didn’t know what to say. He only knew he didn’t want Kael to pull away. Kael’s presence grounded him, even after the fear.
A sharp crash behind them made Adam flinch.
Kael reacted instantly. His arm swept under Adam’s knees and around his back, lifting him effortlessly off the couch.
Adam gasped; not in fear this time, but in shock.
“Kael—!”
“Not taking chances,” Kael murmured, voice low but controlled. “You’re coming with me.”
Adam’s hands clutched Kael’s shoulders without thought. Kael pressed him close, bridal-style, shielding him from the broken glass and the intruder’s sputtering breaths. He carried Adam through the hall, down the back staircase, toward a thick steel door Adam had never noticed before.
The keypad lit up as Kael pressed his palm to the scanner. A soft click. The door slid open.
The safe-room.
Kael’s private sanctuary; clean lines, soft lighting, a reinforced bed against the wall, shelves of supplies, thick insulated walls that muffled the outside world.
Kael carried Adam straight to the edge of the bed before reluctantly lowering him onto the mattress.
But even then, he didn’t let go.
He stayed close, one hand still at Adam’s waist, the other brushing a stray strand of hair from his forehead.
“Adam,” Kael said quietly, “look at me.”
Adam did.
Kael’s chest rose slowly, like he was forcing himself to breathe evenly. “I scared you.”
“A little,” Adam admitted truthfully.
Kael shut his eyes briefly, jaw tight. “I’m still… on edge. I need a second to calm down before I…” His voice strained. “Before I do something I shouldn’t.”
Adam blinked. “What does that—”
Kael opened his eyes again.
And the intensity in them hit Adam like heat.
Oh.
That.
Adam swallowed. The air between them felt thick enough to touch. Kael’s breathing was uneven, his gaze flicking from Adam’s eyes to Adam’s mouth and back again like he was fighting the urge to close the distance.
Adam’s hand moved on its own.
He touched Kael’s jaw softly, just his fingertips brushing the rough stubble there.
Kael’s breath caught.
The effect was immediate and powerful. The tension in his shoulders softened. His hands braced on either side of Adam, fingers curling into the mattress. His forehead dipped close, almost touching Adam’s.
Adam didn’t pull away.
“Kael,” he whispered.
Kael inhaled sharply. His nose grazed Adam’s cheek. His lips hovered a breath away from Adam’s mouth… too close. Far too close.
“Don’t…” Kael murmured, voice shaking, “…touch me like that unless you want me to lose control.”
Adam didn’t move his hand.
Kael’s eyes fluttered shut, expression pained, overwhelmed.
“Adam…” he whispered, raw, almost pleading.
Then he pulled back. Too fast.
Too harsh.
He stood abruptly, turning away and raking a hand through his hair, breathing hard like he’d just won a battle against his own instincts.
“I can’t,” he muttered. “Not while I’m still half feral. I won’t take advantage of the fear still in your system.”
Adam, cheeks warm, looked down at his hands. “I wasn’t afraid of you,” he said quietly.
Kael went still.
Before either could say more, Kael’s phone buzzed sharply in his pocket.
He checked the message.
And everything in him changed.
The gentleness vanished. The warmth froze. His expression hardened, sharp and dangerous all over again; but not directed at Adam.
He slid the phone back into his pocket.
“They found someone,” Kael said, voice low.
“Who?” Adam asked.
Kael’s eyes narrowed. “A council member.”
Adam’s breath caught. “One of your own people?”
“One who shouldn’t be anywhere near my territory,” Kael said. “He helped the intruders get into my pack.”
The steel door beeped as Kael input a secondary lock code. He hesitated at the threshold, turning back one last time.
“Stay here,” he said softly. “No matter what. I’ll deal with this and come back for you.”
“Kael,” Adam whispered, “please be careful.”
Kael’s gaze softened just enough to show he’d heard him.
Then the Alpha returned; strong, commanding, and deadly.
“I always am,” he said.
The steel door slid shut with a heavy thud.
Adam was alone…
and upstairs, somewhere in the darkness of Kael’s territory, a betrayer waited.