Chapter 30 Challenge
Lira
His hand slid perfectly from my wrist to my elbow, holding me in place with just his voice and the weight of his presence. “I’m going to make sure you don’t do that again.”
Every part of me tensed at his words. It wasn’t fear that fluttered in my chest; it was desire. My breath came out in shaky gasps. This man was doing things to me no one had ever done, nor had the opportunity of doing.
How could his words have such power? Power to make me forget why I was mad at him in the first place. Power to get turned on from his warnings.
Lira, you’re in deep deep trouble!
“Now, look at me!” His voice sipped through my thoughts, disarming what was left of my willpower. The only reason I was still standing was because those firm hands held me in place.
Slowly, agonizingly slowly, I turned around. Not because he had power over me, or because I owed him anything. But because something inside me stirred when he spoke like that. Something I didn’t quite understand and didn’t want to explore too deeply.
“Hmm, good girl.” He muttered under his breath, followed by a grunt. “But I think I prefer you as you were,” he said, then spun me around, so that my back was facing him again.
My palms pressed against the wall, in response. My breath quivered once, then twice. The room felt eerily still, as if the world was holding its breath along with me. Then I heard a soft exhale. His. Nothing more. No movement. No touch. Just the heavy sound of his breathing behind me, like it was fighting against itself.
“Do you think you can test me,” he said, “and walk away like nothing happened?”
My throat tightened, my words sounded stuck. “I wasn’t—”
“Yes, you were.” His tone sliced through the air, he held a fistful of my hair.“Testing me. Pushing me. Trying to see how far I’d go.”
I closed my eyes, like it would take away the distraction I couldn’t even see but could only feel. “Maybe you’re the one who pushed first.”
There was a long pause before he stepped closer. Close enough that I could feel his body heat at my back, yet he still didn’t touch me. The restraint in him was unbearable. Infuriating. “This isn’t a game, Lira,” he murmured.
“Then stop acting like it is,” I retorted.
His breath hitched, just once, barely audible, but I caught it. I could smell his desire, just as I was certain he could smell mine. And that made him furious. For someone so used to being in control, he cared, even if he hated that he did.
“That slap,” he said quietly, “do you regret it?”
I opened my eyes, staring at the wall in front of me.
“No.”
He took another breath. This time, deeper. “Good.”
A hand brushed against the wall next to my head, not touching me, but close enough to trap me between his arm and body, after I tried to wriggle myself free. “Because I don’t regret stopping you.”
His words ignited a fire beneath my skin. I swallowed hard. “Are you saying you wanted to stop me? How would you have done that?” I asked and instantly regretted, after realizing how stupid it sounded.
A sound that was part laugh, part growl escaped his throat. “You have no idea how close I came to losing control.”
My heart didn’t just pound; it throbbed everywhere, as if every part of me was alive solely because he was near. “And if you had?” I whispered, although I already knew the answer.
He leaned in closer, his voice grazing the back of my neck like his lips almost did. “Then we wouldn’t be standing here. And you wouldn’t be talking. Nor walking, nor doing anything else with your lips, as a matter of fact.”
Heat surged through me, a confusing mix of desire and fear. Was he talking about intimacy or punishment? Or a mixture of both? “Kael…”
“Don’t,” he said softly but firmly. “Don’t say my name like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you want something from me.”
I turned my head just enough to catch a glimpse of him in my peripheral vision, jaw clenched, eyes dark, breath barely controlled.“It’s not just me,” I murmured in defiance. “You want something too.”
“I shouldn’t…” he exhaled, shaking his head once, as he let go of me and stepped back.
I pushed off the wall and faced him fully. “Then don’t start something you can’t finish.”
His eyes locked onto mine, as if I had pierced through all his defenses with a single sentence.“I am Alpha,” he said, almost as if he were reminding himself, not just any man. “I don’t get to slip. Not with you. Not again.”
“What does that mean?” I pressed.
“It means I don’t get to want you.”
“And yet you do.”
“I can’t afford to.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
His nostrils flared. “Lira—”
“No,” I said, stepping closer. “Don’t hide behind duty. Don’t pretend you hate this when you don’t.”
He took a step back, as if I were the one posing a threat. “Stop.”
“You kissed me.”
“You slapped me.”
“You pinned me to the wall.”
“You challenged me.”
“We both reacted.”
He let out a sharp breath. “Yes. And that was a mistake.”
“You can lie to yourself,” I whispered. “But don’t lie to me.”
My hand brushed against the door handle, and I paused for a heartbeat.“I’m not scared of you,” I murmured.
“Maybe you should be.”
I turned my head just enough to see him again. He was standing there, his eyes dark and intense, like he was hiding something forbidden.
“If I were really a danger to you,” he said, not looking at me, “I would have kissed you again just now.”
My heart jumped.
“And I wanted to.” He added.
I froze. I couldn’t move.
He stayed still, staring into the distance. “Leave, Lira. Before I change my mind.”
Part of me wanted him to do exactly that. Another part wanted to yell at him. And a smaller, quieter part, the one I tried not to notice, felt a little piece of itself break.
I opened the door. I was done playing his games.