Chapter 32 Overwhelming desire
~Kael’s POV~
I was still seated at the head of the long conference table, giving out instructions and thinking of strategies with the utmost focus, when the restlessness began to creep into me.
It was the same sharp and unsettling kind of restlessness I had felt on the day Lyra was taken out of the pack house and ended up in the hands of the Shadow Warriors. The memory of that day flickered across my mind like an echo I could not silence, and it only strengthened the uneasy feeling that had begun to stir in my chest.
For assurance, I opened my mind and linked mentally with the guard in charge of my quarters. I asked him if everything was all right. His response came almost immediately, calm and confident, confirming that there was nothing amiss. The moment he assured me, I blocked the link again and forced my attention back to the meeting. I shoved the discomfort deep behind my focus, determined to give the meeting my full concentration.
Minutes passed slowly, strategies were laid out, voices rose and fell. Eventually, the meeting came to an end, and the tension in the room barely registered in my mind.
I walked toward my private elevator so I didn't have to speak to anyone. I did not want to interact with a single person until I found the source of my restlessness. The only direction my thoughts kept turning toward was Lyra. Although the guard had already told me that everything was fine, I still needed to verify it with my own eyes.
The second the elevator doors slid open on my floor, a scent hit me. It struck like a blow, weaving around me like invisible silk, teasing my senses with a delicate yet impossibly potent pull. The effect was instantaneous and impossible to ignore.
My entire body went rigid. My breath caught in my throat, and Rudy snapped awake inside me with a stunned, guttural growl.
“Mate.”
The word did not arrive gently, neither did it come as a whisper. It detonated inside me like a roar that shook through my soul.
Rudy pushed forward with such force that I nearly staggered. My heartbeat thundered inside my chest, echoing something primal that refused to be denied.
No. That was impossible.
She had no scent. Lyra had no scent.
Elder Rowan already went on a journey to find a way to rouse her dormant wolf, and he was not due to be back until the next day.
So where was the scent coming from? Was there someone else in my quarters?
The fragrance pouring through the hallway clung to me and consumed me, until I could not think of anything else.
My feet began to move on their own before the thought even formed. Every step carried me farther from the elevator toward the door of particular concern.
Rudy paced inside me, pushing and urging with unyielding purpose.
“I told you she is our mate. You refused to listen. You kept us away from her,” he said with a pained voice.
I reached her door before I even realized, and pushed it open.
She stood by the window, her figure washed in silver light from the moon. Her back had been facing me. Her long hair flowed freely, shimmering in the pale glow.
When she turned and her eyes met mine, they widened with confusion and surprise.
I could not move at first, neither could I blink. I could only stare at her, because the scent was pouring from her. It was blooming from her skin, clinging to every breath I took and wrapping itself around my senses until nothing else existed.
Rudy pushed again.
“Move Kael. Claim her. She's ours.”
Nothing else mattered to him.
My pulse slammed through me. How was this possible?
“Lyra…” My voice came out rough and unsteady, scraped raw by the dryness in my throat. “What is this? What are you doing to me?”
She blinked in confusion, her gaze flicking away for a brief moment before returning to mine. “I don't know,” she whispered. “I am not doing anything to you.”
Every instinct I possessed pulled me toward her. I took one step forward, then another.
Her breath hitched, but she did not move away. She only watched me, wide-eyed, her lips trembling as if she was afraid to speak or unsure if she should remain silent.
“Lyra,” I said again, her name rich and new on my tongue. “Do you feel this too?”
I needed to know because I shouldn't be the only one losing my senses. I knew her wolf had come active because I could feel its presence even though it was barely there.
Her fingers curled into her dress as she swallowed softly. “I don't know what I feel,” she murmured. “All I know is that the moment you walked in, everything inside me reacted.”
Her honesty broke something inside me.
I crossed the distance between us quickly, unable to hold myself back. She gasped quietly as I stopped right in front of her, close enough to feel her warmth and close enough for her scent to swallow me completely.
I lifted my hand slowly, allowing her time to withdraw if she wished. But she did not move. Her breath deepened instead, and her lips parted slightly when my fingers brushed against her cheek.
Her skin was warm and impossibly soft. The moment I touched her, that addicting spark ran through me.
Her lashes fluttered, and a soft, fragile sound escaped her, barely audible yet filled with something delicate and inviting.
Rudy growled his approval.
I brought my forehead to hers, letting our breaths mingle, her warmth brushing across my lips. My voice dropped to a whisper, strained and thick with the desire clawing through me.
“Lyra. I don't know what is happening to you. But I know exactly what this is doing to me.”
The tension thickened and curled around us. My entire body burned with the effort to hold myself back, but her eyes were filled with confusion and something deeper, something she had not fully understood yet.
I had spent years mastering control with razor sharp precision, but a single moment near her fractured every part of it.
Yet I still forced myself to ask the question.
“Lyra,” I whispered, brushing my thumb gently across her cheek. “Can I kiss you?”
She drew in a sharp breath. But seconds later, her eyes softened, showing no fear and no hesitation. Only a quiet vulnerability that made her unbearably beautiful.
“Yes,” she whispered.
I did not take her with the hunger clawing at my chest, even though every instinct inside me begged me to. I leaned in slowly, letting the intention build in the space between us.
When my lips finally touched hers, everything else fell away.
Her lips were soft and warm. She tasted like sweetness and something that made my lungs forget to function. She inhaled sharply against my mouth, her hand tightening on my shirt as if she needed something solid to hold onto.
I deepened the kiss slowly but hungrily, my mouth moving over hers with a fierce longing that had ignited the instant I entered her room. Her soft gasp opened her lips for me, and the moment I tasted more of her, a low growl vibrated from deep inside my chest.
She kissed me back. At first her movements were hesitant and shy. Then she grew bolder. Her fingers slid up to my shoulders, her touch light but desperate.
Heat rolled through me in waves, sharp and consuming. She pressed her body against mine, and every time she leaned in closer, I felt myself unravel more.
I slid one hand to her waist, pulling her closer, and she let out the softest sound. It was a sound that nearly shattered every shred of control I still held. I clasped her even closer, unable to bear the thought of any distance between us.
I broke the kiss suddenly, breathless, resting my forehead against hers again.
I needed to see her face. I needed to see her eyes and her expression and the reality of what was unfolding between us.
She blinked up at me with her lips swollen, her cheeks flushed, and her breath shaking inside her chest.
Moments later, her gaze lowered before rising again to look at my face.
“Umm,” she whispered.
“What is it?” My voice remained rough, raw, and thick with everything she made me feel.
“Something is… poking me.”