Chapter 8 BETWEEN THE HEARTBEATS
The world had narrowed to a single sound: Adam’s heartbeat. Weak, fragile, and unsteady.
Kael held him close, trembling as if that rhythm were the only thing keeping his own body alive. His hands shook so badly that he barely managed to keep Adam’s head from lolling back.
“Please don’t leave me,” he whispered again and again, voice cracking raw. “Please, Adam… don’t.”
He couldn’t tell if the wetness on his face was rain or his own tears. The city around them had faded into a dull blur; the orange streetlights, the quiet hum of passing cars, the startled voice of the man Kael’s wolf had nearly attacked.
Nothing mattered. Only this broken, burning ache that felt like claws raking through his chest.
Kael’s wolf snarled inside him, desperate, frantic. Go back to the bond. Anchor it. Touch him, claim him, mark him, fix it.
But Kael couldn’t. Not like this. Adam was shaking, pale as ash, his lips moving as if he was dreaming something that hurt.
He gathered him up in his arms, ignoring the blood on his own shirt, the tremor in his legs. Drew, the so-called neighbor, hovered nearby, wide-eyed.
“Let me help you,” Drew said, stepping closer.
Kael turned sharply, blue eyes flashing. His voice came out more growl than words. “Back. Off.”
Drew froze. He’d seen something in Kael’s face that didn’t belong to humans. For a moment, Kael thought Drew might run. But he didn’t. He just lifted his hands in surrender and said quietly, “I’m his friend. He’s been sick all week. I was just—”
Kael didn’t wait to hear the rest. He carried Adam away, his wolf burning under his skin like wildfire.
He got to his car and settled the boy in the passenger seat before speeding off.
“I promise I'm not kidnapping you, I'm taking you somewhere safe. I'm taking you to my cabin, where no evil eyes will see you.”
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The drive to his cabin blurred past. The world was little more than headlights and heartbeat. Every second, Kael reached out with his senses, terrified that the next breath Adam took might be the last.
The cabin sat on the edge of the woods, far from his pack’s territory, tucked between trees that whispered when the wind passed. It had always been his refuge, his quiet place. Tonight, it felt like a sanctuary carved by desperation.
He kicked the door open and laid Adam gently on the couch, the old wood creaking under his weight. His pulse, still there. But faint. So damn faint.
Kael’s knees hit the floor beside him. He pressed a trembling hand against Adam’s chest, feeling the uneven rise and fall.
“Come on,” he murmured, voice breaking. “Come on, just breathe.”
His wolf clawed at him, aching to do something… anything, to reconnect that severed tie. But the bond was half-broken, shredded at both ends. Touching it wrong might kill them both.
Kael pressed his forehead against Adam’s cold hand. “Please, Moon Goddess… you gave me a mate I never asked for, but if this is your plan, don’t take him from me now.”
It wasn’t just a whisper. It was a prayer, one that came from the deepest, most unguarded part of him.
“I’ll do anything,” he rasped. “I’ll make it right, just… keep him breathing.”
The fever hit again then; fast, vicious. Adam’s back arched, a strangled sound escaping his throat. Kael grabbed him instinctively, holding his wrists gently, murmuring, “It’s okay, I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
But Adam thrashed weakly, half-conscious, his gray eyes glassy with confusion and pain.
“Stop—” His voice cracked. “Please stop hurting me…”
Kael froze. The words sliced through him sharper than any claw.
“I’m not—” He tried to speak, but the rest died in his throat. Because from Adam’s view, this must’ve been madness. A stranger dragging him away, his body in agony, his mind burning.
Adam didn’t understand the bond. He didn’t understand that Kael wasn’t the one causing the pain, that the rejection was slowly killing them both.
“Adam,” Kael whispered, brushing his thumb over his knuckles. “I swear to you, I’m not hurting you. I’m trying to save you.”
Adam turned his head away, tears slipping down his cheeks. “Please…”
His voice was so small. So human.
Kael swallowed hard, guilt and instinct warring inside him. His wolf wanted to hold Adam tighter, to seal their connection, to claim and heal. But Kael knew what that would mean… forcing a bond Adam never agreed to.
So he stayed on the floor, clutching Adam’s shaking hand instead, fighting back every primal urge that screamed mine.
The room was dim. The fire crackled low in the hearth, casting flickers of gold over Adam’s face. He looked fragile, breakable… nothing like the boy who’d once glared at Kael with all the defiance in the world.
Kael reached up, brushing a stray lock of black hair from Adam’s forehead. “You’re going to be okay,” he said, though his voice trembled. “You have to be. I can’t…”
He couldn’t finish. Because the truth was simple; he couldn’t lose him. Not now. Not when his scent had already rewired every heartbeat Kael owned.
Outside, thunder rolled softly in the distance. Inside, Kael’s wolf whimpered, pressing against the edges of his mind. Mate is dying. Fix it.
Kael pressed his palm to his chest, gasping from the ache that pulsed there, the echo of Adam’s pain mirrored in his own body.
“This is my fault,” he whispered. “I should’ve fought harder. Should’ve gone after you sooner.”
Adam stirred faintly, his hand twitching in Kael’s. His lips moved, barely audible:
“Why… are you doing this to me?”
The question shattered something inside Kael.
He leaned forward, forehead resting against the couch beside Adam’s arm. His voice broke when he spoke next; raw, cracked open.
“Because I can’t stop,” he whispered. “Because the Moon decided my heart belongs to you, even if you never want it.”
For a long moment, there was only the sound of the fire and the ragged, uneven breaths of two souls bound by something neither fully understood.
Then Adam whimpered again, softer now, weaker. His pulse slowed beneath Kael’s trembling fingers.
Panic surged. Kael gripped his hand tighter, whispering his name, shaking him gently.
“Adam. Adam, stay with me.”
No response.
Kael’s chest constricted, his own breath coming in shallow bursts. He pressed his ear to Adam’s chest, straining to hear, and caught it: a faint, flickering beat.
“Please,” Kael choked out, voice breaking completely now. “Please don’t leave me. Not like this.”
He bowed his head, his tears soaking into the fabric of Adam’s shirt as the firelight flickered across their faces; one trapped in delirium, the other crumbling under love he didn’t know how to save.
“Please don’t leave me,” Kael whispered again.
Outside, the moon hung low, a silent witness to a bond unraveling thread by thread, between two hearts that had never been more bound.