6: Forbidden Attraction

Lena.

"Mating bond?" I echoed, the word sending fresh pangs of alarm through me. "And what do you intend to do to my mother, exactly?"

He moved closer, and slower leaned down to my ears that sent my heart racing in my chest. I swallowed nervously, fighting to stay still. He then whispered hoarsely, I'm going to fuck her morning, noon and night. Until she give me a heir."

Kieran sighed, and swept a hand through his dark hair. a very human, frustration expression. “It’s not what you’re thinking. It’s a bond that is sacred, quite beautiful in fact. It’s” — and here he seemed not to find the right word — “it connects you to one another on a spiritual level.”

“And forgive me if being plopped into some supernatural version of folk bonding is not exactly my idea of ‘beautiful,’” I snapped back.

To my surprise, Kieran didn’t bristle at my tone. Instead, he gazed at me with something that was almost regret. "There are things about our world you won't understand, Lena. “The kinds of things that are beyond human understanding.”

"Try me," I challenged.

He came forward; his tall body was outlined against the silver of the moon. "Werewolves don't select the way humans do when we choose our mates. Our wolves — our internal beasts — know something in the other. Something too primal, too undeniable.”

"And that's what your 'wolf' saw in my mother?" I asked skeptically.

A curious look stole over his face. “Your mother is a … well, she’s curvy and sexy in bed."

Before I could delve, footsteps could be heard again walking towards us. A man was standing on the garden path—a tall, spare-built man, with patrician features and eyes that glittered golden in the darkness.

"Cousin!" he purred, his voice silky snythn. “I was just talking to the neighbor across the street and I was thinking I’d come and find you out here.”

Kieran’s whole attitude shifted in an instant, his shoulders squaring, his face going hard. "Dominic. You're early."

I couldn't miss my favourite cousin's engagement party," the new one—Dominic—said with a smile that didn't quite meet his eyes. “The word is circulating fast among the Eastern packs now. The mighty Alpha King and his new human mate.

There was something in his tone — sarcasm with a veneer of politeness — that made me feel immediately uncomfortable. Kieran must have felt it too, for he moved, half standing between me and his cousin.

“Dominic Volkov,” Kieran replied shortly. "Longest neck in the Coastal Range pack. My cousin."

Dominic’s golden eyes met mine, the smile stretched even further. "And this is the daughter. Claire said you were going to join us.” He advanced and seized me by the hand as I faltered back. "Enchanted, Lena Adams."

He pressed his lips to the backs of my fingers, never stopping his gaze. The second his skin made contact with mine, I felt Kieran stiffen next to me, a low noise— almost a growl—coming from the back of his throat.

“Your mother didn’t tell me how beautiful you are,” Dominic added with my hand still in his own. "Intelligence and beauty. These days such a rare combination.”

"Thanks," I said, as I retrieved my hand. He clutched it a moment too long before he let it go.

Lena was on her way in," Kieran replied, his voice chillier. "It's been a long day."

"Not in the least bit," Dominic responded suavely. “The night is but spending, and I would fain find out mine I should before we rise from the table know my — What would she be to me, cousin? Step-niece?"

"Nothing," Kieran said in a dull tone. She’d mean nothing to you.”

There was a real stiffness between the two men. I looked between them, feeling undercurrents I didn’t understand.

"Maybe I should go and see my mother," I said, inventing an excuse.

“No thanks,” answered Dominic, his eyes sparkling with laughter. "I just left her. “She’s doing stuff with the party planner, finishing up for the celebration tomorrow.” He stepped closer to me. Happy to show you around the estate while Kieran does his never-ending chores.

Something dangerous blazed into Kieran's silver eyes. "Lena stays with me."

His possessiveness in his voice surprised me. Dominic saw it, too, and his eyebrows lifted a notch and a knowing smile tickled the margins of his lips.

"With pleasure, Alpha," he said the title taunting. "I expect I'll get to know you better, plenty of time for that tomorrow. He bowed slightly to me. "Until then, Ms. Adams."

Kieran's body stayed tense after Dominic left the room. His cousin had skirted away into the darkness, his teeth clenched, his hands bunched at his sides.

"What was that about?" “When can it happen?” I asked when we were alone again.

Kieran's gaze was still focused on where Dominic had disappeared. "Politics," he said tersely. "Always politics."

“Felt more personal than political.”

His gaze snapped to mine. "Stay away from Dominic. He's dangerous."

"Unlike you?" I challenged.

And suddenly, a change flicked in Kieran’s expression, a softening, a vulnerability, something I’d never seen on his face. “I’d never hurt you, Lena. Not intentionally."

His tone was so genuine that I was beyond startled. I nearly believed him for a second.

"Come," he murmured and held out his arm. “There’s something else I would like to show you.”

Still reeling from the disbelief of Dominic being alive, I hesitated before laying my hand gently on Kieran's arm. The touch sent an odd flush of warmth through my fingers, and up my arm. If Kieran also felt it, he showed no sign.

He took me further, away from all the formal hedges and fountains, and the ancient trees started to enclose us in their own world. In the middle, a gazebo was ensnared with climbing roses and the palest of the Roses looked like silver in the moonlight.

'This is my favorite spot on the grounds,' Kieran said, softer than I'd heard him speak yet. “It’s the only part of the estate that I designed myself.”

I frowned a little, "It's nice, damn nice," I grudgingly acknowledged, more than a little impressed. The space was almost magical, entirely separate from the grandeur of the main house.

”My mother’s favorite” ”Roses.” “My mother was very fond of roses,” he said, caressing one of the flowers with unexpected tenderness. Is provided garden of this kind at the stake-in position Against Before a stone war stake was our old home That, she Bonds as our country to the bond, as then, we were my hand, And she has made a garden like that As this taught by The women's Garden before The territory we create war.

Riordan and Patterson “mention his mother — a hint of some past and, therefore, vulnerability — and it humanized him in a way nothing else had. "What happened to her?"

Pain flashed across his face. "She died. With my father and sister. I was the only survivor."

"I'm sorry," I said truthfully.

He nodded once in thanks when I offered my condolences. "It was a long time ago."

We remained silent for a moment and the sounds of the night in the forest surrounded us. The light of the moon filtered through the roses, dappled shadows painting over Kieran's face making his features not look so harsh.

“And what was it that you actually brought me the hell here for?” I asked quietly. "To your mother's garden?"

Kieran gazed down at me, his eyes a silver reflection of the moonlight. “Because I needed you to know there’s more to me — to all of us — than what you saw at that auction. We're not monsters, Lena. We're just... different."

“Different enough to keep the woman you’re planning to marry from seeing what you really are,” I pointed out.

He sighed. “Your mother will find out soon enough. But you..." His gaze intensified. "You already know. You know what we are, and you are still here. Still standing your ground."

"Did you think I would flee in terror into the darkness?

"Most humans would." His lips twitched with a hint of a smile. “But most humans aren’t like you, though, are they?”

There was something in the way he was staring at me—something that sent my heart racing and my skin blossoming with warmth even though it was cold outside. I stepped back slightly, surprised at my reaction to this kid.

"I should get back," I said. "It's been a long day."

Kieran scooted up, closing the space I had created between us. "There's something else you need to know, Lena. “The only thing I haven’t told anyone.”

He looked at me with such a burning look he rooted me in place. "What?"

The night of the auction,” he added, speaking in a near whisper. The first time I saw you, when you came on the beach with Sam’s ball, something happened to my wolf, something strange.

My breath caught. "What do you mean?"

"It recognized you." His hand rose, hung in the air by my face, but did not touch me. "Not as prey. But as a human to protect, so not so much. As something... else."

The way he was looking at me, it made electricity filter through my veins. "I don't understand."

"Neither did I," he admitted. That’s why I’ve watched you. Why I found your mother. Why I brought you both here."

It was then that a terrible truth occurred to me. "You're not marrying my mother to take care of her. You’re using her to manipulate me.”

Pain and guilt flickered across his face. “It’s not that simple. I do care for Claire. She’s sweet, smart, everything I’m supposed to want in a mate.

"But?"

"But my wolf- my wolf desires you," he growled, and it sounded like the words were ripped from him. ”She's been scratching at me since that night. It says it owns what it thinks is ours and demands that I take it.”

I stepped backward and bumped into the railing of the gazebo. "I don't belong to anyone."

"I know," he said quickly. "I know that. It's why I've fought it. Why I picked your mother, instead. A suitable match. It’s a political alliance that works.”

"While you what? Keep me around as some sort of…hellish fling?” I was appalled, furious, bewildered.

"No!" His voice was fierce and I was taken aback. "Never that. Nothing could dishonor either of you like that.

“Well, what do you want from me?”

Kieran squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, as though in discomfort. Opening his eyes, the silver was more intense, shimmering in the gloom. "I don't know anymore. All I know is that when Dominic laid his hands on you tonight, my wolf was almost unable to contain himself. I felt like ripping out his throat for touching what belongs to me.”

The possessiveness in his tone ought to have scared me. What it did do, however, was deliver a delicious forbidden thrill through my body.

“I’m not yours,” I replied, but it felt pathetic even to think the words.

"No," yes, his voice harsh. "You're not. You can't be."

And then he rushed toward me, bridging the distance between us in a single long stride. His hands cupped around my face,  shockingly soft despite the barely restrained power I could sense shaking through him.

"Tell me to stop," he muttered, mere inches from my face. “Tell me you don’t feel it, too.

I should have shoved him off. Should have slapped him. Should’ve mentioned he was engaged to my mother. Instead, I was paralyzed, my heart banging in my ribs, my breath trapped in my throat.

His lips met mine — lightly, barely, hesitantly, testing. When I refused to back off, something in him cracked. He didn’t take no for an answer, however, and with a growl and a groan he slanted his mouth over mine and kissed me for real, really kissed Kissed me.

The world disappeared. There was nothing but Kieran— his scent swaddling me, his heat seeping into my skin, his lips working against mine with such a desperate need. My hands reached up to his shoulders, to push him back or pull him closer, I didn’t know.

The kiss grew more intense, his tongue scraping mine, tangy of wine mixed with something wild. I felt myself answer him and dissolve inside him although everything sane in me screamed this was wrong.

As quickly as it started, it stopped. Kieran snatched himself back, an effort evident on his face. Heaving in his chest, his silver eyes rimmed with black and pupils dilated.

"AND ERASE THIS TOO,” he said in a ragged voice. "It can't happen again. Ever."

Before I could reply — before I could even process what had just happened — he spun on his heel and walked off, vanishing into the dark embrace of the garden, leaving me to stand alone in the moonlit gazebo with sore lips and a racing heart.

Pressing a trembling hand to my mouth, I could still feel the ghost of the kiss he’d planted there.

What the fuck had just happened? And how, against my better instincts, did I wish for it?