The Space Between Us

Kade’s POV

The morning after Dorian’s ridiculous performance, I woke up before the sun.

Old habits they say, never dies, Or maybe I just didn’t want to risk opening my eyes and finding her gone. The pack stirred faintly beyond my door. Guards rotated shifts. Metal clashed in the distance from the training grounds. Life moved the way it always did, as if nothing had changed, but everything had.

She was still here.

That thought alone did something ugly and tight to my chest.

When I stepped out of my room, Naya was already standing by the balcony doors. Dawn spilled over her shoulders, turning her into something almost unreal. Gold in her hair, soft light across her skin, too soft for this place, too soft for me.

She didn’t flinch when she sensed me behind her, that nearly undid me.

“You’re awake early,” she said, not turning around.

Her voice wasn’t sharp, no venom, no edge, Just… normal.

“I don’t sleep much,” I answered.

Understatement of the fucking century.

She hummed lightly, like she was storing that away somewhere. Then she turned, and there it was, No fear, No blazing no hatred, Just caution, thoughtful. She was Watching me like I was something she hadn’t decided on how to handle yet. I think at this point, I preferred the anger,

atleast anger was clear, this wasn’t.

I stepped closer, Slowly, Giving her room to move if she wanted to, but She didn’t.

My wolf stirred immediately, it became alert and hopeful. Very greedy bastard.

“You should eat,” I said.

It came out softer than I intended, almost careful.

“I will,” she replied. “After I walk.”

“Walk?” I echoed before I could stop myself.

She tilted her head toward the courtyard. “I don’t want to feel like a fucking prisoner.”

Prisoner…That word hit me so hard, squeezing my throat.

“You’re not,” I snapped.

It was too fast, too sharp, her eyes flickered,not with fear, but with awareness. The awareness of the truth between us. I could see it in her eyes.

I exhaled through my nose, forcing my jaw to unclench.

“You can walk wherever you want,” I corrected but quieter this time. “I’ll come with you.”

She looked at me closely, really closely. It was like she was trying to see the real me, beyond the mask I wear. Her eyes seemed to dig into my soul, searching for something hidden.

“Okay.”

Just that..Just okay…surprising, and why

did that feel like something fragile being placed in my hands?

We walked through the eastern gardens without speaking to each other. Dew clung to the grass, the air was cold enough to wake the skin but not bite it. Pack members bowed their heads when they saw us. Their eyes lingered On her, not On me.

Alpha and his mate, My mate.

The word still feels volatile in my head. Like it might explode if I hold it too tightly.

She stopped at the fountain and ran her fingers over the edge of the stone.

“You built this?”

she asked.

“Yes.” I responded

She glanced at the structure, then back at me. “It’s beautiful.”

I didn’t know what to do with that,

but I said “Thank you,”

It felt strange, being thanked, being… seen for something that wasn’t violence related.

We stood there for a few minutes, not touching, not arguing, not bleeding,

Just existing. And I hated how much I wanted that to be enough, because underneath it …underneath the quiet.. there was still the thing neither of us had named.

The bond, Me, What I did to her pack.

She hadn’t rejected it, But she hadn’t accepted it either. She was standing beside me, but not with me. There’s a huge difference.

"You’re quiet," she said, catching me off guard. I let out a small sigh. "Is that a bad thing?" I asked.

"You’re usually barking orders or growling at the sun by now," she said with a hint of a smile.

I almost smiled too, almost..her smile was so infectious.

“Is that how you see me?”

She looked straight at me with no hesitation.

“I think you’re dangerous.”

That’s fair.

“I am.”

Her jaw flexed slightly.

“I know.”

I stepped closer without fully deciding to, close enough to feel her warmth,

Close enough for the bond to wake.

It stretched low in my chest, slow and aching, like something starved finally breathing again. She didn’t lean in,

She didn’t step back, she just stayed. And that was the hardest part,Because if she had moved, I could have survived it.

But staying meant she felt it too.

“Naya.”

Her name felt heavier in the morning air.

“Yes, Alpha.”

Alpha, Not Kade. The title built a wall, brick by brick.

“You don’t have to call me that when we’re alone.”

Her lashes lowered slightly. “What should I call you then?”

I swallowed, because that felt like a trap?

“Whatever you want.” I said.

A second passed, then…

“Kade.”

Soft and so careful.

My name shouldn’t feel like a victory, but it did..oh god, it so fucking did, my wolf practically purred.

She shifted slightly, and our shoulders brushed. It was barely anything, but the bond reacted like it had been starving for so long. She held her breath. I did too.

For a second…something flickered her eyes..something warmer, let’s call it Curiosity. And that scared the hell out of me, because I could feel it, she was getting used to me.

Her body no longer locked up when I came close. She laughed yesterday…actually laughed…in the same room as me. Was that healing? Or was she just adapting to survive? I don’t know which possibility unsettles me more.

“You’re staring,” she murmured.

“I’m thinking.”

“About?”

About blood, about fire, about the sound of her pack screaming while my men followed my order, about how I would give that order again if it meant protecting my pack. Wouldn’t I? I would, I think I would..Fuck.

“About how quiet you are,” I lied.

She didn’t look convinced.

“There’s a lot to think about,” she said.

Yeah, There is, I agreed.

A breeze lifted her hair across her face. before I thought better of it, I reached up and tucked the strand behind her ear, Slow, giving her time to step back but she didn’t. Her eyes searched mine like she was trying to find something honest there.

Heat coiled low in my stomach. Her scent grew warmer and softer, and mine likely did the same, quietly reaching back for hers too.

My Mate….The word roared through me but I forced it down.

“You don’t hate me right now,” I said

before I could stop myself. Why the hell did I say that? Her expression changed to Something complicated.

“I don’t know what I feel anymore,” she admitted.

That hit harder than hate ever could.

“That’s worse,” I muttered.

“Why?”

“Because hate is simple.”

And I understand simple.

She studied me carefully.

“And what do you feel?”

That question trapped me. There was no way out but still, I looked at her and didn’t look away…even when it felt like she could see everything inside me.

“You.”

Her breath stuttered.

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one I have.”

It was the truth. The fountain trickled behind us, birds called overhead…normal sounds for a moment that felt far from normal.

“I always remember,” she said quietly.

The words slid between my ribs. finally she is letting it all out, I knew she was going to bring it up somehow.

“I know.”

“I remember the screaming.”

My wolf recoiled. I opened my mouth and Closed it.

“I know.”

“And most times when I sleep,”

she continued,

“there’s fire everywhere.”

My chest tightened until breathing felt optional.

“I am aware,” I said.

She looked up at me.

“And I remember you carrying me out of it.” That I didn’t expect to hear, My heart stumbled.

“I didn’t do it to be kind, I did it because You were valuable.”

“Maybe, but you still did it.” She said

Her fingers brushed mine, deliberately , Testing, every nerve in my body lit up at once, Heat surged. The bond roared, I knew it has been waiting for this moment.

I almost grabbed her hand, I was so close to doing it. She pulled back first, not rejection but Space.

“I’m fucking trying,” she said softly.

Trying, to forgive, to accept, to not fall apart? I don’t know, and not knowing makes me feel like I’m standing on unstable ground.

“I’m not asking you to forget,” I said.

Her eyes softened…barely.

“Good,” she whispered. “Because I won’t.”

A strange half-smile pulled at my mouth.

“I wouldn’t want you to.”

Her brows lifted slightly.

“Why?”

“If you forget what I’m capable of,” I said quietly, “you won’t really know who you’re standing beside.”

Her breath hitched, the air shifted…real, not fragile, and real is dangerous; she looked at me differently then, not like a monster, not like an Alpha, but like something else.

The bond pulsed steady, not desperate; she isn’t mine, not yet, maybe not ever, but she’s still here beside me, and for now, that has to be enough.

When she turned toward the pack house, I saw the small, controlled tremor in her shoulders. And my wolf went completely still. I finally understood something I don’t think I was ready for, she’s learning how to stand beside me, but the day she decides whether she can stand with me…That’s the day everything breaks.