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5. Heat Beneath the Skin
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2025-07-31 14:27:02Kaela didn’t leave her room for two days. Not unless she had to.
She healed fast — faster than she should’ve, honestly — but it wasn’t her ribs that felt broken.
It was everything else.
Her thoughts were loud. Her skin itched like it wanted to be touched again. Her wolf paced constantly, just under the surface, restless and unsatisfied.
Because of him.
Ronan.
The bond hadn’t faded. If anything, it was worse. Stronger.
She could feel him now — distant, sure, but there. Like a thread had been tied between their hearts and someone kept tugging.
Hard.
She wasn’t sleeping. Not really. And when she did?
Dreams.
Always the same. His mouth on hers. His hands on her hips. His voice like a storm in her bones.
The kind of wanting that made her wake up sweating, shaking, teeth clenched.
She couldn’t take it anymore.
So she left.
No one saw her go. Just boots, cloak, moonlight. She didn’t shift. Not yet. Just walked.
She didn’t even know where she was going — just away from the village, away from the tension, the whispers, the walls closing in.
The wind whispered through the trees like it knew her secrets. The woods weren’t cold tonight — not really — but she still wrapped her arms around herself, like she could hold in whatever was tearing through her from the inside.
She ended up near the river. The same one that split Frostclaw land from Shadowfang.
Of course.
She didn’t even have time to curse the irony. Because he was already there.
Ronan stepped from the shadows like he’d been waiting.
Or like he’d felt her coming.
Which… maybe he had.
Their eyes met. And for a second, nothing moved. Not the trees, not the water, not her breath.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she said. But her voice wasn’t angry. Just… tired.
“You are.”
She hated that that answer made sense.
“What do you want?” she asked.
He looked at her for a long moment. “I don’t know anymore.”
Kaela swallowed hard. “Then why can’t I stop thinking about you?”
Ronan didn’t move. But something shifted in the air — like the wind changed directions just for them.
“I tried,” he said quietly. “To ignore it. To push it down. But this bond—”
“—it’s not fair,” she snapped, suddenly angry. “I didn’t choose this.”
He stepped closer. “Neither did I.”
Another step.
“I’m supposed to hate you.”
Another.
“I know.”
He was right in front of her now. So close she could see the flecks of amber in his gold eyes. So close she could smell him — wild, warm, wolf.
Kaela’s voice cracked. “Then why does it feel like you already belong to me?”
Ronan reached for her hand. Didn’t grab it — just hovered. Waiting.
She could’ve pulled away.
She didn’t.
Their fingers touched, and that spark — that damn golden light — jumped again.
Brighter this time. Stronger.
Kaela gasped like she’d been punched.
And then he kissed her.
It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t sweet.
It was hungry.
Like he’d been starving since the summit and just now let himself taste.
She kissed him back. She shouldn’t have, but gods — she did.
Heat roared through her. Her hands tangled in his shirt. His breath caught. His fingers slid into her hair.
And suddenly she was pressed to the tree, panting, heart beating so loud it drowned out everything else.
His mouth traced her jaw. Her throat. Her pulse.
“You drive me insane,” he murmured against her skin. “Even when I’m not near you.”
Kaela clenched her eyes shut. “This is a bad idea.”
“I know.” He kissed her again. “Still doing it, though.”
And she let him.
Gods help her, she let him.
Minutes passed. Or maybe hours.
They finally broke apart, breathing hard, foreheads pressed together.
No one said the obvious thing. Not yet.
Kaela stepped back first. “We can’t keep doing this.”
“I know.”
“But you’ll keep showing up, won’t you?”
He nodded once. “Until you tell me to stop.”
She didn’t tell him to stop.
She just walked away.
But even with her back turned, she could feel him there. Watching.
And worse — hoping.
*** Thannk you all for getting so far with my story!
On a different subject — would you have kissed him? 😅Drop a 🐺 if you’re here for the tension, or a 🌕 if you think Kaela’s in way too deep already. ***
Latest chapter
Claimed by the Enemy Alpha 67. The First Crack
Morning in the White didn’t happen the way it did anywhere else.It didn’t break. It leaked.Thin strips of weak light bled through the skeletal trees, painting everything in washed-out gray. The frost clung stubbornly to the ground, whispering under Kaela’s boots as she sat up in the cold.She’d slept—sort of—but every time she’d drifted off, the whisper had been there. That same curl of almost-words brushing her ear. She couldn’t remember them when she opened her eyes, but she remembered the feeling they left—like something cold had crawled under her skin and stayed there.The camp was quiet except for Dax, crouched over the embers of a dying fire, coaxing it back to life with slow, careful movements. Steam rose from his mouth in little bursts.“He’s out there,” he said without looking at her.She rubbed her face. “You mean Ronan.”“Who else?” Dax smirked faintly. “Eastern edge. He’s been there a while.”Of course he had.Kaela pulled on her boots and followed the trail—big, deliber
Claimed by the Enemy Alpha 66. Night Watch
The White never really slept.It just shifted—breathing in long, cold exhales, rustling in places where there was no wind, creaking like the bones of something ancient.Kaela sat by the half-burned fire, chin tucked into her scarf, eyes locked on the tree line. Her wolf was restless. Her turn on watch. She should have been alone, but Ronan was out there too, pacing the shadows like a caged predator.“You can sit, you know,” she called out quietly.“I’m not tired.” His voice came from somewhere to her right—rougher, lower, like the night made it heavier.“You’re always not tired.”He didn’t answer, didn’t even pause. Just kept moving. His boots crunched over frostbitten ground, slow deliberate circles skirting the outer edge of the firelight. It was the kind of movement that made you feel watched even when you were the one watching.Kaela’s teeth caught on her lip. She told herself she was listening for threats, but her focus kept drifting to him instead—the way he moved with that cont
Claimed by the Enemy Alpha 65. One Blanket
The fire was low, more embers than flame, exactly how Ronan kept it. The kind of fire that gave just enough heat to stop their fingers from going numb, but not enough to light them up like a beacon in the White.The air beyond that soft glow felt alive in the wrong way. Heavy. Watching. Kaela’s instincts kept brushing the edges of something—too faint to catch, too patient to reveal itself. The cold seemed sharper because of it, like the air itself wanted them brittle.She was on the far side of the fire, legs tucked under herself, dagger across her lap. She’d been telling herself she’d make it through the night awake, that she’d watch him do those constant perimeter sweeps and keep her own eyes open, that the cold wouldn’t matter. But the White had its own rules, and right now, her body was losing to them.“You’re shivering,” Ronan’s voice cut across the crackle of the wood.She looked up. “I’m fine.”His head tilted slightly. “That wasn’t a question.”Kaela smirked, but it was short-
Claimed by the Enemy Alpha 64. Between Teeth and Silence
The White swallowed sound whole.Not like the forests Kaela knew, where the wind could scream through the branches or the snow could crunch underfoot loud enough to give you away for miles. Here, the silence was heavier. Thick. It clung to her ears until even her own breathing sounded like an intrusion.She hated this place.Not just for the cold — though the cold here wasn’t a thing that bit and then went away. It was a slow invasion, a thing that crept into her blood and made her wonder if her heart was still beating at the right speed. But worse than that was how the White erased the world. No color. No smell. No movement unless you made it yourself. The White didn’t just hide things. It made you question if they’d ever been real.A lone figure cut through that emptiness ahead of her — Ronan, a shadow against the pale world. His shoulders rolled with each step in that steady, predatory rhythm he had, even when they weren’t tracking prey. He didn’t look back. Didn’t need to. She kne
Claimed by the Enemy Alpha 63. The Trail Left for You
Kaela woke with the kind of unease that didn’t belong to dreams.It wasn’t the cold that roused her—though the cold was a living thing here, biting and needling until your skin felt too tight—it was the quiet.Too quiet.Camp was never silent. Even in the dead of night, there was always something: the soft crunch of patrol boots, Lira’s low pacing hum, Ronan’s steady breath moving past her tent. This morning, though… nothing.When she pushed herself upright, the world outside looked wrong. The snow should’ve been broken and messy from movement—patrol shifts, restless wolves—but it was smooth. Unbroken. Glittering under the thin throat of dawn like it hadn’t been touched since it fell.Except for one thing.A single, perfect mark slicing across the whiteness. Narrow. Unwavering.It started just inside the ward line.Ended at Ronan’s boots.Her stomach dropped.“Ronan—”“I see it.” His voice was low, gravel dragged over stone. Either he hadn’t slept, or the night had taken more from him
Claimed by the Enemy Alpha 62. The Breath Behind You
Kaela didn’t sleep.Not because she wanted to be heroic about it—her body begged for rest, muscles throbbing from the day’s march—but every time her eyes slipped shut, the fire’s glow dimmed just enough for the dark to lean in.And in the dark… she could hear it.That sound from earlier—low, slow, deliberate. A breath so long it felt wrong. Not like lungs filling because they had to. Like it was done on purpose. For her.Lira was half-dozing near the fire, bow balanced in her lap, head tilting forward only to jerk back up. Her lips moved now and then—those old-words again—but she never said them loud enough for Kaela to catch.Ronan hadn’t sat down once. He was still a dark shape at the edge of camp, standing with his back to them, staring into the tree line like he could force the shadows to give up their secrets.The snow glowed faintly under the half-moon. It made the shapes between the drifts look like they were moving—just at the corner of her vision—never when she looked straigh
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