CHAPTER FOUR: Come Here

AERIN

The tension was already there when I stepped inside the room.

It did not rush at me. It did not explode. It settled quietly, like heat trapped beneath skin, waiting for something to move.

My feet stopped just inside the doorway. I did not tell them to stop. They simply did.

The door behind me was still open. Cool air slipped in from the corridor and brushed the back of my neck.

I did not feel afraid.

I felt... aware.

Aware of the man whose eyes were firmly on me the moment I appeared.

Alpha Kael stood several steps away. He was completely still, in a way that made the room feel built around him. Unlike earlier, when he was dressed magnificently, this time, he was dressed only in a dark robe... that hung loose at his chest that was open enough to show warm skin beneath.

Despite my situation, my eyes noticed things I did not mean to see.

The width of his shoulders.

The ease of his stance.

The way the air around him felt heavier... seductive...

Just looking at him made my cheeks feel warmer.

'Why... does it feel like I am the one intruding?'

To make the matter worse, his gaze was already on me.

It was not sharp...nor was it angry.

Rather, it was slow.

As if... he were deciding something.

My breathing slowed without permission. Something low in my chest tightened. It was unfamiliar, but alert.

'Lower your head.'

The thought brushed against me.

I did not follow it.

It did not even occur to me to do so.

I met his eyes the way I always did when someone looked at me.

The silence thickened.

It was not empty. It was heavy.

Pressure filled the space between us. It pressed inward and made my lungs feel too full. Then suddenly, they felt too small.

'Why is it hard to breathe?'

My eyes shifted. Only a little... to the open door.

...It was the only way out.

The change on Alpha Kael was immediate.

“Come here,” he said as his gaze turned sharper.

His voice was quiet....but the command was not.

My nerves reacted at once. My chest tightened sharply. Every instinct in my body flared.

Still, my feet did not move.

I looked at him instead, more confused than defiant.

For a moment, surprise crossed his face.

Then irritation.

Then interest.

“You didn’t hear me?” he said.

“...I did,” I replied.

The words left my mouth before I thought about them.

I was not refusing him.

I was not challenging him.

...I was merely answering his question.

Something sharpened in his gaze.

“Oh,” he murmured. “Did you, now?” He asked as his eyes turned darker...more dangerous.

He began to walk toward me. He did not hurry. Each step landed heavy in my chest, as if my heart was counting them.

One.

Two.

Three.

I stepped back without thinking.

My instinct to get away from him took over.

The space between us disappeared too fast. His presence swallowed it whole. Heat rolled off him now. It was no longer subtle.

I stepped back again.

Then again.

Until my shoulders hit the door.

The door closed behind me as my weight pressed into it.

Thud.

The sound was soft.

Final.

The room felt smaller instantly.

My palms flattened against the door. My fingers spread as if it might move.

It did not.

Alpha Kael stopped inches away from me... He was...too close.

I could feel the heat of his body. Not just warmth. Weight. Pressure. His scent filled the space between us, sharp and dizzying. It pulled at something deep in my chest.

It was... dangerous.

He did not touch me... But that was worse.

The pressure of him surrounded me completely. My knees weakened. My breath caught. Fear mixed with something hotter until I could no longer tell them apart.

Then, he leaned towards me. He was so close I could feel the heat emiting from his body.

“A wolfless omega... Tell me."

"Who are you?” he asked.

The question cut through everything.

“Where did you come from?”

His gaze held me in place.

“And why,” he added slowly, “are you here?”

My thoughts scattered. His heat, his scent, the closeness—it was too much. I couldn't even understand his questions...

I could feel him with all senses of my bidy until my head felt light.

'No...don't be distracted...'

I bit my lip hard. Pain flared sharp and bright.

Metallic. Warm.

Blood.

I gasped.

His gaze dropped instantly.

...To my mouth.

Something dark shifted in his expression. His jaw tightened for a brief second, as if he were stopping himself.

The air felt charged.

I forced my head up.

I met his eyes.

“...I don’t know,” I answered him honestly.

His gaze searched my face, sharper now.

“Even if you opened my head,” I continued, “even if you could read my mind, you wouldn’t find anything.”

Who I am, where I came from, and why I was there...I had no answers for them...

I held his stare.

Then my control slipped.

Just for a moment.

"...I wish I knew." My voice trembled.

Only slightly.

He noticed.

Something unreadable crossed his face. His hand curled at his side, then relaxed.

He stepped back.

The pressure vanished so suddenly that my lungs burned as I dragged in air. My hands slid down the door, my body still braced.

“Is that so?” he said.

His voice was calm again.

Controlled.

He turned away.

I watched him without meaning to.

Each step pulled the tension with him, stretching it thin instead of breaking it. My body stayed tense, alert, as if it did not trust the space he left behind.

He walked to the bed slowly. He paused, then sat down.

Not heavily.

Not carelessly.

One leg bent. The other rested open. His robe shifted and fell wider at his chest, revealing more skin. His arm rested against the mattress. His muscles eased only slightly, like a predator settling without sleeping.

The tension returned.

Stronger.

Different.

It no longer pressed from all sides. It coiled low and slow, tightening in my stomach and spreading heat through my limbs.

...it felt worse.

Alpha Kael's eyes lifted until they found mine.

And again, I forgot to look away.

The space between us hummed. It was no longer empty. It felt charged. Expectant.

“Well,” he said lightly, “it doesn’t really matter.”

My fingers curled against the door.

"Your past...and even your present..."

"They are no longer important."

“Because from now on,” he continued, his eyes never leaving mine, “I decide your future.”

The words settled into the room.

Into me.

Something warm and dangerous slid down my spine.

'This is wrong.' My guts were telling me.

His gaze darkened even more.

“Now,” he said.

The word was heavy.

Intent.

“Come here.”