Gasoline and matches

POV SIENNA

The truck door slamming echoed down the empty road like a gunshot that hung sharp in the air.

Killian did not give me even a moment to wait for the patrol vehicle behind us. He caught my elbow in a grip firm enough to burn right through my thermal sleeve, steered me toward his truck, and pushed me into the passenger seat before striding around the hood in long, determined strides. When he slid behind the wheel, the space shrank until there was barely any room left between us. The cab filled instantly with his presence: the metallic tang of adrenaline still pumping through him, burnt cedar, and that thick, suffocating heat radiating from every inch of his skin. He started the engine with a brutal roar and floored the accelerator, gravel spitting beneath the chassis as we tore through the forest curves at a speed that should have terrified me, yet somehow left me breathless for entirely different reasons.

Neither of us spoke for the first two kilometers. His knuckles were white where he gripped the leather steering wheel so hard the white bandages looked ready to tear. His jaw was locked tight, his breathing heavy and ragged, his gaze fixed dead ahead as if looking at me would make him lose the last shred of control he still held. I stared out the window, watching tree trunks blur past like shadows, fighting to steady my trembling hands and silence the words that kept ringing in my head: "Stay away from my girl."

All at once Killian braked hard. Tires shrieked on the empty asphalt of a straight stretch hidden deep among the trees, halfway back to the manor. Before I could even ask what he was doing, he killed the engine, released the door locks, and the forest silence settled over us, heavy and sealed, like an iron trap.

"Take your sweater off," he ordered, his voice so low and rough it sounded dangerous, dragged up from somewhere deep inside him.

I turned to stare at him, certain I had misheard.

"What did you say?"

Killian let go of the wheel and shifted in his seat, invading my space completely. His shoulder brushed mine. Those gray eyes still held that dark, swirling gold at the edges, and they swept over me with an intensity that stung, lingering on my neck, my chest, my arms, searching for a mark that should not be there.

"I need to know if that bastard touched you."

A dry, bitter, poison-laced laugh escaped me before I could hold it back.

"Have you completely lost your mind? You have no right to demand anything from me."

"I am your mate, Sienna," he snapped, slamming his palm against the center console hard enough to make me jump. "And you are mine! I do not care how much my head denies it or how much my pride fights it, my wolf knows you belong to it. And if that piece of trash laid a hand on you…"

"What does it matter to you?" I shouted back, leaning forward, furious that he would claim authority now after discarding me so easily hours before. "Two hours ago you called me a stray and said the Moon Goddess had made a mistake. Now suddenly you care who I am with? You do not own me, Killian!"

His whole body coiled tight like a rope about to snap. In one sharp, fluid motion his hand reached for me. He did not hurt me, but his fingers curled into the neck of my thermal top and pulled me forward until our faces were mere millimeters apart. I felt his warm breath against my lips, thick with the storm that always seemed to cling to him.

"Tell me how far it went," he gritted out, his voice shaking with raw fury that looked as though it physically pained him. "What did you do with him, Sienna? Tell me now before I turn this truck around and finish what I started."

He searched my gaze with a desperation that did not fit the cold mask he wore. The arrogant Alpha had crumbled beneath jealousy, consumed entirely by the thought that someone else had touched what his instinct claimed as sacred. I felt anger, yes, but beneath it something softer, sadder, seeing him tear himself apart like this.

"It was nothing like that, you fool!" I fired back, holding his golden gaze without flinching. "Is that what you needed to hear? It was just kisses. Nothing more."

Killian did not blink. His grip on my shirt loosened a fraction, but he did not let go. His chest rose and fell against mine.

"Just kisses?" he repeated, thick with suspicion, yet the dark storm in his eyes seemed to ease just a little.

"Just kisses," I confirmed, pushing gently at his wrist so he would release me, every brush of skin sending sparks racing through me regardless. "And I was not even truly in love with him. I was with him because I felt lost and alone in that huge human city and he was something familiar. Besides… I found out he was cheating on me only two days before my mother announced her wedding to your father."

Silence returned to the cab, but this time it felt different. His jaw unclenched slowly. He studied my face, searching for any hint of deceit, and found only the bare, unvarnished, bitter truth I had no reason to hide.

"He cheated on you," he murmured, almost to himself.

The tone of his voice shifted. Rage hardened into something cold, dark, and far more dangerous, directed outward rather than at me.

"Yes, he did," I said sharply, crossing my arms and leaning back against the seat. "So do not worry about your precious Alpha pride. That 'little stray' left no mark you need to clean up."

Killian did not pull away. Instead he rested his forearm along the top of my seat, boxing me in beneath his shadow. His gaze dropped slowly to my mouth and stayed there, fixed and unblinking, making my throat go dry.

"That boy is even more stupid than I thought," he whispered, his voice low, deep, so close it raised goosebumps along my arms. "To hold something like you in his hands and still go looking for scraps somewhere else."

My heart hammered so hard it hurt.

"Killian…" I started, but my voice came out thin, betrayed by how close he was.

"If it had been me," he breathed, leaning another fraction closer until his eyelashes brushed my cheek, "I would never have let you out of my sight. And no one else would ever have touched you."

I swallowed hard, pulse thudding in my throat.

"You said I was nothing to you."

A crooked, bitter little smile touched his mouth.

"I say a lot of things when I am trying not to lose control, stepsister," he said, soft and edged with something dangerous. Then his hand lifted to my face, his thumb brushing the corner of my mouth, erasing every trace of anyone else with the burning heat of his touch. "But today I made it perfectly clear who you belong to here. And believe me… I will not let you forget it."