Chapter Six: Unspoken Desires

Helena’s POV 

I can still feel it.

The press of his lips, the searing heat of his touch, the way my body betrayed me when I should have pushed him away. It haunts me. Even now, as I sit alone in the infirmary, forcing my trembling hands to sort through bundles of herbs, I can’t shake him from my mind.

The mate bond is cruel. It should have faded by now, should have released me from its grip. My wolf, dormant, silent for years, should not be stirring at the edges of my consciousness, whispering things I refuse to hear.

But it doesn’t fade.

And the worst part? I don’t want it to.

A sharp knock on the infirmary door startles me from my thoughts. My breath hitches as the door swings open, and I know, before I even look up, who it is.

Liard.

His scent reaches me first, smoky, dark, unmistakably him. I keep my eyes down, pretending to focus on the herbs in my hands. If I look at him now, I might do something I regret.

“We need to talk,” he says, his voice rough, edged with something I can’t place.

I force my fingers to keep moving, my pulse hammering against my ribs. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

A chair scrapes against the stone floor, and then suddenly, he’s sitting across from me. My hands still, and I make the mistake of looking up.

He’s watching me, his storm-gray eyes unreadable, his jaw tight.

“That’s a lie,” he murmurs.

I swallow hard. “Liard……”

His hand slams onto the table, not in anger, but in something worse, desperation.

“Don’t say my name like that,” he grits out. “Like you don’t feel it too.”

My breath catches. My fingers tighten around the herb stems, nearly crushing them.

I do feel it.

And that’s exactly why this has to stop.

The air between us is thick, charged with something dangerous, something neither of us dares to name.

Liard leans forward, his gaze never leaving mine. “You kissed me back.”

I flinch. “That was a mistake.”

His lips curl, not in amusement, but in something darker. “Then why are your hands shaking?”

Damn him.

I snatch my hands off the table, curling them into my lap. “You’re my Alpha,” I whisper, more to myself than to him. “This can’t happen.”

His fingers twitch, as if he wants to reach for me, but he holds himself back. “It’s already happening.”

A slow, painful silence stretches between us.

Then, in a voice so low it barely reaches me, he says, “I don’t want to fight this anymore.”

The words hit me like a punch to the chest.

I shake my head. “You have to.”

“Why?”

“Because Rhider….”

Liard stiffens at the mention of his Beta.

I exhale shakily. “He would never forgive me. Never forgive us.”

Liard’s jaw tightens. “Rhider doesn’t have to know.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “Secrets never stay hidden in this pack.”

He doesn’t argue. Because we both know it’s true.

But then he does something I don’t expect.

He reaches out, slowly, deliberately, and brushes his fingers over mine.

The touch is brief. Barely there. But it’s enough to send a shiver down my spine.

“I don’t care about tradition,” he murmurs. “I don’t care about what they’ll say. The only thing I care about is you.”

My heart stops.

I yank my hand away as if burned, my breath ragged. “Don’t say that.”

His expression hardens. “Why not?”

“Because you’ll regret it.”

His stormy eyes darken. “Do I look like a man who regrets anything?”

I open my mouth, desperate, searching for an argument, a reason to push him away. But nothing comes.

Because deep down, in the part of me I don’t want to acknowledge, I know…

I don’t want to push him away.

Silence stretches between us, heavy and unbearable.

Then, he stands.

I think, for one blissful second, that he’s going to walk away. That he’s going to let this go.

But he doesn’t.

Instead, he moves around the table, slow and deliberate, until he’s towering over me.

I stand too quickly, my chair scraping against the floor. “Liard.. ”

He cages me in. Not touching me. Not yet. But close enough that I can feel the heat of his body, close enough that his scent wraps around me like a vice.

“Tell me, Helena,” he murmurs. “If I kissed you right now, would you stop me?”

I open my mouth, say yes, say yes, say yes, but nothing comes.

His gaze flickers to my lips, his hands clenching at his sides. “I think we both know the answer.”

I am breaking.

Shattering.

I am seconds away from throwing every rule, every ounce of reason, every fear I have to the wind and…..

The door swings open.

We both freeze.

Rhider stands in the doorway, his golden eyes sweeping over the scene before him, Liard standing too close, my breath coming too fast, my hands gripping the edge of the table like I might collapse.

I jerk away from Liard so quickly I nearly trip.

Rhider’s gaze narrows. “Am I interrupting something?”

My pulse is a war drum in my ears.

Liard is the picture of composure, his face unreadable. “No.”

Liar.

Rhider studies him for a long moment, then his gaze shifts to me. “Mother?”

My hands tighten into fists. I force a tight smile. “I was just patching him up.”

Rhider doesn’t move. Doesn't blink.

Then, finally, he nods.

“Good,” he says. “Because we have a problem.”

Rhider’s tone is sharp, his eyes colder than usual.

“There’s been movement near the southern border,” he continues. “We are awaiting your instructions Alpha.”

Liard steps away from me, slowly, too slowly.

The moment is gone, shattered into a thousand irreparable pieces.

But as Rhider turns to leave, I swear I see it, the flicker of suspicion in his golden eyes.

And I know.

This is only the beginning.