CHAPTER 4

IRIA’S POV

I opened my eyes and slowly looked around. I felt a hand around the small of my back.

“Get away from me.” I groaned.

“Easy there.”

I twisted toward the sound and almost fell off the bed. A pair of strong hands caught me before I hit the floor and I shoved at them on instinct.

“Do not touch me.”

“I am stopping you from collapsing.”

I looked up and met Kael’s eyes.

He was standing right there. In his own chambers.

The room was larger than any place I had ever slept in. Dark stone walls. Heavy furniture. And a strong woodsy scent that wrapped around my head and made it harder for to think. I looked around more and noticed the guards standing outside, near the doors with their hands resting on their weapons.

I pulled away from Kael and crawled back on the bed, resting myself against the headboard.

“Why am I here?”

“You lost consciousness,” he said. “This was the nearest secured room.”

“You mean I was ordered to be knocked out.” I replied.

“It was necessary.”

“No it wasn't. You are all a bunch of cowards scared of a simple omega.”

“Watch your tone Iria.” He said firmly. And for a minute I remembered I was speaking to the Alpha of my pack. So I kept quiet.

“Is this is your room?”

“Yes.”

“So now I am your guest.” I continued.

“You are under my authority,” he replied. “This is safer than the holding chambers.”

“For who,” I asked. “Me or you.”

He did not answer me. I tried to swing my legs off the bed and stand. But the room tilted instantly and I felt heat rushed through me immediately.

Kael moved and held my arm again to steady me. asking.

“Do not—” I snapped. “Do not touch me again.”

He dropped his hand and folded his fist.

“I will call a healer,” he said.

“No,” I said. “I am not lying here waiting for more hands on me.”

“You can barely stay upright.”

“That is none of your concern.”

“It became my concern the moment they chained you to me.”

I stared at him. “Oh so now I'm a problem. Well aren't you such a kind gentleman.”

“Iria!”

The hotness I felt earlier crawled higher. My skin felt sensitive and I was uncomfortable inside my own body. I tugged at the collar of the thin garment they had dressed me in.

“What did they do to me,” I asked.

“You were part of a ritual you were never meant to survive,” he said.

“Nice,” I muttered rubbing my hands around my neck. “That’s very comforting.”

He turned toward the guards. “Leave us.”

One of them hesitated. “Alpha, the elders said—”

“I said leave,” Kael replied.

The guards filed out and the doors closed behind them.

I was alone with him now. How bad could this be.

“You should not be here with me,” I said.

“I know.”

“Then leave.”

“If I do,” he said, “they will enter instead.”

I kept quiet, but my body didn't, the heat came up again, this time harder. My head felt light and my temperature kept rising again. I pressed my palms into the mattress to ground myself.

Kael noticed it and turned back to me.

“What are you feeling?” he asked.

“I feel awful,” I said. “I feel hot. Dizzy. And irritated at everything.”

“You are always irritated,” he replied.

I glared at him. “You enjoy doing this.”

“No,” he said flatly.

I pushed myself up again. But my legs gave out halfway and I tipped forward. This time I could not stop it and I fell.

Kael caught me. Again.

I ended up resting on his chest, with my hands fisted in his clothes without thinking.

The heat skyrocketed.

It rushed through me quickly and I began to feel heat between my legs.

No. It cannot be.

Kael inhaled slowly

“Move back,” he said.

I tried, but my body did not cooperate.

“I cannot,” I said. “My legs are not listening.”

His hands stayed on my arms.

“Focus,” he said. “Lean your weight on me slowly.”

“I do not want to be touching you,” I said.

“Neither do I,” he replied.

I should have been annoyed at that statement, but instead I felt my heart beat faster in a funny way.

The hotness kept moving across my body. It was no longer on the inside but also on the outside. My skin felt sensitive and I had to take in deep breaths to breathe properly.

I hated this.

“What is happening to me?” I asked.

Kael did not answer. I lifted my head and looked at his face. His expression had changed. He looked tense.

“You need to sit down,” he said.

He guided me back onto the bed. I sank down and pressed my back against the headboard again, dragging my knees up.

“This is humiliating,” I said.

“It is not.”

“It is,” I insisted. “My body is turning into a problem I cannot control.”

He hesitated. “It’s not your fault.”

I laughed again. “Everything in this pack is always my fault. It has always been.”

I felt the heat between my legs increase again. This time I felt moist forming.

No. This can't be.

Kael turned away and walked a few steps across the room.

“Don’t do that,” he said.

“Do what,” I snapped.

“That,” he replied. “Whatever you just did.”

“I am sitting here,” I said. “I am breathing. That is all.”

“It affects the bond,” he said.

“So I am not even allowed to exist normally now.”

“You are allowed,” he said. “You are just… amplified.”

I closed my eyes. The heat was unbearable now and my thoughts felt scattered.

“Make it stop,” I said.

“I cannot.”

“Then leave.”

“I will not.”

“Why,” I asked. “You already said I am leverage.”

“Because if I leave, they will restrain you again.”

“You could stop them,” I said.

“Not without hurting you,” he replied.

“That sounds convenient.”

He turned back toward me. “You think I enjoy this.”

“Yes,” I said. “You enjoy control.”

“Then you're wrong.”

My heart picked a race again and somehow I couldn't breathe well. I pushed myself up again. “I cannot breathe.”

He crossed the room instantly and crouched in front of me.

“Look at me,” he said. “Take slow deep breaths.”

“I don't want to look at you,” I said.

“Do it anyway.”

I did. Our eyes met and the bond reacted instantly.

He leaned in for a minute and then stopped himself.

“This is escalating,” he muttered.

“What do you mean,” I asked.

He stood abruptly and paced away again, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck.

“Say it,” I said. “Whatever you are thinking, say it.”

He stopped moving.

“Iria,” he said.

“Yes.”

“You are not sick.”

“I’m aware.”

He turned to face me fully. “You are in heat.”