Chapter 7 Letting him claim

The tension in the room thickened, pressing against Selene's skin like a heavy cloak.

Kieran hadn't moved, yet his presence consumed everything.

Selene's pulse hammered in her throat as his fingers trailed from her chin down her neck-slow, deliberate. His golden eyes never wavered from hers, watching, waiting. Testing.

"Your body betrays you," he murmured.

Selene's breath hitched.

He wasn't wrong.

Despite her fury, despite every reason she had to hate him, her traitorous body wanted. It burned under his touch.

And Kieran knew it.

"Say it," he whispered, his fingers ghosting down the column of her throat, lower still. "Say you feel it too."

Selene clenched her jaw. "I feel nothing."

Kieran chuckled darkly. "Liar."

Before she could snap at him, he moved. A blur of strength and power, closing the space between them in a heartbeat.

Her back hit the wall, Kieran's body pressing into hers, the warmth of him setting her nerves ablaze.

"You fight so hard," he murmured against her ear, his breath hot against her skin. "But tell me, Selene, why haven't you pushed me away?"

Selene's fingers twitched at her sides, her nails digging into her palms.

She should push him away, Should slap him, should run.

But instead, she stood frozen, her breath shallow, her chest rising and falling in a frantic rhythm.

Kieran's lips skimmed down the side of her neck, slow, torturous.

"You belong to me," he murmured.

Selene's breath came in shallow pants. "This was never part of the deal."

Kieran chuckled, his teeth grazing the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder. "Wasn't it?"

She shuddered, her resolve splintering.

This wasn't just attraction. This was something darker. A force beyond reason, beyond logic. A pull that she didn't understand-one that terrified her more than Kieran himself.

He must have felt her hesitation because his hand moved, slipping beneath the thin fabric of her dress.

Selene gasped. "Kieran-"

He stilled, his lips hovering over her pulse.

"Tell me to stop," he murmured. "Tell me you don't want this."

Her heart slammed against her chest violently.

She should.

She had to.

But when her lips parted, no words came.

And Kieran smirked.

"Good girl."

Then his hands moved.

And Selene...

Selene stopped thinking altogether.

Selene's breath stuttered as Kieran's hands claimed her waist, pressing her against the cold stone wall. His touch was searing, tracing up her sides, mapping the curves of her body with slow, deliberate intent.

Her heartbeat pounded like a war drum, the battle between instinct and desire tearing her apart.

"This is madness," she whispered, but even she could hear the tremor in her voice.

Kieran's lips brushed against her ear, his voice a low, velvety growl. "Then stop me."

Selene's fingers curled into the fabric of his tunic, but she didn't push him away.

She should. She had to.

Yet her body betrayed her.

The warmth of his breath ghosted down her throat as his lips traced a scorching path along the sensitive skin there. "You don't want me to stop," he murmured, his voice like liquid sin. "Do you, little wolf?"

Selene squeezed her eyes shut, fighting against the consuming heat curling deep inside her. But when his fingers trailed lower, grazing over the delicate lace of her undergarments, a ragged gasp slipped from her lips.

Kieran stilled, savoring the sound.

Then, with a slow, wicked smirk, he tore the fabric away.

Selene jolted, her eyes snapping open, only to be met with his dark, molten gaze. There was no hesitation, no doubt in those golden irises-only possession.

"I warned you," he murmured, his fingers teasing the sensitive skin of her inner thigh. "Once you were mine... there would be no escape."

Selene's breath hitched as he pressed his lips to the hollow of her throat, his hands exploring, claiming. The heat between them was unbearable, her body thrumming like a bowstring pulled too tight.

Her nails dug into his shoulders, and for the first time, Kieran let out a low, satisfied groan.

"Touch me again," he commanded, his voice thick with hunger. "Let me feel how much you hate this."

It was a taunt, a challenge.

And Selene,gods help her,met it.

Her hands slid up, her fingers threading into his dark hair, pulling him down into a desperate, feverish kiss.

Kieran snapped.

One moment, he was teasing, holding back. The next, he was lifting her effortlessly, wrapping her legs around his waist, pinning her against the wall with his body. The friction sent a shudder through her, a dangerous kind of pleasure coiling deep in her core.

His hands gripped her thighs, his body pressing flush against hers, and gods, she could feel him-hard, demanding, unrelenting.

Kieran broke the kiss, his breath ragged. His golden eyes burned into hers, sharp as a predator's.

"You can still run," he rasped, his forehead pressed to hers. "But if you stay..." He exhaled, his fingers tightening around her hips. "There will be no turning back."

Selene's pulse thundered.

Her body was already his.

The question was... would she give him everything else?

She was resisting before, what's going on now?