Chapter 7 Dangerous Desires

Working with Kai was both exhilarating and maddening. For weeks now, we'd tracked rumors, pieced together scattered clues, and interrogated everyone from smugglers to shady pack elders. The conspiracy surrounding my past and the threat to werewolf society grew more tangled by the day but so did the feelings I tried to suppress.

It didn't help that we were often alone, tucked into forgotten corners of the world. Tonight, we were holed up in an old safehouse in the Frostbone Mountains, poring over maps and stolen letters in front of a flickering fire. My legs were tucked under me on the worn leather couch, Kai at the table, shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows as he scribbled notes.

My eyes kept straying to him. The way the firelight caught in the lines of his jaw, the scar just beneath his left ear, the slow, rhythmic tapping of his pen against his calloused fingers. There was something endlessly magnetic about him. And that was dangerous.

"Luna?" he asked, glancing up.

I blinked. "What?"

He tilted his head, the faintest smile touching his lips. "You've been staring at me for the past five minutes. Something on my face?"

Heat crawled up my neck. "No. Just... lost in thought."

He rose from the table and crossed to me, crouching so we were eye level. "About Marcus? Or about us?"

I swallowed hard. "There is no 'us'."

Kai's gaze didn't waver. "Yet."

The quiteness between us throbbed with tension. I shifted uncomfortably, and he stood, giving me space. He always gave me space. That made it worse. If he had been overbearing, arrogant like most Alphas, I could've pushed him away without regret.

But Kai... Kai was patient. Gentle. A dangerous temptation.

He handed me a mug of water. "You need rest. We leave before sunrise."

As I accepted the mug, our fingers brushed. A jolt surged up my arm, and I saw it in his eyes he felt it too. Neither of us spoke about it. We never did.

I turned my attention back to the fire. "Do you think we'll ever get to the bottom of this?"

Kai leaned against the wall, arms folded. "I think we're closer than we know. Someone is leaving breadcrumbs. They're watching us."

That revelation made my skin crawl, but it also confirmed a suspicion I hadn't voiced. "So we bait the trap?"

He nodded. "Exactly. We follow the trail and force them into the light. Together."

The next night, after a skirmish with rogue scouts, I found Kai tending to his wounds by the creek. Blood stained his shirt and his hands trembled slightly as he tried to clean a deep gash across his side.

Without thinking, I dropped to my knees beside him. "Let me."

He didn't argue. I pressed a cloth to the wound, dabbing gently as he winced.

"You should've waited for backup," I muttered.

"I couldn't risk them spotting the children."

The quiet admission tugged at something in me. I paused, staring up at him. "Why do you care so much about saving everyone?"

He didn't answer right away. Instead, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small, worn photograph. A woman. Beautiful, dark-haired, smiling.

"Her name was Mira. My mate."

My breath caught.

"She was pregnant," he continued. "We were ambushed. They said it was just rogue rebels, but I knew... I felt something else. Something coordinated. Strategic. Like what we're chasing now."

My hand, still holding the bloodied cloth, trembled. "I'm sorry."

"I've spent every day since then trying to find answers," he said, voice low. "I failed her. I won't fail again."

I pressed my lips together, trying to stop the ache in my chest. He wasn't just a warrior or an Alpha. He was a man stitched together by grief and guilt like me.

He looked at me, his gaze gentler now. "That's why I understood you from the beginning. The pain. The anger. The walls. I see you, Luna."

My heart stuttered. No one had ever said that to me. Not even Marcus.

We sat in silence, the forest humming softly around us. I watched his face, the way his jaw clenched and relaxed. There was something grounding about him, something that made the chaos inside me settle.

Without realizing it, I reached up and touched the edge of the photo. "She was beautiful."

"She was fierce. Kind. And stubborn as hell." A fond smile touched his lips. "You remind me of her... in a way... but you're something else entirely."

Later, back in the safehouse, the firelight danced over Kai's bare shoulders as he changed his bandages. I pretended not to notice. He didn't pretend at all when his eyes followed me as I walked across the room.

I paused in front of the window, the night air brushing against my skin.

"Why are you really helping me, Kai?" I asked quietly.

He was behind me in seconds, his voice close to my ear. "Because I believe in what you are. And because I care."

I turned, slowly, until we stood inches apart. His hand lifted, brushing a strand of hair from my face. I didn't pull away.

The moment hung between us like a fragile thread. His eyes dropped to my lips. I swayed forward.

And then I stopped.

I stepped back, breaking the connection. "I can't."

He nodded, expression unreadable. "I know."

I hated how much I wanted to close the space again. But I couldn't. Not yet.

"You don't owe me anything, Luna," he said, his voice rough. "But you deserve something real. And I won't take that from you not until you want me to."

I looked at him, my heart aching. "You're making this harder."

A quiet smile played on his lips. "Good. It means you feel it too."

As I turned away, he murmured, "When you're ready, I'll still be here."

I didn't reply, but deep down, I knew he meant it.

We were fire and ice, danger and desire. And one day, that heat would either heal us or consume us entirely.