Chapter 83

Chapter 83

His grip tightened on mine as he maneuvered me into the pack house, causing everything around me to blur since I was so engrossed in him.

His steps had a certain resolve, and I found myself tracing the line of his clenched jaw with my fingertips, trying to memorize the way his thoughts appeared on his face. His feelings for me were always so obvious, even though he knew I tried my hardest to ignore them.

As we began to climb the stairs together, his heart was racing with an unwavering stability that contrasted with mine. The familiarity of holding his hand became all that was on my mind as he pulled me along with him.

When he held me like this, the certainty of his touch never faltered, even if my heart refused to beat in a regular rhythm and my breaths caught readily in my throat. I didn't know how to react when he caressed me with such sweet closeness.

My body was so tired that I could hardly walk straight, our bodies colliding with every unsteady step I took. Despite this, as his fingers brushed against my palm, my thoughts about him remained crystal clear. The only reason I was still standing was because of the connection between our hands.

I pondered whether he was aware of the impact he was having on me, whether his alpha disposition had picked up on my irregular heartbeat or the short sharp breath I had to take each time he pressed my hand against his.

I pondered whether he was feeling the same effects as I was.

It was difficult to assess from his side profile, but from what I could see, his lips were set in a line and his brows were knitted together, without giving away that I was gazing. I was unable to place the cause behind the hardening of the margins of compassion he had shown me during our meal.

He didn't slow down when we got to his floor; instead, he led me all the way back to the room that was assigned to me, just like he had done the night before. My wolf awoke from her dazed sleep as he reached for the doorknob, pushing forward with her control as she twisted in his grasp and threw me in front of the door. With my arms extended towards the walls on both sides, I prevented the two of us from entering my makeshift bedroom, pressing my back against it.

We peered at each other with our blackened gazes, and the suddenness of my movements had brought up his own beast. A scowl began to form in lines on his forehead as he searched for the tie between us—the bond that we hadn't yet given.

He grunted in frustration, trying to cling to the strands of my thoughts, but as long as I was without his mark, our mind-link would remain inactive.

"What are you doing?" His voice was deeper than before, his fingertips grazing my chin before his thumb started to lightly caress the area beneath my lips.

His query was an easy one, and I was trying desperately to think of a simple response, but I was only managing to survive on three brain cells at the moment, and the others were either rotting away inside my head or crumbling from sheer tiredness.

His eyes went back to their usual color, and I shuffled nervously, losing myself briefly in the emerald of his stare and forgetting what he had asked me.

"Kylie?"

A beat skipped through my heart.

The sound of my name on his lips was like a death wish, a gospel, or a prophecy.

When I eventually cleared the stars and fog from my eyes, I said, "I'm not tired anymore," but my wish to spend a little more time with him was still impairing my judgment.

Even though everything was in a fog, I was at least present with him, which must have been some consolation, right?

He gave me a sneer and lifted the corners of his mouth into an incredulous grin.

"You can barely even stand on your own, so I find that hard to believe." I was going to tell him precisely that—that I was standing up quite fine—when I felt his arm encircling my waist and pulling my body towards his. I glared at his urge to baby me.

My look vanished in an instant, and he shook his head before leaning in and kissing my forehead. As I melted into him, he began to hum, and my heart began to skip a beat. I was not ready for the day to end. Knowing how little time I would have with him and how valuable it would be to me made me want to stop wasting it.

"I want to see your room." He looked at me, his eyes softening, the annoyance of his urge to mind-link with me again competing with the frustration of an unfulfilled mate bond, but he pulled away from me without saying anything.

Even the alpha of alphas, the king of wolves, a fierce and passionate beast, couldn't help but give up on his desire to spend more time with his partner.

Fortunately, our rooms were close enough that he didn't feel the need to physically carry me to them. Instead, he shifted to my right, leaving a foot of space between us. My knees buckled slightly from constant fatigue, and I let out a big breath as he left my sight behind and walked beyond the door.

My pulse was racing again, darting between the options I had and the implications I would have to face when I chose them. The magic I had used with my brother had taken more out of me than I had realized in the moment.

Even though a lot transpired today, whenever I was around him, my issues seemed to disappear, which was helpful for problems, but not for finding solutions.