Chapter Thirteen — Lyra’s POV

“Thank you, Maddy.”

I paid her and proceeded to carry Leo to the house as he slept soundly on my shoulders. I’d gotten home later than intended because I spent some time tending to Dominic after Kaine broke his nose. Once Dominic was cleaned up, I confronted him about his outburst. That’s when he admitted he had feelings for me, and that he was attracted to me. He said they were feelings he’d been harboring since the day we went hunting together. He apologized for snapping like that, and for the way I found out. He told me he hadn’t meant to tell me like that, but the situation got the better of him.

I was at a loss for words. Dominic quickly reassured me that he wasn’t expecting an answer—not now, not ever. He knew he couldn’t compete with the years of love and history Kaine and I shared. Still, he didn’t want his confession to make things awkward between us. “We’re friends,” he said firmly. “This doesn’t have to change that.”

Part of me felt flattered, but the rest of me dreaded the tension brewing between Kaine and Dominic. With everything else weighing on me, the last thing I needed was to be caught in the middle of their conflict. My life was complicated enough without adding this to the chaos.

Climbing my front steps, I carefully adjusted Leo’s head before crouching to retrieve the key from under the doormat. Once inside, I headed straight for Leo’s room and gently laid him in bed. For a moment, I stood there, watching the peaceful rise and fall of his chest. A flash of how I’d seen him yesterday invaded my mind, but I immediately forced it away, hoping that whatever had happened yesterday wouldn’t repeat itself. Leaning in, I kissed his forehead, then turned off the lights and slipped out of the room quietly.

My shoulders fell, and a sigh of exhaustion escaped me when I was behind Leo’s door. It had been such a long day. All I wanted was a shower and my bed. I entered my room and the sight of my rumpled sheets plunged my thoughts back to last night. My room still smelled of him. I wanted to reminisce about last night, to relive how good Kaine’s hand felt on my skin, how his mouth felt around my nipples, and how completely I was consumed by him being inside of me. But Dominic’s words gnawed at me, and all I could think about was how stupid I was to jump back into bed with Kaine.

I shook my head hard, trying hard to push those thoughts out, as I yanked the sheets off the bed. Fresh sheets, a shower —that’s all I needed. The cool water sliding down my skin helped clear my mind. I spent longer than usual, basking in the soothing feel of the shower, and afterward, slipped into a night dress. I was just about to go crawl into bed when the knock on the front door startled me.

It was late. Too late for anyone to be showing up. My stomach churned with unease as I made my way to the front door. I hesitated, glancing at Leo’s door, but the knock came again, louder this time, more insistent.

When I opened the door, my breath caught in my throat. Kaine stood there, his eyes dark and stormy, his chest rising and falling with labored breaths, like he had been running.

“What are you doing here?” I kept my voice low, mindful of Leo sleeping just a room away.

He didn’t answer.

“Kaine—”

Without invitation, he stepped inside, cutting me off. I huffed, closed the door behind me, and turned around to see those blue eyes peer at me as though a silent war was raging within them. He still didn’t speak.

“Kaine, it’s late, and—”

He interrupted me with his movement, stepping closer. “Do you enjoy watching me suffer?”

I blinked, taken aback by the question as well as the raw edge in his voice. “What?”

“Do you—” he ran a hand through his hair, heaving a sigh as if he was barely keeping it together. “Do you want me to suffer? Is that what this is?”

I couldn’t be more confused. “What are you talking about?” Even though my pulse quickened under the intensity of his gaze, I tried to sound firm, to stand my ground as I crossed my arms over my chest. I needed him to see that I wasn’t ready to entertain any more drama tonight. “Look, I’m exhausted, and if you are going to keep speaking in words that I cannot understand—”

He moved toward me in a quick motion, so quickly I barely had time to react. My back hit the front door and I was trapped between him and the door, his presence overwhelming. My entire body tensed from how close he was to me. Kaine’s expression was a mix of frustration, anger and something—something I couldn’t quite name.

“I’ve circled the entire block,” he said, his voice rough. “Trying to get the image of you and Dominic out of my head. But I can’t. I can’t think straight. I can’t feel anything but this…this anger.”

I swallowed hard, trying to avert his gaze and ignore his intoxicating scent of cedarwood and whiskey. “I didn’t ask you to do that.”

“That’s the thing, Lyra.” His voice cracked, his eyes locking onto mine. “I can’t control the way I feel. I can’t control the fact that every damn thing you say and do wrecks me. I’ve tried—believe me, I’ve tried to give you space, to let you rebuild trust. But every second you’re back in Crescent Valley, I’m losing my mind a little more. Patience has always been my forte—but with you, I can’t…” His voice dropped, desperate. “I can’t take it anymore.”

I stared at him, stunned into silence. Except for the sound of our breathing, the room was quiet. Kaine was unraveling right in front of me, and I couldn’t help the tingle that formed in my stomach listening to him confess how much I consumed his thoughts.

“You can’t keep getting close to Dominic and throwing it in my face.”

“Throwing it in your face?’ I scoffed. “What’s it to you if I hang out with Dominic? Why does it have to bother you so much?”

His jaw clenched, eyes flashing with something primal. “Because it’s clear he likes you. He wants you. And you keep getting closer to him, making him believe that he stands a chance with you, and giving him the audacity to even say it to my face.”

“You’re jealous? Of Dominic?”

“Of course, I’m jealous, Lyra!” His words exploded out of him. “Because I can’t share you with anyone. I won’t.”

Oh, God. My defenses crumbled. Literally. My arms fell to my sides. Where the hell was my resolve now?

The moment his hands slid around my waist, pulling me against him, the last of my resolve crumbled. The person who had opened the door barely fifteen minutes ago, too exhausted to argue, ready to send Kaine on his way, had completely melted like ice in his arms. How was it that his touch always seemed to strip away whatever bit of sense there was in me?

He sucked in a sharp breath, staring deep into my eyes with a kind of intensity that had me frozen against him. “I long for you, Lyra. Every morning, I wake up with a fucking hard-on because I cannot escape the dreams, the provocative thoughts that consume me. I’m not going to stand and watch Dominic flirt with you.”

My heart slammed against my chest as he leaned in, using his other hand to brush the hair away from my face. His heat overwhelmed me, his gaze burning into mine. I knew what he was going to do, and I shouldn’t let him—not after what Dominic told me today, not after knowing that he may never choose me.

“Kaine, stop—” I started, but the words died on my lips as his mouth crashed onto mine in a hungry, desperate kiss.

And God help me, I kissed him back like an addict unable to stay away. I was hooked on this man. Even when I knew I shouldn’t be.

Kaine cupped my face as his tongue slid between my parted lips, sending me over the edge. I responded by throwing my arms around his neck while his hand moved further down my waist. When I lightly sucked his tongue, he let out that guttural groan that always ignited something primal in me. I hadn’t even noticed we’d moved until we tumbled onto the couch, his lips finally parting from mine long enough for me to draw in a couple of breaths before I climbed on top of him, straddling him and claiming his lips again.

Oh, the kiss was wild. I didn’t think about anything—I couldn’t think about anything except how I wanted him to take me, right here, right now. The pressure of his bulge against my bare thigh was all the confirmation that he wanted me just as badly.

Kaine slipped the strap of my nightdress off my shoulder, his lips leaving mine to trail heated kisses down to my collarbone. He tugged the dress lower, revealing my breasts, and without hesitation, he latched onto my right nipple. I moaned out loud, forgetting for a moment that we weren’t alone in the house. The way he sucked on me while his other hand teased my left nipple, sent waves of pleasure coursing through me. I threw my head back, moving my hips slowly against him, a motion that seemed to take the last restraint out of Kaine. He hiked my dress up, grabbing my bare ass in his hands. When he realized I wasn’t wearing anything underneath, I could feel his smirk against my skin.

“You better remember how good I make you feel the next time you think about letting Dominic lay his finger on you,” he growled.

“Kaine…” I gasped, unable to finish my sentence as his finger grazed my clit, sending a jolt of sensation through me.

But then Leo’s cry pierced the air, sharp and insistent. We froze, the haze of desire crashing down around us. Kaine’s breathing was ragged, his forehead resting against my shoulder, both of us caught between frustration and reality.

“I’ll get him,” I muttered, slipping off Kaine and adjusting my nightdress.

When I opened the door to Leo’s room, the light was flickering wildly, casting strange shadows on the walls. But that wasn’t the worst of it. Leo’s toys, his clothes, and building blocks were floating. Just…hanging in the air as if suspended by some invisible force.

“Oh my…” I gasped, my heart racing with a new kind of fear.

I turned around to see Kaine behind me, his eyes wide as he took in the scene. “What the…”