Kade POV
Kade hasn't slept properly in four days.
He sits in his strategy room at three in the morning and stares at the map in front of him. Border territories. Resource routes. Territory disputes with Shadow pack. Things that used to consume his entire existence.
None of it matters anymore.
His wolf won't let him focus on anything that isn't her. It's pacing underneath his skin like something caged. Restless. Hungry. Demanding things he can't give it without crossing a line he promised himself he'd never cross again.
He knows what's happening. He's losing control. The obsession that started as something he could manage is becoming something that manages him instead. Every decision he makes now is filtered through one question: how does this affect her?
It's exactly what happened with Elena.
He was completely lost in that bond. He would have given up his pack, his territory, his entire existence if she asked. And when she rejected him, when she chose a human man instead of the fated connection the moon goddess created, it destroyed him in ways that took years to rebuild from.
He swore he'd never let that happen again.
He's breaking that promise.
Kade stands up and paces the length of the room. His hands are shaking. His wolf is howling so loud inside his chest that he can barely think straight. Every instinct is screaming at him to go find her. To lock her away. To mark her in ways that make it impossible for anyone else to claim her.
He's becoming the kind of Alpha he despises. The kind that lets emotion override strategy. The kind that makes decisions based on obsession instead of logic.
And he can't stop.
He leaves the strategy room and walks through the silent halls of the compound. It's late enough that the servants are asleep. The warriors are on night patrol. The only person awake is probably her, lying in her borrowed room, staring at the ceiling the way he knows she does when she thinks he's not watching.
He's been watching her.
Standing outside her door in the darkness. Listening to her breathe. Smelling her fear and her want mixed together into something that makes his wolf completely feral.
Tonight he's done waiting.
He finds her in the kitchen.
She's there making tea, moving quietly through the space like she doesn't want to disturb anyone. She's so focused on pouring hot water that she doesn't hear him enter. Doesn't notice him until he's already there, already closing the space between them.
Her entire body goes rigid when she realizes he's watching her.
"Kade," she starts but he doesn't let her finish.
He pulls her close without preamble. His hand finds her jaw and his fingers trace the line of it slowly. She's so small compared to him. So fragile. It would be so easy to hurt her.
He'd never hurt her.
"You're thinking about leaving," he says. Not a question. He can smell it on her. The fear and anticipation mixed together on her skin like a scent signature he's learned to read better than his own heartbeat.
She doesn't answer so he continues.
"If you go, I'll find you," he says, his voice rough and honest. "I'll bring you back. Again and again. Until you stop running from this. From me. Until you understand that you're mine."
Her eyes are wide and afraid and he hates himself for putting that fear there. But he can't stop. The words are pouring out of him like blood from a wound.
"I know you have that bag packed," he continues. "I found it three weeks ago. I've been waiting to see what you'd do. But I'm done waiting now."
Her hand comes up and pushes against his chest gently. "You're scaring me."
The words hit him like a physical blow but he doesn't release her. Because if he releases her, she'll run. And he can't let her run because his entire existence has become dependent on her presence.
"I know," he says. "I'm terrified too."
He pulls her closer. Her forehead nearly touches his and he can feel her breathing in short, rapid bursts. She's afraid but she's not fighting. She's not pulling away.
"I was supposed to be stronger than this," he whispers. "I was supposed to never let anyone get close enough to destroy me again. But you walked into my territory covered in blood and rage and my entire world shifted."
Nora stares at him with those dark eyes and he can see the moment something changes inside her. The moment her fear starts turning into something else.
"I'm not yours," she whispers.
But she doesn't pull away.
Kade's hand moves from her jaw to the back of her neck. His fingers tangle in her dark hair. His other hand presses against the small of her back, pulling her even closer until there's no space left between them.
"Yes you are," he says simply. "Your heart is racing because I'm close. Your skin is burning because you want to touch me. You think about me first thing in the morning and last thing before you sleep. You watch me across rooms. You planned an escape but you haven't actually tried to leave."
Every word is true and they both know it.
"This is wrong," Nora says but her voice is shaking.
"It is," he agrees. "It's completely wrong. You hate me. I destroyed your pack. I stole your freedom. But you're falling anyway and I'm not strong enough to stop catching you."
He lowers his head until his forehead is resting against hers.
"I've never been weak before," he says quietly. "I've never needed anything the way I need you. And it's going to destroy me. I know that. I've seen what obsession does. But I can't stop it anymore. I don't want to stop it."
Nora's breath catches. Her hands that were pushing against his chest a moment ago are now gripping his shirt. Like she's holding on instead of pushing away.
"What happens to me?" she asks. Her voice is so small. "If I stay. If I stop fighting this. What happens to me?"
Kade pulls back just enough to look at her face. Her eyes are glistening and he realizes she's close to crying. He's made her cry with his obsession and his possession and his inability to let her go.
"You become mine," he says. "Completely. In ways that can't be undone. In ways that will bind you to me whether you want it or not."
He leans down and his lips brush against her forehead. Just barely. Just enough to show her what he wants but not forcing it.
"But you'll also have me," he continues. "Every piece. Every broken part. Every obsession and fear and need. I'll be completely yours too."
She closes her eyes and a single tear slides down her cheek.
"I don't want to feel this," she whispers.
"I know," he says. "But you do. And you're not going to leave because you can't. Because somewhere in the last month, you became mine just like I became yours."
He's about to pull her closer, about to close the distance between his mouth and hers, when there's a sound from the doorway.
Cole stands there watching them.
Kade's Second-in-Command looks at Kade's hand in her hair, at the way they're pressed together, at the intimacy of the moment. And his expression shifts into something cold and calculating.
"Alpha," Cole says quietly. "We have a problem. Shadow pack is mobilizing on the eastern border."
Kade doesn't move. Doesn't release Nora. For one moment he actually considers telling Cole to leave. Telling him that nothing else matters right now except this girl in his arms.
But Nora pulls away.
She steps back from him and wraps her arms around herself. The moment is broken.
Cole's eyes track the movement and Kade sees something dangerous flash across his Second's face. Something that looks like jealousy mixed with something darker.
Something that looks like a plan.