Chapter 258: Stay Away
Kaden’s POV
I shook my head violently, forcing the bizarre image away, trying to clear my vision. My mind was playing tricks on me—it had to be. The healer had warned me about this—distorted memories, flashes that weren’t real, things my exhausted mind could create and convince me I’d experienced before.
I pushed down the strange vision, ignoring the echoing rumble of my wolf in the back of my skull. Mine. It was just mine, not mate. There was a difference. Wolves were possessive creatures. They could become attached to someone, protective of them, even territorial over someone they loved. A wolf could call anyone ’mine’ when he fell for them. Obviously, my wolf had fallen for Ruby right alongside me. That was all it was. It didn’t mean anything deeper. It couldn’t.
At least, that was what I told myself.
I abandoned the thought entirely and pushed every confusing thought from my head as I looked down at the woman still trapped between my body and the open door. Ruby’s lips were swollen from my kiss. Her eyes were dark, her breathing uneven, and her fingers were still twisted tightly into the front of my shirt.
Fuck.
I kissed her again with a desperate, hungry intensity. This time, there was nothing hesitant about it. My arm wrapped firmly around her waist, tightening until, with a single smooth pull, I hoisted her feet clean off the floorboards, pulling her against me as her mouth opened beneath mine.
Ruby let out a soft, breathless moan against my lips that nearly destroyed the little control I had left, her arms wrapping tight around my neck to anchor herself.
I marched us backward until her back hit the solid wall, pressing her carefully against it.
"Kaden..." she breathed against my mouth.
Hearing my name like that made my wolf surge again. I broke the kiss only to drag my mouth along her jaw, then down the side of her neck, burying my face into the sensitive curve of her throat, breathing in that maddening honey-and-nutmeg scent that seemed to have permanently branded itself into my fucking brain.
Ruby arched into my touch, tilting her head to give me more access, her fingers twisting wild in my dark hair.
That tiny invitation nearly ended me. My hands tightened around her waist as I kissed her again, harder this time, losing myself in her warmth and the little sounds she couldn’t seem to suppress.
Her cardigan slipped from one of her shoulders. My mouth followed.
"Kaden..."
I couldn’t tell whether it was a warning or encouragement anymore, and I wasn’t thinking clearly enough to ask. All I knew was that she was kissing me back. Her fingers tangled into my hair, pulling me closer, and a low groan escaped my throat before I could stop it.
Goddess. I wanted her. I wanted her so badly that every sensible thought in my head was disappearing one by one.
I pulled at the hem of her oversized shirt, pushing it up until her stomach was exposed to the cool night air. I trailed hot, eager kisses across the soft skin of her belly, making her shudder and gasp. Sliding my hands upward, I reached behind her back to unclamp her bra, pulling the fabric down to expose her breasts.
When I took one tight, sensitive peak into my mouth and began to suck, Ruby cried out, a loud, trembling moan echoing off the walls as her hands pressed firmly against the back of my head, holding me close.
A low growl dragged out of my chest. My hands moved down her sides, drawing her tighter against me as I reached down for the waistband of her pants, my fingers slipping beneath the elastic to touch her bare skin.
The second my fingertips brushed her heat, Ruby gasped violently—and slammed both of her hands flat against my shoulders, shoving me back with every single ounce of strength she possessed.
I stumbled backward, completely caught off guard.
"Stop!"
That one word cut through everything.
I froze.
Ruby stood against the wall, breathing heavily. Her cardigan hung crookedly from one shoulder, her lips swollen, her eyes wide with what looked like sudden horror.
Not at me. At herself.
She quickly pulled her clothes back into place.
"Ruby?"
She shook her head. "I can’t."
The haze in my mind cleared almost instantly. I didn’t move toward her.
She pressed both hands over her face, breathing shakily before dragging them down. "This is wrong."
My jaw tightened. Of course it was. We both fucking knew it.
"Kane," I muttered.
Her expression twisted. "And the baby," she whispered.
That hurt more than it had any right to.
Ruby pushed herself away from the wall and hurried toward the door.
I let her. This time, I fucking let her.
She pulled the door open and reached the threshold, but before stepping into the hallway, she stopped. Her fingers trembled against the wood, her hand remaining wrapped around the handle for several seconds as her shoulders shook.
Then she turned her head slightly to look back at me over her shoulder.
"Please, Alpha Kaden..." Her voice was cracked and raw with emotion, quieter now, but there was something firm beneath it. "Stay away from me."
My chest tightened.
Ruby swallowed hard, refusing to meet my eyes for long. "What happened tonight can’t happen again."
I said nothing. What was there to say? She was right.
"If it does..." She hesitated, and when she finally looked at me again, her eyes were filled with guilt. "If this happens again... I’ll tell Kane about it."
That one fucking sentence felt like someone had driven a blade straight through my chest. My face remained blank. At least, I hoped it did.
Ruby waited as though expecting me to respond, but I couldn’t force a single word past the knot forming in my throat.
Finally, she stepped into the hallway.
"Goodnight, Kaden."
Without waiting for a response, she rushed out and slammed the door shut behind her, the heavy thud echoing through the quiet room.
I stood there in the absolute silence of my study, exactly where she’d left me, unable to move. For several seconds, I simply stared at the closed door, almost expecting it to open again.
It didn’t. She was gone.
A strange, burning pressure built behind my eyes. I blinked hard.
What the fuck?
I lifted a hand to my face and rubbed roughly at my eyes, irritated with myself. But when I lowered my hand, there was moisture against my fingers. A single drop slipped down my cheek.
I stared at it.
Tears.
I didn’t even know why the fuck I was tearing up. I was the Alpha. I was supposed to be in control. I was fucking tearing up.
A bitter laugh escaped me as I turned away from the door.
"Unbelievable."
I hadn’t cried in a long time. Not properly. Not since Helen. Yet here I was, standing alone in the middle of the room surrounded by the fading scent of honey and nutmeg, with tears gathering in my eyes because a woman I’d barely known for weeks had asked me to stay away from her.
It didn’t make any fucking sense.
This wasn’t supposed to hurt this much. Rejection could sting. My pride could take a beating. But this?
This felt different.
It felt like grief. Like something precious had just been ripped out of my hands before I’d even realized it belonged there.
My wolf whimpered inside me. Not growled. Not snarled. Whimpered.
The sound was so fucking miserable that I squeezed my eyes shut.
She doesn’t want us.
Silence answered me. For once, my wolf didn’t argue.
I walked toward the window and braced both hands against the frame, staring into the darkness outside.
"She’s Kane’s," I muttered, more to myself than him. "She was never ours."
The words made something inside me twist violently.
Mine.
"Stop."
Mine.
"I said stop."
My wolf retreated, but the ache remained.
I lowered my head.
Maybe Ruby was right. Maybe staying away was the only thing left to do.
No more breakfasts where I searched for her face. No more finding excuses to speak to her. No more touching her.
And absolutely no more fucking kissing her.
Tomorrow, I would put an end to whatever this was. I would get Logan’s report, find out who Ruby really was, deal with Tanya, and then keep my distance until Kane took his woman and left my territory.
Simple.