Chapter 248: Too close... Distant
[ Back at the party...parallel occurance ]
The veil of water rippled, catching the glow of lanterns overhead as guest after guest stepped on the dance floor.
Their laughter carried, blending with the low hum of strings, until the air itself seemed drunk on revelry.
Autumn stood at the edge, glass in hand, watching. The wine was dark, nearly black, and it trembled as she tilted it to her lips.
She told herself it was the music making her pulse trip.
Then she saw him... walking clumsily back to the dance rink.
He moved forward with the reluctant march of a soldier sent to war, his broad shoulders stiff, jaw tight...and she could see it clearly...he was brooding.
His brows were furrowed together, lost in some deep thoughts.
Even in his disorientation, he looked commanding...every eye followed him without meaning to. The mist around the dance floor kissed his frame as he passed, making him seem carved from something otherworldly... for a fleeting moment, so much like her little Jasper.
Autumn’s chest pulled tight.
"Stay still," she hissed under her breath, fingers tightening on the stem of her glass. "Don’t you dare..."
The music shifted. Lower. Sultry. A rhythm that invited sin.
Autumn’s eyes snapped up just as Lyla appeared behind him.
Gliding forward with that maddening softness, her dress whispering around her ankles. She came up behind him without hesitation...a pale hand brushing his arm like it belonged there.She tugged him close, pulling his head towards her to whisper something in his ear.
Autumn’s throat closed.
Kieran turned, surprise flickering over his face. His eyes caught Lyla’s, and something unspoken passed between them.
"Dance with me," Lyla whispered, her voice low, coaxing."People are watching. We don’t want to bring our internal affairs here!"
Autumn didn’t hear the words, but she saw the way his jaw shifted, the faint nod he gave, the way his hand settled into hers.
Her grip on the glass turned brutal.
A hairline crack skated across its surface.
NO!
The music swelled again, changing shape.
Couples began to move closer, their hands sliding over shoulders, over waists, the space between bodies dissolving into heat and uneven breath.
Autumn’s breath too came shallow.
And then she saw...Kieran doing the same.
His arm slipped around Lyla’s waist. Her other hand rested lightly against his shoulder. The two of them swayed into the rhythm, into each other, as though the world were built just for them.
Autumn’s lips parted, trembling.
This is wrong. That should be me. That was mine!!!
She said nothing but her mind was buzzing!!! Her wolf snarled!
The thought stabbed through her chest like glass shards. She forced herself to sip from her drink, but the taste was ashes on her tongue... suddenly the elixir made from the Eternal stones, lost all flavours.
Her eyes burned into the pair, her ears deaf to the rest of the party.
The crowd was nothing. The laughter, the music...noise. She could see only them.
He chose this! His hands have your father’s blood... he betrayed you... your bond... your love... it’s all on him...you are here to make him pay. And pay he will!!!
Then her wolf countered, "But who says you can not have some fun before he pays with his life? It’s your party after all! You are allowed to have your fun!!! "
Pretty manipulative bitch!
And then her body betrayed her. Her feet shifted forward, ever so slightly. Her hand lifted, as if reaching.
Her drink sloshed, spilling over her fingers.
She was moving before she realized it, the restraint of years fracturing with every note of that sultry rhythm.
"I will not stand and watch this...That’s right! It’s my party! It was about time I had some fun too," she whispered, venom,despair and savagery tangling in her throat.
She was about to interfere.
Autumn didn’t mean to move immediately. She was plotting the perfect entry.
But then one moment she was watching, the next she was inside the music, her body threading through the dancers until she was dangerously close.
Kieran’s hand was still on Lyla’s waist, his fingers pressing just enough to guide her. Too close? Yes. Too comfortable? No.
Autumn’s blood still boiled.
"That should be us!" Her wolf snarled louder.
The song dipped lower, sultry, a rhythm that begged for closeness...perhaps responding to her mood swings.
Lyla leaned in, her mouth brushing Kieran’s ear as she whispered something that made him nod, almost dazed.
Autumn’s chest tightened until her grip on the glass nearly shattered it.
She tossed it aside as it disappeared into thin air.
No more!!!
She crossed the last steps like smoke, slipping into the circle as the couples shifted.
The song demanded a partner change, and Autumn seized her moment...her hand sliding against Kieran’s arm...a featherlight touch that sent a tremor through him
His head jerked, eyes locking on hers through the her smoky mask.
Confusion!!! Bewilderment!!! Recognition???
Something dark flickered there, primal, as though his body knew her even if his mind screamed ’stranger’.
Autumn stepped into him, close enough to feel the heat of his chest brushing hers.
The world narrowed to the thrum of the music and the ragged pull of her breath. She tilted her chin up, her lips so close to his jaw she could have touched him with a sigh.
Kieran stiffened, then...without thinking...followed her lead.
His hand slid down, firm on her hip, pulling her into the rhythm.
The contact seared through her, a brand she had both craved and dreaded.
Nevertheless her wolf howled in her head...Crying? Celebrating? Autumn no longer cared!
Her pulse hammered. Her grip on his shoulder trembled with restraint, but she refused to back down...
Lyla’s voice snapped from the side. A little too sharp and possessive for her, to be honest. "Excuse me. He is with me..."
Autumn didn’t even turn her head.
She only tightened her hold, pressing herself closer into Kieran’s frame as the music wound tighter, more intimate.
Her body gave the answer her lips did not. "Nah! I don’t think so!"
Kieran’s breath ghosted her ear, low in response. "Who are you?" His voice was rough, as though dragged out of him. "Why does this... why do you feel..."
Autumn nearly broke...almost gave herself up at that moment...her lips parting, aching to whisper his name for some reason,all the while wanting to strangle him,then and there...get it done with. A strange rush of myriad hormones hitting her all at the same time.
She wanted to claim him. To shatter him.
What did she really want?
Autumn gulped.
She let the music swallow them both, let her fingers curl into him with a grip that told him everything words couldn’t... if he could only listen.
Lyla’s glare burned her back, but Autumn didn’t flinch.
She pressed closer, dangerously close, moving with him in a dance that was not just steps but a memory neither of them could name.
And for the first time in too long, Kieran’s body leaned into hers...finally relaxing after ages...his heartbeat pounded against her ribs like it remembered.
Kieran’s grip on her hip tightened, almost bruising, as though he needed to anchor himself against the chaos spiraling in his chest.
His breath came uneven, rough, brushing the curve of her cheek each time the music pulled them closer... she could feel his wolf growl as hers snarled in response!!!
How the hell was this still possible?
Their Mate Bond was done for... she had shattered it... she had paid for it with the life of a child...
Yet, their wolves...
Kieran’s palm travelled down her back, then spinning her lightly...before pulling her hard against himself.
Autumn let herself sway into him, her chest pressed flush against his, their bodies moving in sync as though they had never forgotten.
Every shift of his thigh against hers was a lightning strike, her skin hypersensitive beneath the fabric, her pulse frantic...like a drum in her throat.
"This is madness!!! "
His scent was wild...his wolf clawing at the edges.
It made her dizzy, made her forget the crowd pressing around them. Made her forget everything but the man whose heartbeat thundered against her ribs like it wanted to break free and fuse with hers.
"Who the hell are you?" he rasped again, lower this time, almost desperate. His mouth hovered a breath from her ear, so close she swore she felt the shape of every word against her skin. "Tell me,or else..." He cut himself off with a harsh inhale, as though afraid the truth might damn him.
Autumn shivered, her lips parting in a ghost of a reply.
She nearly confessed.
Nearly moaned his name like a prayer.
Instead, she tilted her head just slightly, her cheek brushing the stubble along his jaw.
The contact sent a tremor down his spine...she felt it ripple through him, so damn unguarded...sexy.
Kieran’s hand slid, almost of its own accord, from her hip to the small of her back, pulling her impossibly closer. Their bodies molded together, heat against heat, the music only an excuse for the way they clung now.
Her fingers curled into his shoulder, nails biting through the fabric, needing to hold on or fall apart.
Around them, the dancers blurred, faceless. The laughter, the violins...all muffled, drowned.
He angled his head toward hers, just slightly, enough that his breath feathered her lips.
Autumn froze, trembling, every part of her screaming to close that tiny, devastating distance.
Lyla’s voice cut through the air again..clearly jealous, frantic. "Kieran!"
But Kieran didn’t turn. Didn’t even flinch. His gaze was locked on Autumn’s mouth now, dark and hungry, his body betraying him in every sway.
Autumn’s throat tightened.
She wanted...no needed...to kiss him. To taste what she had been starving for. Her lips parted, aching, as if gravity itself pulled them toward his.
His hand pressed harder into her back, his chest crushing hers in the rhythm of the dance.
Their noses brushed. Her breath hitched. His jaw clenched like a man standing on the edge of a cliff, too close to fall.