Chapter 66: Episode 066: Are you sure?
Why?
Why should I go with the flow?!
[Warning: Biological event detected. Heat cycle initiated.]
[Host status: Mating heat.]
[Recommendation: Locate an immediate resolution to avoid other issues.]
[Biological systems are currently prioritising reproduction over cognitive function. Prepare for total overrides.]
"No," Rue gasped.
She wasn’t just burning anymore. She was melting. Every inch of her skin felt like it had been peeled back, leaving her nerves raw and exposed to the air. The heavy, musky scent of the panther filling the kitchen wasn’t just a smell; it was a physical weight pressing against her, demanding she yield.
Knox was still frozen, his hands locked onto her arms. His Golden eyes were wide, the pupils blown out until his eyes were almost entirely black. He looked like a man who had suddenly been thrown into a deep, freezing lake.
"You’re in heat," Knox rasped, repeating it. His voice sounded like it was being dragged over gravel. He wasn’t asking. He was stating a fact that seemed to hurt him to say.
"I’m not," Rue lied, her voice cracking as she slumped further into him. Her head rolled against his shoulder, her cheek brushing against the rough, warm fabric of his tunic. "It’s a fever. It’s... It’s stress."
Knox’s breath hitched. He smelled her neck, the sweet, dizzying scent of a female whose body had just decided it was time to mate, and his hands tightened on her arms. He didn’t pull her closer. He fought the urge with everything he had, his knuckles turning white as he braced himself against the kitchen counter.
"You aren’t sick," Knox growled, though the sound was thick with his own struggle. "You’re burning up because you’re ready. And I... I am an unmated Alpha."
His voice was a confession. He was trying to warn her. He was trying to give her a reason to run, but they were already in the trap.
In the other room, the house was silent. Theron was tucked deep into his blankets, blissfully unaware of the storm brewing in the kitchen. Rue could hear the baby’s steady, soft breathing, and the sound made her feel a sharp, piercing guilt.
I need to find a way to make this stop. If I can just reach the back door, the cold air will lower my body temperature.
She tried to push off Knox’s chest, but her legs were just wet noodles. She slipped, her body sliding down until she was pressed firmly against the solid, burning wall of his stomach.
Knox made a sound that was half-groan and half-snarl. He scooped her up effortlessly, his arms sliding under her knees and around her back. He stood up, his muscles bunching as he handled her like she was the most precious, fragile thing on the planet.
"I’m taking you to the bed," he muttered, his eyes squeezed shut as if he were trying to block out the sight of her. "I’ll get you water. I’ll get you medicine. I’ll find a way to cool you down, Rue. I won’t take advantage of this. You aren’t in your right mind, and I won’t be the kind of beast that marks a female when she’s not ready."
He started to walk, his steps long and fast. He moved with a desperate, jerky motion, clearly trying to get her away from the kitchen before his own instincts finally snapped.
Rue felt the movement. She felt his body, solid and hot, carrying her toward the bedroom where it was dark and quiet.
The heat pulsed again, a tidal wave that washed away her last scraps of composure. She didn’t want medicine. She didn’t want cold water. She didn’t want to be put in a bed and left alone to shiver in the dark.
As Knox turned the corner to enter the bedroom, his jaw tight and his face turned away from her, Rue reached up.
Her fingers, which had been weak only moments before, suddenly found the strength of a hunter. She grabbed the collar of his tunic.
She didn’t just pull. She yanked.
She used every bit of her weight, swinging her body toward him, forcing him to stop in the centre of the hallway.
The force of her grip made Knox stumble. He caught his balance, his arms locking around her to keep her from falling, but his face snapped toward her. The space between them ran thin.
He was breathing hard, his chest heaving, his face a mask of torture as he tried to maintain his distance.
"Don’t do this, Rue," he whispered, his voice desperate. "You’ll regret it when the heat fades. I can’t be the one to—"
"I don’t care," Rue breathed.
She didn’t care about the consequences. She didn’t care about what Caius would think when he walked through the door.
She should care, but at this point...
She looked up at the Panther King. She saw the predator in him, the King who had tried to build a home for his people, the man who had folded blankets for her baby and listened to her speak.
She looked at his lips, then back up into his dark, swirling eyes.
She felt a desperate, clawing need to be close to him, to have his heat swallow her own, to stop being the one who had to manage everything and just be the one who was held.
"Don’t leave me," Rue said.
She pulled his head down, her hand tangling in his dark, thick hair. She didn’t ask anymore. She didn’t calculate. She just pressed her face into his neck, the scent of him acting like a drug that finally, mercifully, silenced the blue lights flickering in the back of her brain.
Knox’s entire body went rigid, like a mountain being struck by an earthquake. He stood there, holding her, his hands trembling against her back. He was still fighting, still trying to keep a tiny sliver of his pride intact.
Rue tightened her grip on his tunic, her nails digging into the fabric. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She just wanted the fire to stop.
"Please," she whispered against his skin. "I don’t want to be alone."
The word broke him.
The Panther King’s control, the one he had guarded for months, the one that made him a King instead of a monster, finally shattered into a million pieces. He let out a low, guttural sound that wasn’t quite a growl and wasn’t quite a cry.
He moved.
He didn’t walk to the bed. He didn’t try to leave. He took a heavy, powerful step backward, pinning her against the wall of the hallway. He didn’t let go of her, and he didn’t try to keep his distance. He closed the gap between them, his body pressing into hers, heavy and absolute.
His eyes were no longer golden. They were deep, burning coals in the shadows of the hallway.
"You asked for this," Knox groaned, his voice no longer human, no longer careful. It was the sound of a King claiming his prize, the sound of a predator finally stopping the chase.
He didn’t ask her if she was sure. He didn’t ask if she was ready. He just leaned in, his face inches from hers, the heat between them so intense it felt like the air itself was catching fire.
He stared at her, his lips inches from her own, his fangs grazing the sensitive skin of her shoulder.
"I don’t want to hurt you, Rue," he whispered, his voice a jagged, raw plea. "Are you sure?"
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