Chapter 18 Kieran
KIERAN
Smoke from the bonfires hung thick in the air as night pressed close around our forest camp.
The wind barely stirred the treetops. Preparations for war were in full swing, but my men had insisted we rest after a long day on the move.
Everyone drifted to their tasks—Steele with the rune book, Ronan checking weapons, Niz and Gabe reviewing aerial plans, and Bastian staring off into the fire.
I sat at the entrance of our tent, tucked between the central command tent and the slope leading toward the upper ridge of the camp. Inside, six cots lined the walls—blankets neatly folded, a single lantern casting a golden, warm glow.
Through the trees, Alfemir’s skyline shimmered faintly.
At least the evacuations were going well.
Messages came in bursts—families and healers reaching the caverns, the wyvern’s hidden kingdom turning into a sanctuary for angels who hadn’t even known it existed days ago. It should have brought relief. It didn’t, not fully.
The camp moved with quiet efficiency, everyone doing what they could to prepare to hold the line against the inevitable.
I listened to the muffled hum of activity, but the silence between it all felt heavier than the noise itself.
Eventually, I stood. Sitting wasn’t helping and I was too wired to sleep.
“Just going on a walk!” I called toward the others. I didn’t wait for a reply, simply hoping they’d understand. No doubt I was doing a shit job hiding the panic clawing at me.
Outside, torchlight flickered between tents, casting shifting light across alert faces and half-packed gear. The perimeter wards that the Casters had put up glowed faintly through the trees. I walked until time slipped away, even drifting through the wards once.
By the time I returned to the ridge from earlier that afternoon, the encampment had quieted. Only the deep groan of trees shifting in the wind and the rough snorts of tethered beasts in the distance filled the air. I leaned against a tree, watching the tents below.
“Beauty, I’m surprised you’re still awake…I can feel how tired you are.” Ronan’s voice came from behind me as he stepped out from the trees.
“I am,” I said, breath fogging the air, but not turning to fully face him. “But if I stop thinking, I start feeling, and that’s far worse.”
He came closer, silent steps on the damp earth, until I could feel the warmth of his large muscular frame. “You don’t have to figure it all out tonight.”
“I do, though… Everyone's counting on us to make this happen, to make sure we defeat the triad. If I’m not focused on that, I don’t even know what else to be focused on.”
“Start with this,” he murmured, his arm slipping around my waist. “Just breathe.”
Ronan’s chest moved with mine, steady and grounding. The world kept turning, but it softened around the edges, my sense of overwhelm easing just enough to breathe. This wasn’t the first time he—or the others—had pulled me back in the last twenty-four hours.
“You see?” he said quietly. “Still here.”
I turned just enough to see his profile in the dark. “For now.”
Something flickered in his expression. Our bond pulsed—pain and knowing tangled in the space between us. Ronan searched my face, his hand brushing along my throat. “We’re going to make it out of this,” he said, like the words themselves could shape reality.
The promise sent a shiver through me. Panic followed—sharp and sudden—at the thought of losing him, of losing any of them.
Maybe it was the sight of the camp bracing for war, or the hours spent drafting plans that would always end in bloodshed, but the small space between us felt unbearable.
I turned into him, wrapping my arms around his neck just as he dipped his head, giving me exactly what I needed.
A small whimper escaped me the moment his fingers tightened at my waist, pressing me back against the rough bark of the tree and pressing his mouth against mine.
The contrast of his soft, persuasive mouth and the sharpness at my back made my desire burn hotter.
Need surged through our bond, rising fast, and when his tongue slid against mine, a tremble shivered across my skin.
“Do you even realize what a simple kiss does to me, Kieran?” Ronan’s voice rasped against my lips. “You occupy every corner of my mind, Beauty. If I’m not with you—touching you, hearing you—I’m still thinking of you. Always. I will do whatever it takes to protect you from this.”
I knew we’d protect each other. Our whole family would. But hearing him say it made the heat in me flare into something more. A wildfire, fierce and consuming. It made me reach for him again, needing him close.
When he deepened the kiss, everything between us shattered. Ronan kissed me like a man starved, like my breath was a right he’d earned in every moment we’d survived together, and I gave it to him…all of it.
Because Ronan had stood beside me at the edge of the portal and he’d never once questioned what it would cost him. He’d always been ready to risk everything—for us.
His hand gripped my hip, the other sliding up the back of my neck like he was trying to anchor me to him—to pull us impossibly closer.
There was no hesitation in Ronan, and Creator help me, I needed that.
I needed the certainty in his hands and the feverish need he had for me.
I needed to be reminded that I could fall apart completely…
and everything wouldn’t collapse, because he would hold it together for me.
Ronan’s exhale scorched a path down my throat as he dipped his head, his lips tracing patterns that set every nerve alight. The sound that escaped me was practically a plea, but he only groaned against my skin, possessive and hungry.
“Tell me to slow down, Kieran,” he murmured, voice rough enough to scrape. “Tell me we can’t do this here—there’s an entire camp right below us.”
I couldn’t, though. Not when the air between us hummed with something dangerous and undeniable.
My fingers found the edge of his shirt, slipping beneath it to feel the heat of his skin.
When my hand moved up, his heartbeat thundered against my palm, echoing mine, a rhythm that was almost synchronized now.
“I don’t want you to stop,” I whispered. “Not tonight.”
He stilled, eyes locking on mine. I saw the storm he’d been holding back and watched it break open.
Ronan lifted me off the ground with an urgency that bordered on feral, pressing me back against the tree, his strength anchoring me in place.
Our bodies pressed together so tightly it stole the air from my lungs, his hand tangling in my hair until his mouth found mine again—his kiss was hard, unrestrained, demanding everything I had left to give.
His length throbbed against me, echoing my own desire.
When his hand lifted from my waist to the zipper of my jacket, tugging with a roughness that matched his urgency, I moved to help him, desperate for his touch and the feel of his body against mine.
Cold air rushed in as I pulled off the layers, my skin pebbling in its wake while his mouth found the newly exposed flesh, trailing lower and slower, his lips brushing over my throat like a brand. I gasped as he reached my chest, where my nipples were hard underneath my bra.
A whimper tore from my lips as he tugged down the fabric, exposing me further to the cool air and the burning brush of his mouth.
When his lips closed around me, teeth grazing with maddening precision, a pulse of sharp heat spiraled through me.
I shifted against him instinctively, chasing friction I couldn’t deny, while his thumb found its way to the other peak, circling, teasing.
The way he moved between them was deliberate and devastating—turning me into a wet, trembling mess.
“More—I need more, Ronan,” I gasped, the words torn from me, raw and pleading. A surge of wild energy snapped through our bond like lightning, too strong to contain. My body slid down his as he stepped back, and in the next second he turned toward the tree.
His hand threaded into my hair, his breath hot against my ear. My cheek pressed against rough bark as his fingers traced the edge of my pants. “Keep your hands on the tree, Beauty.”
Ronan’s voice was a growl, dark and commanding, and I obeyed without question, fingers splaying against the bark as heat coiled deep in my belly.
When he dropped to his knees behind me, I shivered, biting back a sound as he made quick work of the button on my pants.
The fabric slipped over my hips and ass, and a low, reverent groan rumbled from his chest as he took in what he found.
“Spread your legs. Lean forward.”
The command carved through me. I obeyed, spreading my thighs, my breath catching as his fingers found where I needed him most, sliding against my wet heat. I arched into the touch, chasing more of him—all of him.
“You need some relief, Kieran?” he asked in a teasing murmur, like he already knew the answer and just wanted to hear me say it.
I didn’t get the chance to answer. Ronan moved like a force unleashed, burying his face between my thighs as if he couldn’t wait another second. His name tore from my lips in surprise, followed by a moan that came from somewhere deeper—a sound of pure, shuddering relief.
I felt the low, guttural sound that rumbled from his chest as his tongue slid deeper into me.
My fingers curled tighter against the bark, nails scraping the wood as I moved instinctively, hips rocking in search of more.
My moans slipped out unrestrained, rising into the night air, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew someone might hear—
And I didn’t care.