Moonlit Vows Of Vengeance

Chapter 106: Where The Fire Ends

The fever didn’t stop.

It deepened.

It throbbed through my bones like a drumbeat, ancient and primal. Like something inside me had just cracked open and started to scream.

I stumbled forward. My fingers scraped the nearest stone pillar, trying to keep my balance. My body burned with heat, not entirely mine.

I barely heard Kieran’s voice behind me. "Athena—"

"Don’t." My voice was hoarse. "Don’t touch me."

But I was lying.

I wanted him to touch me. Needed it like a breath.

My hands trembled as I pressed them to my belly. It was as if magic and heat had nested beneath my skin and were now clawing to be let out. My legs buckled slightly, and I collapsed against the pillar, panting.

"Something’s wrong," I gasped.

He was beside me now. I could feel his presence, feel the panic in his magic as it crackled in the air.

"What is it? Tell me what’s happening."

I looked up at him, eyes wild. "I don’t know. But I think..." My voice broke. "I think I’m going into heat."

He flinched.

There was fire swallowing my spine and setting everything beneath my skin ablaze.

"I need to mate," I said through clenched teeth. "Now."

The word mate hung between us like lightning about to strike.

Kieran’s face changed. Gone was the calm commander, the warrior who led armies. What remained was raw male. A man who suddenly found himself standing in front of something he’d been holding back from for too long.

"Athena..."

I met his gaze. "Don’t say anything."

My voice trembled, not from fear—but need. The kind of need that made magic twitch in the air and time warp around me.

"Are you sure?" His voice was husky now, strained. "Because once we do this, there’s no—"

I grabbed the collar of his tunic and crushed my mouth to his.

There was no room left for restraint.

No time for second thoughts.

His arms closed around me, hard and strong, lifting me off the floor like I weighed nothing. I felt the solid wall behind my back and his mouth on mine—desperate, hungry, trying to devour the months, the tension, the silence.

I moaned into the kiss. His hands slid down my back, gripping me like I was the only thing keeping him alive. My body arched into his, pressing closer, tighter, needing more.

Clothes didn’t come off so much as they vanished—torn, yanked, peeled away by fingers shaking with restraint fraying.

His mouth moved down my neck, then to my collarbone. I tipped my head back, gasping as a fresh wave of divine fire burst from my core.

"Kieran," I whispered. "Please."

It wasn’t a plea.

It was a demand.

A sacred invocation.

His mouth found mine again. Our lips collided, bruised and wild. His hands roamed my body with a reverence that made my heart ache. Like he’d been dreaming of this and never thought he’d be allowed to touch.

And I was unraveling.

Completely.

There was no logic anymore. No past betrayals, no ruined kingdoms. Just him. Just now.

Magic sparked between us, light curling from our skin like silver lightning. Our breaths mingled, shallow and broken. The pull between us deepened.

The heat inside me roared.

He sank into me slowly, like a prayer answered.

And for the first time in weeks, I stopped burning.

I began glowing.

His name broke from my lips in a cry as our bodies joined—fierce and beautiful, a rhythm that felt older than time. My nails dug into his back. His grip on my hips tightened.

Every thrust, every touch, every breath melted my pain into pleasure, my fury into peace.

And still, the heat didn’t stop.

It built and built, until sweat bled from my skin and the bed trembled faintly beneath us. My head dropped back against the wall, stars behind my eyelids, as the pressure exploded into blinding light.

I broke apart in his arms.

And he followed, murmuring my name like a vow against my skin.

"Athena..."

The world didn’t quite return to silence.

Not immediately.

My breath was still ragged. My body trembled as though the storm was still echoing in my bones, leaving aftershocks of desire and pleasure pulsing through every vein.

Kieran was still inside me, our bodies locked together in a tangle of sweat-slick limbs and magic that hadn’t quite dimmed. He was breathing hard, his face buried in the curve of my neck, arms wrapped tight around me like he was terrified I might disappear.

Kieran finally lifted his head. His hair was a mess, his lips red and bruised from our kisses. But his eyes... gods, those eyes. They weren’t just lust-drunk anymore. They were raw. Open. He looked at me like I was something holy and ruined all at once.

"I didn’t mean to..." he started, then stopped himself.

My fingers curled against his back, tracing the curve of his spine. "I meant to."

His jaw tightened like he wanted to argue. "But this was just the heat—"

"It was," I whispered. "But it was also me."

His breath hitched.

And then I kissed him again. Not like before—this wasn’t fire and desperation.

This was quiet.

He eased me down, his body following mine like we were still afraid to separate. His chest pressed to mine. My legs curled around his waist. We were still joined, still trembling, still... tethered.

I felt the heat inside me start to settle. But in its place came something else.

A strange kind of ache.

I frowned, eyes drifting toward the glowing silver threads still woven faintly around my arms.

Kieran noticed.

"What is it?" he asked, brushing away my hair from my cheek.

"I don’t know. but something’s wrong."

He pulled back slightly, enough to look me in the eye. "Is the heat gone?"

"Yes," I whispered.

He cursed under his breath and pressed his forehead to mine. "That’s a good thing."

We lay there in silence for a moment. My heartbeat slowly returning to a rhythm that wasn’t divine thunder. My breath evening out as the fire inside me began to dim.

I felt... empty.

Kieran must’ve sensed it too, because his arms tightened around me.

"I’m not going to let you lose yourself," he said softly. "Not after everything."

"I already have, Kieran."

"No. You haven’t. " His lips brushed my temple. "You’re still here. I feel you."

"But what if I can’t finish this?" I asked, voice breaking.

He didn’t answer for a long time.

Then: "Then we will find another way."

I closed my eyes.

Let his heartbeat lull me. Let the warmth of his body anchor me to something real.

And for the first time in what felt like forever... I let someone hold me, completely.

I was just a woman who had burned through her power... and didn’t know what came next.

But for one night, wrapped in Kieran’s arms, I let myself forget.

Let myself believe that maybe, just maybe... there was still enough of me left to win.

The night cradled me in silence.

My body ached not from pain, but from something else. From guilt. My skin was still warm where Kieran had touched me, where his hands had mapped me like he was trying to remember every part of me before I slipped away.

Eventually, sleep took me, but it was the kind that didn’t offer peace. Only escape.

And even that didn’t last long.

When I stirred, the light was dim. Early morning—gray and silent. The air was heavy with sweat, and the faint scent of him. Kieran was still asleep beside me, his arm draped across my waist, one hand curled against my hip as though afraid I might vanish if he let go.

I lay there, breathing slow, eyes open.

Watching the ruined ceiling above me.

Counting the cracks like they were sins.

My body still remembered him—every kiss, every thrust, every whispered word—and for a moment, I didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to face what came next.

But then I did.

I shifted carefully out from under his arm, wincing as his fingers brushed down my side in his sleep. His breath hitched but he didn’t wake. His face was peaceful now. No tension in his brow. No fire in his eyes. Just Kieran, bare and vulnerable in a way I’d never seen him. noveldrama

And gods help me, it made something twist painfully inside me.

I rose, wrapping the thin sheet around myself, my steps silent as I moved toward the far side of the room.

The floor was cold under my feet. I welcomed it.

I stared at my reflection in the shattered mirror mounted above the basin. My hair was wild, lips swollen, skin glowing faintly where Kieran had kissed me, touched me, claimed me.

I didn’t feel like a goddess.

I didn’t even look like myself.

I looked like a woman who had lost control.

And all I could think was: Lucas.

A wave of guilt slammed into me, hard and fast and ugly. I gripped the edge of the table, knuckles whitening.

What have I done?