The Edge of Control

The fire in the hearth had burned low, filling the room with the faint scent of smoldering embers. The dim light cast flickering shadows against the wooden walls, but Xavier barely noticed. He sat on the edge of the cot, shoulders hunched, fingers gripping his knees so tightly his knuckles had turned white. His breath came slow and controlled, but the fire in his veins hadn't faded.

He could still feel it.

The hunger.

The moment Kayla had touched him, it had surged forward like a beast unchained, screaming to be fed. It had taken every ounce of his willpower to shove it back down. To stop himself.

And the worst part?

It wasn't gone.

It was still there, beneath his skin, waiting.

His fingers curled tighter.

It was getting worse.

Five months. That was all he had before his twenty-first birthday. Before the hunger became something he couldn't ignore. Before it controlled him instead of the other way around.

The thought made his stomach twist.

He closed his eyes, forcing himself to focus. He could still hear everything—the quiet crackle of the dying fire, the soft rustling of the wind against the walls, the distant heartbeat of Zander sleeping in the next room.

And Kayla.

Even in the silence, he knew she was awake.

Her breathing was slow, steady, but she wasn't sleeping. He could tell.

A moment later, soft footsteps creaked in the hallway. The door eased open, and Kayla stepped inside, arms crossed, dark eyes unreadable.

"You're still up," she said.

Xavier exhaled through his nose. "So are you."

Kayla smirked. "I don't need much sleep."

She didn't move closer, didn't try to press into his space like she had before. Instead, she leaned against the doorframe, watching him.

"Can't shut your mind off?" she asked.

Xavier dragged a hand down his face. "Something like that."

Kayla tilted her head slightly. "Still thinking about earlier?"

Xavier's jaw tightened.

She took that as a yes.

Kayla studied him for a moment before pushing off the doorframe and stepping inside. "You're making this harder than it needs to be."

Xavier shot her a sharp look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She shrugged. "You're trying to fight something that's already a part of you."

Xavier clenched his fists. "I have to."

Kayla scoffed. "Says who?"

Xavier exhaled, standing abruptly. "You don't get it, Kayla."

She frowned. "Then explain it to me."

Xavier opened his mouth, then closed it. How could he explain something she had never felt?

She didn't know what it was like.

She hadn't gone through the change yet.

Kayla still ate normal food. She still slept soundly. She didn't wake up feeling like something inside her was twisting and shifting into something else.

She didn't crave something she didn't understand.

She had time.

Xavier didn't.

Kayla sighed, tilting her head. "Look, I get that this is hard, but you're not the only one who—"

"No," Xavier snapped, his voice sharp. "You don't get it."

Kayla blinked, taken aback.

Xavier clenched his jaw, stepping closer. "You're eighteen. You don't feel what I feel. You don't know what it's like to wake up and feel like your own body is turning against you. You don't know what it's like to be starving and know that no food, no drink, no human thing is ever going to satisfy it. You don't know what it's like to feel like… like you could snap. Like you could hurt someone without meaning to. Like you could lose control and there's nothing you can do to stop it."

His chest rose and fell with each sharp breath, his vision blurred at the edges. The fire inside him burned hotter, his pulse pounding, his instincts screaming take, take, take—

Kayla moved.

And before Xavier could react, her hands were on his face, and she kissed him.

Not a hesitant, soft kiss. It was deep, slow, and intentional.

His body locked up.

Every thought in his mind was drowned out in an instant. The hunger, the pain, the fire that had burned in his veins—it all collapsed into something else entirely.

Something electric.

Kayla's lips pressed against his, warm and unyielding. Her fingers curled slightly against his jaw, pulling him in, daring him to respond.

And he nearly did.

Nearly.

Xavier's instincts flared. His fingers twitched, his entire body screaming to move—to grab her, to pull her closer, to let go of everything and just take.

His pulse thundered.

His breath came sharp.

And then—

"Kayla!"

Zander's voice shattered the moment like glass.

Xavier jerked back, his vision swimming, his entire body on fire.

Kayla barely looked fazed, though a slow smirk tugged at the corner of her lips as she turned toward her brother. "Hey, Zander."

Zander's expression was anything but amused. His sharp gaze zeroed in on his sister, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "What the hell are you doing?"

Kayla shrugged. "Testing something."

Zander's face darkened. "Are you insane?"

Xavier swallowed hard, his fangs aching in his gums, his entire body still humming from the aftershock of her kiss. He couldn't even look at Zander.

"Kayla," Zander continued, his voice tight, "do you have any idea how dangerous that was?"

Kayla crossed her arms. "It was just a kiss, Zander."

Zander took a sharp step forward. "No, it wasn't."

The tension in the room thickened, heavy and suffocating.

"You could've ended up being his first human blood bag," Zander snapped.

Kayla's smirk faltered.

Xavier stiffened.

The words hung between them, heavy and unshakable.

Kayla blinked. "You really think he would've—"

"Yes," Zander said, his voice harsh. "Because he's close, Kayla. Too close."

Xavier finally looked up, his chest still heaving, the fire inside him still raging.

Zander turned to him, his jaw tight. "How do you feel right now, Xavier?"

Xavier swallowed hard. He couldn't lie.

"Like I was about to lose control," he admitted.

Kayla's expression flickered—just for a second.

Zander sighed, rubbing his face. "You can't do that, Kayla. Not with him. Not now."

Kayla pursed her lips, her arms still crossed. But she didn't argue.

Zander exhaled, shaking his head. "Go to bed, both of you."

Kayla glanced at Xavier, something unreadable in her gaze, before turning and walking toward the door. Just before she left, she threw him a small, mischievous smirk.

"Guess I'll be more careful next time."

Xavier nearly groaned.

Zander glared at her retreating figure. "There won't be a next time."

Xavier exhaled, his entire body still too tense, too wired, too aware.

He barely heard the door click shut behind her before Zander turned to him.

"Don't let it happen again."

Xavier didn't trust himself to respond.

Because for the first time, he realized just how razor-thin the line was between control and losing himself entirely.