Chapter 9: Tethered Instincts

Kai tried to avoid Adrian the entire next week.

He buried himself in work. Arrived early. Left late. Ate lunch in back corners of the office where no vampire in their right mind would roam not because he was scared, no... but because he couldn't trust himself not to launch over a desk and kiss that arrogant bastard in the middle of a client meeting.

But Adrian? That smug, silk-shirt-wearing bloodsucker?

He was everywhere.

At the coffee machine. In the elevator. Hovering behind Kai's cubicle with infuriatingly innocent questions like "Did you get the new file from legal?" and "You always breathe that heavy, or just when I'm around?"

Kai almost punched him.

Twice.

Worse, their supervisor the oblivious and unfortunately peppy Ms. Kensington thought they made the perfect team. She even forced them into a shared office to "streamline collaboration."

A single desk.

Two chairs.

One enclosed space.

Kai prayed for an earthquake.

Adrian just smiled like he'd already won.

"So..." Adrian drawled on Wednesday afternoon, spinning lazily in his chair while Kai attempted to work, "how's our projected synergy coming along?"

"About as well as your chances of not getting stabbed."

"Oof. Baby wolf's got bite today." Adrian leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand. "Is this because of the kiss?"

Kai's fingers froze over the keyboard.

He didn't look up. He didn't need to.

He could feel Adrian's gaze crawling over his skin like a second shadow.

"That was nothing," Kai muttered.

"You keep saying that, but your scent keeps telling me otherwise."

"Don't you dare sniff me at work."

Adrian grinned. "Too late."

Kai snapped his pen in half.

Adrian only laughed, low and pleased. "You know, I thought I'd enjoy teasing you, but now I think I enjoy watching you try not to enjoy it."

"Fuck you."

"Careful, omega," Adrian purred. "Say it like that again, and I'll think you mean it."

Kai stood so fast his chair screeched. He shoved his laptop closed and stalked toward the door.

Adrian moved in front of it.

Kai stopped just shy of collision, eyes blazing. "Get out of my way."

"No."

"Adrian"

"I'm not going to pretend, Kai." Adrian's voice lowered, all playfulness slipping into something sharper, more intimate. "You want me. And I want you. And we both know this tension between us isn't going anywhere."

Kai's pulse kicked like a hammer behind his ribs. "This isn't tension, it's hate."

Adrian leaned in. "Then why does your hate taste like honey and heat?"

That damn him that made Kai's knees buckle a little.

And Adrian saw it.

He reached out, brushing the back of his fingers along Kai's cheek, slow and featherlight. Kai should've stepped away. Growled. Bitten. Something. Anything.

Instead, he stood there and burned.

"I want to bite you," Adrian murmured, voice barely a whisper. "Not to hurt. Just enough to leave a mark."

Kai's breath hitched. "You can't."

"I know." Adrian's eyes flickered, dark with restraint. "But fuck, I want to."

And just like that, the moment shattered because the door opened, and Ms. Kensington peeked in.

"Oh! Am I interrupting?"

Kai jumped back like he'd been electrocuted. Adrian, ever the smug bastard, casually adjusted his sleeves.

"Not at all," he said smoothly.

Kai's hands were shaking.

He needed out. Now.

As soon as she left, Kai grabbed his stuff and fled the office, heart pounding, breath ragged. But even as he ran, he knew the truth:

They weren't just enemies anymore.

They were something far more dangerous

Two predators circling the same flame.

Kai didn't go home.

He couldn't.

Instead, he ended up in a dingy bar on the edge of town halfway between his apartment and a bad decision. He ordered something cheap and bitter, downed it, and immediately ordered another.

His hands still shook.

Adrian's voice kept replaying in his head. "I want to bite you... just enough to leave a mark."

Kai slammed his drink.

What the hell was happening to him?

He wasn't supposed to feel this way. Not about a vampire. Not about Adrian. Not when everything in his blood screamed to run, to fight, to not trust something with fangs and a smirk that could melt steel.

But damn it, every time Adrian looked at him like that with hunger restrained only by sheer will Kai's wolf stirred.

Not with fear.

With curiosity.

With want.

With need.

He groaned, dragging a hand down his face. This wasn't just a mistake it was a fucking cosmic joke.

"Kai?"

He froze.

Because, of course, of course, the universe had to play dirty.

Adrian stood at the bar's entrance, dressed in all black, like he'd stepped out of a vampire romance novel with too much confidence and too little shame.

Kai didn't even have the strength to argue.

"You followed me," he muttered.

Adrian slid into the seat beside him, signaling the bartender. "Technically, I tracked you."

Kai turned to glare. "That's worse."

"I call it concerned stalking."

Kai downed the rest of his drink in one swallow. "I call it being a dick."

Adrian chuckled, then, more softly, "You were shaking."

Kai stiffened.

Adrian continued, "Back at the office. Your hands. Your scent. I didn't mean to push too far."

Kai didn't respond. He couldn't. Not when those words soft and unexpectedly sincere cut deeper than anything else had.

So Adrian leaned closer, brushing their arms together. Just enough to spark something. Just enough to test a boundary.

"I'll back off if you want," he murmured.

Kai met his eyes. "I don't want you to back off."

Adrian blinked.

Kai exhaled. "I want to not want you. That's the problem."

Adrian's lips curled, but it wasn't smug this time it was something else. Something... vulnerable.

"Then we have the same problem," he whispered.

And for a moment, the tension between them wasn't fire or fury.

It was gravity.

Undeniable.

Pulling.

Tethering.

The bartender returned with a fresh drink, but neither of them reached for it.

They just sat there, side by side, hearts pounding, pretending this wasn't about to become something that would ruin everything.