[Kane's POV]
The gravel crunched beneath Kane's boots as he walked the wooded path home, the sun starting to dip beneath the horizon. Wind rustled through the trees, but he barely noticed.
His thoughts weren't loud. Just… deep. Submerged.
Like a current running just under the surface of his calm expression.
Rosalie had gotten to him.
Not because she yelled. Not because she tried to push him away.
But because she looked at him like she was trying not to fall.
And Kane knew what it was like to fight instincts. To pretend.
His fists flexed unconsciously at his sides.
She'll be back, he thought. Not because he was arrogant though arrogance came easy but because something between them had started that couldn't be undone.
Not by logic.
Not by anger.
Not by distance.
He stepped around a bend in the road and then stopped.
Rosalie was there.
Leaning against a tree in his yard like she belonged there. Like the earth itself bent around her presence. Her arms were crossed, but her eyes… they weren't hard anymore.
They were conflicted.
Kane raised an eyebrow. "Didn't expect to see you again so soon."
Rosalie pushed off the tree, taking one slow step forward. "I didn't expect to come."
"But you did."
He said it simply, without gloating.
She looked at him, golden eyes sharp but uncertain. "I didn't like the way we left things."
Kane smirked slightly. "You threatening me and storming off?"
"I didn't threaten you," she snapped.
"You told me to stay away."
Her lips twitched, almost like she wanted to smile but wouldn't let herself. "I'm not good at this."
"Being honest?"
"Being drawn to someone I don't understand."
[Rosalie's POV]
She hated this.
Hated standing there, hated the way her voice trembled not with fear, but with something worse. Vulnerability.
Kane didn't make sense.
He didn't act like a human. He didn't cower. He didn't avoid their eyes. He didn't play dumb or throw himself at them like most people did.
He just stood. Present. Focused. Real.
And that terrified her.
Because it made her instincts respond in a way she hadn't felt in decades.
And he wasn't even one of them.
Not cold. Not venomous. Not immortal.
Just… different.
"Kane," she said slowly, "I don't trust you."
"I don't need you to."
"But I feel something when I look at you."
That silence stretched between them again.
Not empty.
Loaded.
Rosalie stepped closer. She wasn't sure why. Maybe just to prove to herself she wasn't afraid.
But she was afraid.
Not of him.
Of what she might want from him.
"I didn't come to fight," she said.
"You came to confess?" he asked, his smirk returning.
"Don't flatter yourself."
He laughed real this time. The sound was warm, rough around the edges.
It sent a jolt down her spine.
"I'm not flattering myself," he said, his voice lower now. "I'm just saying… I feel it too."
That made her pause.
Her lips parted like she was going to say something but no words came.
Instead, she looked at him really looked at him.
The way his shirt clung to his frame. The power in his stance. The calm in his eyes. The fire in his aura.
It wasn't just attraction.
It was something primal.
Something bound.
[Kane's POV]
She was close now.
So close he could smell the scent of her cold roses and heat wrapped in contradiction. He didn't reach for her. Didn't move.
But his voice dropped just slightly.
"Are you gonna run again?"
Rosalie's voice was tight. "I don't know."
"You could stay."
Silence.
"You could come inside," he added. "Just to talk."
Her eyes narrowed, not out of suspicion but out of temptation.
"You're dangerous," she said.
"And you're curious."
She didn't deny it.
Not this time.