Sacred Flame: His Enemy, His Mate (BL)-Chapter 67: Do you like me?

Kain Locke

The moment Kael scooped me up and walked out the door to the hallway, heat rushed to my face.

It wasn’t just the shock of it, it was the way people turned to stare, It turned out half the base who were sent on a mission had returned, and most of them were just returning to their room which means I was being watched by them as he walked past them, I could feel their heated gaze at my back. Although none of them dared enough to speak out, but, that didn’t make me feel less embarrassed as I buried my face in Kael’s chest, tired of fighting with him.

His heartbeat was steady beneath my cheek, his scent a mix of sweat, leather, and something faintly metallic. But I didn’t think too much about it as I was more concerned about not wanting to see their faces. And not wanting them to see mine. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Kael carried me all the way up the stairs and onto his floor. When we reached the door, I expected him to set me down so he could fetch his key card. But instead, he simply leaned forward, and the scanner flashed before unlocking with a quiet beep.

I blinked. Wait, wasn’t he supposed to use a card?

Before I could ask, he stepped inside, kicked the door shut behind him, and finally set me down. The moment my feet touched the ground, I shoved at his chest, annoyed at him.

But instead of standing firm like he had back in my room when he had pinned me to the mattress without breaking a sweat, he stumbled back and crashed against the door with a loud grunt.

I froze.

Something was wrong.

My breath caught as I watched him slide down against the door, his body slumping. He wasn’t getting up.

Panic surged in my chest. This wasn’t the same man who had held me down just moments ago or the one who carried me all the way here like I weighed nothing.

I quickly dropped to my knees beside him in the following seconds, calling, "Kael?"

But he didn’t respond, however I could now smell that it was no longer faint. It was the metallic scent of blood I caught a whiff off earlier while he was bringing me here.

My hands moved on their own, reaching for his suit jacket. I yanked it open and pushed it off his shoulders. He didn’t stop me, so I was able to have access to more. The moment I pulled his shirt apart, I sucked in a sharp breath.

It was blood, a lot of it, dark, wet, and a new one that definitely must’ve come out while I pushed him.

My fingers trembled as I ripped the fabric the rest of the way, exposing deep wounds slick with crimson.

Shit. How long had he been like this? Why the hell didn’t he say anything?

This was even worse than before because the wounds I had helped him treat the other night had ripped open again, these were much deep, brutal, and bleeding badly. My stomach twisted at the sight. I could barely breathe as I pressed my palm against the worst of it, trying to stop the flow.

I clenched my jaw. "Who keeps doing this to you?" I asked out of annoyance that he wouldn’t say anything to me.. even if I didn’t mean anything to him, but at least we’ve been through life threatening situations together.

He didn’t answer. His breath was shallow, his body tense, but he didn’t push me away.

My hands shook as I stood up quickly from his side and darted to the table, searching around for something, anything, to clean the wounds before they got worse. How could he be so careless with his own body? How could he just ignore this like it didn’t matter?

Why was he always so reckless?

I dug through drawers, cabinets, searching for anything I could reach. But I found nothing, until I grabbed the nightstand drawer and pulled it open, that’s when I saw it.

A sleek, crystal-dark gun I recognized too well, hidden under a pile of materials.

My fingers hesitated before wrapping around the cold metal. I pulled it out, turning to him.

Kael’s eyes snapped open. Even in his state, he stiffened. His breath hitched, but he forced out a calm, steady voice. "Just put it back."

I tightened my grip on the gun, my mind racing.

"Why?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper as I stared at his face for an answer.

But he didn’t answer. His face was pale, his breathing uneven, but his eyes, those sharp, unreadable eyes, stayed locked onto mine. "Just put it back and get out," he muttered, and this time his tone was very gruff and annoyed.

I didn’t move. I couldn’t move.

How could I?

For the past two days, I had been waiting, restlessly, helplessly, hoping he wasn’t in some kind of trouble and would return back in one piece.

Only for him to come back. And now, somehow, I had ended up here, standing in front of him, who happens to be the same man who had saved me over and over again.

Because how else would he have this gun?

The same sleek, crystal-dark gun that belonged to the masked man who had pulled me from the jaws of the night beast that night. The same man who had saved me from that snake-like monster yet acted like he hated the hell out of me and always made my existence miserable.

I couldn’t process anything.

Except for one thing. It had been him all along! And It all made sense now.

No wonder the masked man had been able to come from nowhere and go so quickly through that window as though he was familiar with the whole building that night. No wonder he had known exactly where I was. It was because he wasn’t just anyone, he was Kael.

The man who had access to everything in the base.

My breathing turned uneven as another realization hit me.

During the snake beast attack after he had helped clear out the snakes and disappeared... Kael had returned injured. But those wounds, those didn’t look like anything a snake beast could have done given that they were too precise. Too clean and unaffected.

Those wounds definitely weren’t from a monster.

They were from a person.

And somehow, some way, it always traced back to me.

I swallowed hard and looked at him, gripping the gun tighter.

"Why are you him?" My voice wavered. "Why are you saving me under the guise of another man?"

Kael remained silent, his gaze unreadable.

I took a shaky breath, my chest tightening as I muttered the only reasonable theory I could come up with at that moment, "Do you like me?"