diff --git a/tests/v1/kv_connector/unit/test_remote_prefill_lifecycle.py b/tests/v1/kv_connector/unit/test_remote_prefill_lifecycle.py
index 4f82e828d3..caff9c9a49 100644
--- a/tests/v1/kv_connector/unit/test_remote_prefill_lifecycle.py
+++ b/tests/v1/kv_connector/unit/test_remote_prefill_lifecycle.py
@@ -731,3 +731,63 @@ def test_async_loads_both_admitted_when_pool_fits():
 
     for req in reqs:
         assert req.status == RequestStatus.WAITING_FOR_REMOTE_KVS
+
+
+def test_async_load_reserves_blocks_for_promotion_margin():
+    """An async load is not admitted unless the blocks its own promotion will
+    need are still free.
+
+    A parked load is allocated without lookahead slots, but promotion pads it
+    to ``1 + num_spec_tokens`` and asks for the lookahead margin on top. Without
+    reserving that margin, two loads can be admitted that together consume the
+    whole pool; the head then fails ``allocate_slots`` forever while the load
+    behind it is never reached, and with nothing running no block is ever freed.
+
+    req_a (4 blocks) and req_b (3 blocks) exactly fill the 7 usable blocks, so
+    req_b must be held back in WAITING holding no blocks, leaving req_a room to
+    be promoted and run.
+    """
+    vllm_config = create_vllm_config(num_speculative_tokens=3)
+    BLOCK_SIZE = vllm_config.cache_config.block_size
+    scheduler = create_scheduler(vllm_config, num_blocks=8)  # usable = 7
+
+    req_a = create_request(
+        request_id=1,
+        block_size=BLOCK_SIZE,
+        num_tokens=BLOCK_SIZE * 4,
+        do_remote_prefill=True,
+        max_tokens=1,
+    )
+    req_b = create_request(
+        request_id=2,
+        block_size=BLOCK_SIZE,
+        num_tokens=BLOCK_SIZE * 3,
+        do_remote_prefill=True,
+        max_tokens=1,
+    )
+    scheduler.add_request(req_a)
+    scheduler.add_request(req_b)
+
+    # Both get a full external hit, so each would hold its whole prompt.
+    with patch.object(
+        scheduler.connector,
+        "get_num_new_matched_tokens",
+        side_effect=[(BLOCK_SIZE * 4, True), (BLOCK_SIZE * 3, True)],
+    ):
+        scheduler.schedule()
+
+    assert req_a.status == RequestStatus.WAITING_FOR_REMOTE_KVS
+    assert req_b.status == RequestStatus.WAITING
+    req_to_blocks = scheduler.kv_cache_manager.coordinator.single_type_managers[
+        0
+    ].req_to_blocks
+    assert req_b.request_id not in req_to_blocks
+
+    # req_a's load lands: it must be promotable and actually get scheduled.
+    scheduler.update_from_output(
+        scheduler.schedule(),
+        create_model_runner_output([], finished_recving={req_a.request_id}),
+    )
+    scheduler_output = scheduler.schedule()
+    assert req_a.status == RequestStatus.RUNNING
+    assert scheduler_output.num_scheduled_tokens[req_a.request_id] > 0
diff --git a/tests/v1/kv_connector/unit/utils.py b/tests/v1/kv_connector/unit/utils.py
index 80b97c6a13..85ada84b0d 100644
--- a/tests/v1/kv_connector/unit/utils.py
+++ b/tests/v1/kv_connector/unit/utils.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ from vllm.config import (
     KVTransferConfig,
     ModelConfig,
     SchedulerConfig,
+    SpeculativeConfig,
     VllmConfig,
 )
 from vllm.distributed.kv_transfer.kv_connector.factory import KVConnectorFactory
@@ -106,6 +107,7 @@ def create_vllm_config(
     kv_connector_module_path: str | None = None,
     kv_role: str = "kv_consumer",
     disable_hybrid_kv_cache_manager: bool | None = None,
+    num_speculative_tokens: int | None = None,
 ) -> VllmConfig:
     """Initialize VllmConfig For Testing."""
     model_config = ModelConfig(
@@ -141,6 +143,11 @@ def create_vllm_config(
         kv_load_failure_policy=kv_load_failure_policy,
     )
     attention_config = AttentionConfig(backend=attention_backend)
+    speculative_config = (
+        SpeculativeConfig(model="ngram", num_speculative_tokens=num_speculative_tokens)
+        if num_speculative_tokens is not None
+        else None
+    )
     return VllmConfig(
         scheduler_config=scheduler_config,
         model_config=model_config,
@@ -148,6 +155,7 @@ def create_vllm_config(
         kv_transfer_config=kv_transfer_config,
         device_config=DeviceConfig("cpu"),
         attention_config=attention_config,
+        speculative_config=speculative_config,
     )
 
 
diff --git a/vllm/v1/core/sched/scheduler.py b/vllm/v1/core/sched/scheduler.py
index 08f1191111..19ea411aa1 100644
--- a/vllm/v1/core/sched/scheduler.py
+++ b/vllm/v1/core/sched/scheduler.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ from vllm.model_executor.layers.fused_moe.routed_experts_capturer import (
 from vllm.multimodal import MULTIMODAL_REGISTRY, MultiModalRegistry
 from vllm.multimodal.encoder_budget import MultiModalBudget
 from vllm.multimodal.utils import get_mm_features_in_window
+from vllm.utils.math_utils import cdiv
 from vllm.v1.core.encoder_cache_manager import (
     EncoderCacheManager,
     EncoderDecoderCacheManager,
@@ -1140,9 +1141,13 @@ class Scheduler(SchedulerInterface):
                 if load_kv_async:
                     # An async load holds its blocks for the whole transfer with
                     # no forward progress and isn't preemptible here. Admit it
-                    # only if it fits in (free - other in-flight reservations), to
-                    # avoid deadlock and predictable preemptions.
-                    reserved_blocks = self._inflight_prefill_reserved_blocks()
+                    # only if it fits in (free - other in-flight reservations)
+                    # plus its own spec decode step blocks, to avoid deadlock and
+                    # predictable preemptions.
+                    reserved_blocks = (
+                        self._inflight_prefill_reserved_blocks()
+                        + self._spec_decode_step_blocks()
+                    )
 
                 new_blocks = self.kv_cache_manager.allocate_slots(
                     request,
@@ -2892,9 +2897,9 @@ class Scheduler(SchedulerInterface):
         return delay_free or partial_tail_delay, kv_xfer_params
 
     def _request_remaining_blocks(self, request: Request) -> int:
-        """Blocks `request` still needs to allocate to hold its full sequence."""
+        """Blocks `request` still needs to hold its full sequence and be promoted."""
         full_num_tokens = min(request.num_tokens, self.max_model_len)
-        return self.kv_cache_manager.coordinator.get_num_blocks_to_allocate(
+        num_blocks = self.kv_cache_manager.coordinator.get_num_blocks_to_allocate(
             request_id=request.request_id,
             num_tokens=full_num_tokens,
             new_computed_blocks=self.kv_cache_manager.empty_kv_cache_blocks.blocks,
@@ -2904,6 +2909,20 @@ class Scheduler(SchedulerInterface):
             num_tokens_main_model=full_num_tokens,
             apply_admission_cap=True,
         )
+        return num_blocks + self._spec_decode_step_blocks()
+
+    def _spec_decode_step_blocks(self) -> int:
+        """Number of blocks for the extra KV slots a spec decode step needs.
+
+        When using async kv load, scheduler must reserve enough blocks for
+        full sequence + the spec decode step, otherwise request cannot be
+        able to run after the async_load if we are out of kv blocks.
+        """
+        if not self.num_spec_tokens:
+            return 0
+        return cdiv(
+            1 + self.num_spec_tokens + self.num_lookahead_tokens, self.block_size
+        )
 
     def _inflight_prefill_reserved_blocks(self) -> int:
         """Num blocks in-flight prefills still need to finish (their reservation)."""