Page 24 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

I tipped my face upwards towards the rushing water, letting it engulf me, and then lowered it again, looking at her as I ran both hands over my hair, slicking it back from my face.

Sure she would look away now I was watching her, obviously aware of her staring.

The bold little wolf continued to gaze at my nude form.

“You seem to enjoy looking at me.” I meant the words as a challenge, to make her blush and look away, but they came out teasing and light.

Strange how she did that.

I tried to snap and bite and bare my fangs, to keep her in her place, to shake and rattle her, and she somehow softened me.

It was a desire to bed her that kept me civil, that was all.

A frightened or angry female did not make a good bedfellow.

She shrugged. “You’re not the first male I’ve seen nude. I’m a wolf shifter. Male wolf shifters have little shame and we would go through a lot of clothing if we shifted without undressing first.”

My eyebrows pitched low as I stared down at her as she floated on her back, as if she did not have a care in the world.

She should.

She had just announced she had seen many men naked.

Shadows curled through my veins, staining the tips of my fingers as my nails began to transform into claws and the darkness that lived within me snarled at me to find those males and end them, because this female was mine now.

The only naked male body she should know was mine .

Something corrosive scoured my insides, pouring like acid through me, a feeling I was not accustomed to and did not want to examine too closely.

“That’s an odd look,” she murmured as she studied me, slowly rotating in my direction with nothing more than a gentle wave of one hand through the water. She pursed her lips. “I might even say you don’t like that I’ve seen a lot of men naked.”

“Ridiculous.” I ran my hands down my body and her gaze followed them, cheeks pinkening and not from the cooler water near the falls.

She might have seen many nude males, but I was sure not one of them compared with my physique.

Fae were blessed with strength. It was etched into our bodies.

There were many tales of fae who travelled to the mortal world being set upon by the opposite sex of all species because we were so alluring to others, our vitality and beauty craved by all.

Oberon had told me of several of his conquests over the years, how desperately the females had wanted him. So desperately they had fought among themselves until Oberon had kindly offered to share himself with them all.

Saphira’s blue eyes drifted back to me, running over my body, rousing awareness of her. If she had not been sold as an innocent, I might have believed her otherwise. Although, the wolf might have been lying.

There was one way to find out.

“Are you a maiden, little lamb?”

Horror flashed across her face and she swept her arm around, spraying me with water as she loosed an embarrassed squeak.

“Apparently so,” I husked.

“Oh, you—” she muttered, anger rolling off her, and flattened her lips, holding back whatever salvo she wanted to launch at me.

I chuckled as she swam away from me, kicking her legs hard, as if she could not get away from me quickly enough.

It was only when she neared the other end of the lake that my amusement faded into sharp, cold terror.

The falls.

She turned and began frantically kicking back towards me, but she made no headway, was slowly being pulled towards the waterfall that fell over two hundred feet to the lagoon below.

“Saphira,” I whispered through the shadows as I teleported.

I plunged into the lake a short distance from her.

The moment I hit the bottom, I sought her, gaze rapidly scanning the hazy bubbling water, and kicked off when I spotted her flailing form, shooting towards her as she was pulled towards the falls and spun around in the current.

I reached for her, shadows bursting through the water, slicing it apart to reach her, and wrapped her in them, yanking her to me. The second she was in my arms, her small body shuddering against me, her fear wrapping around me, I teleported us back to the shore.

And held her close as she coughed and spluttered, as she shook and slumped, her legs giving out beneath her.

She nestled in the shelter of my arms, her heart a rapid drumming against my stomach, the scent of her panic rousing something dangerous in me, something vicious and dark that had my shadows slicing through the rocks and water of the lake, lashing out at everything in it, as if it were to blame for what had almost happened.

The little wolf was immortal, in the sense she was long-lived, but tumbling over the waterfall would have been the death of her.

There was no way she would have survived the impact with the water, and even if by some miracle of the Great Mother she had, she probably would have been knocked unconscious and drowned in the sea before I could find her.

Her trembling slowly subsided and she shifted in my arms, her palms scalding my flesh as she pressed closer to me. The feel of her leaning on me, seeking more from me, bewitched my shadows and calmed the darkness that writhed within me, demanding someone pay.

If anyone were to blame, it was me.

I smoothed my hand over her tangled silver hair, my chest tightening as I felt her beneath my palm, in my arms, tucked close to me. Safe. My mind flashed with images of her falling, of what might have happened if I had not reacted so quickly, and I found myself holding her more tightly.

“Foolish little wolf,” I murmured against her hair, unsure whether she was the one shaking or I was too, and tried to banish whatever softness was building inside me, building between us as she clung to me, and made light of the moment by adding, “If you wanted my naked body pressed to yours, you only had to ask.”

She tensed.

And then did something that altered something fundamental inside me.

Something that felt too dangerous.

Too bewitching.

She laughed.

Her breath bathing my skin.

Warming me.

Soothing me.

Lightening me but making me feel weary at the same time, as if it stripped all my strength from me and I was in danger of crumpling under the weight of all I bore on my shoulders.

I growled and teleported away from her, slamming shut the iron doors around my softer emotions—my useless emotions—she had somehow pried open.

Because I had no use for them.

I had no use for her beyond my vengeance.

And it was time I remembered that.