Page 3 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

SAPHIRA

T he barn in the centre of the communal green deep in the Hunt pack lands had been beautifully decorated with white lights that shimmered as dusk began to fall, making the compacted snow around the building twinkle like diamonds.

I had thought we would celebrate the coming together of our two packs in the street that ran through the middle of the small town that served as an outpost for humans passing through the area.

Lucas had mentioned it happening that way in the last message I had received from him.

Maybe the lingering cold weather of early spring had forced a change of plans.

I relished it.

I had never felt comfortable visiting the Hunt pack, mostly because Lucas’s father had always held the gatherings in the heart of the town they had built, one filled with stores that catered to tourists and the few locals that lived out on remote properties in the area.

None of my pack had failed to see his actions for what they had been.

A show of power and wealth.

My pack—the Harper pack—lived in a small community of cabins in the middle of the forest near Wells in Canada, far away from civilisation.

We scraped by, growing food and hunting, living off the land as best we could.

But for most of the supplies we needed, we had to travel to the nearby Hunt pack or make the journey to Quesnel.

We were few in numbers, and they were many.

Our two packs couldn’t have been more different, and the old Hunt alpha had loved pointing it out to us.

Even going as far as bringing up how easy it had been to defeat our former alpha and two of our pack’s protectors.

My gaze sought out Chase and Morden as I exited the SUV.

Chase pulled his black Jeep up behind us, looking deeply at ease as he chatted animatedly with Morden’s younger sister, Danica, who sat wedged between him and a very grave Morden.

My former protector’s grey eyes shifted to me, as stormy as ever as they locked with mine.

I sensed the movement of people towards me before his gaze snapped to my right and narrowed.

Lucas.

If I hadn’t been able to feel him closing the distance between us, hadn’t been able to recognise his earthy scent, that look in Morden’s eyes would have told me who it was.

While Morden had felt no love for his father, he had loved his brother deeply, and Lucas’s father had taken both of them from him that night Chase’s father had foolishly challenged him.

I gave Morden a look that warned him to be on his best behaviour.

Morden merely shoved the car door open in response and stepped out, unfurling all six-foot-five of his powerful body, and gripped the top of the door.

Lucas stopped beside me, his deep blue eyes fixed on Morden rather than me.

Where Lucas was light and elegant, with his neatly styled blond hair and pressed jeans and shirt, and charming as he smiled at my former protector, Morden was darkness incarnate, his black flannel shirt and jeans, and his dark brown hair making him blend into the falling night beyond him, and his lips were set in a grim line that made it perfectly clear he wasn’t happy to be here.

Before the two of them could ruin the night, I stepped in front of Lucas, capturing his attention.

His gaze dropped to mine, and then fell further, raking over me in a way that heated my blood and had my mind racing forwards to after the celebration, when we would finally be alone.

When we would mate.

“You look beautiful,” he murmured for my ears only and leaned down to brush his lips across my forehead in his usual greeting.

I lifted my head instead, tipping my chin up, and his smile was wicked as he shifted course and swept his lips across mine in the barest whisper of a kiss.

A shiver bolted down my spine and my wolf side urged me to growl, to claim this male as mine now rather than wait another few hours.

My fingers trembled as I stood before him, as he gazed down at me, right into my eyes, the corners of his kissable lips still curved into a faint smile.

Heat coloured his eyes, heat I could feel beating off him as he inched closer, as he trailed a hand down my arm beneath my shawl.

His fingers locked around my wrist rather than twining with mine.

“Come. Everyone is waiting.” He tugged on my arm and I stumbled after him, confusion flashing through me as I looked at his hand on my wrist. His grip was firm, and I could sense agitation in him as I focused on him.

He was probably just as nervous as I was, or maybe excited to see where this night would take us.

I walked faster to keep up with him and fell into step beside him.

He angled his head towards me, his smile warm, no trace of unease in his eyes.

That agitation I had sensed in him faded as he walked beside me, his grip on my wrist loosening as we reached the threshold of the barn.

Warmth swept around me as I crossed it, and not only from the candles set in the centre of each wooden bench table.

A cheer went up as all eyes turned towards us, murmured greetings and hollered welcomes following it, together with a few remarks about how eager we probably were to get to the mating part of the evening. My cheeks heated despite my efforts to keep my embarrassment hidden.

They warmed for a different reason when Lucas looked at me, hunger I had never seen before shining in his eyes.

Fire that scalded me.

I couldn’t pull my eyes away from his as he led me through the room, towards the long table near the back wall.

A smile lit up his face as he eased my chair out for me, as I sat in it and he took the seat beside me.

It had been a long time since I had seen him this happy, and the thought that it was because of me warmed me right to my soul.

Lucas leaned towards me, draping his arm across the back of my seat, his earthy scent filling my senses as he poured me a glass of chilled white wine.

His smile was easy and charming as always, a feat I always marvelled at.

I had never met a male who smiled so easily, who could charm all around him as Lucas could, no matter how dire a situation might be.

Even when he had been mourning his parents, he had been able to smile just a few short weeks after their deaths.

If I lost my parents, I was sure I wouldn’t be able to smile for a full year.

He grazed his fingers down my spine, sending a chill tumbling down it as he pushed the glass towards me.

I almost spilled the wine as I picked it up, fumbling with it as my hands continued to tremble.

He noticed, his focus shifting to my fingers, and then back to my face.

He eased closer, his breath tickling my ear as he whispered, “No need to be so nervous. It’s not as if we haven’t known this moment was coming for years. You really do look beautiful tonight, Saphira.”

He dropped a kiss on my neck and I growled, the rumbling sound slipping from my lips before I could stop it as my instincts roared to life, making me restless with an urge to push and goad him, to tempt him into biting my nape.

Binding us as mates.

His raspy chuckle tickled my senses and my skin, making the hairs on my nape stand on end, hyper-sensitive and aware of how close he was to where I needed him most.

That ache that had been building from the moment I left my pack lands reached a crescendo as I glanced at him, catching his gaze rooted on my nape. His eyes were unfocused, his pupils blown. Was he thinking about marking me too?

I squeezed my thighs together as all that wicked heat pooled there, the ache too strong now, almost overwhelming.

Lucas pulled back and clinked his glass against mine, a mischievous light in his eyes as he said, “Drink. It’ll help with the nerves… and the heat.”

He could sense it. Maybe even smell it on me. I died a little inside, cringing internally at the thought he was deeply aware of how badly I wanted him.

I gulped my wine and the moment I set the glass down, Lucas refilled it. I gulped that too, because it took a lot for a wolf shifter to feel even a mild buzz from alcohol.

I had experimented with it once, when Morden had brought a box of six whiskey bottles back from a trip to Vancouver and we had celebrated his birthday on a bitter November day when the snow had been falling so thickly that we had struggled to get out the door when it was time to head home.

Chase had ended up staying over at his place, and I had stumbled back through the snow with Everlee.

She had slept in my bed next to me, complaining it was too cold to trek the additional distance to her cabin.

Lucas kissed my shoulder, regaining my attention, and chuckled at something Braxton said to him.

The big dark-haired beta rivalled Morden in his height and build, making me feel small as I looked up at him.

He ran a hand over his shorn hair and smiled, but no trace of warmth touched his dark eyes.

I wasn’t sure Braxton would ever approve of me, but I was determined not to give him any reason to dislike me.

I knew how easily one wolf could turn others against a female, even the mate of an alpha, especially when they wielded power in the pack, like Braxton.

Wolves listened to their betas as much as their alphas. Even an alpha listened to their beta.

I turned my gaze on Lucas.

Although I was sure he wouldn’t be easily swayed by his cousin.

“Sit. Have some wine with us.” I pinned Braxton with my best smile and gestured to the seat beside me.

Braxton grunted at it and moved on, drifting into the crowd.

“Don’t mind him,” Lucas breathed into the shell of my ear and nipped at my lobe. “He just thinks I’m rushing things.”

I looked at him. “And what do you think? Are you rushing things?”

He shifted closer. “No. I think this is the right time. I don’t want to wait any longer.”

I blushed, the colour climbing my face before I could stop it.