Page 4 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

Lucas took my chin between his thumb and forefinger, his smile dazzling. “So innocent. So perfect. You could charm any male with a look… a reaction like that.”

I brushed his hand away. “I don’t want to charm any male.”

“Shame.” He refilled my glass. “Countless men would part with good money just to have a beautiful female blush for them like that.”

I scoffed. “Did you start drinking before I arrived? I’m not that pretty, nor that innocent.”

That last part tasted like ash on my tongue, a pitiful attempt to pretend I wasn’t as innocent as all my blushing and unconcealed eagerness declared I was.

His eyebrows lifted. “Really? Tell me, Saphira, who have you been not-so-innocent with?”

“Morden,” I blurted.

Lucas barked out a laugh, as if that was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. “Morden Snow?”

Morden scowled over at us from his seat at Chase and Everlee’s table near the door.

Lucas suddenly stopped laughing when Morden’s grey gaze moved from him to me. His arm tightened around me, pinning me to his side, his fingers pressing in hard enough to hurt.

“You lie.” His voice pitched low, laced with a growl.

“I do not.” I dragged my focus from Morden and settled it back on Lucas, a smile curling the corners of my lips as my wolf rumbled in approval of the jealous look on Lucas’s face. I wanted more of that look, of that possessive hold he had on me, so I confessed, “He’s seen me naked.”

Lucas looked as if he might laugh again as he relaxed a notch, his grip loosening. “We’re shifters. We see each other naked all the time.”

I frowned at him. No, we didn’t. Males often stripped before a shift, not caring who was looking, and some even walked around nude afterwards, but pack females didn’t tend to do the same.

At least, females at my pack didn’t. My gaze darted around the room, singling out all the females of the Hunt pack.

How many of these females had Lucas seen naked?

How many had seen him naked?

Now I was the jealous one.

So, I snapped, “It wasn’t during a shift. We went skinny dipping at the lake.”

Lucas’s face darkened.

Claws pressed into my arm, threatening to break my skin.

“It was just once,” I stammered, my heart pounding as fear rose within me. I had taken this silly game of making each other jealous too far, pushing him too hard.

Fated males didn’t like others looking at their mate, especially before their bond was completed.

I wanted to blame the buzz of the wine, opened my mouth to do just that, but then the darkness in his eyes faded, melting away as a breathtaking smile curved his lips, a charming mask falling into place but not convincing me his anger was gone.

“And never again.” Lucas swept his fingers down my cheek and took hold of my chin again, keeping my gaze on his. “You’re mine now.”

My breath hitched, lodging in my throat, and I nodded, my voice lost to me as I stared into his eyes and their wicked promise of things to come.

He brought his mouth to my ear again, his lips brushing it as he said, “Skinny dipping sounds good. Let’s do that.”

“Now?” My eyes widened. “It’s freezing out there and we’re in the middle of a celebration for us… which means we should probably be here.”

He shrugged. “We’ll shift and run to the lake. It’ll warm us up. And believe me, no one will care if we slip away. They’re probably all expecting it.”

My heart pounded, accelerating at the thought of Lucas chasing me through the dark forest in his wolf form. Instinct howled at me to agree, to make him chase me and fight to catch me. To make him work to win me.

Make him hunt me.

I nodded, and before I had come to my senses, still lost in that fantasy of running with him, he had me on my feet and was pulling me away with him.

The two packs jeered as they spotted us making a beeline for the exit.

I glanced back at my parents, my gut twisting at the thought of leaving without saying goodbye to them, but I caught sight of their smiling faces.

They waved me on, and I smiled shakily back at them before Lucas tugged me out into the crisp night.

I needed to say my farewells to Everlee, and Chase and Morden.

Lucas released my arm and pulled his shirt off, making me forget my need to say goodbye to my friends as my wolf howled in response to the delicious sight of his carved chest and abs. He toed off his boots and shucked his jeans, and that howl became a growl as I glimpsed all of him.

Only glimpsed.

He shifted into his dark wolf form before I could drink him in, robbing me of the pleasure of gazing upon his perfection.

The sight of him letting his wolf out beckoned me to do the same, instinct driving me to run with him, with my fated mate.

I wanted to take my time stripping, letting him see all of me, but he growled, impatience ringing through it, and it was so cold that I found myself rushing to ditch my shoes and dress, and my underwear.

I shifted the moment I was naked, payback for what he had done to me, and took off towards the nearest lake, the scent of water telling me where it was. It wasn’t a far run through the snowy forest, the distance short enough that it wouldn’t satisfy my need to be chased by Lucas, hunted by him.

My paws flew over the leaf litter, the cold lost on me as I raced through the night, the chill air kissing my fur.

Lucas broke off to my left and my sharp senses tracked him.

Curiosity rolled through me as he came across me, herding me towards my right, making me change course as he brushed against me.

He pranced around me, yipping and nipping at my flank.

I nipped back at him, nudged and rubbed against him as we ran, and then broke away from him, trying to run back towards the direction I could smell water.

He came up beside me again, loosing a growl this time, a command I felt all the way down to my soul. He wanted me to go somewhere else. I glanced at him, my heightened vision easily making him out despite the pitch darkness. He pointed his snout towards somewhere in the distance.

Towards his home.

Eagerness rolled through me, hunger sweeping me up in it and making me turn towards that direction. My paws pounded the dirt track as I picked it up, one that wound through the forest and was familiar to me.

Lucas nipped at my heels and I ran harder, streaking ahead of him, a thrill bolting down my spine as he gave chase.

My breaths fogged in the air as I put on another burst of speed, increasing the distance between us, and Lucas snarled and redoubled his effort to capture me. He closed the gap, narrowing it down to only a few lengths of my sleek body.

Each leap over a fallen branch, or dance around a tree in my path, heightened my awareness of him and that hunger that was close to shredding my restraint as I imagined him catching me, shifting back and pinning me beneath his powerful body on the ground and taking me.

Lucas used my distraction against me, closing the distance down to nothing and smacking my rump with his head. He nipped with his fangs, the sharp sting of them against my flesh sending heat skittering through my veins. So hot I almost tripped and face-planted into the dirt.

When he tried to nip me again, I dodged, leaping to one side, and he almost hit a tree that came between us.

His eyes flashed with irritation and amusement.

And then he took off past me.

Into a clearing.

I slowed to a trot.

I didn’t recognise this place or the ancient barn that stood in the centre of it.

Lucas didn’t slow until he was at the open door of the towering dark wooden building. He stopped and looked back at me, jerked his head and disappeared inside.

My breaths came faster, my heart pumping harder as I listened and focused my senses, stretching them as far and wide around me as I could manage. I couldn’t sense any movement nearby or hear anything above my heartbeat and rapid breaths.

We were alone.

Excitement coursed through me, making my head a little light as I eased towards the barn.

My vision wobbled and I shook my head, clearing it.

Heat prickled down my spine, and my limbs tingled.

Maybe I should have listened to my mother when she had wanted to tell me what my first heat would be like, because this giddiness wasn’t at all what I had expected.

I trotted into the darkness, shaking off my nerves as the gloom embraced me and my eyes adjusted to it, revealing the enormous open space and a large box covered by a cloth.

Lucas stood near it, snagging my attention as he shifted back. I growled, hunger rushing through me at the sight of him in all his glory. My shift came over me without me even thinking about it, my bones elongating and fur receding as I straightened to my full height.

I stood before him, feeling a little dizzy as his gaze raked over me, scorching a trail down my bare body that made my blood thrum with need.

I had never been so aware of someone’s eyes on me.

He stalked towards me, a predator in human guise, and I bit back a groan that bubbled up my throat as his hungry gaze drank me in and his penis twitched, beginning to grow hard.

My body hummed in response to the sight, heat pooling low between my thighs, and I squeezed them slightly, savouring the ache building there.

When he reached me, he ran his hand down my arm and took hold of my hand rather than my wrist. “Come with me.”

I eagerly followed him, my vision shifting again, and I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again.

This time, the haziness didn’t clear. I tried to focus on Lucas’s bare back, on the delicious globes of his bottom, and how his muscles shifted as he stalked forwards into the gloom.

He swept his arm out, and I didn’t notice what he had revealed at first, his body a distraction that held me under its spell.

Until he pulled me forwards again.

My gaze leaped to my right.

A cage.

I took a step back, panic blaring like a warning horn in my mind, and instinct screamed at me to run, that this wasn’t right.