Page 42 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

KAELERON

I stared down at the slumbering wolf, the tears that dampened her cheeks and the scent of her tormenting me.

The one I had bought her from had done something to her.

He might not have touched her body, but that did not mean he had not messed with her mind—that Saphira had not seen things that had imprinted on her. Her reaction to the rite remained with me, rousing my shadows and my darker nature that whispered at me to hunt.

To kill.

She had been drowning in whatever darkness had closed in on her before I had pulled her back to me.

It had been a mistake to order her to come the celebration. I could see that now. There were things about this wolf I should have known, and not only whatever trauma the male wolf had inflicted upon her.

I touched her flushed cheeks, a buried part of me relieved to feel they were cooler now.

The rite had affected her more deeply than I had imagined it would.

I had no love for it normally, but I had found it interesting purely because she had been there with me and I had been able to watch her reacting to the events as they had unfolded. I had liked watching her walls shatter…

But…

I regretted it all now.

I felt responsible for the pain she had suffered because of it, even though I had not known she would react so strongly to the sight and scent of the rite.

She loosed a soft sigh as I stroked my fingers across her cooling cheek and feathered them up to her damp brow to brush her wet silvery hair back from it.

What madness had gripped her tonight?

I had hoped to shake her a little, maybe even loosen her inhibitions, but instead I had inflicted pain upon her.

Guilt gnawed at me as I watched her sleep, this peaceful beauty a stark contrast to the wild, desperate female I had found in this room when I had followed her here, needing to know what was wrong with her.

I knew too little about wolves.

I could see that now.

And I intended to rectify that when she woke. She would tell me what had come over her, and confirm my suspicions for me.

That she was in the grip of a mating heat.

The way she had moved in response to my touch, her sweet cries as pleasure had taken her, and the hungry look in her eyes as she had gazed at me, silently demanding more, swam in my mind, keeping my own need at a steady boil.

Her plea for me to fuck her had almost been my undoing.

Would she have begged any male like that, or was it me in particular she wanted so fervently?

She had demanded I find her a male if I would not take her myself, but had seemed to regret her words the moment they left her lips, and had been all too happy to subject herself to my caress, seeking her pleasure in it instead of issuing another command to find her someone else who would do as she desired.

As if I would let another male touch her.

I growled at the thought of another male laying his hands on her, my teeth sharpening and darkness staining the tips of my fingers as ancient markings tracked down each one towards my palms.

She was mine .

Mine alone.

Visions of her moving so sensuously with another male, lost in her hungers and a slave to her desire, had my darker side pushing to the fore, my nails transforming into inch long claws I brushed over her skin in a possessive caress.

If another male had come to her tonight, would she have begged him to take her as she had begged me?

Would she have given herself to him?

Or was it me alone she desired?

I did not allow myself to answer that question.

She was the key to my vengeance, a tool, that was all. This mating heat was a complication, but I would see to it that she was protected from other males who might be less gentle or considerate with her. Once she had fulfilled her role in my revenge, I would return her to her world.

And I would uphold my vow to slaughter the wolf who had sold her.

I dragged my hand away from her soft skin, curling my fingers into a fist as I reined in my darker side, tempering it with the promise of vengeance against the one who had hurt her. Soon.

Patience .

I was not sure I had any where this female was concerned, and that was dangerous. I could not let her distract me from my vengeance, not now that I felt I was close to achieving it and it would soon be within my grasp.

Delivered by a lamb in wolf’s clothing.

Although, she had not seemed much like a lamb tonight.

She had been all wolf.

A predator on the hunt.

A wild and sensual female who had taken what she had wanted from me, greedily accepting pleasure and demanding more.

I pondered that as I cast magic on the windows and the door, ensuring they remained locked to anyone but me until the morning. Keeping her safe from other males.

And glanced back at her before I teleported to the garden.

The sound of the feast drifted on the night breeze, summoning me back to it.

I should return there to do my part, but the thought was far from appealing.

I looked over my shoulder at the castle, in the direction of my slumbering wolf, and then stepped into the dark void again, teleporting not to the feast or my room, but to my private retreat deep in the heart of Noainfir, the mountain that protected the castle like a great shadow.

Magic stirred around me as I strode across the mosaic floor of the giant marble rotunda, glowing in the great crystals that clung to the cragged walls of the cave, each violet shard larger than I was.

My eyes slipped shut and I stilled, feeling the magic as it swirled around me, as it grew stronger in response to the celebrations above.

And what I had done with Saphira.

I walked to one of the seating areas, my steps falling silent as I crossed several ornate rugs and passed tables ladened with books and sheets of my notes and theories on Saphira and her role in my vengeance.

The candles on the tables flickered to life as I passed them, adding a warm glow to the air that glittered with golden motes.

Rather than sinking into one of the upholstered chairs as I had intended, I continued towards the edge of the circular platform of the rotunda where it fell away into a cliff that dove down to the sliver of sea that entered the cave through the far end of it.

My mind on Saphira.

On the way she had moved for me, responding to my touch so sweetly, and so wickedly, her supple body arching under my caress, silently begging me for more.

My eyes slipped shut and I palmed my cock, rubbing my hand down the aching shaft as I pictured her on her knees, her wild silver hair falling around her shoulders, her breasts swaying as she moved in time with the strokes of my fingers.

I shredded the laces of my leathers with a claw and groaned as cool air kissed my overheating length, wrapped my hand around it and fed it into her slick pussy, savouring her moan as I stretched and filled her, as I sank myself as deep as her sweet sheath could take me.

Possessively deep.

My left hand gripped her hip as my right fisted her hair, twisting the soft strands around my hand, and I planted my right foot against the bed, using it for leverage as I pounded into her, as I gave her everything she had begged me to give her, relishing her cries and the sound of my flesh slapping against her as I thrust my cock deep into her.

Punishing thrusts.

Marking her as mine.

Making her need no other male.

She moaned and clenched me, cries growing louder as I angled my hips and took her harder, deeper, my rough breaths mingling with hers as we strained for release together, as her scent engulfed me and her heat gripped me.

It hit me in a blinding flash that robbed me of breath in a yell that echoed around the cavern.

My cock throbbed in my hand as my trembling legs buckled beneath me, each jet of seed that burst from me staggering me.

I sank to my knees, struggling to breathe.

“By the Great Mother,” I muttered, bracing my free hand on my thigh, my shaft still throbbing with release that ebbed and flowed through me, making my head spin and heart labour.

The magic.

It was just the magic of Beltane in the air.

It had intoxicated me more than I had known and that was the reason I was half blind from an orgasm that had shaken me to my core.

The magic was the reason I had climaxed so hard.

Not the bewitching little wolf who had cried my name when her mating frenzy had shattered.