Page 44 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

SAPHIRA

I backed away a step, intending to leave before the male noticed me, but he stood and pivoted to face me in one fluid motion, his silver eyes clashing with mine.

Silver eyes that were familiar and foreign at the same time.

The stranger bowed gracefully, bending at the waist as his right arm came across his stomach and his left extended out at his side with a flourish.

He straightened, his wild short black hair kissing his pale forehead as his eyes locked with mine again and a smile curved lips only a shade darker than his skin.

“My lady,” he murmured as a way of greeting, and I frowned at him, studying him closely, watching his every move as something buried deep within me said to keep my distance from him.

This male was dangerous.

He smoothed his fine black tunic, his eyes remaining fixed on mine, and I tried to place him, searching my memories to figure out whether I had met him before.

Given his mocking greeting, I suspected he knew of me at least, and maybe that meant he was part of the court but a member I hadn’t run into on any of my walks.

“You may greet me with ‘my prince’.” He rolled his hand in my direction, gesturing for me to follow his instructions.

“A prince?” I continued to frown at him. “No one here has ever mentioned there’s a prince at this court.”

His smile was feline, and it reached his eyes, making them shine as he said, “I am not of this court. Merely a visitor. Perhaps considered a friend by some.”

“By the king?” Kaeleron was the only one I could imagine as this male’s friend. They both walked a fine line between light and terrifying darkness, and both held a power that was so potent it was a tangible thing around me, snaking and twining around my limbs and crawling over my skin.

“And his sister, and perhaps some others at this court too.” He gestured to the bench between us. “Shall we sit?”

“No thanks.” I remained where I was, keeping a healthy distance between us.

He chuckled again. “So blunt. Are all your breed so forthright? Your kind certainly seem to be gaining a foothold in fae lands. Almost seven centuries on this earth and not once had I seen a wolf in Lucia, and suddenly there are two. First a male, and now a female.”

I stiffened. “A male?”

There was another wolf shifter in Lucia?

My pulse picked up, heart racing as I considered who it might be, and fear washed through my veins as my mind locked onto Lucas. Odd that I instantly leaped to fear, even my wolf side afraid that he might have come to find me, that he might take me from this world before I was ready to leave.

Before I was strong enough to face him.

The fae prince held his hands out before him, the gesture calming, and I realised I had been growling and flexing my fingers, my fangs on show as my lips peeled back off them.

“The wolf I met was a Scottish alpha and had his mate with him. I safely escorted them from the lands of the Nightmare Court.”

Not Lucas then, or anyone I knew.

Nightmare Court?

I shuddered at the name alone, images springing into my mind of what that court would be like. If the one of shadows was dark and frightening enough, I never wanted to see the Nightmare Court.

“Are you from there?” I said, suppressing another shiver and the urge to step back to increase the distance between us.

The male shook his head. “No. I am not from anywhere. Not anymore. I am a wanderer.” He gestured to the seat again, his lips curling in a warm smile that again reached his eyes.

“Come. I do not bite. Let us sit a while and conspire. I am sure there are a great many things you wish to know about the ruler of this court. I know many of his secrets.”

His grin was all mischief.

He liked the idea of spilling all Kaeleron’s secrets to me, and I wasn’t sure he wanted to do it to arm me with information about my master.

He looked as if he wanted to do it to irritate Kaeleron more than anything.

A male unafraid of Kaeleron’s wrath? How powerful was he if he didn’t fear the shadow king?

“I am Oberon.” He extended his hand to me, his expression warm and open.

“Oberon,” I echoed, my eyebrows rising high on my forehead. “I know that name. Vyr mentioned you. She said you told her tales of my world… and something about wanting me to verify what you had said about it.”

His face brightened. “Vyr. She is well? I admit, I wanted to see her too, but she is absent from the castle. Away on some business apparently.”

“She’s well. I think. I haven’t known her long enough to tell whether she’s well or not really. But she seemed fine the last time I saw her.” I cringed as I recalled our trip into town and run in with Riordan. “Although, I feel her business is an excuse to get away from a certain vampire.”

Oberon arched a fine black eyebrow and I felt I had said too much.

Before I could ask him to forget what I had said, he chuckled.

“Riordan has been annoying her again?” He shook his head, flashing straight white teeth in a broad smile. “The fool will never win her that way.”

I leaned towards him, wanting to ‘conspire’ just as he had offered, the words on the tip of my tongue.

Oh my gods, you see it too?

I held them inside instead, feeling I had already said too much and it really wasn’t my place to gossip with a relative-stranger about the princess of this court.

I was trying to earn Vyr’s trust and maybe win her friendship, and I wouldn’t achieve either of those things if she heard I had been debating her possible feelings for the vampire.

“Sit with me, wolf. Anything you say will not leave my lips.” He took a seat, turning his back to me, and patted the spot beside him. “I am a great master of secrets.”

Rather than taking it, I walked past him to the wall and leaned against it, enjoying the breeze now I was out of the shade of the gazebo, and that strange twilight sky that shifted with colourful, bewitching aurora.

I sighed as I studied it, planting my hands beside my hips to steady myself as I tipped my head back further.

Oberon watched me, his gaze a caress of power that hummed along my skin.

I lowered my eyes to him. “I’m Saphira by the way.”

I extended my hand to him, and he rose and slipped his into it, his skin cool against mine but thrumming with power that echoed in my bones as he gently gripped my hand and lifted it.

And brushed his lips across the back of it.

My eyes widened, eyebrows shooting high on my forehead.

He chuckled as he released it and eased back a step, his handsome face filled with genuine warmth and light that was at odds with everyone else I had met in this world.

“Are you always this charming?” I said, a ripple of shock rolling through me at my blunt question. Oberon was really going to end up thinking all wolves were rather forward.

His smile held. “Not often. But charming you comes so very easily. I find it is not a chore with you.”

I frowned and pursed my lips as I puzzled over his words, and then smiled. “I’m going to take that as a compliment, I think.”

He came to stand beside me, his hands tucked behind his back, stretching his black tunic tight across his chest, and sighed as he gazed out at the sea, his eyes fixed on a distant point.

I twisted and looked there, enjoying the strangely comfortable silence that fell over us, wanting to see what he was looking at with such an odd expression.

As if he longed for whatever he was looking for, but despised it at the same time.

“Where is home for you?” Those words rose unbidden to my lips, born of some part of me that knew the source of his look, because that same feeling existed in my heart too.

I loved my home, but hated it at times. The confinement. The inability to do the things I wanted to do.

To be who I wanted to be.

“King’s Water. In the Stygian Isles. Far from here.” He didn’t take his eyes off the horizon as he pointed towards it.

No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t see the islands he spoke of, but I imagined he could, even if he was only seeing them in his mind.

“And how long has it been since you were last there?” I said brightly, a little teasingly.

He smiled and slid me a look. “Many lunar cycles. I am a wanderer, after all.”

“Of course. A wanderer. The perfect excuse to roam far from home for long periods.” My smile was wicked now and he returned it, that light in his eyes brightening. “I like that term. Wanderer. Maybe I’ll call myself a wanderer one day. When I can leave here.”

I scanned the horizon, a smile playing on my lips, warmth curling through me as I thought of all the adventures that awaited me out there.

“Wandering is dangerous. Holding allegiance to no court, even more so. Better you remain here, Saphira, where you are protected.”

I levelled a black look on him. “You sound like my father. Always telling me to stay with the pack where it’s safe. Well, look where that got me. Sold to a fae king.”

It was his turn to frown at me, his eyes darkening like a violent storm and the thrum of his power growing stronger against my skin. “Sold to a fae king? To Kaeleron?”

His black eyebrows pitched low and the very air around him darkened. Not the air around him. I raised my eyes to the sky. Clouds were gathering, heavy grey and ominous, blotting out the beautiful aurora-kissed heavens.

Oberon growled, “I came here because I had business with Kaeleron, and saw you and grew curious as to what a wolf was doing in Lucia… and now I discover it is because Kaeleron owns you.”

I nodded. “Isn’t it like him? It certainly feels like it is. He’s an overbearing asshole who issues me orders and makes me follow them or I will never earn my freedom from this place. I can’t stand him.”