Page 47 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

SAPHIRA

I spun on my heel, whirling to face the female.

Elanaluvyr. Behind the dark-haired beauty stood the rest of her clique, one looking at anything but me, and the other looking ready to pummel me into the dirt.

I breathed hard, my eyes darting back to the fae who stood closest to me, a female who looked like she didn’t just want to beat me into the ground.

She wanted to kill me.

Her pointed ears flared back as she bared her teeth at me on a snarl. “Answer me, mutt.”

I had two choices. Lie through my teeth about what I had done with Kaeleron or prepare to fight.

While this fae was stronger than me, she was slim and her hands didn’t show any sign that she had done manual labour a day in her life.

The fae didn’t seem so different to my breed.

They kept their females docile and genteel too.

No fighting for them, unless their name was Jenavyr or Kali.

So I could maybe take Elanaluvyr in a fight, using what little training I had received before my parents had discovered what was happening and had disciplined both Chase and Morden. Training I could barely remember, but hoped came back to me in the heat of the moment.

Elanaluvyr scoffed. “Even if the magic of Beltane made my king make a poor decision, he will make the right one when the time comes. He would never choose a mutt for his queen. When the time comes for him to wed, you will be displaced as his favourite and relegated to his whore where you belong.”

My claws punched out of my fingertips, my wolf side growling and baring fangs at the female.

A female who wanted him.

Who had offered herself to him at Beltane and had almost tempted him when Vyr said he hadn’t participated in the last decade.

“When I am warming his bed, satisfying his needs night after night, I will ensure you find yourself in the dungeon, and that any male who wishes to slake his lusts will find you there, collared and chained like the dog you are.”

Broken images of cages, of chains and steel collars, of Lucas and that female, of Kaeleron and this one, stuttered across my eyes.

Elanaluvyr leaned towards me, just as she had leaned towards Kaeleron, her body bared to him, tempting him, and whispered, “You are nothing but a disposable whore to my king.”

I saw red.

Before I knew what was happening, I had the female’s throat in my hands and I was choking her as I snarled, as I bared my fangs for all to see.

“You’re nothing but a spineless bitch,” I snapped, shaking her hard with all my strength, anger at the helm, a fury born of the thought of this female with Kaeleron, with the power she might wield and how she would use it to have her revenge on me.

It wasn’t going to happen. I wouldn’t let it.

“Desperate for a male who doesn’t want you. Pathetic whore!”

Elanaluvyr loosed an unholy sound and launched at me, ripping my hands from her throat. Her fist slammed into my gut, lifting my feet off the ground. Pain spiralled along my limbs as my breath left me in a grunt.

“You are the whore.” She fisted my hair and yanked my head back, and struck me hard across my face.

I staggered, stars winking across my vision as I tripped across the flagstones, fighting to remain on my feet as the world spun around me and I tasted blood. Not good. I had been wrong. This female did know how to fight.

Or she was being fuelled by pure, unadulterated rage like I was.

I twisted, keeping low as Chase had taught me, and unleashed a fast uppercut that caught her under her jaw, snapping her head back in a far too satisfying way.

Before she could recover, I slammed my fist into her gut, my blow clumsy as adrenaline stole control of me, the high of the fight swiftly claiming command of all my faculties.

I growled and struck again, swinging my left fist this time, a follow up blow Morden had drilled into me in the limited time he had been able to train me.

The fae easily blocked it as she recovered and hit me with a punch of her own, one that sent my head reeling again and fiery lightning spiderwebbing over my skull as I staggered away from her, seeking space to recover my wits before I attacked again.

She caught me by the front of my blouse and hauled me back to her, and held me aloft before her, my feet dangling and toes scuffing the ground as I wriggled in her grip. I flinched as she yelled at me, spittle splattering my face as hers reddened with each word she hurled.

“The whole castle is speaking of how you lured him away from the rites, endangering our strength—the strength of this court—and making it vulnerable. Maybe it is better I eliminate the threat of you right now before you destroy this court!”

She hurled me.

Fucking hurled me through the air like I weighed nothing.

I cried out as I hit the wall of the castle, sure I heard the sickening crunch of bone near my shoulder as it took the brunt of the impact, and screamed as I dropped to the ground, whatever bone had broken jarring with the secondary impact and sending fire shooting down my arm and over my skull.

My breaths shortened, pain stealing the air from my lungs together with my courage as Elanaluvyr ignored her friends’ pleas to stop and launched at me again.

Nailing my hip with a fierce kick that vibrated along my bones.

I curled inwards, protecting my vital organs and covering my head with my forearms, panic and fear melding to have fur rippling over my skin as my wolf side charged to the fore.

I was stronger in that form, but changing would leave me vulnerable for several seconds in which this bitch could easily deal a killing blow. I couldn’t risk it.

The way she kept up her barrage of kicks, hands against the wall above me for support now as she hemmed me in, said I wasn’t getting out of this alive either way.

I gritted my teeth, struggling to bear the pain building inside me with each hard blow against my shins or forearms, and when she began stomping on me, slamming her heel down against my hips and sides, I made my decision.

Better to die as a wolf than endure this shit like a little lamb.

I growled low, urging the shift, forcing it as the pain clouded my mind, threatening to strip consciousness from me.

But the pain was too much.

Shifters couldn’t hold their animal form when they were in pain.

A lesson my parents had taught me the moment I had been old enough to manage my first shift and one of the most important ever bestowed upon me.

I had made the ultimate mistake—I had left it too late to fight back.

“Die,” Elanaluvyr growled.

“Fuck that,” I muttered and when she went to kick me again, I moved with all the speed I had left in me, my shoulder screaming in agony, and went to grab her foot to shove her off balance.

Only that kick never came.

I reached out with my senses but felt nothing through the pain. It eclipsed everything. And the scent of blood—my blood—masked all the smells around me.

Dreadful silence surrounded me and I blinked open gritty, burning eyes, lowering my hands a fraction, enough to see past them but not enough that I couldn’t bring them up to defend myself if this was a feint designed by Elanaluvyr to leave me vulnerable to a head attack.

Not only silence enshrouded me.

Shadows did too.

But it wasn’t Kaeleron who snarled.

“What in the Great Mother’s name are you doing?” Jenavyr. She sounded a lot like her brother when she was angry—commanding, intimidating, and just a little terrifying. “Have you lost your mind? Both of you?”

The shadows parted and Jenavyr’s eyes widened as they landed on me. I grimaced as I tried to uncurl, my arm screaming and every place Elanaluvyr had landed a blow aching and burning.

Maybe I had lost my mind, because I had been fighting over Kaeleron because I wanted him, and I wanted him to want me. To pick me.

“By the Great Mother.” Jenavyr crouched beside me, worry flashing across her eyes and her face as she reached for me and I flinched, anticipating how much it was going to hurt when she touched me.

Her hand halted a short distance from my skin, her power caressing it, so much like Kaeleron’s when she was furious. “How badly are you injured?”

I shuffled up into a sitting position, trying not to give away that I felt as if I was falling apart, and failing when my shoulder burned and my hand flew to it, gripping it hard as pain throbbed down my arm and up my neck. Behind Jenavyr, Elanaluvyr smirked, sick pleasure glittering in her eyes.

All that adrenaline I had felt during the opening moments of the fight returned, narrowing my focus down to my opponent as I sought an opening, a way to take her down.

Jenavyr’s face darkened, wrath incarnate as she turned hard silver eyes on Elanaluvyr. “Guards. Take her away.”

Elanaluvyr’s eyes widened and she shook her head, her panicked gaze darting over her hands as if she had just come to her senses and wasn’t sure how my blood had gotten on them and her pretty silk slippers.

“No. Wait. I did not start this,” the fae female shrieked as two male guards grabbed her and began hauling her away. Her voice rose towards hysteria. “She started it. She is a rabid beast that needs to be put down!”

Vyr swept to her feet, every bit the commander as her cold gaze speared Elanaluvyr, silencing her.

Or maybe it was what she said.

“The fate of both of you is King Kaeleron’s to decide.”

Elanaluvyr blanched, as if she knew what her fate would be.

Death .

Some primal part of me snarled at that, at the injustice of it. This fae’s death was mine to deal. This fight was mine, not his. I tamped down that feral bloodthirsty part of me, trying to tame it, so startled by the force of the desire that I almost missed the look Vyr levelled on me.

I wasn’t sure my fate would be much better judging by that look that warned she was going to tell Kaeleron what had happened, and he would know the fight had been over him, and where did that leave me? Far too vulnerable, that was for sure.

Vyr helped me onto my feet and I gritted my teeth as I hobbled towards my room.

She growled and pulled me against her, and darkness swirled around us, and then we were before my door.

I sagged against her, silently thanking her for helping me by teleporting me here as some of the adrenaline waned to leave me tired and aching, and a little envious of that particular skill.

If I had been in possession of it, I could have teleported away from the fae bitch before she had been able to attempt to puncture every organ in my body with her foot.

Which revealed a glaring hole in my plot to win that fight.

Any moment I had come close to dealing a fatal blow, the fae could have teleported out of my reach.

Not only that, but she had magic at her disposal and I still wasn’t sure what kind of things the unseelie highborn could do with that power.

I needed to learn to pick my fights, and do my research before them if I stood any chance of winning and surviving life at this court.

I had the feeling that now word was out about what had happened during the rite, that Elanaluvyr wouldn’t be the only one coming for me.

I needed to practice fighting and learn more about this world and its people.

Starting tomorrow.

Tonight, I just wanted to sleep.

Or maybe pace a little to work off the adrenaline and post-battle energy and then sleep.

Jenavyr pushed my door open and helped me inside.

“I will send a medic up to you,” she said and released me.

I grabbed hold of her arm to stop her. “Please don’t tell Kaeleron.”

She hesitated, her expression softening, and I thought I had won and would be spared the agony of him discovering why I had been caught up in a fight against one of his court, but then she glanced away and sighed.

“I cannot do that. My loyalty is to my brother first and foremost. It is my duty to inform him of everything that happens within the court. Even this.”

I wanted to argue with her, but what was the point? I understood where she was coming from and I didn’t want her to endanger her position or even twist her loyalties a little for my sake. So I nodded, letting her know I understood, and watched as she exited my room and closed the door behind her.

All I could do now was hope she had been wrong and that business in Belkarthen would keep Kaeleron away for a few more days, long enough for me to heal.

Unsure how long it would take for the medics to arrive, I unlaced my corset, thankful for the extra protection it had given me.

Flashes of the fight replayed across my mind and fur danced over my skin, my wolf side agitated by it all.

My hands shook as I removed the corset, my claws still out as I twisted what had happened in the fight in my head, so it was Elanaluvyr on the ground, cowering and desperate to live. Pathetic. Weak.

I cast my corset away from me, growling as I began to pace, as adrenaline drowned out the fear and the pain, replacing it with rage and a fight instinct that had me wanting to find where the guards had taken the fae female and have my revenge. This fight wasn’t over. I wasn’t done.

I was going to do my research, and I was going to practice my limited fighting skills, and then I was going to have a rematch with the bitch.

My fingers flexed and curled, claws pressing into my palms as I paced, mind whirling with a need to lash out and make the female pay for what she had done.

My shoulder ached, throbbing deep in my clavicle that I was sure was broken.

I would break her bone in return. I touched my split lip. I would make her bleed.

The fae would likely utterly destroy me, but I didn’t care. Here in this rage-fuelled high, I didn’t care.

I wanted to destroy her too.

I stalked to the end of the room and back again, and caught my haggard reflection in the full length mirror near the blood-red dressing table.

Split lip. Bruised cheek. A huge spreading blotch over my collarbone.

And those were the wounds I could see. The ones I could feel were too numerous.

Bruises mostly. I gingerly prodded my side and gasped as pain lanced it, fire licking through my blood.

The door blasted open.

Inky night exploded into the room.