Page 50 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

KAELERON

M y fingers still tingled from the soft feel of Saphira’s skin beneath them, my darkness tempered by the softness of her eyes as she had gazed at me, but as the distance between myself and the slumbering wolf grew, her hold over me faded.

Shadows swept behind me like a midnight cloak, tendrils writhing across the flagstones as I crossed the courtyard to the entrance to the dungeon. Rich aurora chased across the sky above me, stars blanketing the inky canvas beyond the shimmering veil, and the night whispered to me.

Beckoned me.

Stilted, broken images of Saphira’s injuries flashed across my vision, gaining pace as I neared the stone arch in the side wall of the castle. Her clavicle, bruised and broken. Her lip, split open. Her delicate cheekbone, bearing a black mark that wrenched at my soul.

No more than scratches in the grand scheme of things, injuries that could have been so much worse, but each wound cleaved at my control like a sword, cutting slices of it away.

Claw-tipped fingers curled into fists at my side, trembling as I thought of how afraid she had been, that acrid tang of fear I had scented upon entering the castle grounds still singeing my lungs. Together with blood. Her blood.

I had lost all reason the moment I had scented it.

Had been outside her room in a flash, breaking the door down, my shadows pouring into the air around me.

And there she had been.

Wounded.

Bleeding.

Broken.

Shadows ripped at the flagstones around me, shattering some and hurling others clear across the courtyard.

They threatened to tear the stones from the arch as I passed under it and I barely leashed them, pulling them hard back under my control.

They seethed with me as I stalked down the slick stone steps to the dungeon, as I scented my prey ahead of me.

Her fear. Her blood.

I would savour both.

The dark-haired fae female flashed fearful eyes at me as I strode into view, shuffling backwards in her cell, until her back hit the far wall and she could go no further.

“My king,” she whispered, gaze imploring me, even when she knew I had no mercy to give her.

She had tried to take something from me.

All who dared such a thing faced the same punishment.

Death.

“Kaeleron,” Neve warned, the dragon female evidently aware of where this was going.

She approached the bars, no love in her eyes as she glanced at the cowering fae female.

“At least do it outside. Blood is so very hard to remove from these old stones and I prefer not to have to endure the irritating sound of hours of scrubbing from your servants.”

The hope that had been building in the fae female’s eyes turned to horror or perhaps betrayal.

Had she honestly believed Neve would care about her fate?

My seer could be as ruthless as any of us when she felt her precious treasure trove was threatened, and the kind of death I wanted to give this fae would end with her entire hoard splattered with blood.

I wrenched the barred door of the cell before me open with magic, the sound of iron striking iron singing around me, together with the startled gasp of my prey.

The fae female huddled and shook her head, pulling her filthy fine dress towards her as she gripped her knees. “Please, my king. It was a moment of madness. It will not happen again.”

“It will not,” I agreed, darkness pouring through my veins as I considered what her moment of madness might had stolen from me.

How I had failed to protect the little wolf.

I sneered down at the female and snared her with my shadows, hauling her towards me, the inky vines burrowing deep into her flesh and tearing a pained scream from her.

I would protect Saphira now.

I would ensure no one dared harm her and would remove this danger from her path.

My fangs lengthened, the world sharpening around me as I sank into the darkness, as I gathered it to me and wrapped myself in it. Images of Saphira continued to flutter across my mind, fuelling the rage that consumed me, swept me up in it and shattered my control.

She had been wounded. Had bled.

She might have died.

The images of her distorted as my breaths shortened, as my past surged up on me, twisting her face into that of another, older female who bore the same dark hair and silver eyes as my own.

Her terrified screams rang in my ears and my chest heaved with each laboured breath I pulled down into my lungs as my throat closed and I wanted to throw my hands over my ears to shut out the sound.

Wanted to tear my gaze from that sliver of her as she fought her attackers, desperate to live even as her life leached from her in thick almost black rivulets that spilled down her nightdress.

Rage and darkness purred within me as that memory twisted again, the female taking the form of the one I dragged from the cell with my shadows, hauling her up the stone steps as she wailed and begged for mercy.

No mercy.

Whatever shred of that quality I had possessed had been killed in that moment all those centuries ago.

When night air kissed my skin again, I hurled the female forwards, sending her tumbling across the courtyard, and fought the hold the darkness had on me, the part of me that wanted answers refusing to let it kill the female before I had them.

“Why did you attack my little wolf?” I snarled and advanced on her.

She scrambled onto her knees and shuffled away from me. “She started it.”

I scoffed at that. I knew Saphira well enough now to know that she wasn’t the sort to attack unprovoked. Only when she had been pushed to her limit had she turned on me rather than seeking to excuse herself and leave my presence, choosing the more noble and peaceful way out.

“I ask again. Why did you attack my little wolf?” I stalked towards her, shadows snapping at the flagstones near her, keeping her hemmed in as the spell I had woven kept her magic from her, ensuring she couldn’t escape me.

She tossed fearful glances at each sharp black blade that slashed at the ground, her arms coming up to shield her chest as she curled inwards, trying to make herself a smaller target.

As if that would help her.

I had impeccable aim.

She swallowed and turned those deliciously fearful eyes on me, and then showed her fangs. “Little wolf? She is a mutt. A filthy fleabag who taints this noble court with her presence.”

One of my shadows lashed at her leg, drawing blood and a satisfying shriek of pain.

“You dare call her a mutt?” I stalked closer, canting my head as I studied her, cataloguing all the places I would slice her open before I was through. For every bruise she had inflicted on Saphira, I would inflict a cut upon her.

She would bleed for what she had done, and then she would beg, and then I would kill her.

“She is a mutt,” she snapped as she uncurled, planting her hands on her knees and facing me now, her courage rising as fire filled her eyes. “She is undeserving of a place in your bed, let alone one at your side. You are no better than your father, choosing a common whore as?—”

Shadows slammed into her, a thousand sharp needles that shot straight through her, punching from the flagstones behind her and straight out of her front as they lifted her from the ground, crucifying her.

She screamed, the sound garbled as blood filled her lungs, as it drenched her dress.

My chest heaved, rage so hot it threatened to burn away my sanity blazing in my veins as her words rang in my ears.

My vision swam, the world wobbling and distorting around me, my head spinning as I replayed that blood-soaked night all those years ago, and then my memories unravelled, rolling backwards through my youth, through tender smiles and loving looks.

The images of my parents became clouded with blood. With screams. With a sickening replay of their final moments in this world.

And then Saphira.

Afraid.

Bleeding.

Broken.

The fae female’s screams rose in volume, pain-drenched as I tore into her with my shadows, as I hurled her to the ground with them and pinned her to the flagstones. An unholy snarl ripped from my lips as I launched at her, darkness descending upon the world, blotting out the night.

I ripped through flesh and bone with my claws, drenching my black-tipped fingers with her blood, the scent of it and her delicious cries fuelling me.

The ground beneath us quaked, the walls of the castle shaking as I unleashed my wrath upon her.

The flagstones vibrated, several exploding into dust under the pressure as cracks branched out from beneath my boots, snaking across the courtyard and leaking shadows.

The forest groaned, the sound of splintering wood echoing through the night as the stars winked out and the moon hid.

But still I was not satisfied.

Something dark and brutal within me howled for more, howled at me to protect Saphira, to remove all threats to her from this world.

The very air trembled around me, vibrating with the malice filling my heart, demanding satisfaction.

I would hunt all threats in this world down, and then I would travel to her world and end all threats to her there too. I would ensure no one dared harm her again.

The scent of Saphira filled my lungs, my mind, my raging heart. Green pastures. Sunshine. Endless blue skies. Everything I had loved once, long ago.

The world stilled.

I stilled.

And then there was silence.

And only the sound of my rough breaths as I loomed over the dead fae female, panting as my muscles burned from the exertion and the blood on my hands grew cold.

Someone whistled low.

I turned on the intruder on a savage snarl.

Riordan.

The blond vampire stood a short distance away, at the edge of the carnage, still dressed in his uniform, as if he had heard the commotion and come running from his office in the barracks.

And he wasn’t alone.

Oberon stood beside him, wearing only hastily fastened black pants that had the button undone, his bare feet close to the ring of blood splatters that surrounded me and the dead female.

His silver gaze was grave as he stared at the corpse at my feet and then at me, silently demanding an explanation.

I had none to give as I struggled to claw back control and calm myself, my breathing rough and uneven, my fingertips stained black beneath the blood on them and my teeth as sharp as daggers.

“You were right to summon me,” Oberon said quietly as he glanced at Riordan. “I suggest you leave now.”

The vampire nodded and made a fast exit.

“What is this all about, Kael?” Oberon eyed the broken body again. “The wolf? Is she something to you?”

When his searching gaze landed on me, I snarled, “She is my revenge.”

My old friend didn’t look convinced by that declaration. “What happened to warrant such a merciless response from you?”

That moment I had burst into her room and had seen her bleeding, her fear swirling around me, and that pain and rage glazing her eyes, rolled over me like a surging wave, but when it swept back again, it was another female before me, bleeding and afraid, fighting for her life.

An older female who haunted my sleep. Lost many centuries ago.

“She attacked Saphira,” I growled.

Darkness closed in, the air vibrating with my pain and rage as my shadows grew restless, snaking towards the dead female at my feet as if she was responsible for the death of that older female, when she wasn’t even the same species as the ones who had taken my mother, father and brother from me.

Those shadows rose, stealing the light from the world as grief rolled up on me, threatening to break me all over again.

Oberon casually swept his hand through my shadows, gathering them all from the air, and stared at them as they writhed and tightened, clamping down on his pale flesh.

“The wolf female is not them,” he murmured thoughtfully, softly, as if he feared pushing me too hard and knew I was liable to break, and then the Great Mother help this world. “She lives still. You need to remember that. You need to breathe… Perhaps some tea might do you good?”

I shot him a dark look. “ Tea . You always talk of tea at times like this.”

Oberon shrugged. “Tea seems to be the one weapon I have in my arsenal when you are in a black mood.”

I stared at the shadows he had tamed so easily with a simple wave of his hand as they snaked around his arm in a loving caress, as if he commanded them now rather than me. There was something about Oberon, something I had felt for a long time now. Something he was hiding.

Just as I had a nagging feeling in my gut that Saphira was hiding something.

I had always been attuned to others in a way that allowed me to see more than they showed to others, but I had never been blessed with the gift to penetrate the hazy veil and discover the truth beyond as my mother could.

Perhaps if she had lived longer, I might have learned to control the power in the way she had been able.

Instinct served me well though, and I listened to it. Trusted it.

Oberon was hiding something. So was Saphira.

And in time, I would discover their secrets.

The shadows dissipated as my shoulders loosened and I half grimaced and shook my head as I looked at the broken body resting at my feet. “I do not think tea will fix this.”

Oberon looked at her too, uncaring of the blood that stained his bare feet, and then at me. “Perhaps I shall offer tea to Saphira instead, to calm her after her ordeal.”

The thought of Oberon anywhere near her had my rage rising again, my shadows returning as they found a new target.

Oberon was a threat to be eliminated. He charmed others too easily, knew how to smile at the right time or just the right thing to say.

He was a danger. There were other ways to take Saphira from me, ones not involving death.

Ones Oberon excelled at.

I pinned him with a black look, my body coiled tightly, the urge to strike him down running strong in my veins, but I somehow managed to hold my shadows back, to deny the need to end him and the potential threat to Saphira.

Oberon sighed at my lack of a reaction and drawled, “Disappointing.”

He wanted me to react. He wanted me to reveal that I desired the wolf, that part of me needed her, and that part of me grew ruthless and dark whenever I thought about her.

He wanted me to confess I would destroy this world in order to keep her safe.

I hadn’t survived centuries on the throne of the Shadow Court by revealing my weaknesses, and Saphira was just that.

A weakness.

Not only within me, but within my court.

Where this female had sought to eradicate her and failed, others might follow her example and succeed if I wasn’t careful, if I didn’t put an end to it now before it began and maintained order within my court.

“What will you do with this?” Oberon jerked his chin towards the dead female.

I smiled darkly.

“Send a warning.”