Page 7 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

I could not tear my gaze from her, but I somehow managed to conceal my shock, carefully schooling my expression into one of indifference as my shadows kept her blind to me.

Her bare breasts swung as she pivoted on a male who had dared to stand and flashed her fangs, hatred burning in her eyes. Such ferocity. Such beauty. Such defiance even when she was on her knees, the cage too small to allow her to stand.

She roused my body and captured my attention as no other had before.

I hid my grimace as I eased back into my seat and lifted one leg to rest my ankle on my knee, concealing her effect on me so the other males would not see it.

Her vicious gaze snapped to me, as if she could see me through the cloak of shadows, the feel of her eyes on me a danger I had not been prepared to face.

It threatened to rip at my control. I clamped down on my unruly desires, chaining them and shattering them, and coolly stared at her, revealing nothing to the males now watching me.

Not a shred of interest.

I was not here for what they were.

This female was not destined to warm my bed.

She was a tool, a key that would unlock my vengeance.

And that was all.

She continued to peer at me, the stillest she had been since I had entered the room, but that quiet fierceness remained, bewitching me. I had never imagined such a delicate creature could be so ferocious. So fae like. That glow in her eyes spoke of terrible thoughts.

Dark desires.

If I were to unlock her cage, I had no doubt that she would rip out the throat of the other wolf with her fangs and then she would turn on everyone else.

Even me.

“One hundred thousand.” The possible-vampire raised his hand, gaining the attention of the ringleader of this auction, his bodyguard and the female in the cage.

A paltry sum for what this despicable wolf was selling—the virginity of such a charming creature.

“One fifty.” This from the male who had kept his hood up, concealing his face. He carried the scent of magic.

“Two.” The vampire apparently did not want to be outdone.

“Four hundred thousand.” A third bidder made things interesting, gaining the attention of the other two and a sour look from both.

Was it not the done thing to double the bid so quickly?

I was not sure of the etiquette involved. I had imagined that the point was to win the bid, not play a game of chase.

The fourth male, this one definitely another shifter judging by his scent and the claws he was digging into the wooden arms of his chair, barked, “Five.”

“Six.” The fifth male glared at him. A demon. His horns grew, curling around from behind his pointed ears, a sign of aggression in his breed.

One to watch.

Demons were notoriously stubborn and did not like losing.

I knew that from experience.

“Seven fifty.” The bloodsucker had found his voice again, much to the sickening glee of the ringleader wolf, who looked as if he might drool at any moment.

What poor breeding.

I checked my nails again, inspecting the rounded clear tips that concealed any hint of what I was, and sensed the ringleader staring my way. I lifted bored eyes to meet his. He wanted me to bid too. I would. When the time was right. Now was not the time. Things were only just getting interesting.

How much would they pay to secure the female?

“Eight.” The demon looked ready to snap fangs at anyone who went higher and grinned at the little wolf in the cage, his gaze filled with hunger as if she was already his and he was already planning the ways he would take her.

The female snarled at him, flashing fangs as she bristled.

Perhaps it was the thought of breaking her that had so many of the males willing to pay so much for her.

“Nine,” the vampire put in.

Just as the magic user said, “A million.”

Everyone glared at him.

Except me. I was too busy watching the female as she stilled, as her skin paled and her striking eyes widened, as if the reality of her situation had just hit her and only now was she aware that this was happening. One of her own kind was selling her to slavering males with wicked intentions.

Her shock was fleeting, quickly morphing back into rage as the vampire countered, and the demon followed suit, and her price rose to close to one point five million dollars.

“One point nine.” The vampire shirked all civility, jumping the price up by half a million, much to the irritation of two other males.

The ringleader looked to the three no longer bidding. All shook their heads.

“Two million,” the demon growled.

The blond wolf male almost grinned, satisfaction flickering in his eyes as he lowered them to the female.

She spat in his direction.

“Two point two.” The vampire would not be outdone.

“Two five.” The demon proved him wrong.

I waited, watching the two males as they engaged in a silent battle. Would the vampire bid again?

His now-crimson gaze shifted to the cage and I could almost sense the moment he decided she was not worth the outlay.

Which was my signal.

I lazily raised my right hand, snaring everyone’s attention, because the vampire and demon were not the only ones unwilling to let another win her.

“One million,” I drawled, my bid met with laughter from some and a muttered comment from the demon that questioned my intelligence as the bid had already surpassed that figure, and calmly finished, “gold coins.”

The room hushed.

Incredulous stares all aimed at me.

Even the female fell silent halfway through a particularly vicious series of growls and snarls.

“That has to be worth a hundred million dollars at least,” the vampire said, his gaze questioning my sanity as much as the demon had questioned my intellect.

The magic user lifted a hand, and a skinny male dressed in tight-fitting black clothing appeared behind him.

The servant dutifully bent towards his master.

“Who is he? He was not on your list.” Displeasure rang in the master’s voice, threaded with an unspoken spell that had the servant twitching as he struggled to answer.

“I do not know. My deepest apologies for my failure, my grace.” The servant was a spymaster then.

Perhaps I should have employed my own spymaster to investigate the auction and the attendees, but then it would have alerted my sister to my intentions and nothing good could have come from that.

The bodyguard showed something in his palm to the ringleader. I presumed it revealed the dollar equivalent of my bid judging by his reaction.

“Sold!” The disgusting wolf’s eyes lit up, so grossly eager to take my coin.

Perhaps I would kill him once I had secured my prize.

I lowered my gaze to that prize.

She sat in the centre of her cage, peering in my direction, squinting to see through the glare of the harsh spotlight, as if it would allow her gaze to pierce the shadows.

Fear radiated from her, but it was tinged with the curiosity that glimmered in her eyes as she tried to glimpse me.

And then the bodyguard hit her in the back with a feathered dart.

She flinched and her luminous eyes widened, edging towards her shoulder. Before she could even spy the dart, she swayed and slumped, hitting the ground hard, out cold.

I barely held back the snarl that rose up my throat, and the claws that wanted to punch from the tips of my fingers. The urge to let them out, to give in to the darkness and rip apart the male for treating her with so little respect, was strong.

I wanted him to bleed. To beg for mercy.

Just as I wanted to utterly destroy those males who dared to approach me as I stood, vilely offering coin in exchange for time with the wolf female once I had claimed my prize—her virginity.

I stared them all down, silencing them with only a look as I straightened to my full height. Impudent wretches.

I stalked to the cage, gaze fixed on the unconscious female in the centre of it, and summoned the chests I had prepared, pulling them to me through the void.

They slammed down with a rattle of coins between myself and the blond wolf as he thought to approach me, forming a wall between us and halting him in his tracks.

“If you’re ever in the market for another, you know where to find me,” he said, already flipping the lid of one wooden chest open to inspect his fortune.

“This one will suffice.” I kept my tone emotionless and measured as I held his gaze and reached for the cage door.

The iron was cold beneath my touch, the ward fighting me as I reached into it, pouring my shadows down the corridors between each word of it, but it surrendered easily enough.

I yanked the door open in one brutal movement, shattering the hinges and the lock, and tossed it away from me, savouring the startled gasp of the male wolf.

My shadows tore it to shreds and the wolf swallowed as he watched them destroy it before his gaze shakily met mine again.

I grinned, flashing my jagged fangs as my darker side rose to the fore. “But yes, I know where to find you.”

I reached into the cage with clawed, black-tipped fingers.

And took what was now mine.