Page 71 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

KAELERON

I t might have been a mistake to blurt that rash set of choices to Saphira.

I struggled for control as we stood in the luxurious bathroom of my quarters on the third floor, her small hands working each button of my wet tunic loose, her body maddeningly close to mine.

Her heat seeped through my damp clothes, her pensive face bewitching me as she undid the final button, and her hot hands branding my chilled flesh as she brushed them across my chest, pushing the tunic off my shoulders.

Her scent swirled around me, faintly laced with the sweet tang of desire as she tiptoed and leaned closer, reaching to push the tunic off me.

I shrugged out of it and her hands came down on my shoulders, her expression growing more pensive as her eyebrows pitched low and knitted hard, her gaze fixed on the spot where she had bitten me.

She traced her fingers over my skin, the bare caress unbearable as I clenched my fists, fighting the urge to take her in my arms, to trace my own fingers over her supple curves and chart every peak and valley of her body. Slowly. Leisurely. With my lips.

Sense told me to stop her now, to send her away, but I couldn’t bring myself to obey it. I wanted more. Craved more.

The thunder of the water into the gold clawfoot tub next to us was as loud as the weather beyond the arched window as it filled the thick silence, as I battled to keep my hands to myself and resist the needs pounding within me, ones that demanded I carry her into my bedroom, spread her out on my bed and take her.

“It’s healing nicely.” Her voice warbled, betraying the rising nerves I could sense in her.

Not nerves born of fear.

I proved that by stroking my fingers across the exposed marks on her throat. My marks. She shivered, that heady scent of need growing thicker in the air between us, and her eyes slipped shut as she arched into my touch.

Her nerves were born of a need she couldn’t control.

“Saphira—” I started but she stole my wits by tugging at my breeches, fingers nimbly loosening the ties.

She shoved them over my hips, hands grazing my backside, and tugged them down my legs and off me.

Leaving me naked.

And her on her knees before me.

It took all my considerable iron will to resist teasing her to discover whether she liked what she saw.

She stared openly at me, hunger darkening her eyes as her breaths came quicker, and her fingers twitched against her thighs.

“Saphira.” I stepped back and she growled at me.

Growled .

I had heard her growl like that before, when she had been lost to her mating heat and I had dared to deny her what she wanted.

This wasn’t good.

I crossed the room in a handful of strides and grabbed my robe, my bath forgotten as Saphira continued to breathe faster and faster, her eyes growing wider and darker as she remained kneeling on the tiles, short claws pressing into her thighs now.

“I need to run,” she muttered and shot to her feet.

“No, you need a male.” I reached for her and she leaped backwards, shaking her head.

“Just a run. I just have so much energy to burn.” She pulled at her blouse, seemingly unaware of the action as her face twisted. “I just… I need to run. I can burn off this energy.”

Thunder rattled the windows and she twisted towards them, eyes flying wide as her breath hitched.

“You want to run in that?” I jerked my chin towards the storm. “Running will not help you with this. You cannot run from it.”

“I can’t be here.” She clawed her silver hair back, pulling it tight. “I can’t. Oh gods… not again.”

Her face crumpled and she doubled over, grunting as she folded in on herself.

Any moment now, she was going to demand I find her a male, and I was going to lose my temper.

So I swept her into my arms, weathering her angry growls and half-hearted blows as I carried her tucked close to my chest.

And teleported.

I set her down in the small single room in the timber and stone cottage at the edge of the woods, halfway up the mountain. A retreat that I had built soon after my parents had died, close to the place I used to sit to admire the view when they had been alive. A place only I could go.

“You will be safe here. When the storm clears, you can run. But do not run far. Remain near the cottage. The woods here are wild. Dangerous. Do you understand?” I leaned over, bringing my face level with hers, needing to see that she did understand as she nodded.

“I am going to lock the door and when the storm clears, I will unlock it. I will return soon to check on you and bring you some things to make you more comfortable.”

She nodded again, shoulders trembling as her pupils dilated and she gripped her trousers, as if trying to stop herself from seizing hold of me.

I teleported away from her, to her rooms this time, unsure what I was doing.

Keeping her in the castle when she was maddened by her mating frenzy would be a dangerously bad idea, the thought of her demanding I bring her males or seeking ones out enough to have my claws coming out. But locking her in a cottage?

She was safe from other males, but I wasn’t sure it was going to help her.

She needed a male.

She needed pleasure and a release.

But she seemed set on denying that need.

And I wouldn’t force her.

Despite how fiercely I wanted her.

Wanted to take care of her needs again, finding satisfaction in watching her break apart, in hearing her cry my name as pleasure overtook her.

Maybe she was better off in the cottage.

Far away from me.

I gathered a few things she might need—her robe and slippers, some books she had on her nightstand, and her blanket and pillow—and then teleported back to her.

She paced the room, strides swift as she clawed at her blouse, shredding it as she stared straight ahead of her, muttering beneath her breath. Her face contorted and she grunted as she gritted her teeth, stifling a cry that still broke free of her lips.

“Walk it off. Walk it off,” she mumbled, tearing at her blouse each time she said it as she resumed pacing, her eyes holding a world of pain.

“This is ridiculous. You know walking it off will not fix this. It will not make the pain go away.” I set everything down on the double bed at one end of the cottage and turned back to face her. “You need pleasure, Saphira. Pleasure I want to give you.”

She looked at me as if she hadn’t noticed I was there, eyebrows pinned high on her forehead, blue eyes wide. Delirious. Maybe she hadn’t noticed. Her gaze dropped to my chest, and the tip of her tongue swept across her lower lip.

“Considering devouring me, little wolf?” I smirked at her when she caught herself. “You know what you need.”

She wrapped her arms around her waist and doubled over, screaming in pain.

Sweat dotted her brow as she fought for air.

“Do something,” she sobbed. “Maybe magic could?—”

“No amount of magic can help you with this. You need release. More than we did before.” Something within me fractured when she lifted her head, her blue eyes imploring me, silently begging me to help her. I had never seen her looking so defeated.

She opened her mouth and I teleported to her and pressed a finger to it, silencing her, aware of what words would leave her lips. Ones I had thought would please me when she had signed that contract, when I had decided I would tease her until she was on her knees, desperate for me to take her.

My voice was low, rougher than I had ever heard it, as I held her gaze and said, “Never beg. You never have to beg me. You only need to tell me what you need.”

“You,” she whispered and her face crumpled. “But I can’t ask that of you. I can’t use you like that… like a whore.”

I chuckled at her foolish belief that any part of what we were about to do amounted to using me.

I swept her back up into my arms and carried her towards the bed as I stared down into her eyes.

“We both want this. We both need this. Let me take care of you now, my little wolf.”