Page 84 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

SAPHIRA

M orden was here in Lucia, and he had my charm bracelet.

It could only mean one thing—my pack knew what had happened to me.

I kept glancing back over my shoulder as I followed Kaeleron along the narrow rocky track, heading down a steep incline towards a glittering sea of dark grey sand punctured by the twisted bleached bones of dead trees.

What was Malachi doing to Morden right now?

I wanted to ask Kaeleron that, but I had poked that bear enough times that whenever I so much as mentioned Morden’s name, he grew feral.

Near rabid.

Jealousy.

The same acidic feeling had scoured my insides whenever I had been around Elanaluvyr, so I could easily recognise it in him.

He might pretend otherwise, might even be oblivious to the emotion that had him snapping fangs whenever I dared to even think of that male, blaming it on a need to protect his kingdom or some other bullshit, but he was jealous.

No doubt about it.

And it shouldn’t warm me, but by the gods and my ancestors it did.

Because it made me feel I wasn’t alone in my emotions, in my desires.

I toyed with the dagger sheathed at my hip, my gaze on Kaeleron’s back as he carefully navigated a particularly brutal stretch of the path, where the narrow worn track fell off into a sheer drop that would most likely kill me.

It might kill Kaeleron too. I wasn’t sure if he could teleport yet or whether we were still within the bounds of the magical ward that protected his court.

One that had been breached in the west, allowing seelie into his lands.

I didn’t lead my pack, but I still grew as angry as my father whenever another wolf shifter crossed into our territory without permission.

When I looked back over my shoulder this time, it wasn’t the castle I was looking for, it was the mountain itself.

The peak loomed above me like a great shard of obsidian.

A sacred mountain. Kaeleron had called it that, and had said the metal mined from it was precious and rare, and reserved for royalty.

This was the mountain I had read about in the library.

Some part of me still didn’t believe I deserved the dagger he had crafted for me, not now I knew the metal used in it came from such a rare source.

I wasn’t royalty. Not even close. I was just the daughter of an alpha, fated to another alpha, raised to act not as his second in command but as his peacekeeper and baby maker.

“You practically vibrate with tension,” Kaeleron grumbled and glanced over his shoulder at me, his feet somehow still keeping to the path with a confidence I didn’t share, not when it was so narrow and treacherous. “Is this about the wolf?”

I shook my head. “No. This dagger is feeling a lot heavier than before.”

He chuckled. “Do you wish I had not given it to you now?”

My eyebrows pinched as I considered the answer to that question. It came easily.

“No. But a heads up might have been nice. Like… hey, Saphi, I made this dagger for you and you might get some strange looks because people in the castle can recognise the metal I used should only be used for myself and my sister, but I figured what the heck, have it anyway, you’re totally special enough. ”

His chuckle grew warmer and he stopped at a bend ahead of me, slowly turning to face me. “You believe I would say it like that?”

“No. You’d sound more haughty.” I stopped close to him when he didn’t move and angled my head up, my legs trembling a little as I took my gaze away from the deadly drop to my right.

His smile hit me like a fist in the chest.

Knocking the wind from me.

Good gods, he shouldn’t be allowed to smile, not when he put his heart and soul into it, when the mask fell away to reveal a hint of the boy I had seen in that painting, one who looked as if he had made a career out of causing trouble and had spent most of his time laughing.

“But would I still call you Saphi?”

My legs trembled for another reason as he murmured that, his silver gaze intense and fixed on mine, a flicker of heat in its depths.

He rarely called me Saphira, and I wasn’t wholly used to that yet, so switching to calling me by a pet name, one that sounded so intimate on his lips, far too romantic, had my world tipping on its axis again.

“Maybe. Maybe not.” I shrugged.

Kaeleron pulled me into his arms, the movement so swift I squeaked as he tugged me against his hard chest, my palms landing on the firm leather of his armour.

Darkness swirled around me, glittering with golden stars, and then my feet were on solid ground again.

Or at least soft ground that shifted beneath my boots as I moved my weight.

But Kaeleron didn’t release me.

He stared down at me, his face so close to mine, and for a heartbeat, I thought he might kiss me again.

“Who is that wolf that he came all the way to Lucia to take you back?” His gaze lowered to my mouth, darkening by degrees before it lifted to lock with mine again, his voice a deep rumble like thunder as he studied me closely. “Your lover? Your fated one?”

I pushed out of his arms on a scowl and snapped, “You bought me from my fated mate .”

The sand beneath my boots trembled and I looked at it, at the ripples that emanated from beneath Kael’s boots as shadows twisted and snaked through the grains. The air chilled around me, raising goosebumps on my skin, and I wrapped my arms around myself.

Only I wasn’t sure it was to keep the chill in the air off my skin.

It was to chase away the chill in my heart—in my soul.

“Lucas—” I started and then swallowed, my wolf side howling with a blend of rage and agony, a terrible sound that filled all of me and made me want to tip my head back and unleash it.

Whatever hurt, whatever grief, I had felt when Lucas had rejected me was long dead, scorched away by this burning rage that whirled within me, a fire that kept my need for vengeance strong.

I lowered my gaze to my boots, unable to look at Kaeleron as I confessed this, some misplaced sense of shame rolling up on me as I took that brave step towards him and away from my past. “Lucas is my fated mate, and I stupidly fell in love with him… and then he not only rejected me on the night we were to be mated, but he shut me in a cage and forced me to watch… to watch him with another.”

The ground didn’t just tremble now, it shook so violently I feared I would lose balance, and the stars above began to fall, slowly at first but then faster and faster, bright streaks of white that blazed to their deaths one by one, lighting up the world.

Vyr had warned that when Kaeleron lost his temper, he was so powerful that this entire realm could pay the price, but I hadn’t imagined this.

He was tearing stars from the sky.

Was turning the sand into a violent sea, with great waves that rolled outwards from him and broke against the bones of the trees.

Because I had poured out my pain to him, had finally told someone what had happened that night.

Kaeleron’s crimson-to-silver eyes blazed as brightly as the falling stars against their backdrop of black, his skin as white as those stars as his dark lips peeled back off his jagged fangs.

“I already wanted to kill him for selling you,” he growled, his voice as dark as the night closing in above us, as terrifying as those stars that continued to fall, that slammed into the sand of the Wastes around us, throwing it into the air.

“Now I will kill him slowly. He will beg before I end his life… beg for your forgiveness… and you will give him none. Do you hear me? None . Because such a wretched, blind male is unworthy of having you as his mate.”

His black-tipped fingers brushed my cheek, the touch gentle and careful, a mere whisper of his claws against my skin. Darkness reigned in his eyes, a fierce hunger that echoed within me as I leaned into the touch, needing more, needing firmer contact between us as I cherished his dark vow.

How strongly I wanted that beautiful vision he had painted in my mind should have startled me and even shocked me, but rather than feeling horrified by it, I embraced it. Lucas would pay for what he had done, and if I unleashed Kaeleron upon him, I would only find satisfaction in his bloody end.

“Kael,” I murmured as my brow furrowed and my thoughts turned to Morden again, and what his appearance might mean.

“I’m afraid my pack might be in danger. Lucas is…

He’s strong and cruel with it. Since he became alpha of his pack, they’ve been growing violent, many of the males going to other nearby packs to gather females for their own.

I thought it was just because Lucas was grieving and that he would get them under control, but I’m beginning to suspect that he’s letting them do those things…

might even be encouraging it. I’m worried that if Morden is here, and he has my bracelet with him—a bracelet Lucas took from me—that either Lucas came to my pack or my pack went to him. What if?—”

I couldn’t bring myself to say it, to voice my fear that my pack were now at the mercy of Lucas and his men, some part of me feeling that I would only make it come true if I put it out there.

Kaeleron’s skin darkened to light tan and the shadows around his eyes melted away as his irises returned to silver and his hand remained on my face, cupping it now, his palm warm against my chilled skin.

“We shall recover the heart quickly and then you can speak with the wolf.” His thumb brushed my cheek close to my eye, his gaze so earnest that it stole my breath and all I could do was nod in agreement.

His hand lowered to my arm and he skimmed it down the length of it, and surprised me by taking hold of my hand.

“Come, little wolf.” He gently tugged me forwards and as he walked, the sand settled and the sky stilled, and all the stars were back in their places, twinkling among the aurora.

The raw power of Kaeleron sent a shiver coursing through me and I thought about his promise, about how fierce and angry he had been, and something deep within me stirred in response, as if it had been slumbering and his wrath had awakened it.

Or maybe it was this strange world and the connection I felt to the lands, how strongly they called to me, its dark power seeping into me and affecting me.

Because I wanted Lucas on his knees, begging forgiveness.

Only I wanted to be the one who had put him there.