Page 36 of Cage Me

The glow around my skin doesn’t cease and the shivers racing through me only grow with intensity as Drake pushes closer and places his hand over my chest.

His touch sends a vibration through me from his own shaking, and the connection of the bond feels as if it’s tightening around my chest. My heart is pounding wildly, doubling in time with every thrust.

My hands wrap around Drake’s wrist, and I pull him closer, ignoring the protesting from my legs being contorted. I need to touch him and hold him and taste him.

With unfocused eyes, I manage to grab hold of his face even though I was aiming for his neck and drag him closer. His lips are a hair’s breadth away from mine when he slips a hand between us and rubs a finger over my clit.

Instead of kissing him as I intended, I cry out, my body giving into the release that’s been building. As an orgasm rips through me, and right before I lose the hold on my mate, I feel the quakes of his own release.

Just as I think it’s over, that we’re officially bonded, my chest expands and my back arches. The glow around me intensifies, and in the next second, Drake is pulling me up. I wrap my legs around him, still keeping our connected position as he helps me sit up.

Tremors move through the both of us so strong that I can’t tell which ones are from me and which are his. I grab his face and kiss him, needing this closeness to take away the weight of the bond that presses in on me.

It’s not painful in a way that makes me want to run from it. Instead, I want to dive right into the fire and let the flames consume me.

Drake doesn’t disappoint, either. He kisses me until every thought leaves my muddled mind and all I can feel and hear is him.

I have no clue how much time passes, but the intensity of the bond snapping into place finally releases us and Drake leans against the wall behind us. I keep my legs around his waist and lay my head on his chest, listening to the sound of his slowing heartbeat.

His fingertips move lightly over my back, making shapes I can’t translate, but it’s the pulsing of the bond within me that holds most of my attention.

“You’re not glowing anymore,” Drake says, his featherlight touches now moving over my shoulder before going down my arm.

“That wasn’t the only unexpected thing.” I lean back and glance at his wolf tattoo. I place my palm over the black ink. It’s still warm, but not burning like before. “Can you feel your wolf now?”

A darkness falls over his face, and regret fills me for asking the question even though I have no clue why.

“That’s something we need to talk about.”

The way his voice darkens ruins whatever high I’ve been riding and, suddenly, all I want to do is murder that bitch witch.

Chapter 15

DRAKE

The moment I tell Spencer that we need to talk, I feel her walls start to come back up. Not just by the physical way she pushes me away and stands to get dressed, but there’s a dampening in our new bond connection. As if she’s closing me out, taking away the one thing I will cherish above all else for the rest of my life.

Still, there’s something she needs to know before anything else. Something I didn’t know until our bond began solidifying.

I follow her movements and dress, but the moment she pulls her shirt over her head, I grab her shoulders and force her to look at me. “Spencer.”

“What?” There’s a darkness within her tone that reminds me a little too much of myself.

“When I said we needed to talk, nothing I want us to discuss changes the fact that you’re my mate and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.” My eyes watch her face the entire time I speak, but she’s pulling farther and farther away from me by the second. “I mean that.”

She tears out of my hold and gives me her back. Her shoulders are rising and falling rapidly as she seems to be struggling for control.

I step closer again but don’t touch her as I whisper, “Don’t push me away again. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Her hands shake at her side, and the harshness of her voice breaks my heart. “All I can think about is killing Kel. The longer I stand here, the worse…”

She can’t finish her sentence, but she doesn’t need to. I close my eyes and focus on the newly formed connection between us. The pulsing light I sensed before that ties us together is now tinged with a darkness that I never wanted Spencer to know of. At least not on such a personal level. Yet, it seems the rage I carried with me from Tartarus is quickly consuming her.

Closing off my emotions from the bond is the last thing that I thought I would do soon, but I won’t destroy my mate. Even if that means I can’t fully have her yet.

With my gaze focused on the back of Spencer’s head, I put up a mental wall between us. The more fortified the separation becomes, the easier she begins to breathe. My heart breaks while I force myself to smile as she turns around.

“What did you do?” Her fingers rub circles over her temples.

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