Page 48 of Cage Me

I thought, for too many seconds, that I’d lost him. He was gone. I couldn’t feel our bond or sense any part of my mate within me.

Try as I might, that fucking shield wouldn’t break and I couldn’t get to him. All I could do was stand there screaming for Drake and threatening Natalia’s life over and over.

By the time my voice goes hoarse, the shadow that had consumed my mate finally materializes into a large wolf. A dark, shadowy beast with glowing orange eyes, sharp teeth, and a growl that makes goosebumps travel over my skin.

The barrier is still up, but I press my palm against the shimmering surface, holding the gaze of Drake’s animal. My own wolf is right there with me, begging to be set free, but I keep her back. This is my moment. She can have hers later.

The steady beat of my bond with Drake is back, thrumming strong within my chest and spreading through the rest of my body. The wall he’d been keeping up isn’t there, and his rage comes flooding back to me, but this time I swallow the smokiness of his grief and keep control of myself.

The curse is gone, but my mate is still hurting.

Finally, the shield falls, and I practically fall forward in my haste to get to him. The wolf is still snarling, but he doesn’t frighten me—not the odd color of his eyes or the salivating around his jowls.

I stand before him, his wolf’s head at my chest, and hold out a hand. “You’re okay,” I promise. Though, I’m not entirely sure that’s true.

He nudges forward and my fingers slide through the nearly black fur, gripping tighter than I mean to, but I can’t help myself. For too many moments, I thought I’d lost him.

I thought I killed him by bringing him to Natalia.

Now, his rumbles soothe the jagged edges of my nearly shattered heart, and I want to curl up next to him, never to move again.

Our connection expands throughout my body, calming the rest of me as I continue to stroke his head and stare into his eyes. The longer we stand there like this, the less of a glow there is.

He pushes closer to me, and I wrap my arms around his thick neck, bending over to hold him closer. “I thought I lost you,” I whisper into his coarse coat.

The wolf’s growls deepen. I’m not entirely sure how to interpret the response, but I can assume he probably thought the same thing.

“I’ve contained the curse, and he should be free of the worst of it, but?—”

My head swivels around, and my snarl cuts off Natalia’s poorly timed words. “Be free of the worst of it… What the hell does that mean? I thought you were breaking the curse.”

She doesn’t even blink at my rage. “I said I could break his wolf free. There was nothing else promised, Spencer. He’s more powerful now than he ever would have been without what I did here today. At a great risk to myself. You should be thanking me that I was even able to do this.”

Her tone is flat and straightforward, but I still want to rip her face off. Though, I know that’s not because I’m furious with the witch. At least, not this one.

“Thank you,” I finally say, standing up straighter to face her but still keeping a hold on Drake’s wolf. “Not that I don’t appreciate what you’ve done here, but do you have anything else for us?”

She holds up a bottle of black liquid and shakes it lightly. “Tomorrow morning is still when I hope to be done. I just realized that the amount of Kel’s magic in Drake’s blood wasn’t enough for me to create anything defensive for you to use. I needed something more potent, and I had a theory.”

My eyes bulge and jaw tightens. “All this was on a theory? Not something you knew for sure?”

Natalia just shrugs. “Isn’t all magic just a theory?”

No, I’m pretty sure it’s not, but the witch walks away before I can say anything else. That’s probably a good thing. Although we likely couldn’t take down Kel without Natalia’s help, there’s a chance, with how frayed my emotions are, that I would say something I couldn’t take back if she hadn’t walked away.

Drake’s wolf shivers next to me and scratches at the ground. When I look back at him, he’s staring at the trees further into the park.

“Do you need to run?” I ask, then shake my head. “That’s a stupid question. You’ve been locked up for centuries. Of course, you need to run.”

I grab both sides of his head and press my face closer to his. “Stay close. We can’t get too far away yet.”

There’s no telling what’s going through his wolf’s mind. I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t run yet, but then I feel a tugging on our bond, and it occurs to me that I’m keeping him here.

I couldn’t imagine what would have happened to him if the curse had been broken and he hadn’t found me.

Alright, Wolf, I say to my own inner animal. You get your time with him, but not long. We need to get back to the house. We have no idea what breaking the curse did in the way of alerting Kel of what we’re up to.

She grumbles in reply, pushing forward until my skin begins to itch.

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