Page 54 of Cage Me

Yeah, something tells me he might not be thrilled about this plan of Natalia’s.

I hold the clear liquid up, inspecting it for anything unusual, but there’s nothing to see besides the obvious.

“What she said makes sense,” I tell him, pocketing the vial. “Even Lia said that I attract the right people in my life. Makes me curious, you know?”

His stare focuses on mine, and he reaches up to roll a section of my hair between his fingers. “I do and I won’t tell you not to do this, just like you didn’t tell me not to unlock my wolf when I could have died, but I won’t lie. Her spells make me nervous.”

What he’s not outright saying is that he hasn’t had a great experience with witches in the past and trusting one so explicitly now feels wrong, but he doesn’t need to come right out with those words for me to take them into consideration.

“How about I show the vial to Kasha?” I suggest. “She isn’t a witch, but she’s still familiar with magic. Maybe she can give us more insight than Natalia was willing to.”

His shoulders drop, and the beginnings of a smile start to appear on his face. “That might be best.”

I don’t fault him for his suspicion. While I do trust Natalia, we’ve asked a lot of her and she’s never before mentioned this about me. Considering how long she’s been playing with my blood, getting a second opinion can’t hurt.

“Want to try your ring out?” I ask with excitement. “We could shift and run back to the house. Normally I walk, but I also haven’t been getting out as much as usual these last few days. I can’t imagine your wolf would be upset by the short run.”

Drake’s chest rumbles, making us both chuckle. “No, I don’t think he would be.” He glances at the black ring now placed on his right pointer finger. “Do I need to do anything special, or it just works on its own?”

“Mostly, it works on its own, but I still instinctively think about my clothes when I shift,” I say with a shrug. “I’d rather put forth more effort than have something go wrong.”

“Right.” His jaw tenses, and he looks away from me.

I step closer, forcing him to meet my stare. “What’s wrong?”

“I was just picturing you being naked in public.” He shakes his head. “I understand why you didn’t like me being that way before.”

His admission makes me laugh. “Well, it’s a good thing we don’t have to worry about that any longer.” I grab his hand and lead him out of the alleyway. “Let’s shift.”

Once we have a bit more room, Drake calls his wolf forward first. I watch closely, curious if there are any other differences between us since he’s technically a different kind of wolf shifter from me.

Outside of a brief appearance of a shadow around his body, the process is very much the same as mine. Before I shift, I give his wolf a scratch on the head. “You’re lucky I still like you after you bit me last time.”

The beast growls, but the sound is playful. His tongue drops out and he leans forward. Before I realize what he’s going to do, the damn wolf licks the entire side of my face.

My eyes squeeze closed, and I jump back, pulling my shirt up to wipe off my face. “You’re…”

I don’t even know what to say or do. The action takes me by complete surprise, and when I can see again, he’s sitting in front of me, tongue still out and eyes bright.

The little fucker is proud of himself and, honestly, I can’t be mad.

He’s too damn cute. Though, I don’t say that out loud. The scary wolf shifter might not appreciate being called “cute.”

Instead, I shake a finger at him and feign annoyance. “Bad wolf. No biting or licking when I’m still human. Save that shit for my own wolf.”

He lets out another grumble and I hope that’s his agreement because I’d love not to be blindsided every time he shifts.

Calling my wolf forward, energy moves through my body, and I give in to the power of my inner beast. Her presence grows stronger as my muscles and bones start to contort. Within the next second, I’m standing on all fours.

Drake’s wolf wastes no time coming over, and in the next second, his tongue laps at my wolf’s face. Only she doesn’t back away, she starts doing the same to him.

Well, aren’t they adorable. Wel,, as long as they keep the tongue-lashings to themselves.

The only time I want to be licked is by Drake himself and much further south than my face.

“That witch is a genius,” Kasha says as soon as I finish explaining not only about what Natalia said about my wolf, but everything else we didn’t have time to say this morning about Kel. Still, the hybrid doesn’t seem fazed by the danger.

She holds the vial within her fingers and grins at me. “I knew there was something different about you. I just hadn’t been able to figure out what. You have a very strong energy inside you that now makes a lot more sense.”

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