Page 21 of Caged Kitten

“Elijah—”

“Shut up, Rafe.”

My teasing grin faltered. I hadn’t planned on giving him toomuch shit for what he’d done in the showers. Firstly, he couldn’t help himself. Defending his mate was a shifter’s prime objective, hardcoded into his DNA. Secondly, solitary had done a spectacular job of chewing him up and spitting him out already. I just… I wanted to poke fun at what had just happened like he always poked fun at me, but it seemed the tides had turned. Back to stabbing at his watery mash, Elijah had soured, and now I was the one waiting for his mood to lift.

Bizarre, being on the other side of our usual dynamic.

“Just… shut up,” he muttered, spearing a hand through his greasy locks, in desperate need of a wash—we had both been politely ignoring the solitary stank since he’d come back. The dragon then sighed, his shoulders unusually rounded. “I know what I did, and I’d do it again.” His weary eyes snapped to mine, a hint of fire shimmering like copper in his irises. “I don’t really have a choice anymore.”

And that might get you killed, old friend. I instantly softened, no longer in the mood to poke and prod. Instead, I set my blood vial aside, saving that little droplet until the very last moment before we had to go back to the block.

“I know,” I told him quietly. “I’ve got your back, Elijah… I’ve got both your backs.”

Our eyes locked, and he needn’t say a damn thing for me to know he was grateful for my support. After all, if Elijah ran to Katja’s defense every time someone heckled her in here, he’d spend the rest of his sentence in solitary. I, on the other hand, could smoothly interject as needed without causing a dramatic scene. He needed me—they both did.

My eyebrows crept up the longer we locked eyes. Honestly, shifters were so much effort sometimes. Unfettered eye contact was a sign of trust within the pack and a dangerous challenge to outsiders, but I’d had about enough with the subtle body language in lieu of actual conversation for the evening.

“So, we gonna kiss now, or—”

Elijah flicked a bit of potato at me, chuckling, and then went back to his food. I, meanwhile, wiped the smear of mash from my jumpsuit with a scowl, hating to have the smell linger longer than necessary. Out of the corner of my eye, as I scratched potato out of the fibers, a flash of red caught my attention again. Katja had found her little rabbit friend, and she sat with her back to us as the shifter chatted away.

I didn’t ask you to protect me.

I rather liked that—her setting the tone for their relationship, putting her foot down on Elijah’s over-the-top alpha protectiveness. Perhaps I’d misjudged her. Perhaps this gorgeous witch had a backbone after all…

And at the end of the day, maybe she wouldn’t need either of us to survive this place.

Only time would tell.

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