Page 9 of Magic Claimed
Eike reached out towards me again and I flinched away from his hand. “Calm, mate. Why didn’t you tell us you were a wolf?”
He waited until he expected me to speak back to him, which was impossible in this form.
“She must have known. She didn’t tell us.” Jarom eyed me, not bothering to hide the cold suspicion in his eyes.
“She was scared, that’s why,” Eike said.
“She should be scared. She’s a wolf and a spy and filled with deception,” Jarom spat. Loathing pulsed through him so thick and fast its bitterness spread across my tongue.
“She’s our mate,” Alerick said, hunching down as he regarded me with eyes that saw too much.
I didn’t want to be his mate. I didn’t want to be any of their mates. I could only hope he saw enough to know that.
I was thankful he didn’t reach out to touch me. Deep down, in the part of myself that I kept all of my secret wishes, I wanted him to bury his long fingers deep in my coat. Slide them over my head and down my body from nose to tail. I could almost imagine his touch on me. Phantom fingers gliding across my body, offering me a sense of completion I had always yearned for. My muscles quivered when I fought not to lean into his almost touch.
His huge form loomed over me. There was power in his limbs that he could turn on me if he so wished. It was something I expected sooner or later.
There was no choice about any of this. Not for me, not for them. Besides, Jarom looked at me as though I was mud beneath his paws. I had to remember that and not get distracted by their muscular bodies and scents that tickled my nose and unwound my inhibitions.
It seemed nudity was nothing to these shifters. Then again, changing between forms so often, I could imagine it was easier not to wear clothing. I tried to keep my eyes off what was between his muscular thighs, but it was hard not to notice something so big. I was thankfully innocent, but I knew what went on. I wasn’t ignorant. Men were insistent when they had an eye out for a woman, and living in the shadows, I saw it all. Shifter mates were extremely possessive and they would have no qualms about taking what I didn’t want to give.
Before Iwouldgive in, because the heat in my body, the yearning to be touched and touch in return was building with each passing moment.
I had to get out of here. They’d never find me at the castle. I had to get back to my human form but how?
“You saw her soul when the mate-bond connected us. It was too bright to be dishonest. It was beautiful,” Eike said.
So, the lights I’d seen and felt were the mate bond. Jarom’s must have been the golden threads. I looked at Eike, drawn to him on electric blue tendrils that I saw in my mind. Silver chords swirled about Alerick. All our colours had woven together intricately, but what was linked could always be undone. I would separate them. Separate us.
My heart skipped and something hard formed in my stomach, but I ignored it. I wouldn’t belong to anyone else.
“We need her to Change so she can explain herself,” Jarom said.
“That’s right, mate. You may prefer your wolf form, but you need to Change so we can understand why you were in the forest,” Alerick said.
“We’re overjoyed to have finally met our mate. You’re safe with us,” Eike said.
His words might be pretty, but I knew people and when someone said you were safe, it was usually the opposite. Besides, if I knew how to shift back, I would have done it already. I got to my feet, my legs working in opposite directions. It took all of my concentration to stand without toppling over.
“Eike, get the blanket. She might be shy,” Alerick said.
Jarom’s lips twisted. “It’d be the first time a female was shy around you.”
Something cold jabbed into my heart. It took me a moment to work out what it meant. I’d never been jealous in my life. Not like this. Not so fast and so utterly definite. I didn’t like what it implied. That somehow, on some level, I cared enough to be jealous.
“Shut it, Jarom,” Eike brought a blanket over that had been folded over the back of a chair. He moved as if to place his hand on my head and I flinched back, nearly toppling over onto my backside with the momentum, my legs going out from under me. Damn legs. Why have four when two were perfectly good? Eike slowly withdrew his hand. “Does she look a bit…strange to you?”
“What do you mean?” Alerick asked.
“It’s like she isn’t comfortable in her wolf skin,” Eike said.
That was the understatement of the year. If I could Change back, I would. Second to that, I’d be completely comfortable if I was out of here and away from being the centre of their intense focus.
“It’s an act. Am I the only one who isn’t fooled?” Jarom said.
“She’s not Haera, Jarom.” Eike rounded on Jarom, all softness evaporating instantly. I saw both seconds to the Alpha rise to aggression, and I cowered, heart fluttering wildly in the cage of my ribs.
“Enough!” Alerick said, and the power of his words vibrated through me so forcefully I cringed. “We have enough to contend with, without an argument.”
