Page 45 of The Wolf's Bullied Pregnant Mate
For a second, I panicked until I realized he couldn’t get very far. Spelling the front entrance shut where we had come through also spelled any other exit shut. My grandmother had mentioned the caves went deep through the mountain to emerge onto another trail, connecting the Green and Waterfall Trails as earth and water, but I couldn’t imagine Zephyr had found that other entrance. But then I pictured him, shifted, a wolf prowling through the tunnels. I shivered at the thought.
It only pushed me onward into the room where Zephyr had kept himself busy trying to work out the language. In a small wooden box was a stack of more candles, crystals, salts, and liquids I would need. I sat cross-legged before the middle wall, reading the lines of writing, depicting the tale of how the Lindell coven came to be.
It was a story I knew well, and I read it once, letting myself be filled with the knowledge of my coven before I closed my eyes.
Around me, the candles lit. The liquids and salts I had created a barrier with flared, and soon, a ghostly, translucent glow surrounded me. Like glowing glass, I was protected, in my circle.
When a foot scuffed outside my circle, I paid it no mind. The shifter could do what he pleased. Right now, my grandmother was right. I needed to apologize and reconnect with my brethren.
Chapter 16 - Zephyr
“Adalyn, I found more entrances,” I called out to her, having shifted from my wolf form. I explored, finding higher and wider caves, and was able to home my other form. Being cooped up in here hadn’t been good for my muscles, but as soon as I’d found those other caves, I had run like hell.
Not that I had wanted to escape. No, I just wanted torun, to move. My human body had better abilities at staying still than my wolf form, but I still had that urge to move. It was driving me insane not being able to have any of that.
Past the pool, I had found another tunnel that wound outwards, hidden among a rabbit hole entrance that had barred me from moving. From what I could see, I guessed it led to the Green Trail. I had tried to emerge, finding only solid resistance. But it was something. I knew we weren’t trapped here, but knowing I had found another entrance where we might be able to escape if we were found down here was comforting.
“How deep do these caves go?” I asked.
When I rounded the corner into the main room, Adalyn wasn’t there. But when I found her in the cavern I usually spent my days in, slowly translating the words on the wall, I hung back.
Even just being parted from her for my exploration in the caves had tugged at me, as if she was a magnetic force calling me back with each yard away from her as I went. But why? I thought about it as my body moved through the tunnels, sniffing out an entrance.
Her back was to me. A black silk robe pooled at her feet, and a hazy shimmer around her.
“What happens if I cross the shimmering line?” I asked.
“I would trust you won’t be stupid enough to consider it.” Her voice was sharp and flat, surprising me. “Stay back, Zephyr. Don’t interrupt this.”
There was a tone in her voice that made me listen.
“In fact, leave,” she ordered. “Leave this space. Go somewhere I can’t hear you, smell you, see you. Give mespace, Zephyr.”
I didn’t understand why she sounded so angry at me, but I had already given her space while she talked to her grandmother. Was her change in mood something to do with that? It seemed like every time we found a truce of sorts then she pulled back once again, leaving me guessing her next move.
I didn’t leave. Instead, I hovered, more out of curiosity, out of admiration of wanting to still look at her.
The shimmering died down, and she looked over her shoulder at me. Dark freckles dotted along her back and shoulders; for a second, I could only think about sinking my teeth into her pale skin. Not to tear or hurt her but in passion that couldn’t be contained. Pouring every inch of my desire into her to see how much she could handle.
“I have defied my entire bloodline bringing you here, Zephyr,” she told me, her voice cold. Her eyes bore into me, black and endless. There were no stars in them now, like there had been in the pool. She stood up and walked towards me, her hips swaying. I forcefully kept my eyes on her face, although I was acutely aware of how naked she was.
“You have already interrupted me when I asked you not to. The least you can do is respect me when I need space in a particular room.”
But how could she ask me for space when, since yesterday, what had shifted between us in the pool, had changed everything?
As soon as she came near me, I grasped her hips, a growl rising in me at her challenge. A current of electricity snapped over her body, but I stayed holding her, gritting my teeth against her little spell.
“Don’t tell me to leave,” I growled. “I can’t protect you when we’re apart, little witch.”
Surprise flickered over her face. “Protect me? We’re not under threat.”
“You heard Alex,” I said. “Demons are swarming, getting braver. I found more ways in and out of these caves. Demons could infiltrate if they’re powerful enough. Neither of us knows what awaits around the corner.”
Adalyn let out a laugh. “Zephyr, I have this place sealed. It’s why you can’t leave without me removing it. Here, I am at the height of my power, calling both earth and water to help me. Even a stronger demon can’t break those seals.”
“Even a strong demon overlord?” I challenged. I pulled her closer to me, so close that her bare breasts brushed my chest. I still hadn’t clothed myself since my shift. “Don’t you feel it, Adalyn? This… tether between us? It grows taut whenever we’re apart. The further I ran through these tunnels, the more I felt the pull to come right back to you.”
I knew she did despite her not giving me any sort of verbal answer. But I saw it: that hesitation in her face, the questions that I had. Where had this incessant need to never leave her side come from when I had lived with such a deep hatred of her for so long? Why now did I feel like I needed to protect her more than I needed to kill her?
