Page 106 of Wolf Caged
Rather than stride towards the bed as I expected, he carried me like a princess towards the bathroom.
The door opened before he could reach it, and the lamps on the walls flickered to life as he entered, that familiar tang of magic lacing the air, and the sound of running water had me tearing my gaze from his face to settle it on the large copper clawfoot tub that stood in the centre of the room. The water steamed as it rapidly filled the bathtub, and that steam shimmered with something unnatural.
Or at least unnatural in my world.
The ease with which Kaeleron opened doors, lit lamps, and filled a bath all using magic was astounding.
I added a little envy of his ability to use magic to my ever-growing list of reasons I felt so inadequate in this world. I wasn’t sure how Riordan coped with being surrounded by so many powerful beings, all with abilities beyond his reach. Although, he hadn’t been lacking in confidence when I had met him. He was probably comfortable in his own skin, and with his abilitiesand power. Confident he could hold his own even against these unseelie. Unlike me.
Kaeleron set me down on the soft bathmat.
“What are you doing?” I glanced at the bath and then tensed and swatted his hands away when he tugged my blouse out of the waist of my pants. “What are you doing?!”
I caught his wrists when he reached for my blouse again, stopping him.
The harsh lines of his face softened just a touch as his silver gaze lifted to meet mine, enough to have me relenting. There was need in that look. Need I could define, even if I didn’t understand why it was directed at me. My thoughts whirled as he gently stripped me and lifted me in his arms again, and slowly, almost reverently, lowered me into the warm water. The first touch of it was bliss, a heat and lightness that rolled through my body to loosen my tight muscles and soothe my bruises.
I let go of my fears, of all the doubts that clouded my mind, and sank into the water, letting it carry them all away.
I had wanted to fight tonight. To draw blood. Maybe even kill. I wanted to learn to fight better, so I could hold my own. I wanted to know more about this world that was beginning to feel like home. I hadn’t thought about my pack in days. I hadn’t thought about Lucas. I had lost myself in enjoying my time here, enjoying the company of a certain fae king.
I wasn’t sure who I was anymore.
I wasn’t sure who this Kaeleron was either as he picked up a sponge and began gently cleaning my skin, taking his time around any of my injuries, all soft and very careful with me.
But I wanted to know this me who felt true and real, as if I was emerging from some kind of cocoon, finally discovering myself.
And I wanted to know this Kaeleron.
This tender, attentive male.
He growled, “I will find out who did this and they will pay for it.”
This tender, attentive and slightly homicidal male.
His gaze tracked his hand as he brushed the sponge over my skin, and I watched his face, watched the storm building in his eyes together with a war he waged between a dark hunger and a soft sort of worry, and his shadows as they grew sharp at times before softening to mist.
“Why were you fighting?” His gaze darted to meet mine, no silent command to answer him in it, just a softness that made my breath catch in my throat together with my hammering heart.
I clammed up, refusing to answer that question, because I wasn’t ready to admit that I wanted him. Not to him, anyway. I was feeling bold enough to admit it to myself.
I wanted him. I had missed him.
I had always known I was fated to Lucas, so I had never even entertained the idea I could fall in love with someone else, that I didn’t need to be fated to someone to be happy with them.
But here I was, in a freefall that was both terrifying and a little exhilarating.
I waited for him to push me to answer him, the demanding and bossy king, but he didn’t, even though that storm in his eyes built faster, the darkness bleeding across his skin around his eyes again.
He dipped the sponge into the water and squeezed it out above my shoulder, sending water running down my chest, and then lowered his hand and gently brushed the sponge over my uninjured collarbone, drifting down towards a bruise on my chest.
My hand whipped out of the water, fingers clamping down around his wrist, and I grimaced as I accidentally sprayed droplets over his fine black tunic and his neck.
“You don’t have to bathe me.” I held him firm when he tried to move and twist free of my grip. “I can take care of myself. I’ll be healed in a few days, good as new. I’m fine, really.”
I was babbling and far from fine, but being taken care of was new to me—I had always been the one taking care of others—and the fact it was Kaeleron tending to me so carefully, so dutifully, was tilting my world on its axis faster than ever. Half of me screamed at me to release him and just enjoy it, savour his attention and how good it felt to have someone take care of me for a change, and the rest wanted to run for the hills before I slipped from falling to fallen in the space of a night.
When Kaeleron had turned down my request that he take me, that had been humiliating and painful enough. I wasn’t sure I would survive the blow to my heart if I let myself fall for him and he rejected me. I couldn’t do this.
