Page 164 of Wolf Caged
Soon, I would see with my own eyes that she was all right.
“You were not meant to return until tomorrow,” I grumbled at Malachi as I pressed my left hand to my shoulder and rolled it, feeling the bone grate in the socket.
Mal lifted a black eyebrow and then understanding dawned in his onyx eyes. “You wanted to prepare her.”
I huffed. “I at least wanted to tell her who you are and what to expect, and it might not have hurt to try to teach her to hold her tongue.”
“She is a fiery one.” Mal looked over his shoulder in the direction she had run.
“You have no idea,” I muttered as I scowled at the gathered crowd, the silent threat enough to have them breaking apart and disappearing from sight, leaving me alone in the courtyard with Malachi and my sister.
“I like her.” Mal nodded as his horns slowly shrank back to their usual size, the golden tips I had made for him when he had joined the Shadow Court barely reaching his earlobes now.
It had taken several attempts and a lot of research to forge them, enchanting them so they moved and grew with his horns just as the end third of them would have before the seelie had chopped them off to shame him. I had tried to make him whole again. I glanced at the thick metal torc he wore around his neck, another gift I had made him, an item all demon males wore when they lost their fated mate. Or I had tried to make him as whole as possible.
I grunted as I limped towards the castle.
My words a vicious, possessive snarl.
“She is not for you.”
Chapter 44
KAELERON
Hours passed without Saphira returning to the castle, and I found myself landing outside the remote cottage in a swirl of shadows and starlight, the noise of the castle falling away into silence that normally felt comforting whenever I came to this place. Only this time, I found myself straining to hear movement on the other side of the worn wooden door before me, a sign that Saphira had not run from my court and was still within the safety of the castle walls.
Light footsteps sounded inside the cottage and I breathed a little easier as I stepped back and summoned my shadows, intending to return to the castle now I knew she was safe and had not run from me.
Only the door opened, as if she had sensed my presence, and she peered around it, an awkward edge to her beautiful face as she avoided my gaze.
“Are you okay?” she whispered as she looked at anything but me.
“Malachi would not have killed me.” I tilted my head and frowned. “I do not think so anyway. You did not need to intervene.”
The darkness that crossed her delicate features told me she had needed to intervene and the way her air of awkwardness grew said she had not been able to stop herself and was still shocked by the violence of her reaction.
Her gaze slid to the left, beyond my boots. “Is Vyr okay?”
Her brow furrowed as she asked that, and I would have to have been blind to miss how she felt about what she had done to my sister, and how she feared what it might mean for their relationship.
“My sister is well and bears you no ill will, little wolf. She understands why you reacted as you did and you are already forgiven. No harm has been done.”
My words did not seem to offer her the relief I had hoped they would, because she frowned and glared at the grass beyond me, a sombre darkness to her expression that I found I did not like. I did not want the little wolf to feel ashamed of what she had done, to feel she had ruined her relationship with my sister, but I was at a loss as to what I could say to her to make her believe that Jenavyr really did not bear her any kind of ill will and their friendship remained unchanged, as strong as ever.
“Did what you do really warrant such a brutal response from the demon?” She looked at my boots, still avoiding my face, but it was progress.
“Malachi has his reasons, and I knew what would happen the moment I handed over coin in exchange for you. I was prepared for it.” I checked her over as I answered her, ensuring she was unharmed, but unable to see much of her body. The robe swamped her, concealing her curves and rousing my curiosity and a need to slowly strip it from her.
She lifted her head, but the anger that sparked in her blue eyes and her scent faded the instant her gaze landed on me, washed away by horror. “Didn’t you go to see the court physicians?”
I inspected my torn tunic with a shrug. “I will heal without their help. Nothing here requires their intervention. I was going to bathe after I checked on you.”
“To make sure I hadn’t run away.” Her tone was accusing and sharp.
I shook my head. “No. I knew you would not be so foolish.”
But some part of me hadn’t been sure and I had been compelled to check she was safe.
