Page 188 of Wolf Caged
I owned her after all.
“And what happens then?” When a confused crinkle marred her brow, I added, “When you return to your pack and see they are safe, what happens then? Do you allow them to place you back in a cage, or will you fly free?”
She frowned at her meat, the candlelight playing across her delicate features, dancing in her silver hair.
“I don’t know. I haven’t figured that out yet.” Her answer was quiet, softly spoken, and I believed her, because I knew the truth she refused to face.
She wanted to see her family were safe, but she did not want to subject herself to the life she had lived with them again. She wanted more than they would give her. Her fingers brushed the ring I had placed on her finger and she toyed with it as she watched the flame flickering on the candle, drifting away from me, deep into her thoughts.
So I drew her back to me.
“The bracelet the wolf had, it is special to you?”
She frowned and nodded, and then lifted her gaze from the ring, settling it on my face as she smiled. It wobbled. And pain had her eyes glittering.
“Everlee gave it to me. It’s a charm bracelet. You add things to it. Treasured memories. You buy little silver charms, like tiny metal carvings that represent the things you see, and add them to the bracelet. She gave it to me when I told her how much I wanted to travel and see the world.”
The bracelet I had seen had been a plain silver chain, with no adornments other than a small wolf.
“And did you see the world?” I knew the answer to that question as her expression took on a sombre edge and she toyed with the ring again, her shoulders shifting on a long sigh.
“No. My father wouldn’t allow it.” She nibbled the meat, darkness building in her eyes. Anger that her own flesh and blood had kept her caged long before Lucas had, before I had.
“But you have seen more than the world, little wolf. You have seen a whole new world.” I reached my hand towards the candle and focused hard, pushing through the dampening fog of magic in the air to summon my own.
Her eyes widened as parts of the flame leaped upwards, becoming wolves that sprang and pranced before they disappeared into smoke, bounding free of their invisible bonds.
“Then I guess you owe me a charm for the bracelet then.” She pulled another piece of the meat free of the package.
I eased back to lean against the wall as I contemplated that. “I will gladly make you one, but I am not sure what would best represent my court or Lucia.”
She stood, moved my pack and set it down where she had been, and then eased onto her backside. Right next to me.
“It would need to be something special.” She hugged her knees to her chest as awareness of her proximity drummed in my blood, the few inches that separated us feeling like nothing more than a wisp of air.
Her face pinched as she watched the candle, her profile to me.
“An elkyn?” I offered.
She scrunched up her nose. “Elkyn are beautiful, but I was thinking something that reminded me of… your court.”
You.
She had wanted to say ‘you’, but had lost her nerve. I was sure of it as I subtly leaned towards her, placing my left hand behind her backside and bracing my weight on it, and sensed her tension and scented her nerves.
“I have an idea,” I said.
“What?” She tensed as I leaned towards her, reaching my right hand around her waist, my body caging her and my mouth close to hers.
And scowled when I plucked her dagger from the sheathe at her waist and held it before her as I sat back where I had been.
“A blade like this one, wrought from metal from Noainfir. A reminder of your strength, your courage, and your spirit.” I gazed at it, scrutinising the details of it. “It would be a challenge, but I believe I could do it.”
She placed her hand over the dagger, fingers brushing my skin. “It would be perfect.”
Her words felt as sharp as the blade I gripped, cutting at my heart as I thought of her bracelet and its reminders of places she had been, and was no longer, and I found I did not want to be something she looked back on, nothing more than a memory to her.
I seized her nape, my body moving of its own accord, and brought my mouth down on hers, claiming her lips in a bruising, desperate kiss.
