Page 4 of Wolf Caged
Kiss him.
And mate him.
Chapter 2
SAPHIRA
The barn in the centre of the communal green deep in the Hunt pack lands had been beautifully decorated with white lights that shimmered as dusk began to fall, making the compacted snow around the building twinkle like diamonds. I had thought we would celebrate the coming together of our two packs in the street that ran through the middle of the small town that served as an outpost for humans passing through the area. Lucas had mentioned it happening that way in the last message I had received from him. Maybe the lingering cold weather of early spring had forced a change of plans.
I relished it.
I had never felt comfortable visiting the Hunt pack, mostly because Lucas’s father had always held the gatherings in the heart of the town they had built, one filled with stores that catered to tourists and the few locals that lived out on remote properties in the area. None of my pack had failed to see his actions for what they had been.
A show of power and wealth.
My pack—the Harper pack—lived in a small community of cabins in the middle of the forest near Wells in Canada, far away from civilisation. We scraped by, growing food and hunting, living off the land as best we could. But for most of the supplies we needed, we had to travel to the nearby Hunt pack or make the journey to Quesnel.
We were few in numbers, and they were many.
Our two packs couldn’t have been more different, and the old Hunt alpha had loved pointing it out to us.
Even going as far as bringing up how easy it had been to defeat our former alpha and two of our pack’s protectors.
My gaze sought out Chase and Morden as I exited the SUV.
Chase pulled his black Jeep up behind us, looking deeply at ease as he chatted animatedly with Morden’s younger sister, Danica, who sat wedged between him and a very grave Morden. My former protector’s grey eyes shifted to me, as stormy as ever as they locked with mine. I sensed the movement of people towards me before his gaze snapped to my right and narrowed.
Lucas.
If I hadn’t been able to feel him closing the distance between us, hadn’t been able to recognise his earthy scent, that look in Morden’s eyes would have told me who it was.
While Morden had felt no love for his father, he had loved his brother deeply, and Lucas’s father had taken both of them from him that night Chase’s father had foolishly challenged him.
I gave Morden a look that warned him to be on his best behaviour.
Morden merely shoved the car door open in response and stepped out, unfurling all six-foot-five of his powerful body, and gripped the top of the door.
Lucas stopped beside me, his deep blue eyes fixed on Morden rather than me.
Where Lucas was light and elegant, with his neatly styled blond hair and pressed jeans and shirt, and charming as he smiled at my former protector, Morden was darkness incarnate, his black flannel shirt and jeans, and his dark brown hair making him blend into the falling night beyond him, and his lips were set in a grim line that made it perfectly clear he wasn’t happy to be here.
Before the two of them could ruin the night, I stepped in front of Lucas, capturing his attention.
His gaze dropped to mine, and then fell further, raking over me in a way that heated my blood and had my mind racing forwards to after the celebration, when we would finally be alone.
When we would mate.
“You look beautiful,” he murmured for my ears only and leaned down to brush his lips across my forehead in his usual greeting.
I lifted my head instead, tipping my chin up, and his smile was wicked as he shifted course and swept his lips across mine in the barest whisper of a kiss.
A shiver bolted down my spine and my wolf side urged me to growl, to claim this male as mine now rather than wait another few hours. My fingers trembled as I stood before him, as he gazed down at me, right into my eyes, the corners of his kissable lips still curved into a faint smile. Heat coloured his eyes, heat I could feel beating off him as he inched closer, as he trailed a hand down my arm beneath my shawl.
His fingers locked around my wrist rather than twining with mine.
“Come. Everyone is waiting.” He tugged on my arm and I stumbled after him, confusion flashing through me as I looked at his hand on my wrist. His grip was firm, and I could sense agitation in him as I focused on him.
He was probably just as nervous as I was, or maybe excited to see where this night would take us.
