Page 49 of Wolf Caged
She was a challenge.
And I would be the victor.
I would break her.
No trace of fear coloured her eyes as I swam a lap around her. She turned in pace with me, blue gaze lifting to the mountains at times, or perhaps the sky. When she was facing the castle, I lost her. She ran her hand over her wet silver hair, clearing it from her delicate face, and stared at the castle.
“Do you like it?” I husked, watching her reaction as she took it in, that irritating fluttering returning as I waited to hear her verdict.
She shrugged. “It looks like the Addam’s Family and Disney had a baby.”
I was not sure what that meant or who these two families she spoke of were.
She glanced at me as she wiped water from her face, a little smile teasing her lips. “Now who’s stupid?”
It only took a scowl to make that smile wobble. “I know little of your human world.”
“Not human world. Plenty of shifter breeds live there, and vampires, and witches and even demons. It’s just notyourworld.” She rotated to face me, but her gaze drifted back to the castle. “I just meant it’s a little grim with all that black stone, but something out of a fairy tale too.”
I had never thought of my castle as like something from a fairy tale. “What makes it so?”
She lowered so the water met her nose as she studied the castle for long seconds, and then kicked upwards, her shoulders breaching the surface. “It’s the towers, I think. The rest of it looks a bit… medieval military. But those towers and the cone-shaped roofs. Very Disney.”
“Who is this Disney?” Someone she knew? I needed to know and while I could have feigned knowledge of what she spoke of and asked one of my servants to investigate it later, I found I wanted to hear it from her soft, pink lips.
“They make kids TV and movies… like pictures that move and have sound. Although they’ve branched out a bit now. But when I was younger, they were really known for entertaining children, and pups like me.” She waved a hand towards the castle. “Their logo is a castle. Towers like yours, but it’s more… light… fake. Towers that look too thin to be of any real use, taking up valuable space. Your castle is more… real. Functional.”
I looked at it too. I had built it as a fortress, one strong enough to protect all within its walls if it came under attack. It was not beautiful by any stretch, but it was beautiful to me. It represented safety and security, and strength. Designed to strike awe and fear into those who saw it.
“The towers are functional,” I assured her. “Men use the upper levels to keep watch. The vantage point from so high issuch that they can see movement across a great distance, and even up into the mountains.”
“See.” She spun to face me again. “That makes total sense.”
It struck me that she was far too at ease with me despite my nakedness, that she had easily overcome it and now acted as if it was nothing. Not the reaction I had desired when devising this plan. I had been sure she would blush constantly and attempt to evade me, too ashamed of her own feelings and desires to gaze at me as boldly as she was now.
I kicked onto my back and then rolled and dove beneath the surface, heading away from the castle and along the shore, feeling her gaze tracking me as I went. More than her gaze tracked me. She swam after me.
Curious little wolf.
I broke the surface and swam for the waterfall.
I reached it before she caught up with me and hauled myself out onto the slippery boulders in the midst of the spray close to the thundering water. The sound drowned out all other noise, and my senses sharpened to compensate for the loss of one of them, centuries of training and experience kicking into place. None would dare attack me here, but I refused to lower my guard.
The little wolf caught up just as I finished traversing the stretch of wet stone and stepped beneath the edge of the waterfall, letting it rain down upon me and batter my shoulders and back. The chilly water numbed my skin, but by the Great Mother, there was nothing quite as invigorating.
Well, perhaps there was something.
The feel of Saphira’s gaze scalding me.
I tipped my face upwards towards the rushing water, letting it engulf me, and then lowered it again, looking at her as I ran both hands over my hair, slicking it back from my face.
Sure she would look away now I was watching her, obviously aware of her staring.
The bold little wolf continued to gaze at my nude form.
“You seem to enjoy looking at me.” I meant the words as a challenge, to make her blush and look away, but they came out teasing and light.
Strange how she did that.
