Page 71 of Wolf Caged
I leaned back, frowning down at her, half of me dissatisfied by her deception in making me feel she would give in and admit she wanted me, and the rest of me curious about what I smelled like to her. I hadn’t been lying about her scent. She smelled like the outdoors, like nature incarnate, a soothing scent thatreminded me of lighter days, when I had spent many hours lazing in the sun, watching the world pass me by.
“You smell like a storm… a winter storm. Wild. Snowy. Fierce.” She averted her gaze, studying my bare chest.
Was she aware of how her gaze scalded me, made me burn with an inferno and a need to feel her hands on my skin? I doubted it. If she knew the desires she roused in me with only a look, she would flee.
She huffed, a brittle sound. “There. I said it. Now let me work in peace.”
She went back to attacking my lower half, removing one plate at a time, and a hint of disappointment coated her scent as the last fell away, revealing supple leather pants rather than bare skin.
“You can remove those too if you would like,” I husked, enjoying that bewitching blush that stained her cheeks even as she scowled at me.
“A suggestion. Not an order. So I think I’ll turn you down.”
“You could turn me on instead,” I growled and reached for her.
She pirouetted beyond my grasp and shook her head. “I don’t think you need any assistance there. Are we done?”
I nodded. “We are done.”
As little as I enjoyed the thought of letting her leave my sight, it was better she went. I needed to focus on recording what I had learned at Ereborne and the ideas about Saphira’s purpose I’d had while there, and then I needed to speak with Neve to see if she’d had another vision while I had been gone.
Saphira turned away but immediately came back to face me. “Do all fae ride horses? Jenavyr’s one is beautiful. Was that your horse I saw with hers at the farrier?”
I chuckled again, a little amused when that lingering hint of blush on her cheeks grew stronger in response, as if the sound of my laughter affected her.
“I do not ride a horse. Not if I can help it. I have an elkyn.”
Her eyes lit up and she had never looked so curious, or so close to bursting from holding back her desire to know more.
So I took her arm, startling her as I draped it over mine, our bare skin brushing and bodies in danger of colliding, and purred down at her.
“Does the lady wish to meet him?”
Chapter 17
SAPHIRA
Ididn’t resist Kaeleron as he ushered me through the quiet castle, heading down corridors I had never seen before. His presence was a constant pressure against me, his scent and his power buffeting me together with awareness of his half-dressed state.
He looked even more the wild king now, a force of nature with his glistening pale skin stretched taut over honed muscles and his black hair no longer neatly pulled back into a half-ponytail. Strands had fallen down, caressing the silver tips he wore on his pointed ears, luring my gaze to them again. He kept his noble profile to me, his striking silver eyes fixed ahead of us as he guided me towards this creature he had said I could meet.
It was hard to focus on the thought of finally seeing one up close—and the king’s personal elkyn out of all of them—when Kaeleron was beside me, his presence consuming my focus, demanding and alluring.
His fingers stroked a steady, teasing rhythm on my arm, as if he wanted to keep me aware of him, keep my eyes on him. Like there was any danger of my focus drifting elsewhere.
“Where is everyone?” I didn’t take my eyes from his profile as I asked that, growing increasingly aware that the castle was too quiet.
Too empty.
“All around us.” His deep voice rolled over me like a wave, sweeping me up in it, and I looked for the people I couldn’t sense.
And gasped.
We weren’t travelling along a corridor as I had thought. We were travelling along an avenue of black mist, completely embraced by the shadows. Fear threatened to shake me, but fascination overruled it, my eyes darting around as I struggled to take in that I was travelling through the shadows, cloaked in them and concealed from everyone.
More alone with Kaeleron than I had ever been.
I went to reach my hand out to brush through those shadows.
