Page 72 of Wolf Caged
Kaeleron’s grip on my arm tightened, his other hand clamping down over it as he rumbled, “Do not let go.”
I leaned closer to him instead, my pulse jacking up as the shadows thinned in places and I peered through them at the ghostly world beyond them. It looked like the castle corridors and rooms, but it was a mere phantom of them, intangible and shimmering like smoke.
I gasped as we passed straight through a wall and into the garden, mouth going dry as my mind raced to imagine what might happen if I let go of Kaeleron when he was performing such a manoeuvre. Would I be stuck in a wall? Doomed to die trapped within the heavy stones of this castle?
Kaeleron chuckled as I pressed closer to him. “Afraid, little lamb?”
“No.” A lie. A pathetic one at that.
He saw right through it, the rich timbre of his laugh warming my bones, and startled me by sliding his arm around my shoulders, tugging me closer still.
“I will not let you go,” he husked.
And part of me knew he meant something different by those words. They were a confession rather than a statement. A warning.
A confirmation of the feeling that had been growing within me from the moment I had signed that contract, blindly believing it meant what it said, interpreting it in the way I wanted it.
Kaeleron didn’t intend to set me free.
At least, he didn’t intend to let me leave his lands.
His version of setting me free was far less innocent.
I felt it as his hand glided down to settle on the curve of my waist, as he pulled me closer still, until our bodies pressed together and I knew only him.
He intended to set me free of the invisible bonds that bound me, from the pain of what Lucas had done, and the shackles my family and my duty had placed on me.
And by the gods, some part of me wanted that.
Wanted him.
I didn’t struggle as he held me. No. I leaned closer still, savouring the feel of his muscled body against mine and that bewitching scent of his filling my lungs. Willing to drown in his presence and his power, to bravely shut out the voice that screamed at me about my mate and my duty, about my pack and what was expected of me.
And listened to the instinct that howled at me to embrace this strange new world.
And everything offered by its dark king.
I raised my eyes to his face, on the verge of surrendering in the safety of his shadows, hidden from the world.
But they evaporated, revealing a pasture surrounded by trees that slowly went from ghostly to solid, and I staggered a little as my boots hit the grass, the sudden change from drifting on air to walking on hard earth jarring me.
Kaeleron chuckled at my terrible landing and didn’t stop even as I glared at him.
Being so close to him like this felt too intimate and he seemed too different today. As if he was too tired to keep his mask in place and it kept slipping, revealing enthralling glimpses of the male behind it.
“Perhaps we can work on your dismount. I am willing to give you lessons on dismounting.” His throaty chuckle and that sparkle in his silver eyes as he teased me… too much.
I paced away from him, needing some space and some air, some time to get my unruly desires in check.
The stroll through the castle with him had been far too pleasant, far too normal feeling, and how pleased I had been to see him return, it all rolled up on me now I was out of his arms. I shouldn’t be feeling any of these things for him, shouldn’t find his company enjoyable.
He was my captor. My owner.
I needed to remember that, even when part of me wanted to forget.
To embrace this wildness within me.
To be brave.
