Wolf Hunted (Bound to the Shadow King #2)

Chapter 1

SAPHIRA

Iwas a wolf.

Cunning. Smart. Brave.

Willing to fight to the death for my pack.

I told myself that on repeat as I marched towards what felt like my doom, something inside me stretching tight and feeling as if it might snap as I continued forwards, forcing my feet to move as rage simmered in my blood, and anger clouded my mind.

Together with pain.

Pain that snaked through me, hissing vile words in my ear, a ghost I couldn’t banish no matter how hard I tried.

It whispered to me of rejection—of another male I had foolishly felt something for pushing me away and turning his back on me.

No male in this world would ever truly desire me. Would ever really want me.

I pulled down a shaky breath and summoned the strength to push those words from my mind, because I wasn’t being rejected.

I was being protected.

In the most infuriating way possible.

And the male who had banished me from his court would feel my wrath over that once I had dealt with my fated mate and saved my pack.

The great heavy wooden gates of Falkyr creaked open, revealing the rolling green countryside I had often studied from my balcony in the castle of the king of the unseelie Shadow Court.

Kaeleron.

I glanced back at that black castle that towered above the terraced fae town as I took my first steps beyond the protective thick dark stone walls of Falkyr, my heart thumping from a vicious blend of anger and despair.

Sorrow swelled inside me as I lingered and looked at the town, deeply aware of Morden when he stopped and turned to see what was keeping me, as he loomed like a shadow over me, watching me so closely. I could sense his own anger, and his confusion, but I didn’t have time for him right now.

I was leaving as he wanted, as he had demanded, but that didn’t mean I was leaving as a whole person.

Some part of me would always remain here. I was soul-deep aware of that as I looked at that castle, as I thought of the male who was probably in the war room by now, or in the armoury, preparing to head into battle in a land that stifled his magic, leaving him vulnerable.

All to protect his court and his people.

A low growl rumbled in my chest as I thought of him out there on that glittering black sand.

Fear flashed in my veins as I replayed how difficult it had been for him to use his powers in that barren land where the residual magical fallout dampened his abilities, leaving him drained whenever he tried to summon shadows or teleport.

My wolf side demanded I return to him, demanded I stay by his side to protect him as I had when we had fought the lich to secure An’sidwain, the ancient dragon stone his seer, Neve, had seen him needing in order to fulfil his vengeance.

Just as the dragon shifter had seen me.

I was vital to his vengeance, and yet he was sending me away, and the more I thought about that, the more I felt it wasn’t just about protecting me from the war at his borders.

I hadn’t hidden my pain when Morden had revealed he didn’t know the fate of our pack—of my parents.

Fear for them had carved me up inside, making me desperate to return to Canada to see if they were safe, or if my fated mate, Lucas, had captured them just as Morden feared.

Kaeleron had lost his parents, his brother, and I knew from how he had looked back at me that he had glimpsed my pain, my fear, and that it was part of the reason he had pushed me away.

Had set me free.

Tearing up our contract and erasing my debt to him.

So I would leave and return to my pack.

To protect my family.

To have my revenge.

“Saphi,” Morden murmured, moving a step closer to me.

I dragged my gaze from the castle and looked at him, sure I looked as bleak as I felt inside, a hollow and afraid little female, as fragile as glass and liable to shatter at any moment as my courage slipped and my heart bled.

I was a wolf.

Cunning. Smart. Brave.

Strong.

Strong.

Kaeleron had made me see the strength I had always possessed, hidden beneath the layers of oppression and my pack’s view of me as the daughter of their alpha.

A strength I hadn’t known was there until my fated mate had rejected me and sold me to the fae king, and I had found myself in another world, one of shadows and blood, and danger around every corner.

He had seen my strength before I had ever been aware of it, and rather than oppress me, he had nurtured it, drawing it to the surface until I could see it too.

And then he had honed it for me.

And now I would use that strength to return to my pack, to make Lucas pay, and to return to Kaeleron.

I nodded and turned my back on the castle, trying to sever that part of me that wanted to remain here, because I had a duty and a vengeance to fulfil.

The quicker I dealt with it, the quicker I put my bastard mate in the ground, the quicker I could return and bring Kaeleron to his knees and make him mine.

I strode along the cobbled road, head held high, back straight, my gaze fixed ahead of me, stoking that rage that burned in my veins and using it as a furnace for my courage.

Down the grassy slope, at the convergence of several cobble and dirt roads, stood a black stone rotunda that glimmered with violet light as people stepped out from between its sturdy columns.

I narrowed my focus on it to keep me moving forwards, barely aware of the colossal statues that loomed on either side of me as I passed the halfway point, the stone knights mounted on great elkyn—beautiful stag-like creatures—standing at least fifty foot tall.

The guard led us to the rotunda, and I stared at the shimmering, twisting violet mist that glittered with stars between the columns beneath the domed roof.

Morden inched back a step and I glanced at him, catching the wary look on his face before he schooled it into a neutral expression, hiding the emotion from the fae as he turned towards us.

“I didn’t enter Lucia this way. I’m not sure how this thing works or what might happen,” Morden admitted and I looked from him to the guard.

“How does it work?” I asked, hoping the spell Kaeleron had cast upon me so my words came out as fae and their words came out as English was still in place.

Morden watched me closely. “I’m not sure he’ll under—”

“You must think of where you wish to go and then enter. It will transport you to that location.” The guard made it sound so simple, but my hackles rose as I looked at the portal, as the power of it hummed over my skin and I remembered Kaeleron transporting me through the shadows of this world, and how afraid I had been that I would end up accidentally materialising inside something solid.

Suffocating to death.

I shut down that fear. Now wasn’t the time to be afraid. Not of this anyway. I needed to reach my pack, so I would just have to make sure we landed somewhere open and safe.

“Very well.” I turned to Morden. “We need to think of where we want to go and then step into it. I really recommend picking somewhere open. No walls. No trees. A nice open spot. Don’t want to end up popping out the other side of this mystical cloud into something that will kill us now, do we?”

Morden frowned at me now, ignoring my nervous attempt at humour. “You understood him? Since when do you speak fae?”

I shrugged. “I don’t. Kaeleron cast a spell on me so I could understand everyone and everyone else could understand me. He speaks English so he didn’t need to do it for me. But… he did. I guess it’s still functioning.”

His expression darkened with every word I said, grey eyes growing stormy. For a moment, I thought he would say something biting about the fae king, but then he reached for me, gripped my left wrist, and tugged me forwards.

Towards the waygate.

“I know where we can go,” he growled as he pulled me along with him, no hesitation in his steps as his gaze fixed on the portal, the light of it washing over his skin and catching on the scar that cut down one side of his face from his cheek to the corner of his lip.

I glanced back in the direction of the castle as the power of the waygate grew stronger, pulsing in my bones, aching to be back there as fear gripped me. Not fear of where I was going, but fear of where he was going.

Fear of what might happen to him and this court I had come to love.

I shut it down, forcing my focus to my pack, to the people I could help and my own vengeance.

And stepped into the portal at Morden’s side.

A weird sucking sensation pulled at my flesh, the stars that glittered around me both cold and warm at the same time, and the whole of my body felt as if I was sparkling, fizzing inside.

And then it was over.

I took in my new surroundings.

A dense, dark forest that smelled of damp earth and rotting pine needles. The cool air kissed my skin, raising goosebumps along it, and I wrapped my arms around myself, rubbing at my bare skin beyond the sleeves of my navy blouse.

“This is… not where I pictured.” Morden released me and moved away from me, taking a few steps forwards into the gloom of night before he looked back over his broad shoulders at me.

He scrubbed his hand over his chestnut hair, his rough features pinching in a grim look. “We should be in the fae town.”

I grimaced as it hit me.

“I was thinking of the pack when you pulled me into the portal.” I shook my head, my brow furrowing. “I tried to blank my mind but they just popped into it.”

I looked at the pine forest that surrounded us, gently sloping downwards to my right, silently berating myself for not clearing my mind.

The gods only knew where we were now. I should have asked the guard what would happen if we thought of two places while we were connected.

A chill tumbled down my spine. If Morden hadn’t been holding on to me, would I have ended up in one place and him in the other?