Moon Bound

Gilded Cage

When I was little we used to play tag everyday at recess. All the kids in the pack would gather around the baseball field on the edge of the playground and split up into teams. Everybody wanted Emma on their team, but Emma would never play unless I could be on the team with her. So the other kids would begrudgingly let me join, angry because they knew I was going to screw them over.

I was the slowest pack member. The others were able to outrun me by miles in mere seconds. Despite how young we were, most could feel the phantom urges of the shift and they could go feral at a moment’s notice. And then there was me. Weird, little Lyra James. The only one who couldn’t keep up.

I remember the terror of being chased down and tackled, usually getting bitten or scratched up in the process.

Not much had changed since then.

I was either running, being dragged down, or scrambling to find a way to claw my way back to safety and show everyone else that I wouldn’t break so easily.

Now I was trapped under an angry warlock, his hips pressing into mine while holding me at knife point.

There must have been something about me that just begged to be killed.

A heavy silence filled the room as my hand raised and clasped around the wrist of the hand pointing the blade at me. I dug my nails into Killian’s pale, flawless skin and tried to put on a brave face. I needed to gain some control of the situation before the guy slit my throat.

“If you get that thing away from me it will be easier to answer you. And you wouldn’t want to piss off your boss would you? I have a feeling Aiden won’t like it if you make me bleed.”

Killian’s eyes turned dark, full of something that was foreign to me. Possibly desire… but more sinister. “I could always lie. I can be very convincing when I want to be. Who do you think he will believe? He doesn’t trust me, but I am technically here to protect you. You’re just the naughty little captive who broke out her gilded cage and I’m the bodyguard who tried oh so hard to stop her from doing something reckless.”

I started to roll my eyes but jolted back in shock when he pressed his hips harder into me.

A wicked smile spread across his face, “Maybe the pressure of Elias hunting you, being kidnapped, and missing your family became too much to handle. Or perhaps the ward pushed you to the edge, driving that sweet little mind of yours crazy.”

He broke my hold on his wrist as if it was nothing and dragged the flat of the blade along my jaw. The cut of the stones that were embedded inside of it were rough and cold against my skin, warning me to be careful. I wanted to shrink away, but refused to give him the satisfaction.

“Oh, no, I know,” he paused thoughtfully before his expression hardened, “I will just tell him the truth. His precious princess is an i***t and played with things that don’t belong to her. Like a cursed knife that could have turned itself on her and f*****g killed her.”

Killian shoved away from the table and turned, leaving me speechless. A magical knife that could come to life and hurt someone? No way. He had to be joking.

“I’m not joking,” he hissed as if he could read my mind.

What in the ever loving Twilight Zone bullshit was this? Knives don’t just come to life and attack people. Why did he even have a cursed knife in the first place? Why did Aiden let him bring a cursed knife into his house?

“For not being a human, you sure are as dumb as one,” his velvety voice quipped as he messed with something on the bookshelf with his back facing me. I straightened and peeked over to see him sliding the knife inside a black box. Then he spun on his heel and stalked back over to me.

My heart jumped into my throat each time he took a step. I could act brave all I wanted, and he might have a pretty face, but Killian was still a scary dude.

He stopped a few inches away from me, invading my senses with linen and sage. I didn’t look to meet his eyes as he lifted my left arm. His fingers traced the tattoo placed right below its bend. It took everything in me to fight off the pleasant shiver his touch was trying to send through me.

“I wasn’t far off about the gilded cage huh?”

The image of a bird inside a cage permanently lived on my flesh. Mom had been outraged when I came home with it branded on me for the world to see. She accused me of ruining my body. I argued that I didn’t have much control over my life, and this was one thing I had complete control over. Plus it was symbolic. I felt trapped in the pack, in Crescent Valley, in our modest life that was entirely my fault. It was therapeutic to express my feelings. She told me next time I needed to express my feelings to try taking up poetry.

“From one prison to another.” It wasn’t a question, more like an observation. I couldn’t hold back the goosebumps this time as he followed the lines of the tattoo a second time.

Once I finally found my voice the words came out clipped and thick, nearly choking me.

“Aiden is going to hear us.”

It’s not like Aiden was my boyfriend, but for some reason it felt wrong that I was in here alone with Killian. It felt like I was betraying him somehow.

No he’s not your boyfriend.

He’s just maybe, possibly your mate.

That made the guilt even heavier. It weighed on me until I was convinced it was going to crush my heart under its ironclad grip.

Killian chuckled at the way my eyes nervously flitted over to the closed door and stepped closer, leaving no space between us. He stood with one leg between my thighs, the other trapping my right leg, and had me pinned to the table once again.

His minty breath hit my face as he spoke quietly, conspiratorially, as if we had a secret between us, “Sweet flos, your Alpha can’t hear a thing. I made sure of it.”

I leaned back, gaping up at him in horror. He rolled his eyes with a snort, “Oh my, you are soft aren’t you? Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t harm your mate. It’s the room,” he waved his hand, staring at me without blinking. “I made it so that he can’t hear what goes on in here. I wasn’t about to let that control freak listen to my every move.”

He stared at me for a moment longer before poking at my tattoo again.

“When I first saw you I thought that dog brain out there had gone off the deep end. I mean, a human? Elias is searching for a power house, and no offense princess, but you’re not it.”

I couldn’t tell whether I should be offended or happy that he agreed with me on the Elias issue.

“But then you start doing things that aren’t quite human, like growling. And now you manage to slip past golden boy. And that dream… for someone so innocent that was pretty creative. You are quite the sly little fox.” He reached forward to wrap a chunk of my hair around his slender fingers.

A new kind of fear bloomed inside of me, the kind that came from a seed of desire being buried low in my belly. He seemed to be praising me. I found myself flushing at the unconventional compliment.

My chest heaved as I filled my lungs with air, unaware that I had been holding my breath until it started to burn, “You aren’t mad at me for coming in here?”

He dropped my hair to run the pad of his index finger from my cheek all the way to my neck while watching my face intently. Goosebumps exploded along my exposed skin for the second time in a matter of minutes.

“I’m impressed. Aiden didn’t hear you leave your room, and you managed to get through the barrier I put up around mine.” He wrapped his hand gently around the base of my throat, making my eyes flutter shut.

There was a small part of me that was pleased that I had impressed him.

Killian didn’t give me much time to ponder why I was suddenly happy about his approval, “But don’t touch my f*****g things again without asking or I’ll kill you and make it look like an accident. If the things you touch don’t kill you first of course.”

My eyes snapped open at that and I shouldered past him, desperate to get away from the lunatic. When I looked over he was picking up the books on the table and shoving them into the shelves as if he hadn’t just threatened my life.

I backed towards the door, eyeing him warily. He reminded me of a snake, and he could strike at any second if I didn’t get out of here soon. I grabbed blindly for the door handle but fell to the floor with a shriek as an electrifying pain shot up my arm.

Killian walked over while I cradled my arm against myself. It vibrated wildly, sharp little shocks going up and down it every few seconds. He tangled his hand in my hair and pulled me up, making me cry out. I bit back a whimper as he pressed his lips against my ear.

“Interesting that you made it in here without that happening, but can’t get out. Looks like I am going to have to make some adjustments to the room."

That minty breath was all I could smell. His words warmed the shell of my ear. He was an overwhelming force to my senses.

He gave my hair a sharp tug, getting a reflexive growl out of me.

"I'll let you out, but first you need to tell me what you were doing in here besides messing with my belongings.”

I needed to get out of this mad house. Aiden and Killian were too dangerous. Too gorgeous. I couldn’t keep my head on straight. I had almost forgotten the whole reason for entering Killian’s room in the first place.

Nothing grated on my nerves more than the idea of asking Killian for help- figuring out a way to get rid of him was on my to do list after all. But being sneaky was apparently out of the question, so I needed to go right into the den of the lion and just be straightforward.

“I need you,” I gritted out between clenched teeth, resisting growling at him again as he yanked on my hair one last time to get me back into a standing position. His grip loosened but he didn't completely let go and his eyebrows lifted under the black hair that had fallen forward to curtain his face.

"Not in the way you are thinking," I snapped, making his mouth curve into a smirk.

"Give it a few days, I'm sure you'll be on your knees begging for what I'm thinking."

I slapped his hand away and moved back, itching to get out of here as fast as possible. He crossed his arms over his chest and gestured for me to continue.

"I need you to teach me about magic."