shadow

Amara Eldwood

The elite wolf shifter was bigger up close, his presence looming like a wraith reaper as he stood over me.

“P-Please—” I wheezed, and his sharp fierce eyes narrowed to slits, the light white goatee dotting the top of his lips shifting when he scowled.

I raised my hands in surrender, and caught the hesitation in his shoulders before he flicked away the blade, tucking it into the sword guard in his belt.

“Please…I need to speak to the Alpha, he must know I didn't harm the princess, I have no idea why Mabel is framing me. Hell, that…that woman never liked me in the first place okay?” I rapped, realizing the man was watching me blunder quietly before I clamped my lips shut, wringing my hands nervously.

His strikingly beautiful face was impassive, his mocha skin nearly perfect in its shine.

How could a wolf so beautiful be so frightening?

“You will speak to me only while you are alive in this cell, Amara Eldwood—” He started, his words like a gut punch to the belly, but I kept my face calm.

He wasn't the only one who could do that. 

After years in shadow pack where dissatisfaction, unhappiness or sadness was seen as mutiny to the Alpha, shadow wolves had learned to hide their feelings a little too well.

“Please call me Mara. I prefer it,” I whispered, but he neither confirmed nor denied my request, instead, lowering himself on the closed toilet lid.

The leather bag he drew from the green leather coat he wore crinkled when he shook out a piece of glass I recognized as the wine flute.

“Tell me again, where you got this. Who gave you the wolfsbane you poisoned the princess with?” His voice was even, lazy almost, but I got the distinct feeling my answer would determine if I was about to start screaming like the other wolves I’d heard through the night.

I took a deep steadying breath, painfully aware of how the other cells had gone quiet around us.

There was no doubt in my mind the fuckers had their ears pressed up against the walls, stymming for gossip they could pass onto the rubber-necked guards and get dungeon favors.

“I’d been drinking the entire night, Sir Ironside, I promise you I have nothing on me that anyone didn't see when you rescued me at the gates,” I started, grateful that my voice was steady, even when my breaths came in short, harsh bursts.

I could see the wide open cell gate in the corner of my eyes and the thought of being so close to freedom made my knees buckle.

I wasn't foolish enough to think I could be faster than an elite warrior of the Infinity fortress who had been around for years longer than i’ve been alive.

He didn't look all that old, with his dashing good looks, tight skin and even tighter muscles, he looked just about the same age as me.

But his eyes, the field of experience and cunning that stated back at me made me feel like I was staring death in the face.

I licked my lips, wondering for a split second how he would react if I suddenly charged for the doors, before deciding I liked my brains too much to have them plastered all over the slick prison walls.

“I couldn't possibly have known the woman would snatch the glass from my hands, Hell, I’d been sipping the poisoned wine myself the entire time! What murdered would do that?” I argued, growing bolder now that he let me ramble and jutting my chin at him, trying to temper the way my chest was heaving.

I watched him pace the cell, heavy footfalls that resounded like thunder in the tight space until the tension threatened to overwhelm me.

“If you ask me, M’lord, I think you should take a closer look at that Mabel witch. I mean how did she know just where to find the glass? And how did she know what type of poison was used?” I hissed, only just remembering how the bone-thin servant had sprung up out of nowhere.

I had never hated anyone the way I hated the bitch, and the wry tug of amusement of the corner of the shifter’s lips suggested he sensed my malice.

“Didn’t ask, Shadow.” He boomed, like the killjoy that he was, and I bit down on my tongue, careful not to say anything else that might upset him.

“Are you willing to testify at the hearing of the council everything you’ve told me this far?” 

I shuddered at the thought of all those snobbish wolves watching me, but met the shifter’s eyes gamely.

“If it is what I must do to prove my innocence, I can testify anywhere you want me to.” 

I didn't intend the sexual edge my words had, but thwybwere out before I could stop myself.

“I-I mean, testify at the court. Of course…not that I couldn't testify anywhere else—” I stammered before back hand in G myself mentally and cupping my hands to my lips, wishing the ground would open and gobble me up instead.

I tried not to imagine what it would be like to have the muscular man move above me as his cock thrust into my insides and he licked his scent into my neck.

Would he moan? Groan? Grovel? I pressed my thighs tightly together, digging my fingers into my palm to distract myself.

Ronan’s thick white lashes fluttered before he glanced down at his lap, the power vibrating off his relaxed frame in waves as the uncomfortable silence stretched between us.

I’d heard stories of the stone shifter of the fortress. The way he joined the pack just before The Darkness struck.

After years of roaming the wildlands as a rogue. 

Out of the Four, he was the one I should have felt a kinship with, but only he had built his walls so high up that even the bond we shared couldn't break through his concrete facade of indifference.

“Why did you leave your old pack?” his sudden question snapped me right out of my reverie and I fumbled around for an answer, glancing everywhere but at him.

There was no way I was telling him I got rejected by the almighty Kiernan Bones.

Hell, what better way to ensure I stayed mateless than to show my mate evidence of my freaking incompetence?

“Just needed a break is all,” I settled, and he gave an exaggerated nod that confirmed he didn't believe me.

Just how much more did I have to do to make them trust me?

“See, this is where this all gets confusing…Shadow, because I believe you know nothing of the wolfsbane. But I don't believe you’ve hidden nothing from me.” He hissed, stretching to his feet and making me snap up in return, backing up until I felt the cold wall digging into my shoulder blades.

This was it…he suspected. 

I had to tell him, didn't I? 

There had to be some other way to escape immediate death, there had to!

Think, Mara, freaking think!

“I-If I tell you it doesn't matter, will you hurt me?” 

I hated the way my voice had gotten small and pathetic, but I held my hands stiffly at my sides, feeling my face burn with undignified embarrassment when tears rolled down my cheeks.

His jaw flexed and for what felt like the first time tonight, his gaze raked over my body slowly, seeming to set every bit of skin it touched on fire.

“Yes.” 

His singular acceptance was filled with wicked promise, forcing me to gulp heavily.

My hands shook as I brushed the hair from my face, my fingers almost freezing to the touch.

“I…I think the only reason I survived the poisoning is because I’m not a full wolf yet, Sir, Ironside…I’m a halfling—” I muttered, watching his brows rise until they were almost at his hairline.

“Its been off and on in my family for generations that is…a-and we usually get our wolves in just after or during mating—” I rambled, bluffing through my teeth because I didn't have a clue in the world if it happened during mating or not.

“And how many mates have you had? Are you…currently mated to anyone?” He said rather than asked, crossing his hands over his expansive chest.

“None.”

The weight of my confession sat between us in the small cell, and I swallowed back the tears pushing against the back of my throat.

His gaze seemed to soften, and he straightened, nodding once, like he knew it was better not to investigate the details.

His large hands brushed through his short white hair, the flash of his silver rings catching the morning light.

The cell had lightened enough that I could see the shadows under his almond-shaped eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, the effect giving him a more rugged look than usual.

How would it feel to have those large hands around the small of my waist?

My mouth watered and it took every shred of control I had to focus when he stepped toward me, closing the distance between us in one fell swoop.

I would have fallen back if there was anywhere else to go, but I could only stare at his hard chest, the breath hitching in my throat at how close he was.

Enough that I could see the faint hint of glitter on his hooded brows and smell the cinnamon on his clothes.

He’d come from the royal kitchens. Had he seen Mabel already then?

“I see. A wolfless reject who can withstand wolfsbane.” He muttered thoughtfully, his coat parting to reveal the hard chest stretching the tight white tee he wore underneath.

“Prepare yourself for your quest tomorrow. A confessor will come to take your statement before the court. You will survive if you are lucky. And if you are innocent, then I suppose the royal courts owe you a very big apology,” Ronan mused, and my nipples hardened like small rocks when his palm brushed against the side of my face as he flicked my fly-away strands behind my ear.

A-A confessor?

Fear made my stomach churn and I tried not to break into another sob, knowing I would never recover what little dignity I had left.

Confessing a wolf was painful enough, but a maiden who didn't have her wolf yet? 

It was suicide, and the white beast knew it just as well as I did.

Something about his scent made my pussy lips throb and engorge despite myself.

And desire welled deep in my chest as I watched him storm toward the gates, pausing when I dared to speak.

“Sir Ironside? Will…will you get me out of here? This dungeon…the screams, it’s driving me crazy,” I gasped, trying desperately and failing to keep the tears from showing through my voice.

I watched the white wolf’s broad back stiffen before his hazel eyes found mine over his shoulder, softer than they were before.

“I will try my best…and please, call me Ronan. I prefer it.” He breathed, marching out and letting the guards standing in the corner bang the cell gates shut.

If I didn't know any better, I could have sworn i’d just gotten my foot in the doorway of the white wolf’s heart.

He would protect me. 

“He has to or Goddess forgive me—” I muttered, my fingers tightening on the thin white sheets before I glanced up at the high window bars, thick enough to hold my weight.

“…I fear I would do something unforgivable.” I finished, releasing my grip and screwing my eyes shut to drown out the relentless screams and the thickening scent of blood in the air.

“Not yet, Mara…hold on a little longer,” I whispered, dismissing the thoughts of my limp body swaying from the bars.