I should try to crawl out into the night and find my way back to the palace where people were probably searching for me. I thought about the hate between the king and Desmire, but Rune awoke.
“Rune.” I trembled, reaching my hand up to lightly caress his arm in a soothing manner, one that hopefully showed him I wasn’t a threat. I doubted he’d bring me here and hold me like this if he thought I was going to hurt him.
Was he fully an animal now, acting as a predator would? Or was Rune still the dominant species in there, fully in control but the essence of the werewolf core coming out with the full moon?
Rune huffed and turned his head back to where it was before, closing his eyes restfully. I watched him, feeling his deep breaths against my back since we sat against the wall of the cave with me in his lap, his caging arms around me. Obviously he would not be up for letting me leave tonight. Thankfully, I was comfortable against his large furry body despite the situation. I drifted off with his moving chest as he inhaled and exhaled.
I let myself fall asleep, deciding I’d deal with all the new things that occurred tomorrow.
***
A groan woke me up from my deep sleep. I was face to face with Rune’s Fae lips.
He was awaking at the same moment, and it took me seconds to gaze down and see that besides the necklace and black trousers, he was bare against my back and still holding me.
“Sapphira?” Rune muttered in confusion, his eyes adjusting to the light beaming in through the cave entrance.
“Uh, hi.” I tried to move and at first Rune refused to let me go. Then he realized what was happening and opened his arms with Fae speed.
“What happened?”
I used the cave wall to stand. A bright light made me grimace as I looked toward the blasphemous glare and saw metal bolts connected to the stone wall with broken chains swaying in the breeze of the cave entryway. This was Rune’s werewolf cave where he stayed during the full moon. I assumed during the day he was Fae and at night a beast.
“Sapphira.” He said my name again, not rising from the wall. I wondered if he could . . . maybe changing back and forth took all his strength.
“We were attacked last night. Some of Verin’s soldiers. They kidnapped me, slayed a few of the guards, but were stopped by my dragon friend at the river.” The memory of Desmire’s roar and fire wall made me shiver. He was so powerful, even without magic.
“You showed up and snarled at everyone. You know, the normal stuff,” I teased, hoping to cheer up the quiet rage simmering beneath his features. “You bit a guy’s head off with your werewolf teeth, and then carried me here like a ragdoll. Then you . . . uh . . .” Did I tell him he kept me in his arms all night like a protector?
“You caged me in your arms like your favorite teddy bear. And now you’re back to you, and it’s daylight.”
Rune tried to stand. His limbs trembled from the movement and he collapsed against the hard ground with a grunt. I rushed to help him.
“It’s no use. I won’t have any strength to move till closer to dark.” He huffed, and my throat burned, with tears not far behind. It must be awful chained in here for days, then sitting around doing nothing, waiting for it all to be over.
I should leave and let everyone know I was safe, but I couldn’t leave him right now. The decision was easier than it should have been as I walked over and plopped down against the wall beside him.
“We’ve got some time to kill. I think I’m owed a story.” I bumped him with my shoulder. We could be alone and simply talk friend to friend in a cave together, as long as I didn’t look at him and his naked chest.
Chapter Forty-Two
“A story, huh? Which story?”
I wanted to throw my fist in the air victoriously. Rune was opening up to me.
“I wanna know your story with Nyx. I want to know about your werewolf side. If you weren’t in control last night, then it did sort of kidnap me.” Rune rested his head against the cave wall.
“When magic was still on this Earth, I was able to control that side of me. It’s like we are two beasts sharing one heart. I was able to see what the beast was doing and control him. He knew Nyx was his mate right away, even before I did, and she could control him, too.” He chuckled.
“I used to call her my moon. She was the only one my other side liked and would let control him. Now that magic is gone, I’ve been useless in there. The essence of the wolf is too strong and without my magic, I can’t do anything except make sure it doesn’t hurt anybody.”
“The werewolf side of you is pretty scary. So tall and big. And those teeth.” I wanted to peel back his lips and examine those typical Fae elongated canines of his to see if any remained wolf-like.
“Must not have been too scary if you stayed in his arms all night.” He didn’t say his arms, even though technically it was him holding me throughout the night.
“Maybe I’ve tamed the big bad wolf like the princess did.” As soon as the words were out, I wanted to take them back. Nyx was his mate, the werewolf’s mate. I was a human who sort of dated his brother.
Rune didn’t say anything about my comment, and I was thankful. I looked down at my ruined dress and cringed. I know the rest of me looked as ruined as the torn material covering me.
“After she battled the goblins in the woods, I walked her back to town, not knowing she was the princess. She wasn’t ready to leave my side, and I didn’t want her to, either. So, we walked around town and the gardens before parting ways, like a normal man and woman getting to know each other.”
Except they weren’t a normal couple.
“We tried fighting it while Tor courted her for the proposal of marriage, but the pull was too strong. My werewolf essence intensified the mate’s draw since it was in the wolf’s nature to claim its mate. So, what I felt was magnified than what normal Fae feel. Her essence made her feel love strongly, and she was so smart. She knew what was happening, too. Tor wasn’t really interested in marrying her, not like I was. He was doing what was expected of him from our father.” His hand moved to the black round gem that rested gentle against his chest.
“Was that hers?”
He continued fidgeting with the necklace. “Days before everything happened, she became frantic, talking about Verin, her father, and how she needed to do something that was dangerous . . . that I needed to trust her. She gave me this the day before magic was lost. We were going to sneak to the priestess and marry that day, but I was called away and she said she had to talk with her parents. She gave this to me before we parted, told me to keep it safe, and remember her. I was fighting against Verin’s forces when it happened. I came back as fast as I could to the palace to protect her. She was already in the onyx when I made it back.” His hand fisted the gem, the only thing of hers he had.
“Do you know what she did that was dangerous?” I asked, and he shook his head.
“She just kept saying that the darkness was coming, that he knew about her, and she wasn’t ready yet.” The pain in his voice made my heart ache. I imagined her scribbling in her room. The pain must be imaginable to watch someone you loved be so unhinged. Rune was a protector, and he couldn’t have done anything to save her from her onyx fate.