Page 41 of Bound to the Wolf
The cuff clanged against the table, reminding her they were not out of the woods yet. That was enough to bring Serena’s attention to it. She didn’t stop Delainey from eating, but she grabbed her free hand and started looking at the metal. Delainey let her work.
“We’re going to have to get these off somehow,” Serena said, turning Delainey’s wrist over and running her thumb along the seam of the manacle where brass met skin. The skin beneath was red and chafed raw from days of friction. “We probably shouldn’t let the wolf go home until it’s taken care of.”
“Probably shouldn’t,” Briana agreed from where she stood near the dry erase board, one hand resting on the back of a chair, her strawberry-blonde braids pinned up in their usual crown, though several strands had come loose at her temples.
“I’m assuming whoever took you gave you this little souvenir?” Serena asked.
Aya had joined her now with a sketchbook, taking notes. She was already drawing the etchings on the manacle in quick, precise strokes, her reading glasses perched on the end of her nose.
Delainey felt a little like a test subject, and she didn’t like it.
“Yes, this was their little present,” Delainey said, pulling her hand back just enough to take another bite of pizza before surrendering it again. “We woke up in a shack in the woods with no guards and these around our wrists.”
“They’re not killing you right now,” Elise said, stepping closer and laying two fingers against the manacle without actually touching Delainey’s skin, her brow furrowed in concentration. “I can feel that the power is affecting you somehow, but we have some time to figure this out.”
Briana had a contemplative look on her face. “Let’s have the wolf healer take a look before we do more magic. Maybe he’ll have some insight that we don’t.”
Emerson sputtered, but the rest of the coven looked fine, and Emerson was a guest. He didn’t get a say.
“Do you both want to get cleaned up before the others arrive?” Briana asked.
Delainey and Reece said “yes” in unison.
“You know where the bathrooms are,” was Briana’s reply.
“Oh, shit. That’s the other thing about the manacles.” Delainey held up her hand.
“What?” Aya asked, her pencil freezing mid-stroke over the sketchbook.
“We can’t get more than six feet apart.”
“These manacles bound you to a werewolf?” Serena shuddered, dropping Delainey’s wrist and stepping back to look at the metal with fresh horror. “Better you than me.”
“You should be so lucky,” Reece muttered from the chair beside Delainey, where he sat with his long legs stretched out under the table and his arms crossed, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else on the planet.
Briana didn’t show them any mercy. “I guess you should be thankful for the shower curtain then. We’ll let you know when everyone gets here.”
Chapter
Nineteen
Hot water scalded over Reece as he scrubbed off three days’ worth of grime and watched the brown sludge disappear down the drain. The tub was narrow, old porcelain with a rust ring around the drain, and he had to keep his elbows close to avoid knocking them against the tiled walls.
He rubbed a washcloth against himself until it hurt, trying very,veryhard to forget that Delainey was sitting on the other side of the shower curtain, her butt planted on the toilet, barely more than an arm’s reach away.
The verythinshower curtain.
He wasn’t sure he was imagining he could see through it, but the subtle floral pattern obscured anything beyond the tile box that was his home for the moment. He tipped his head back and almost let out a moan of pleasure from the pulsing water pressure, the heat, and the absolute relief of finally feeling a little clean after their sojourn. He refused to make a sound, not with Delainey right there.
With the smell of soap and the water cascading over him, he could still make out her true scent. This was her bathroom, and little touches of her were everywhere. Soap on the small ledge,shampoo in a giant bottle, various creams and tinctures he had no idea what they did, and he wasn’t about to ask. A purple silk bonnet hung from a hook on the back of the door, and a bottle of leave-in conditioner was lined up on the windowsill beside a smooth protection stone.
He was making as quick work of this as he could before his cock caught on and tried to join in on the fun. If Reece got hard right now, he would never live it down. He might actually die of embarrassment.
Delainey had not said a word about what had happened last night and had made it very clear through her silent glances and closed-off expressions that they would not be talking about it.
Her coven was working on the manacle problem. He hoped they would be free of the binding within the next few hours. He wanted to lie down in the tub and stay in this shower until then.
But Delainey had graciously offered him the first shower, insisting he was a guest in her home, and he hadn’t been gentleman enough to resist. He didn’t know how much longer the hot water would last, and he wouldn’t repay her favor by using it all up so she had to suffer through a cold shower. The old Victorian’s pipes were already groaning in the walls, a warning that the hot water heater was nearing its limit.
