Masked By Danger by Christa Wick

Chapter Seventeen

Wakingon a bed in strange surroundings, Iris forced her eyelids to open.

Her nose lifted to scent the room while her vision took its sweet time un-blurring. Sensing no immediate danger, she lifted her hand and examined it. Relief swept through her upon seeing the pale, rounded flesh and light dusting of hair so fine it was almost invisible.

With that question answered, she lifted her aching head high enough to look down her body. An uncomfortable image greeted her. A thin white sheet draped her flesh, the fabric's color and weight distressingly similar to what she had witnessed covering the woman in the operating room. Like the woman, she seemed naked as well.

Hesitant fingers plucked at the top edge of the sheet. One of her last memories was of the silver separating from her flesh, slicing at some of her most sensitive areas. She looked under the cover and a little more tension fled her body.

The silver bars were gone and the nipples appeared to have healed completely. For the moment, she would take it for granted that the flesh from the other piercing was whole, too.

Starting to sit up, she changed direction quickly to clutch at the sheet as she heard movement on the other side of the door. She didn't need to scent the visitor because his wolf pushed ahead of him, entering the room before he twisted the handle and the door swung open.

Cade looked at Iris, his breathing labored and his eyelids fluttering with stunned blinks. Now that he was in the room, he filled her senses. The clean spray of wintergreen and pine tickled her nose while the comforting heat of his wolf wrapped around her bare shoulders.

Bare shoulders...

Right, she needed to fix that, especially since Esme and Denver were coming down the hall at full speed, Esme's hand reaching out to jerk Cade by the collar if she managed to get close enough to him.

Sensing them, Cade moved the rest of the way into the room and shut the door, calling over his shoulder for the pair to wait. Turning his attention to Iris, he studied her face. Then his gaze moved lower, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

Iris knew the smile, knew he was about to turn insufferable from having been so right for so very long.

"Don't say it," she warned.

Grinning a little wider, Cade shook his head. "The words didn't even cross my mind, baby."

Yeah, right.

She rolled her eyes at him and pulled the sheet closer to her body. "I need clothes."

"Not from where I'm standing," he countered and took another step closer to the bed. His wolf reached out, searching for its mate and nuzzling along her neck and shoulder when he found her.

I'm here, that annoying voice from the morning gleefully crowed.

"This isn't the time or place for that," Iris growled, no menace in the sound because her wolf refused to ally against her mate.

"You're right," he smirked. "We should go now. We can be at my cabin in half an hour or so."

Great! His hormones were overriding his responsibilities. In some ways, he was still that eighteen-year-old wolfling who had turned her drunk with need whenever he came near.

"Esme," she said, raising her voice just enough to catch the witch's attention on the other side of the door. "Some clothes, please."

That was all the authority Esme needed to barge in. In the short time since Cade had shut her out, she had retrieved a fresh change of clothing in Iris's size.

"Do you need any help?" Esme asked.

Interlacing his fingers, Cade stretched them, the joints popping in relief. "If she does, I'm available."

Iris rolled her eyes in his direction. She would wait until she was dressed to work on his attitude of entitlement. He was crazy if he thought her shifting had solved everything. She didn't care how delicious he smelled or the effect his presence had on her now that the silver was out of her body.

Turning her gaze on Esme, Iris smiled. "Can you get him to give me a few minutes of privacy?"

"My pleasure." Esme waggled her brows and then she rolled her fingers, witch light dancing along their tips.

"Ems..." Caution entered Cade's tone. He'd undoubtedly seen what happened to wolves the witch turned her magic on. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of her more aggressive spells. "This is between mates. You know that."

Iris growled. Cade growled back, but with an entirely different intent, one that wasn't appropriate when they had an audience. The vibration continued to roll through his throat, Iris's resolve to make him leave receding.

Damn that sound was...

She shook her head. She'd think about what that particular growl of his did to her later, hopefully when she was alone. Right now, she needed clothes. She had to talk to Denver and Esme about what she'd seen inside Oscar's memories.

"Out," Iris ordered. Extending her arm, she pointed at the door. Her entire arm glowed with magic and she pushed her wolf at him.

Cade stumbled backward for an instant then dropped his head like a bull ready to charge. She abandoned her order, retracting the command but not the request.

"The cubs don't have time for us to argue about this," she soothed. This time, when she pushed her wolf at him, the gesture was a gentle caress of fur on fur.

"Please," she added.

Cade left, his feet dragging with reluctance. Esme followed a few seconds later after Iris said she could manage on her own. With her immediate need for clothing satisfied, she spent a few seconds taking stock of her body. Her muscles were stiff and her mouth felt gluey, as if she'd spent a full day knocked out.

A glance at the clock next to the bed confirmed that at least several hours had passed.

Running a hand through her hair, she opened the bedroom door to find Cade, Denver and Esme standing in the hall. Denver flashed from barely holding back in confronting her while she remained in the bedroom to full in her face, his topaz gaze boring into her skull.

"What did you do to him?” he barked at Iris, concern for Oscar warring with aggression in his voice.

Esme and Cade moved immediately to intervene, the witch calming while Cade was anything but. He stepped forward, bristling, snarling a warning at Denver.

Iris slid a hand onto Cade's shoulder and lightly squeezed. It was the first time she had touched him since she had shifted and the realization threatened to smash the calm facade she projected to dust.

Forcing her attention back to the angry shifter looming over her, she managed a smile.

Before yesterday, she'd only had her own will and her magic to push Denver back.

Now? If he didn’t stop coming at her, the jerk wouldn't know what hit him.