The tiny alcove was dark apart from the slivers of moonlight that managed to slip through the cracks in thewalls, but my enhanced hunter vision allowed me to see that Kaden was alone.
He was sprawled on the pallet, shirtless, with his injured wings splayed out behind him. They trailed off the edge of the mattress like a velvety blanket, and I longed to reach out and touch them.
The waves inked along Kaden’s chest thrashed with his movements, and tendrils of shadow seemed to spill around him, climbing the walls and billowing at their master’s feet.
I crawled across the floor toward him, stopping at the edge of the pallet as I contemplated how to wake him without getting strangled again. His face was scrunched in fear and pain, locks of raven hair falling into his eyes.
“No,” he snarled, throwing up an arm to protect his head.
My heart clenched, and my fingers itched to reach for him. I longed to caress that beautiful face and smooth the line between his dark brows.
“Kaden,” I murmured, keeping my voice low to avoid waking the others.
He didn’t open his eyes, but flung his arm onto the bed, muscles straining as if trying to break free from invisible restraints.
“Kaden,” I said, louder this time.
Another groan of pain rumbled through him as he arched his back, exposing the long column of his throat. Veins pulsed in his neck, and I knew I had to wake him.
Tentatively, I reached out and tapped his bare shoulder. His skin was slick with sweat and cold as ice, and some of his hair stuck to his forehead.
Kaden’s eyes flew open, and his hand shot out to lockon my throat. Shadows thrashed, banding around my ankles and wrists.
“Kaden, it’s?—”
My words were cut off as he tightened his grip, crushing my windpipe as he flung me down on the mattress.
The sudden change in position forced the air from my lungs, and I struggled to lift my dagger arm so I could rouse him from whatever nightmare he was still immersed in. But I couldn’t move it an inch.
Panic flooded me. Kaden wasn’t himself. His eyes were that solid black, his face twisted in a mask of fury.
Feeling desperate, I flung up a knee — striking him between the legs. Surprise lit his features a split second before the pain, and I used his momentary lapse in concentration to bring my blade up between us and press the tip to his sternum.
I glared at him, still struggling to breathe, but he’d loosened his grip enough for me to get the words out. “It’sme.”
Recognition flared in Kaden’s expression, and he wrenched his hand from my throat. His shadows withdrew from my wrists and ankles, and the blackness slowly ebbed out of his eyes.
Warmth flooded my chest at the sight of those familiar stormy gray irises, but as Kaden shoved himself away from me, his mask of cold indifference slid back into place.
“What are you doing up here?” he rumbled, staring down at the blankets.
“I heard noises,” I muttered, feeling suddenly foolish. “I came up to investigate and you . . . you were having a nightmare.”
A rough, humorless laugh escaped him, and he shoved his sweaty hair out of his eyes. “Right. A nightmare.”
My mouth dropped open, but no words came out. I glanced down at his magnificent wings, which were drooped on the pallet behind him as if his muscles couldn’t hold them up. Dried blood was still crusted around the wounds, which were red and angry looking.
Kaden saw me staring and bristled.
“Your wings —”
“Will heal,” he said in a tight voice, a muscle feathering in his jaw.
“But the rowan —”
“My body will push out any remaining splinters. They will heal in time.”
“Do you want me to —”
