Chapter 193: You Said Not To Touch You (bonus)

"WHERE ARE YOU—"

"THE CAVERN!"

The tunnel entrance was close. She had clocked it when she had first arrived at the wolf pack, the same limestone cavern system connected to the stream. The opening was narrow but deep, and the rock overhang would shield them from the worst of the rain.

Tera ducked inside, and the difference was immediate. The roar of the rain muffled to a steady drumming against the rock above, and the wind dropped to almost nothing. The floor was damp but not flooded, and the tunnel extended deeper underground to a cluster of debris blocking it.

It was a coincidence that she opened the portal here, but it had surprisingly come in handy.

Tera dropped against the wall, shivering hard, and wrapped her arms around herself. Her clothes were soaked through, and the cold was seeping into her bones.

Calis entered right behind her, water streaming off his body. He shook his head, sending droplets flying, and looked around the cavern to take in the space.

He recognised it.

Tera managed, through chattering teeth, "This is better than huddling under a tree."

She rubbed her arms, trying to generate friction, but her wet clothes were working against her. Every movement just spread the cold water across more skin.

Her and Calis rushing up to whatever pile of wolves would disrupt and expose them to the rain, and Tera was not comfortable with that.

Still, she was not at all fine with leaving the wolves there like that.

It was insane.

It was wild how she hadn’t even considered their sleeping arrangements whenever it rained.

She needed to build shelters for them quickly!

Whatever tree they were huddled under would not provide any protection from the wind. And what was with this downpour?!

"This makes no sense." She turned to Calis. "Your wolves cannot live like this."

"They are fine. This is how we have always ridden out the rain..." Calis paused as his thoughts drifted.

Just because this was something they had always done did not make it fine.

But his wolves could survive this. They had no other choice.

Tera wasn’t sure she could let this go. She thought of the females and the cubs.

She went still as a thought struck her. She could use her portal to transport the wolves to the Dow clan. They could share the shelters with the other beasts there.

Tera stood up, and the world tilted.

Her legs wobbled as a wave of dizziness crashed through her. She grabbed the cave wall, but her hand slipped on the wet stone, and she stumbled sideways.

Calis moved fast, catching her by the shoulders and steadying her.

"Sit down." His voice sharp with concern.

"I am fine. I just... stood up too fast."

As Tera sat on the floor, she realised that while she didn’t feel particularly hungry, she was very tired from roaming around all day.

Her whole body felt heavy, wrung out, and the cold wasn’t helping.

She groaned.

Even if the portal could move the wolves, they wouldn’t fit comfortably in the shelters. The Dow clan’s structures were built for their beasts, not sixty-seven additional wolves. And navigating that many panicked, rain-soaked wolves through a portal and into unfamiliar enclosed spaces in the dark and rain would be chaos.

It was a terrible plan.

Tera leaned her head back against the stone and closed her eyes.

"Rest," Calis said firmly.

Then he noticed his hands were still on her shoulders.

His fingers tightened once, involuntarily, before he pulled them away and moved to the opposite wall of the cavern.

He sat down, putting the full width of the narrow space between them, and stared at the rain pouring past the entrance.

The rain hammered against the rock outside, a steady, relentless percussion that filled the cavern with white noise. Water dripped from the ceiling in irregular intervals, each drop echoing in the enclosed space.

Tera wrapped her arms around herself. Her wet clothes clung to every part of her body, and the cold was burrowing deeper with every minute.

Her wet clothes were the problem. The soaked fabric was pulling heat from her body faster than she could generate it, and every gust of wind that curled through the cavern entrance sent a fresh wave of cold across her damp skin.

"Fuck..." She squeezed her arms tighter around herself, tucking her chin against her chest.

Calis watched her.

He wasn’t trying to. His eyes kept drifting to the rain, to the cave walls, to the floor. But each time, they returned to the shivering female pressed against the opposite wall.

She was cold and it

His jaw tightened, and a muscle in his cheek jumped as he desperately wanted to help her.

He considered shifting into his wolf form. He could curl around her, share his body heat through a thick layer of fur, and there would be nothing complicated about it. Just a beast keeping a smaller creature warm.

But his body wouldn’t shift.

Some stubborn, reckless part of him refused to take the safe option, and he didn’t want to examine why.

Another shiver wracked through Tera’s body, this one so violent that her shoulders jerked and a small, involuntary sound escaped her lips.

Calis’ composure cracked.

He stood, crossed the five paces between them, and dropped down beside her.

"You are cold," he said roughly, as if this observation justified everything that was about to follow.

Before Tera could respond, his arm hooked around her waist and pulled her back against his chest.

The contact was immediate and devastating.

His body was very warm, and the slight heat that radiated off his skin cut through her soaked clothes and hit her like stepping into warm water. His chest was broad and solid against her back, and his arm locked around her midsection with a grip that said he was not planning to let go.

Tera’s breath caught.

He settled her between his legs, her back flush against his torso, and the position pressed every inch of her against every inch of him. His thighs bracketed her hips on either side, his chest rose and fell against her spine, and the arm across her waist was heavy and warm.

’Uh...’

"You said not to touch you," Tera whispered.

Calis’ body went rigid behind her.

His throat clicked.

"You are cold," he repeated, quieter this time, as if saying it again would make it more true and less of what it actually was.

’Does that now mean you have to freaking punish me?!’