GIFTED RILEY by Lacy Mierr

Chapter 10: A Gilded Cage Awaits 

*Riley* 

An awkward tension hung thick in the air as we drove in silence, glancing towards the driver’s seat. Vera was driving in silence without any form of map. It made me wonder if she had already taken this path plenty of times or if she just memorized it from the first drive through. 

I fidgeted anxiously, stealing sidelong glances at the massive figure. beside me. Nicolas radiated a raw, intimidating power that made the confines of the backseat feel suffocatingly small. The solid warmth of his muscular frame was distractingly close. 

He took up most of the backseat, leaving me in a spot where my thigh was stuck pressed against his. A feeling I wasn’t sure if it made me feel uncomfortable or the opposite. 

I gave a small tap to Nicolas’s side. He had already been watching me from the corner of his eyes, but shifted his body my way to show I had his undivided attention. It made me more nervous than just the three of us sitting in silence. 

“Thank you,” I squeaked. He raised a brow, so I decided to clarify. “For trying to protect me. And not, well.. Not killing my family.” 

“Your family didn’t deserve the mercy you showed them,” his cold tone cut through the quiet car. His body shifted again to watch out the car windshield. My checks became flushed with embarrassment. While he wasn’t wrong, that didn’t mean I wanted any of them dead though. 

Instead of saying what I was thinking, I simply let out a curse under my 

breath. 

It was a long, awkward drive to make it to the palace but when we arrived it claimed my full attention. The palace was both wickedly. beautiful and strangely intimidating. I had never seen such a large, gothic style building. 

The Evermane pack was puny compared to even just the castle. I couldn’t imagine what the rest of the king’s territories were like. 

Not only was this a larger pack and a much more aesthetically pleasing place to be, but it also seemed to be more advanced. We bypassed many places that I wanted to stop at to take a look around. To investigate the new technology all around us. 

I didn’t get much time to take in the landscape. However, as we came to a final stop, I noticed a small field where there were she–wolves and pups training just outside the castle walls. They were working in both their human forms and their wolf forms. 

Even if I was to try training in my feeble human body, there was not way I would be able to keep up with any of them. Each moved in sync, their movements swift and precise. The hits to each other sounded like they could crush every bone in my body. I wouldn’t even be able to try. 

I sighed at the thought that I would never be able to do anything like 

that. 

“Something on your mind, little mate?” Nicolas rumbled, his deep. voice sending a shiver down my spine as he helped me from the car. 

I stiffened, caught off guard by his attentiveness. “N–No, just…taking it. all in.” I stammered. 

He let out a low, rumbling chuckle that did strange things to my 

hapter 10 A Gilded Cage Awards 

insides. “I can only imagine. This must all be quite overwhelming for you.” 

Refusing to be cowed, I lifted my chin defiantly. “I’m tougher than I look.” 

Nicolas regarded me with an appraising look. “We’ll see about that,” he promised, something wolfish glinting in his eyes as we parted ways. with Vera and he led me into the palace. 

Every so often, I could feel the curious eyes of the man walking me. through winding halls. I tried to seem unaffected and watched where we were going. If I planned to escape, I needed to know how to get back to the main gates. 

Finally, we made it to a large door. It was carved with a lovely vision of a pack of wolves staring up at the full moon that was etched into the center of the dark oak. 

I reached out to trace my fingers along one of the larger wolves worshiping the moon. Just to feel the design to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating the work of art. While the other doors around the castle had carvings, none of them were as intriguing as the one we were stopped in front of now. 

Before I could actually touch the door, he was opening it to the room inside. I was almost upset about getting so caught up on the door when I could see the lovely room it held behind it. 

The first area of the room had a “lounge area” with a full couch and two armchairs. The cushioning was a black, soft fabric with silver frames. A color theme used throughout the luxurious room. The coffee table in front of the couch had a silver stand with an oval glass top. At the center was a small vase with pristine white orchids. 

Chapter 10 A Gilded Cage Awaits 

The was a black cabinet off to the side that stood out among the other furniture in the lounging area. It was made from black wood with glass on the doors to show off the contents. It seemed to be an alcohol cabinet with expensive bottles and drinks. The doors were locked with a small keyhole just under the left handle. Raiding his drinks may make this all bearable. 

“Impressed, my Riley?” Nicolas‘ voice was a rumble beside my car as he drew nearer. 

Before I could respond, Nicolas was scooping me up into his powerful arms and striding inside. I couldn’t resist my body’s instant need to 

melt into him. 

We moved further into the room and he placed me gently on the bed. The mattress had to be larger than a regular king bed, but it worried me that the sheets were ruffled in a way to show that someone had been on it earlier that day. 

There was an open door to the side with the tiles of a bathroom, so I assumed I would be seeing what was in there at one point. The door beside that one was closed, leaving me to guess what may be in there. 

I shook my head to push away the thought that it was looking casier and easier to stay here. Just because the room was pretty that meant nothing about the conditions of the stay. I had to remember all the horrible stories I heard about the man I was bound to. 

I couldn’t let him seduce me with a luxurious prison cell. A cell was still a cell. I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to be home with my family… A family that bullied and ridiculed me for what I was not… 

I shouldn’t use that as a way to ground myself to reality. 

Nicolas glanced around the room with me but turned to me with a 

Chapter 10 A Gilded Cage Awaits 

10 A 

large smirk on his face. Could he hear what I was thinking about? It would not be good news for me if he knew I was thinking through my escape plan. He didn’t say anything, only watched me look over the room around us. It was like he was proud of what he was offering me. 

Looking at the rumpled sheets, I wondered if he would make me, his ‘mate‘, share the room with his other lovers? At least at the Evermane pack, I wouldn’t have to share my own bed. Yes, I had my scrapes and bruises, but at the end of the night I got to lick my wounds by myself. 

“I hope you will like the room,” the lycan commented. I looked up at him to catch his heavy gaze. “This is our room, after all.” My eyes widened in shock. What? I would be sharing this room with the one and only lycan king? 

Suddenly the room wasn’t large enough after all.