Page 58 of How Does It Feel?

The door opened, and the girl practically fell onto the roof, sliding her small frame against the door as if her little body would keep it closed.

All my senses reached for more as soon as I saw her.

She quickly scanned the roof looking for something. The shadows cloaked me as I watched her large innocent eyes search in panic. She was breathing hard, her full chest rose and fell heavily.

It never ceased to amaze me what idiots humans were.

A thrum of excitement passed through me as I watched her. She had no idea her biggest threat lurked in the shadows, taking in her every move.

In truth, I could understand why Walter had been deceived by her. She was unlike any other creature I’d come across. On the outside, she appeared innocent and weak, but I knew better. I’d seen a fire flash in her eyes, a burning madness that threatened to push her to the edge. I wanted to be the one to shove her into the fire.

There was a pull to her that just didn’t make sense. It was wrong for a human to have such an effect on us . . . on me. I knew she was affecting the animals somehow—that was why Walter, the ever heroic man he was, couldn’t help himself, same with Alistair. I had no animal in me, but gods was I effected by her presence. I hated it.

She leaned over the castle’s edge and quickly stumbled back, falling on her ass. She sobbed as the rain poured down on her. The filth of the dungeon seemed to wash away from her skin the more the rain fell on her.

I shifted, needing a better look at the spots on her shoulders. The tiny speckles of sun. I had noticed them on her nose the first night I saw her—it was one of the few things I could see on her that night. In the darkness of the mangled forest, they had fascinated me. Even once I had returned to the castle, they stole my thoughts. So much so that I had to go to the library to find out what they were. We had a small bit of the sun during the day in the Unseelie realm, but it was more of a gray haze. Nothing that would cause what they called “freckles.”

Walter had tried repeatedly to get me to free the girl, which was quite unlike him to favor a human. To say I was shocked when he had tried to break her free would have been an understatement. He had grown up here, a brother in every sense except blood. One of the few people I tolerated. I suppose he wasn’t thinking, his needs too primal in the middle of his shift but maddening nonetheless.

I watched him go to her as a stupid rat and climb all over her little body, and she obviously enjoyed his company.

What would it feel like if she looked at me that way?

Imagine his surprise when one day he crawled out to find me. He told me wild theories of why she was different and that he couldn’t help it, that he needed to protect her. I nearly killed him then.

She was mine—my prisoner.

He told me he would leave her alone, begged me to return her to safety.

Seems he had other plans.

He had no idea what he was doing. A brat ever since my aunt died and dumped him here. He thought he would get her past the guards and take her to the hidden portal. It didn’t matter that he didn’t know where it was or how to use it.

He was a fool and would pay for his mistakes as soon as I saw him, if the human assassin hadn’t killed him first. That seemed unlikely. She trained with humans, so even as a skilled human assassin, Walter would easily over power her.

I silently moved behind her and waited.

Her shoulders shook with her sobs. The rain pulled away the gray dirt of her skin, and her red hair was matted in such a dense ball it presented a patch of her smooth neck.

My hand clenched involuntarily at the sight.

The memory of how soft her skin had felt under my fingertips clouded my mind. I itched to see if other parts of her were as soft.

My wings unfurled silently, stretching wide.

Shit.

I clenched my fists at my side.

I would never degrade myself by touching a human in such a way. They were the lowest scum created, and I refused to debase myself with the thought of how delicately soft her skin was.

I reveled in it. The moment she felt my presence behind her.

She turned, and pure terror filled her sweet doe eyes.

My breath caught tight in my chest at the sight of her. Thankfully it was controlled, not giving anything away. The rain and tears had stripped the dirt from her face.

Was this the same girl?