Page 22 of Dark Fey Captive

“Take your time.” She accepted the shirt and watched me leave.

I listened to the latch protest as she slid it into place. She would be more comfortable in a home with doors that locked and had heat. One with solar panels, a woodstove, and working water would be ideal.

After washing with the lake water in the next room, I returned to the hall. The door did not open at my approach.

“Arena?” I called.

“Were you bitten?” she asked.

“No. The infected usually do not bite me.”

She remained silent for a moment. “Do you have any open wounds?”

I understood then. “You think I will turn stupid. I promise I will not. My brothers and I are immune to their bites. We can wait fifteen minutes, if it makes you feel safer, but no longer than that. I can hear your teeth tapping. They are impatient for me to warm you.”

On the other side of the door, I heard her walking back and forth. Was she trying to warm herself, or was she impatient for me to join her?

I hoped it was impatience. I wanted to hold her again and feel her softness.

“The shirt is a little small,” she said after a few more steps. “Was there anything bigger?”

“Yes, but they would have covered too much.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of the point.”

“I will be able to warm you faster if more skin is exposed.”

“Skin to skin is for when a person’s hypothermic. I’m not hypothermic. Clothes will keep me warm.”

“A shirt will not be enough to do that,” I said, wondering again how she had survived so long. “You will still need me. Are fifteen minutes up?”

The pacing on the other side of the door continued.

“Not yet. What information do you want?”

Relieved she was no longer interested in a longer shirt, I asked what I had been wondering since helping her out of the water.

“How have you survived? Where do you live? Are there more women like you and the females on the boat?”

The movement on the other side of the door stopped.

“What about something else?” she asked. “Like the best locations to find supplies in this town?”

“I already know where to find supplies.”

“What do you need then?”

“Females.”

“No deal,” she said quickly. “I’m not a human trafficker. Pick something else.”

Trafficker?

I knew what it meant for humans to take and trade other humans and felt a heaviness settle in my chest. Was that how Arena had survived? Had other humans taken her and her companions? If so, she would not want to rejoin them. It also explained her hesitation with me. She didn’t know that I wasn’t like the males who’d taken her. I would never trade her. I wanted to protect her. Keep her warm and safe and fed.

Would she believe me if I told her that? Unlikely. Humans did not trust easily. Until she understood my heart, she would not accept my help saving her companions.

“Then tell me about the things you like,” I said.