Page 34 of Dark Fey Captive

“I will not force sex, Arena. Ever.”

She nodded slowly, her doubt visible. That was normal for humans. They were slow to trust each other and took even longer to trust my kind. Some never trusted us.

I knew Arena would eventually trust me, though. She hadn’t run when she could have. That was the start of trust. She knew she was safer with me than out there on her own. If I could only find a way to get her to stay in the room when I left her.

Her stomach growled loudly again. I grinned and shifted her weight to one arm so that I could open the stairway door.

She let out a startled squeak and wrapped her arms around my neck, pressing herself to my chest. I held her tighter, enjoying the feeling.

“You are safe,” I promised as I entered the stairwell. “I would never drop you.”

When she withdrew, her cheeks were flushed. She glanced from me to the stairs with uncertainty.

“What if you trip?” she asked.

“I never trip.”

Her doubtful frown was cute, and I struggled not to tuck her close again.

“Would you like me to show you how agile I am?” I asked.

The pink in her cheeks darkened.

“No. No need. I’ll take your word for it.”

Jogging down the stairs, I opened the door to the second floor and carried her to our room. She stared at the food on the bed.

Some of the items I knew—snacks, chocolate, soups, and Spam—because of the pictures on them. Spam was good. My brothers and I enjoyed it. We liked the tins of protein that had pictures of dogs and cats on them too. The cat ones tasted like fish. I missed the plentiful fish we had back in the caves. The pond at the human community didn’t have many in it. And none big enough to eat.

“Do you like any of this?” I asked, setting her down.

She moved to the bed and sorted through the items, picking up a can with a top that meant it was a drink and not food. But she didn’t open it. She looked at it with a small frown and set it down again. Did I pick a bad kind? None of the sweet soda drinks tasted good to me, but humans seemed to like most of them.

“You brought all of this back just now?” she asked, glancing up at me.

I nodded.

“Were there a lot of infected in the store?” Her gaze swept over me.

Was she looking for bites again? Was she worried I had been hurt?

“The infected know I am here and avoid the area.”

“I saw them run away from you yesterday when you yelled,” she said. “Why? They’re not afraid of humans with guns. Why are they afraid of you?”

It warmed my heart to hear her ask that. As if she couldn’t understand how anything might fear me.

“They see humans as prey, and I’m not human.”

“No. You’re not. You’re fey.” She picked up a chocolate candy bar. “It would’ve taken two people to get this much. We would’ve been lucky to make it out alive. But you just walked right in and took what you wanted…because the infected are afraid of you.”

She sounded unhappy that they feared me. Did she pity me? I felt torn for a moment.

Sometimes human females engaged in “pity sex.” I wanted to have sex with Arena—the thought of it made me ache—but not pity sex or one-time sex.

I wanted much more than that. More than as many times a day as she would allow. I wanted her to stay. To crave me as I craved her.

“I can keep you safer if they fear me,” I said quickly, proving I had a purpose and didn’t need her pity.