Page 64 of Dark Fey Captive

If he hadn’t had the sense to stop, we might have already been on our way to having sex in front of the fire. And why? Because he’d hugged me.

Pathetic, Arena, I scolded myself. My need for affection would be my downfall…yet again.

I watched him make several trips from the backyard as he moved the supplies. He was making piles at the end of the road, right in the middle of it too. It wasn’t quiet work. The metal clanking rang out loudly in the silence.

It didn’t take long for the first infected to show up. Nav removed its head with the fanfare of a man doing yard work, like it was a stick to pick up off the lawn before mowing. He at least carried it to the end of the street, leaving it close to a fence supply pile at the edge of my view. I tried not to look at it, but couldn’t help it. It was too horrifyingly real and a sight I wasn’t used to seeing, isolated on the island as I’d been most of the time.

The longer he worked, the more bodies he added to the pile. At the rate he was removing heads, there wouldn’t be an infected left in Ashland. I found myself grateful that I wasn’t from here and didn’t know any of them.

He caught me staring at the pile through the window and jogged over. I unlocked and opened the front door.

“It would be better if I moved them farther away,” he said. “The scientists are worried about spreading sickness if their final resting places are too close.”

Final resting places.

It was weird hearing that from him since it was a very human thing to say.

“I could move them to the south, to an open field near the school, which has already been cleared out.”

“Do you promise to only go to the school and come right back?” I asked.

“Yes. And I promise I will not talk to anyone but you.”

His heated look had me rethinking the situation. All the little things he was doing were slowly winning me over. He said he wanted me willing, and that wasn’t as impossible as I’d thought a few days ago. Maybe the faster I said yes, the faster he’d lose interest and leave. If he left, I could meet up with my family.

“Okay,” I agreed.

“I’ll fix the door first so you feel safer, then move them.”

My chest ached a little at the thought as I went to the basement to start the inventory.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

NAV

I couldn’t stop thinking about the intense, hungry way Arena had kissed me. Although I craved more of those, I knew she wasn’t ready. I’d seen the hesitation in her gaze before she’d given in to her need for me, and I didn’t want her to regret a second moment of weakness.

After I stacked the bodies I had carried in the field near the school, I went back for more. It would take several trips to get them all, and I worried about being away from Arena, despite the fixed door and how quickly I ran. She didn’t like when I left her.

When I returned, I saw her standing by a window, watching for me. I waved. Her shy smile made it impossible not to think of her kiss again as I ran.

Each time I returned, I looked for her and didn’t leave until she saw me. And each time I left, I thought of her kiss.

When she didn’t appear in the window as usual, I grew worried and started for the door.

My reflection in the glass stopped me from going inside, though. Infected blood covered me.

She was right. I needed some way to wash outside.

I checked nearby houses until I found a rain barrel. Sitting in the sun, the water wasn’t completely frozen. I scooped out enough to wash my torso.

As I rinsed away the blood, another infected called out nearby. I glanced over my shoulder at it, feeling frustrated. I had placed several posts and attached a section of fence before Arena noticed the infected pile. But the progress I’d made wasn’t yet enough to keep the infected away or for Arena to feel safe.

I was working quickly, but the number of infected that heard the noise was slowing down my progress. I itched to get back to work. Instead, I jogged over to the infected, dragged it to another house, and shoved it inside to deal with later.

“What are you doing?”

My heart clenched at the sound of Arena’s voice, and I slowly turned to face her as the infected called out. Arena stood in the doorway of our house, watching me with a raised brow, a sign that she didn’t like what I’d done.