Page 79 of Dark Fey Captive

The understanding in his gaze broke through my panic.

What was I doing? Nav hadn’t forced a single thing yet. Why did I think he would start now?

“I heard some of what you were saying to Belak today,” I admitted. “Will you tell me about where you come from? Who are Garrett, Ryan, and Dad?”

Nav nodded and stripped out of his pants. My gaze lingered on his evident interest as he held out his hand.

“I’ll tell you about them until you fall asleep.”

It was a trade I was willing to make. In short order, I was lying on top of him while he told me about the three communities the fey had helped build.

“Ryan is Mya’s brother, and Dad is her Dad. Mom is her Mom.”

I hid my smile against his chest and continued to relax as he stroked my back over my shirt.

“They treat us like family. Mom doesn’t scold us for asking questions. Neither does Dad, but he will sometimes give us a warning look. He doesn't like it when we ask Mom certain questions. We can ask Mary those questions, though. Emily says we shouldn’t because it tires James after we leave.”

I wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about, but it was obvious he knew these people well, and they seemed to like him.

He kept talking, describing the community to me, from the high walls to the animals they’d rescued from abandoned farms. My mouth watered at the idea of fresh eggs and milk. He also talked about the greenhouses they had set up at another community and the berries and veggies they were already growing.

“Do you think we could find a small greenhouse around here?” I asked, already thinking of how we could get it to the island. We hadn’t had fresh veggies for a while. How easy would it be to grow some radishes or peas if we had somewhere warm to do it?

“Yes. I will find you one tomorrow.”

“Not tomorrow,” I said. “Tonight, after I fall asleep, if you think it’s safe for me to be alone.”

He grunted.

I woke up alone in the bed to the soft murmur of conversation coming from the kitchen. Light was already peeking around the blanket I’d hung. Was I a little disappointed he hadn’t woken me with oral again? Yes. But I was grateful, too, because I wouldn’t have survived another embarrassing interruption.

Crawling out of bed, I stood with a stretch and went to the kitchen, where Belak and Nav were both sitting on sturdier chairs that hadn’t been there the day before.

“Good morning,” Nav said, watching me.

“Good morning. What are you two doing ?”

“Waiting for you to wake up so we can show you the greenhouse we found.”

“Really?” I hurried to the window to look outside.

“We put it in the front yard so that we could use the back for planting,” Nav said behind me.

I darted out of the kitchen and tugged the blanket from the living room window. I was expecting piles of metal poles and stacks of slightly cloudy panels in the street. Instead, an assembled greenhouse sat on the dormant lawn. It looked like it was maybe 8 to 10 feet wide and about 14 to 16 feet long. Not huge, but still a decent size. The roof was perfect for the winters we got up here, though. It wasn’t quite a dome, having a peak at the top, but otherwise had rounded sides. It would make it easier for the snow to slide off the panels during winter so that they wouldn’t collapse under the weight.

“Do you like it?” Nav asked.

“I love it. Where did you find it?”

“In a store near the water. There were many other supplies, too.” He took my hand and led me to the basement. The stacks of boxes were even more impressive than before. I stopped at a box labeled as dehydrated eggs and pulled out a packet.

“I want this for breakfast.”

Neither denied me. I grabbed a tin of Spam to go with it since they’d found more boxes of that too.

As I made breakfast, I asked about the stores they’d searched while I slept.

“We found three close together. The biggest one had food, clothes, and house items.”