Page 83 of Dark Fey Captive

She leaned into me and wrapped her arms around my waist. “I know. But staying inside is just as dangerous.”

“Then we’ll go out,” Belak said.

“No. They’ll shoot at you on sight. Not me. Men won’t see a lone woman as a threat.”

“They will see you as an opportunity,” I said, my voice rough.

She tipped her head back and considered me. “They might be my family, Nav. If I go out there and things don’t go like I think they will, I’ll scream, and you can save me. Just…don’t rip off their heads, okay?”

I pressed my forehead to hers. “I don’t like this.”

“Me neither, but I think this is our best option.”

Our best option was leaving through the back door and running far away. I could find supplies for her anywhere. Maybe I could find that cabin in the woods that Gyrik had found his female in.

Arena tipped her head, brushing her lips against mine. I took what she was offering, keeping the kiss, uncaring if my desperation was showing. I did not want to lose her. Not to some stupid human males too hungry to understand that the future of their world wasn’t in aging supplies but in the few females who remained.

She pulled back suddenly, breathing heavily.”

“I really like the way you kiss, Nav. Tonight, you can kiss me like that some more.”

She slipped from my arms, flashed me a wry smile, and walked toward the front door. I watched her let herself out and listened to the engines outside. They were almost to the gate.

“I’ll circle around the houses and get behind them,” Belak said, moving toward the back door.

Nodding, I followed him.

The engines quieted. I jumped onto the roof, crouching low by the chimney to peer around it at the vehicles parked by the gate.

A man climbed out onto the roof of the truck, rifle in hand as he turned his back on Arena and watched the road. A second man got out. He hopped down onto the pavement and walked toward the gate, watching Arena.

He waited until she was close to ask, “Is your name Arena?”

He knew her name but didn’t know her. This was not her family then. I glanced at the vehicles, counting the humans I could see as she answered.

“I am. Who sent you?”

They weren’t speaking loudly. If I were a human, I wouldn’t be able to hear them.

“Gwen,” he said.

He reached into his pocket and withdrew a piece of paper. He handed it to Arena through the fence.

“After you read that, maybe we could talk some more inside.”

I watched her unfold the paper with a sinking feeling.

What if her family wanted her to leave with these humans?

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

ARENA

I read the brief, coded message from Gwen.

The moon dictates the tide. Let the light guide you home.

She was saying that she’d made a deal with this group to come get me, but it was up to me if I trusted them enough to leave with them. Trusting them wasn’t the problem. At least not yet. I wasn’t sure the two fey in the house would let me leave.