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“Trap? No trap. Path.”
“Path, trap, same thing. A path that’s like a slide for loggers, hidden among the trees—”
“No hidden!” His pale brows knit and his lower lip juts out like that of a whiny baby.
I snicker, because this is so ridiculous I want to roll over and laugh. “Whatever.”
And that’s when it hits me. He saved my life. He leaped, grabbed me as I rolled downslope and pulled me out of the way of the tree, wrapping his body around me and taking the brunt of the last tumble.
Regardless. He has just shoved me off him and called me crazy.
And I still don’t know his name.
He gets to his feet and shakes his head, his long locks flying around his head. “Crazy.”
“Hey, enough with the name-calling.” His scent torments me, twisting me up inside, making me ache, but I won’t let my body dictate my moves this time. “I’m leaving. You can’t keep me here.”
“No leave.” He glares at me.
“You can’t keep me. I’m not a pet rock or whatever pets you keep here. I’m a person. I have… friends.” If that’s what I’d call my mates. “I have a goal.” If staying alive counts. “I’m—”
“Why leave cave?” he asks, more quietly, more… humanly.
I lift my chin. “Why not?”
“No leave. Danger.”
“I was looking for you,” I admit, and then I get even more annoyed because I hadn’t meant to let that slip out. “Maybe. Or maybe I was just going to escape.”
“I go get food.” He points at some obscure point down the path.
Oh.
“Food.” My stomach rumbles and I wrap my arms around me, suddenly feeling cold and weak. “I see.”
“No leave cave,” he goes on. “Cave is home.”
“So it is your home.” I’m delighted and tell myself sternly that I have no reason to be. “I mean, yeah, I get it. But it’s not my home, and like I said, you can’t keep me here.”
“Danger,” he says again, waving a hand in the air. “Drakoryas. Dangerous.”
“Yes, you are. You are one of them, if you hadn’t noticed.”
A small frown forms on his face. “I am… good.”
“The hell you are. You carried me away.”
If he frowns any harder, his brows will dip in his eyes. “Protect.”
“Protect me? From what? My own mates?” I climb to my feet warily, but anger gives me more energy than a night’s sleep did. “I don’t even know you! I don’t even like you. You stole me away from the two men I actually had started to like!”
His eyes widen. “I stole?”
“Yes! Took me away.”
“Danger. Drakoryas—”
“Enough of that.” I start walking down the path, the same path I almost died on. “I’m going.”
