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I gaped at him as he loped into the forest. I held my breath as I tried to see through the thick darkness, but a Fae didn’t have the best night vision. And as the minutes passed and I heard and saw nothing, I started getting worried.
Yeah, Sebastian could totally take care of himself, but we were in uncharted waters here and who knew what other freaky creatures were out there.
I was about to call his name and, hell, even attempt some bravery and go in after him, when awful screeching came from the woods.
My heart was thundering as I reached down and grabbed a rock, ready to bash a skull if anything came close.
“Sebastian?” I whispered harshly.
Another screech, followed by what sounded like wings flapping, a heavy thud following.
I covered my mouth with my free hand so I didn’t scream and took a tentative step toward the woods. Not the smartest move, sure, but the very idea of not helping Sebastian wasn’t even a thought in my head.
And just as I was about to go in and fight off whatever unseen threat there was, the sound of something being dragged got closer and closer.
Involuntarily I took a step back, but a moment later Sebastian’s big body emerged from the forest and I sagged in relief. He was okay.
It was at that moment I realized how worried I’d been. The very idea of not seeing him again had this pang burrowing itself deep and hard into the center of my body.
I was staring into his face, not noticing what he dragged behind him until he tossed it between us with a heavy thud. It was then I looked down and furrowed my brow at the creature he’d killed.
It certainly was bird-like, with a beak and beady black eyes. It had legs reminiscent of a chicken’s, but the talons were longer and sharper than any creature I’d ever seen.
It was also covered in brown, mossy green, and tan feathers that I assumed helped it stay camouflaged in the trees.
And it was big, the size of a turkey.
I lifted my gaze from the carcass to stare at Sebastian. He looked pretty smug, with his chest puffed out and his shoulders pulled back.
“I killed that for you.”
I cocked an eyebrow and for a long second just stared at him, but then I dropped the stone, covered my mouth, and started laughing.
His expression was one of clear confusion as he took a step closer to me. “What’s wrong?”
“You sounded like a caveman,” I wheezed. Gods, it had been so long since I’d laughed.
“Are you hurt?” He started running his hands over my arms, then crouched by my legs before I shook my head, still laughing, and grabbed his biceps to pull him back up to his staggering height.
“People don’t usually laugh when they are hurt,” I said and wiped the tears from my eyes and looked up at him. “This whole situation is just… bizarre. I think I’m going to snap.” My laughter died down, and I kept smiling up at him as I lifted my hand and cupped his cheek. “But…” I felt my face warm at what I was about to admit. “You make it bearable.”
His scruff was coming in as a dark beard now, and I couldn’t lie… facial hair made him look that much hotter.
I saw the way his expression changed from worry to something softer. He lifted his hand and ran his fingers over my lips, growling low.
“Come on,” he said and turned to grab the leg of the bird-creature with one hand, and took mine with his other.
A good chunk of time later we found ourselves in a tiny alcove, with a fire started thanks to Sebastian. Stopping probably wasn’t the best course of action seeing as we had limited moonlight in this world, but I couldn’t find it in me to speed things along.
We talked and laughed, threw bits of food at each other as we joked, and then we just told the other about our lives.
“So you have no family aside from your brother, Kane, and your cousin, Adryan, who happens to be the leader of the American Vampire Clan?”
He grunted his affirmation.
“Never heard of him or this group. What is it, like a club or something?”
Sebastian was drinking water, which he’d gathered from the small pool we’d found close to the alcove and boiled to make sure it was clean.
