Page 3 of Dark Fey Captive

“Stay quiet. The infected are attracted to sound.” I forced myself to step forward. “Stay still when they’re nearby. They’re attracted to movement.” Another step. “Climb to escape. Most of the ones that are left don’t have the coordination or brains to figure out how to climb.”

“Get ready to take a big step down,” Lettie said.

I hurried that last step, preferring the boat to dangling over the water.

“And if you get separated?” Gwen asked, catching my hand to help me down.

“Hang a pair of underwear somewhere high and visible from the water to signal I’m safe and need to get my ass out of there,” I continued, letting her lead me around the boat that rocked more than the dock had. “If the search party should give up on me for any reason, hang a bra to signal things have gone tits up.”

“I wonder if the bra is still where Eddie hung it,” Lynn said, her voice flat.

Guilt wormed in under my fear.

We’d lost Eddie, Lynn’s husband, a few weeks ago, before the smart, faster infected had died. Those infected had been able to climb. And open doors. And set traps.

“Lynn, you’re up top,” Gwen said, settling me into a seat.

After a few steadying breaths, I risked opening my eyes. The boat was large, and I was in the center, as far away from the water as I could get. It didn’t help, though. My chest tightened at the sight of all the water around us, making it harder to breathe.

“Wave to Maggie,” Gwen said as she started the engine.

Maggie stood outside the door of the center shack. She smiled and waved, then pointed to her ears.

I nodded at her reminder. The settlement needed batteries, but so did Maggie. They were her lifeline, powering her hearing aids. She could communicate without them, but maintaining our fleet’s engines and surviving scavenging runs would be almost impossible.

“Hang tight, Arena,” Gwen said, backing up the boat. “I’ll get us there as fast as I can.”

“Where are we going?” I asked, watching the boat turn toward the gap in the breakwaters the islanders had erected to protect the trade station.

“Ashland.”

CHAPTER TWO

NAV

The scent of water drifted on the breeze as I entered the abandoned human town from the south. It gave me hope that I’d found the lake where Gyrik, my fey brother, had found Ava, his female.

She was so small. Delicate. Pretty.

And taken.

A sigh escaped me as I looked at the homes lining the street. Empty. Forgotten. Like me.

I yearned for a human female of my own. However, it wasn’t easy to gain female attention back in the communities when so many of my brothers were seeking it as well. Finding new females, as Gyrik had, would give me a better chance and help the communities.

Too few humans remained. Of those who did, many only reluctantly accepted our presence. They did not truly welcome us, but welcomed what we could provide—food, supplies, and protection from the infected.

I wanted a willing female, not for what I could give her but for what she felt for me. One who looked at me like Ava looked at Gyrik. Bright, happy eyes. Soft smiles.

Welcome touches.

Having never known a female’s touch before, my cock stirred at the thought.

For as long as I could remember, my brothers and I had lived in darkness buried deep in the ground, in caves cut off from the surface. We hadn’t known humans existed—or what a female was—until the earthquakes freed us.

In the months since, so much had changed. The hostility, prejudice, and aggression we’d first experienced after abandoning the caves we had called home had improved in the communities. However, outside of them, humans still saw us as a threat and screamed at the sight of us.

I did not care if the males screamed and ran away, but I hated that the females, the ones who needed us the most, did that.