Page 41 of Dark Fey Captive

The rest of what he’d said caught up to me.

Period?

Breast massage?

Why would he think⁠—

I glanced at the wrappers around me, and why he asked clicked into place. It’d been a long time since I’d had something processed, and I’d stress-eaten my way through the chocolate and the chips.

“Ah, no, I’m not close to my period,” I said. It had ended a few days ago, but I didn’t tell him that. Instead, I focused on what I should have been from the start—learning more about him.

“How do you know about all of that?” I asked. “The eating chocolate and needing pain relievers around our periods. Did you…have a girlfriend?”

While the island kept us safe, it also isolated us. We’d heard the rumors about the grey demons months ago, but they’d always been referred to like that. Demons. Killers. Dangerous. Not dating material. Yet, somehow, Nav knew more about women than any of the men I’d previously dated. Not that Nav and I were dating.

“No. The females who are not afraid of me are already taken. The rest still do not look at me, or at my cock, like you do.”

I looked. It wasn’t my fault, though. He’d brought it up.

And it was up alright. Just as hard as he’d been when he’d left.

I thought again of the empty mini hotel lotions I’d found in the waste bin. How many times had he masturbated that I hadn’t heard? Or were all those bottles just from the two times I did? I had so many questions I wanted to ask.

“Would you like to see the house I found? It is safer than this building and has running water and a fireplace. We can go there now.”

He’d found a house already? Leaving the shoreline was a good thing. It would keep my friends from running into Nav when they came looking for me. But giving up my chance to go home still hurt.

“I’d like that,” I said, lying. “Are there a lot of infected on the streets, and how far away is the house?”

“I will keep you safe. I promise.”

That didn’t really answer my questions. But then, his answers wouldn’t have changed my decision.

“Okay.” I stood and looked around the room. “I’d like to take—ah!”

The surprised way we looked at each other after my startled yelp—due to him picking me up without warning—was a bit comical.

“I can walk,” I said.

“We’ll get there faster if I carry you.”

“What about all our stuff? I don’t want to leave the clothes or food behind.”

“I’ll come back for it.”

Coming back for it wasn’t safe for my friends. What if he ran into them?

He watched me, waiting for my answer.

Even though I didn’t like leaving everything, I nodded, and he pressed his forehead to mine before leaving.

The sun was making good progress across the clear blue sky already. It warmed my skin as I tipped my face back for just a moment to soak up its warmth. The air smelled like spring. Clean. No rot or woodsmoke.

I caught Nav watching me instead of leaving. We were standing in the open right outside the main door. Wasn’t he worried about infected showing up? I was and nudged him.

His lips quirked at the corners, showing his amusement. Then he frowned and looked away from me. Focused. His head turned slightly as if he were listening.

I looked around, too, straining to hear anything other than the wind in the dried grass nearby.