The Hunt (By Kiss and Claw #2) - Melissa Haag Page 0,118
at my phone, I stifled the need to text him. What would I even say? Stay safe? He’d only take that as a sign of affection from me, and that was the last thing he needed.
Rather than text Fenris or Eugene, I answered Mom that I was okay then snuck up to my room. The world might be falling apart around me, but I was cold and exhausted. Everything else could wait until after I had a hot shower and some more sleep.
The voices from the office surged loudly enough that I recognized Raiden. I couldn’t make out the words and didn’t care to get any closer to try. After finally seeing the truth of what I’d accidentally done to his son, I no longer held any resentment or hurt over how Raiden had treated me. Only shame. And I didn’t want to face Raiden and admit he’d been right to tell me to leave.
Fenris would be fine if he stayed away from me for a few days. I clung to that desperate thought as I hurried down the hall.
Safely in my room, I stripped from my inadequate pajamas. The shower, even when it started out cold, was warmer than my feet. A hissed breath escaped me as the water slowly heated and created a painful burn as my feet warmed. I lifted one foot to make sure standing in the snow hadn’t caused any permanent damage. The skin looked red but otherwise fine.
A yawn ripped through me, and I frowned. It was the middle of the night, but I was beyond “normal” tired. The run through the woods had taken too much out of me. While I could hope that sleep would help some of it, I recognized the level of my exhaustion as the warning sign it was. I would need to feed soon.
With that depressing thought in my head, I stumbled to my closet for warmer, clean pajamas then crawled into bed.
It didn’t take me long to slip into my recurring dream of the woods. There weren’t any cakes hanging from the barren branches, though. Instead, Fenris was leaning against one of the trees.
His beautiful brown gaze tracked me as I approached him. I opened my mouth to apologize for leaving him alone in the woods, but no sound came out. He straightened away from the tree and stalked toward me. His slow prowl triggered that tingle on the back of my neck.
“You’re slowly killing me, Eliana.”
I tried again to apologize for what I’d unintentionally done to him. Still, no sound emerged.
He stopped in front of me and cupped my face. The feel of his hands made my heart hammer painfully.
“I’m not sure how much more time we have. I’m trying, kitten, but I’m so in tune to everything about you that staying away is impossible. You exhale and I inhale. I breathe you in because you’re the only thing sustaining me.”
Hearing what I had suspected broke my heart for him. For us both. As much as I wished it wasn’t true, I ached for Fenris. I wanted him in my life. I wanted his hugs. I wanted his playfulness. Gods help me, I wanted all of him for myself.
Since I didn’t have the voice to say anything, I let my tears speak for me.
“Shh. Don’t cry. Take what you need.”
I shook my head, and he drifted away.
In his place, the branches shook. The small squares that dangled from the strings weren’t any type of cake they’d offered before. I tentatively took the piece of baklava. The honeyed sweetness caressed my tongue, and I smiled at the nuttiness. Then I licked the stickiness from my fingers. It was different, but it was still good.
Taking my time, I ate my way through several desserts before sitting against the tree. The food was filling, but not what I wanted.
“That’s not enough, nibbles. A little more,” the trees said, sounding oddly like Fenris.
I frowned up at the branches and noticed other options swaying in the light breeze. Boston cream pie was back along with lava cake. My two favorites. Ignoring the part of me that said something wasn’t right, I stood and listened to my hunger. It demanded I inhale cake after cake. My ravenous appetite seemed as endless as what the trees offered.
Gradually, my hunger faded, and I lazily ate because the food was there and I liked it.
“How many people know about this place?” an unfamiliar voice squeaked.