Captive - Cheryl Brooks Page 0,35

curiosity, knowing it was partly responsible for the predicament in which she now found herself. If she’d never captured him, she and her friends wouldn’t be in this mess.

But perhaps, just perhaps, he was the answer to every hope she’d ever had and every wish she’d ever made. Regrettably, she would never know whether any of that was true if she didn’t get up now. Calling on every shred of fortitude she possessed, she pushed herself up from the floor only to meet Moe’s wary gaze.

“You okay?” he asked.

She knew what he was thinking. The morning after often brought with it misgivings for the weaknesses of the night before. “I’m fine.” Her stomach let out a growl. “Or at least I will be when we’ve all had something to eat.” A brief assessment of his expression revealed no clues as to his own feelings regarding recent events. “What about you?”

“Me? I’m”—he hesitated, then laughed as though surprised at his current mood—“feeling pretty great, actually.”

Most men did—or so she assumed. Sexual gratification was less complicated for them, and any dubious means to that end were no doubt easily glossed over.

His wariness returned. “Not feeling, um, coerced, are you?”

She gave him a wry smile. “Trust me, if I felt coerced, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“Guess I can take that as a no.”

“I guess you can.”

From his position in the opposite corner of the room, Temfilk yawned and stretched his skinny arms. “What a night! I’m amazed I could sleep a wink.”

When he followed this statement with an actual wink of his bulbous eyes, Klara feared the worst.

“Feeling…sated?” Moe ventured.

“Unbelievably, I do,” Temfilk replied. “Last night was so gratifying and, well…perfect.” A long sigh and another bone-popping stretch served to substantiate his claim. “Must’ve been something in the air.”

“Perfect, huh?” Nexbit rolled over with a grimace. “I should’ve morphed into a dog or something that actually enjoys being curled up on the bare floor. I really miss my bed.”

The Racks began chattering the way they always did when they woke up hungry. Klara didn’t have to ask how they felt.

“What do we do now, boss?” Temfilk asked. “I vote for stealing breakfast in the market. I haven’t had one of those awesome Garebinch pastries in forever.”

“Stop! You’re only making this worse,” Nexbit protested. “We’re a long damn way from the market. Not sure I can get there without something to eat.”

Klara rolled her eyes before glancing at Moe. “Don’t believe a word he says. He can go a lot longer without food than the rest of us can.”

Nexbit waved his gnarly looking hands in surrender. “Okay, so you’re right. I’ll be fine as long as I don’t have to morph into anything tricky. But if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: it takes energy to morph.”

Temfilk sucked a fingertip onto his chin. “If you were better-fed, would you be less, um, homely?”

“Perhaps,” Nexbit replied without the slightest hint of the annoyance Klara always figured he should feel whenever anyone remarked on his lack of inherent beauty. Apparently, he was immune to that criticism. “But in any case, I am rather hungry.”

Klara was pretty good at going hungry herself. At the moment, however, she was absolutely ravenous, which was probably Moe’s fault. She squeezed her eyes shut as the memory of savoring his cock shoved its way to the forefront of her mind. This is neither the time nor the place for such things, she scolded herself. Then again, she could’ve said the same for last night. Temfilk had obviously picked up on the sex pheromones floating about the room. At least, she didn’t think he had to actually touch someone to pick up on that sort of thing. This was the first time she’d ever considered that possibility. Never needed to before.

“Okay. Let’s see if we can get into town without Nedwuts swarming all over us.” She gritted her teeth. Without anything to bribe them with, this would be the best time for any bounty hunters to have another go at trying to capture her.

“I’m good with breakfast,” Moe said. “But if I can access my funds, we probably won’t need to steal it.”

This method of acquiring food was so completely foreign to Klara, for a second or two, all she could do was gape at him. A glance at her cohorts proved they shared her disbelief. She cleared her throat. “Yeah. Right. If you want to waste your money on food, go right ahead. We’ve never needed