Captive of Wolves (Bound to the Fae #1) - Eva Chase Page 0,61

not sure I could resist.

I heave another blow at the punching bag, but my fist glances off the side in my distraction. Is there a way I can make sure the attraction between us never reaches that point? A way that she could release her hunger just as I’m letting loose my aggressions into this sack of leather? A possibility rises up in my mind.

If I have the chance, I have to at least try—for both her sake and mine.

18

Talia

In what I intend to be my last evening in the faerie realm, dinner centers around a large roast bird that looks like an elongated turkey, which August calls a “flame pheasant.” I’ve got to say that his cooking means there’ll be a few things I’ll miss about this bizarre supernatural world. The pheasant’s meat has a rich, smoky flavor that’s so delicious I find myself licking the leftover juices off my fork.

For dessert, he serves bronze-skinned apples carved so they appear to be blooming out of rings of crisp pastry, topped with a dollop of cream. Be still my heart. I’d already planned on stuffing myself as full as I could tonight, since I don’t know how long I’ll need to find my way back to the human world—or how long it’ll take me to secure myself another meal once I do—but I’d have gorged myself tonight anyway.

August had a few apples left over in the kitchen after his carving and baking. As I lean back in my chair, savoring the caramel-sweet aftertaste lingering in my mouth, I consider asking him if I can take one up to my room. I could say I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night hungry, and I know he’d jump at the chance to get more nourishment into me. Then I’d have a little food to bring on my uncertain journey.

But Kellan’s gaze pauses on me more than once with its usual cold glint. I’ve never asked for more food after a meal before. I should have thought of that, established a pattern—now any deviation from my normal routine could rouse suspicions.

I’ll be okay. Someone in the human world will have to be willing to help me… right?

Will I even come out in the same town I was taken from? There’s no reason to assume I will. What if I end up in some country where I can’t speak the language? Or hundreds of miles from civilization in the Amazon jungle or the Antarctic tundra? I dreamed of traveling to epic landscapes like those, sure—but with proper preparations and supplies. Stranded with nothing but the clothes on my back and a permanently injured foot, it’d be less an adventure and more a catastrophe.

My pulse thumps faster. I get up, letting the rasp of the chair legs against the floor cover my shaky inhalation. Whatever happens, I’ll figure it out. I have to try. If I stay here, I’m pretty much guaranteed to meet an even worse fate, aren’t I?

August has already swept around the table to clear the dishes. He meets me in the hall with a playful little bow, so attentive in his enthusiasm that I can’t suppress a pinch of guilt at the huge secret I’m keeping from him. Maybe he’ll be glad when they wake up and find me gone, though. He’s doing what he feels he has to, but he obviously doesn’t like that they’re keeping me captive.

“Shall we descend to the sauna?” he asks.

Oh, right, this is a bath night. I hesitate, but it isn’t as if I can make my escape yet anyway. From what I’ve gleaned about their schedules, the four fae men won’t all retire to their bedrooms until the early hours of the morning. A soak in the hot water might even do me some good. Since Kellan’s assault yesterday night, my foot’s still aching more than usual.

“Of course.” I give him my best everything-is-perfectly-normal smile and walk with him down the stairs to the basement.

My bathing routine requires a bit of an awkward arrangement. After my difficulties with the tub upstairs, Sylas didn’t want to risk that I might lose my balance on the slippery floor and injure myself with no one around to hear me call for help. So, while I take my bath in the little in-ground pool, August sits on a chair behind a folding screen he set up, giving me most but not all of my privacy.

Sometimes it’s nice having someone to talk to, and I’ve wobbled