Captured - Cara Wylde Page 0,42
it into my mouth. The taste was all wrong. It felt chewy, and the coppery flavor made me want to throw up. But I didn’t stop. I knew I needed to adapt. There was no going back, not now, maybe not ever.
Great things are done when men and mountains meet, the tattoo on Thorn’s skin said. It was appropriate, because the Woodward brothers might as well be mountains. If I wanted to win their trust, I had to push through my discomfort, no matter how hard it was.
Thirteen
Thorn
Jax and Reid would’ve disapproved of what I was going to do. Jax had gone back to his place hours ago, and Reid had told me to take Isabel back to her cell. But I had another thing in mind. She was asleep in my arms, and as I walked into the chilly night air, I just couldn’t bring myself to take her to the caves, where it was damp and cold. I took her to my cabin, instead. She moaned in her sleep as I placed her on the pelt in front of the fireplace. I hovered over her for a minute to make sure she was truly out. She needed a wash. Badly. There were only two options: take her to the hot spring, or warm up the rainwater I always gathered in a barrel behind the house. We all did that here. Rainwater was not something worth wasting. So, I went out in a hurry, filled two buckets from the barrel, brought them inside, and dumped them in a huge cauldron over the fire. I knew how to do this. I’d done it a thousand times, as I didn’t always feel like bathing in the hot spring with the rest of my pack. Jax and Reid had always made fun of me, but I liked my privacy from time to time. Nothing wrong with that, as far as I was concerned. When the water was scorching hot, I poured it in the tub that I’d placed in the middle of the room, then mixed it with plenty of cold water. Satisfied, I wiped my hands off my trousers and knelt beside Isabel to wake her up.
“Hey… You need to take a bath.”
“What? Nooo…”
“You stink to high heaven. Come on.”
I pulled her up. Her eyes fluttered open. She yawned cutely but complied. I helped her step into the tub, and she sighed as she submerged in the water.
“Too hot? Too cold?”
“It’s perfect.” She smiled at me, and my stomach did that strange somersault it had been doing lately whenever she looked at me and made me believe that she truly saw me. I hoped that was true, but then again… she’d betrayed me once. “This is so relaxing. Thank you. I didn’t realize how tired I was.”
She leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling. We were both silent for a few minutes. I went to look for a bar of soap, and while I was rummaging through my things, I noticed that she’d turned her attention to the walls. My walls, which were covered in paintings I’d done some years ago. They were mostly dark and surrealistic – entanglements of branches and leaves, faded figures visible here and there, blood red eyes and sharp, ivory fangs. I took a deep breath, released it slowly, then knelt next to the tub and started rubbing the soap over Isabel’s arm. On the one hand, I hoped she wouldn’t ask about the paintings. On the other hand… Ugh! Why did I need her to see me so badly? To see the real me – the man not even my own brothers wanted to acknowledge.
“They’re beautiful,” she said. Her eyes moved from one painting to another. She shuddered subtly. “I can feel them… It’s like I can feel the darkness and the cold in my bones.” I grunted softly just to let her know that I was listening. She turned to me, her blue eyes wide and curious. “Did you… paint them?” I grunted again. “You did. Wow! I love them.”
“I’m glad,” I mumbled. “They’re old. I don’t have time to paint anymore.”
“That’s a shame. You’re good. You shouldn’t give up.” She shook her head and chuckled. “I can’t believe I didn’t see them the first time you brought me here.”
I furrowed my brows. “That’s because you had other things on your mind. Like tricking me so you could escape.”
“I’m sorry.” She bit her lower lip. I pulled at her arm, and she