Fifteen

The contrite look on Drav’s face was almost comical.

“I am sorry, Eden.  I will not growl again.”  His hold on Mya tightened, and she patted his arm soothingly while he continued speaking to me.  “Come to our house where it is warm.  We will listen to your news.”

I followed the pair into the crowded house.  Heat immediately surrounded me.  I would have taken off my jacket, but there was barely walking room with all the bodies crammed into the space.

Despite Mya’s assurances that these men were safe, I wished Ghua was with me.  The focused way they watched every move I made unnerved me.  With this group, saying I was twelve didn’t make me feel safe anymore.  Just Ghua did.

Refusing to show my fear, I kept walking as we wove our way into the living room where several other humans sat with Nancy.  It looked like she’d pulled herself together a bit.  Her eyes were red, but she was no longer crying.  One of the fey stood by her.  His stance and the way he had more breathing room drew my eyes.  He met my gaze and nodded to me.

Mya stopped in the middle of the living room and made introductions.

“Everyone, this is Eden and Nancy.  Ladies, this is Molev, the leader of the fey.”

“Tell us who took the children,” Molev said, looking at me.

“Men,” I said with a shrug, unsure what he was expecting.

“What Molev means is, what can you tell us about the men who took them?”

“Well, there are about twelve gunmen.”  I frowned.  “Maybe less now.  Ghua may have killed one of the men who tried to take me back.”

“I did not kill him, Mya,” Ghua said as he came up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders.

I exhaled and leaned into his touch a little, feeling calmer and grateful that cleaning up hadn’t taken him very long.

“There were eight of us workers before I left.  Nine, now, with Nancy’s kids,” I said with a glance at her.  “They are holed up in an underground bunker.  There’s only one way in, through a steel reinforced door that can lock from the inside.  They have a lot of guns and a lot of ammunition and plenty of supplies to last the winter if they chose not to open that door again until spring.”

“What are the workers for?” Mya asked.

“Mostly to search the field for forgotten vegetables.  Withered, soft, it didn’t matter.  Fresh food meant not touching the supplies.”

“You said mostly.  What about when they aren’t searching for food?” she asked.

I kept my eyes trained on Mya.  It was easier than seeing Nancy’s reaction to what she already guessed.

“Sex.”

“You mean rape?” Mya said.

Growls rose around me, and Drav quickly held up his hands.

“Mya, I did not growl.”

She ignored him and continued to focus on me.

“It hasn’t been forced yet,” I said.  “There’s been no need.  The rations are split equally between the workers and the gunmen, but digging around in the dirt is hungrier work than standing guard.  The gunmen are quick to offer their food to the female workers in exchange for whatever the man in question is in the mood for.”

“What do we have to worry about the most when we go in for Nancy’s kids?” Mya asked.

“The guns, if these guys die from a bullet just like us.  The only way in is through a narrow set of stairs leading down.  Anyone who’s not welcome would be easy to shoot.”

“Anything else?”

“Isn’t that enough?”  Mya’s cavalier attitude about the gunmen concerned me.  If these guys were as great as she said they were, shouldn’t she at least be a little worried that they might get hurt.

“The next hunting party leaves tomorrow morning,” Molev said.  “They will recover the children instead of hunting the hounds.”

Several scattered grunts came from the men in the room.

“Thank you,” Nancy said.  Her eyes were watering again.

“Hold up,” Mya said.  “If we’re dealing with humans, we need to involve Matt.”

“Who’s Matt?” Nancy asked.

“He’s the leader at Whiteman, the military base not far from here, where the majority of the human survivors live.  We’re potentially rescuing more than your two kids.  If those people don’t want to stay here, Whiteman’s the only other safe place.  Matt needs the heads up.”

“We’ll speak to Matt first thing in the morning,” Molev said with a nod to Mya.

“All right, then.  Fey, time to clear out so I can get to bed.”

The room quickly emptied; however, Ghua’s hands remained on my shoulders, keeping me in place.  Not that I had anywhere to go.

With the house void of all the fey but Molev, Drav, and Ghua, Mya looked at me.

“You’re welcome to stay here with Nancy and us,” she said.

My gaze flicked to Molev, who watched me intently, then at Drav.  I didn't like the idea of staying in the same house as either of them when sleeping arrangements already sounded like they would be a little cozy.

“If it's alright with you, I'll stay with Ghua.”

He squeezed my shoulders lightly as Mya frowned at me.  An older woman, who'd been sitting on the sofa beside Nancy, stood.

“Of course it's all right.  I'll walk you there while Ghua takes a minute to chat with Molev about his time away.”

“I think I'll come too,” Mya said.

“No.  You need to get to bed, remember?”

“Mom is correct,” Drav said.  He scooped Mya up and started down the hall despite her protests.

Mya’s mom wrapped her arm through mine and led me to the door.

“I feel like I just missed something,” I said once we were outside.

She laughed.  “You did.  A lecture from my daughter.  I'm Julie, by the way.  Everyone here tends to just call me Mom.”

“Why was I going to hear a lecture?”

“Mya’s protective of all the fey.  All the humans here are.”

I studied her for a moment.

“And you think I'm going to hurt Ghua?  Have you seen how fast he moves?  I couldn't touch him if I tried.”

“That's where you're wrong.”  Her voice grew soft, and she looked at me with concern.  “For you, he'd hold still.  Eden, you have more power to hurt him than anyone else.”

Her words made the ache in my chest, the one that had been growing steadily, hurt more.

“He brought you here for a reason.  He likes you, Eden.  He would do anything for just a pinch of his affection to be returned.”

“How can he when he doesn't even know me?” I said, desperate to downplay what I already knew he felt.  And, what I already felt myself.

“Ghua left here two weeks ago determined to find you.  For a fey, that seems to be more than enough time.  It only took Drav a week to learn our language and a good portion of our ways.  I think Ghua knows more about you than you realize.”

She turned up the sidewalk to the house that Mya had indicated earlier.

“My point is that it would be kinder to tell him now if you will never be romantically interested in return.”

I thought of the kiss he and I had shared, and my stomach danced.

“Why do you think I wouldn’t be interested?”

She patted my arm and gave me an understanding smile.

“The fey are different.  All the women at Whiteman are either married or too afraid of that difference to give them the time of day.  However, if you’re able to see past Ghua’s differences, like Mya did with Drav, then I think you would be interested.  Just take some time to get to know Ghua before you decide.  And, be honest with him while you’re making up your mind.”

She opened the door, and I stepped in.

“I'll see you in the morning, Eden.”

“Thank you, Julie.”

Alone in Ghua’s house, I looked around.  The entry where I stood opened to the living room and kitchen.  To the right, there was a stairway leading to the second floor and a hallway tucked just under the stairs.

The house was warm, smelled clean, and didn’t have a single sign of infected occupation.  For a few moments, all I could do was stare in envy.  Why in the hell had I fought so hard against coming here?

I took my boots off by the door and walked across the pristine carpet toward the stack of movies near the TV.  Most of them were chick flicks with a few PG family movies.

Smiling to myself, I tossed aside my jacket and layered shirts until I wore just the farmer’s t-shirt.  It was easy to get comfortable here.  It felt like a real home.  I made my way to the couch and sat, ready to enjoy a moment of peace and safety.

Something crinkled under the cushion.  I frowned, stood, and lifted the cushion.  A pile of nudie magazines waited underneath.  I picked the first one up and slowly sat on the neighboring cushion, which also crinkled.

With an aching heart, I opened the magazine promoting the seven guaranteed ways to have the best sex ever.  The centerfold was a woman dangling in some swing-type contraption with a man standing between her legs while her ankles were anchored high above.

The front door opened.

I looked up from the magazine.  Ghua’s gaze flicked from my face to what I read then back to my face.  His open, happy expression faded.

I dropped the magazine and stood quickly.

“I changed my mind.  I’d like to stay at Mya’s house.”

Ghua closed the door.

“Wait, Eden.”  His eyes darted around the room before settling on me, and his grey skin took on a darker hue.  “Those aren’t mine.”

The complete absurdity of his statement robbed me of some of my fear but none of my hurt.

“Right.  They just happen to be under the cushions of the couch in the house that belongs to you.”

He frowned for a moment.  The next words from his mouth weren’t the continued denial I was expecting.

“Do humans really have sex in so many ways?”

“What?  No.  At least, not the average human.”

“Why not?”

I picked up the magazine I’d dropped and turned it so he could see the woman strapped in the swing.

“Does that look comfortable to you?”

He looked down at the picture, and his pupils dilated.

“Yes,” he said huskily.

My annoyance overrode my verbal filter.

“Stop thinking with your dick and think with your head.  Look at her.  Look at the way her legs are spread apart and tied to the swing.  Would you like to be tied like that?”

He tilted his head.

“No?”

I snorted in disgust and tossed the magazine on the couch.

“Hearing that you’d been looking for me for weeks made me think I might really be something special to you.  You said your interest in me wasn’t just about sex.  Now, I’m not so sure.  You said I would be free to leave if I came here.  Are you going to let me walk out that door or are you going to stop me?”

He grabbed the back of his neck and growled, clearly frustrated.  He paced in front of the door a bit, then looked at me again.  Any trace of frustration was gone.  Only desperation remained, and that worried me.  Desperate people did crazy things.

“Please, Eden.  Do not leave me.  You are my salvation.”

“From what?”

“An eternity of loneliness.”

“That sure sounds like a no to letting me leave.”

He stalked toward me, making me nervous.

“Stay with me tonight.  If you still want to go tomorrow, I will take you to wherever you feel safe.”

“I felt safe here until I discovered you have a porn addiction.”

“I’m not addicted,” he said quickly.

“Oh really?”  I turned and flipped all the cushions off the couch to reveal his mountain of magazines.

“That’s a shit load of porn for someone who’s not addicted to it.”

His gaze bounced between me and the porn for several long moments.

“I’ll throw it away.”

“That won’t undo the damage that’s already been done.”

“What has it damaged?”

“Your mind!  Do you seriously think any woman wants to do the stuff that’s in these magazines?”

He stared at the couch with remorse.

“They don’t?”

“No.”

“But Mom said sex is natural.”

“Okay, first off, why were you asking Julie about sex?  And, second—”

“Mya didn’t want to answer our questions anymore,” he said quickly.  “She does not like the word pussy.  Mom says we’re just curious, and it’s better to get the right information than to guess the wrong thing.  Is sex really unnatural?”

The worry in his gaze speared me with guilt and, at the same time, made me want to hug the big idiot.  Mya had it right.  They asked the most inappropriate questions, but it was because they truly didn’t know.  The hurt at finding the magazines faded a bit.  How could these guys be so smart and so clueless at the same time?

“Sex is natural.  But I wouldn’t call what’s in those magazines sex.  Those are models posing for pictures.  They are paid to do that.”

All expression left his face, and his pupils narrowed to slits.

“Like the men who wanted to give you food for your touch?” he asked softly.

“Yeah.  Something like that.”

He stepped closer and gingerly wrapped his arms around me.

“I am sorry, my Eden.  Forgive me.  I did not understand.”

His sincerity and gentle hold won me over.  I sighed, and hugged his waist in return.

“I know.  And I’m sorry if I was starting to yell.”

His cheek pressed against the top of my head.

“It’s okay.  I like when your cheeks are red.  It’s pretty.”

I smiled slightly.  He really did make me feel special.

“Can I show you the rest of the house?” he asked.

“Sure.”

The house wasn’t big (three bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs, a living room, kitchen, half bath and laundry downstairs), and the grand tour only took a few minutes.  We finished in the kitchen where he opened cupboards full of food options.

I picked out a can of tuna fish and another of peas then sat at the table with him.

“How long have you been living here?” I asked, after eating in silence for a few minutes.

“A few weeks.”

So not long before he started looking for me.

“Was all that food here already?”

“No, we’ve been collecting supplies whenever we go out to hunt the hounds.  We give half of what we find to Whiteman and divide the rest.”

“How often do you hunt?”

“Molev sends groups out every week.  We take turns hunting hounds and helping humans.  Mya and Mom said we also needed breaks to rest.  I used my rest break to find you.”

My heart skipped a beat, and I felt myself falling for him even more.

I got up, rinsed out my cans, and put them in the recycling.  The sight of the blue bin made me pause.

“You still recycle?”

“Dad said we shouldn’t waste metal because we don’t know when we might need it.  We’re putting the flattened cans in a pile inside the wall.”

“Smart.”

He rinsed his can and put it in the bin.

“We don’t need to be quiet here,” he said.  “If the hounds come, it makes hunting them easier.  You can shower, if you want, or wash your clothes.”

My eyes got big at the idea of clean underwear.

“Hell yes.”

He smiled slightly, showed me the way to the laundry room, then left me alone.  I stripped out of everything but the shirt and threw it all in the washer.  With my clothes happily swishing, I went to find Ghua.  He was in the living room, gathering all of his magazines, and looked up when I entered.  I tried not to fidget when his gaze swept over my bare legs.  I’d worn the exact same thing, or lack thereof, before and survived.  This time wasn’t any different.  Except for the fact that he was remorsefully removing his porn collection from the couch cushions.

“Would you like to watch a movie?” he asked.

“If it’s okay with you, I think I’m just going to go to bed.”

He grunted and went back to his clean up.  I escaped upstairs.

All the bedrooms were neat and clean, making it hard to tell which room was his.  Without shame, I started looking through dressers.  The master bedroom had a few pieces of Ghua-sized clothes in otherwise empty drawers.  The dressers in the two other rooms remained empty.  The house seemed stripped of any personal items from the previous owners.

Bummed that there wouldn’t be any underwear in my near future, I picked one of the guest rooms and pulled back the covers.

No sooner had I settled in than the light turned off.

“You don’t need the light on,” Ghua said before I could panic that something had happened to the power.

“Oh.  Thanks.”

The light from outside still made it easy to see, though, and I watched him walk into the room.  He took his shirt off, tossed it aside, then started toward me.

“What are you doing?”

“Going to sleep.”  He lowered himself on the mattress beside me.

“I thought you slept in the big room.”

“I did.  But if you like this one better, that’s okay.”

He reached an arm over me in a familiar move.  I rolled away, not wanting to get pulled into Ghua snuggle time.

However, instead of escaping, I rolled my chest right into his palm.  We both froze.  His fingers moved, gently squeezing my breast, then slowly lifting away.  A fingertip dragged against my nipple.  It didn’t feel wrong at all.  In fact, it felt so right a sound escaped me.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked.

“No.”

His hand immediately returned and stroked my nipple again.  The heat of his fingers branded my skin and started a slow burn in my middle.  I groaned and quickly turned toward him, dislodging his touch.  This connection between us felt too new and unsure—especially given my recent discovery—to jump into something physical, no matter what my body was telling me.

Looking up, I opened my mouth to try to explain.  I never got the chance to utter a word.

Ghua’s fingers curled around the back of my neck a moment before his mouth covered mine in a searing kiss so hot it made my toes curl.  Every reason why I should say no fled my mind with the swipe of his tongue against mine.  I lifted my hands and buried my fingers in his hair.

He growled into my mouth, and his hand stroked up my side, unerringly finding my breast again.  His fingers played with my hard nipple.  I pulled away with a gasp.

Undeterred, he trailed kisses along my throat.

“My Eden,” he whispered.  “My perfect Eden.”

Julie’s warning and Mya’s words circled in my mind.

“Ghua, stop,” I panted.

He lifted his head and looked at me, his pupils very large in the dim light.

“This is going too fast.  I didn’t mean to lead you on or make you think I’m ready for sex.  I liked kissing you, but I’m terrified of more.  I don’t want what you’ve seen in those magazines.  Honestly, I don’t know what I do want.”

He reached up and smoothed a hand over my hair.

“You liked kissing me?” he asked quietly.

“Yes.”

“Your heart is racing.  Did my touch scare you?”

“No.”  I swallowed hard and forced the truth out.  “It’s racing because the way you touched me felt really good.”

He grabbed my shoulders and flipped us so I was laying under him.  Before I could panic, he looked me in the eyes.

“Tell me how old you are, Eden.”

Heart still pounding and my breast tingling from where he’d touched it, I stared up at him.  My stomach went hot and cold as I realized what he was asking.

“I don’t know,” I whispered, fighting the fear creeping up my spine.

He leaned forward and brushed his nose against mine.

“You do know.  Stop being afraid, Eden.  Trust me to care for you.”

Could I trust him?  Maybe.  Because right now, when he so easily could, he wasn’t taking or forcing; he was letting me choose.

I closed my eyes and whispered the words that would seal my fate.

“I’m nineteen.”