Page 82 of Once Upon a Fable

There was no lust in his eyes. No food in his hands. No challenge or dominance in the way he stepped over the threshold.

There was only acceptance, grim determination, and a coldness that slinked through the air and settled like frost upon my skin.

“Get up.” He waved his hand as if through sheer will he could levitate me to my feet.

I sucked in a breath at the emptiness in his tone. His long hair hung damply to his shoulders. His bare feet were dusty and smudged, while his slacks were stained with pollen and wherever else he’d been. His chest was naked, revealing glistening sweat and the undeniable scent of a male who’d been physically active.

Pushing to my feet, I dropped my gaze to his hands. One looked bruised with a fresh scab that’d barely stopped bleeding. On instinct, I stepped toward him. “What happened to your hand?”

He grunted and backed up. “Doesn’t matter.” Stepping aside, he pointed at the open door. “Ladies first.”

Undiluted fear injected into my veins. “Where...where are you taking me?”

His forehead furrowed, and he shook his head as if his patience regarding me had run out. “You wanted sunlight. I’m giving you sunlight.”

I didn’t move. “You’re taking me to a bedroom upstairs?”

He swallowed, his throat moving with sinew and power. “No.”

“To the library?”

“No.”

“To the living room?”

“No.” Crossing his arms, his nostrils flared. “Move. We’re running out of time.”

Goosebumps prickled and stayed on high alert as his biceps bunched. He attempted to look unruffled and unaffected, but he’d forgotten I could read him well. And beneath his masked deception lurked the truth. The jumpy adrenaline. The twitchy need to get whatever this was over and done with.

He hasn’t asked for a sexual favor. He hasn’t given me the option to serve and survive another day.

More ice layered the frost already on my skin.

He’s finished with this.

With me.

How I knew, I didn’t fully understand. Was it in the torment in his eyes? Was it in the tension in his body? He’d changed, and there was no hint of the man who’d fed me, almost kissed me, and sometimes showed a heartbreakingly vulnerable pain buried deep within.

This man was locked and chained. His silvery scars seemed to shimmer in the light, bringing forth persecution instead of pleasure.

I backed against the wall. “On second thought, I’ll stay. Tomorrow, once you’ve gotten some sleep, perhaps—”

“Not tomorrow. Today.” He snapped his fingers. “Come.” Striding toward me, he bared his teeth. “You only have two choices. Walk out of here by your own free will or be dragged out by your hair.”

I froze. My eyes tangled with his, searching, seeking, desperately trying to understand where our little deal had gone wrong. “Did I do something to offend you?”

He chuckled blackly. “Of course. Your very presence offends me.”

I flinched. “Yet you came quite happily by my hand...and my mouth.”

His eyes turned dark; his brow lowered. “Two mistakes I’m about to rectify.”

“I’m not a mistake. I’mreal. I’m human. I have a heartbeat. A home. A family!”

“And I used to have those things.” He shrugged. “Didn’t stop bad things from happening to me.” Reaching out, he grabbed my wrist.

I snatched it out of his hold. “Don’ttouchme.”