Shifters’ Fae Captive by Lacey Carter Andersen
Chapter 6
Ann
They’re fighting. I can’t hear anything because they’re signing, but the looks on their faces, the motions and speed with which they sign say more than words ever could. Not only that, but they motion at me. More than once. With their heads or their hands, one even kicked his leg out in my direction. Which is okay. I’m not any happier about being here, about “never” being able to go home again than they are about whatever it is that has to do with me.
I stare outside the cave as Onyx storms off. He’s the biggest of the three, and a brooder. He’s solemn and quiet, although I would bet my left eye he has a lot to say that he doesn’t. I would bet aside from his posture--straight as a board--he’s the rule follower. Phantom is all command and order. I don’t know about Dusk.
The two brothers work together to get some kind of soup brewing over the fire. They give me time to use the bathroom, well, the woods, and show me a river close by that I can clean up a bit at. Then, I’m led back to the fire, where Dusk quietly stirs the fire, and Phantom sits nearby sharpening a huge pile of swords and daggers, before carefully reattaching them to a wall with leather cords.
I eye the weapons. If push comes to shove, I can use them to escape. Every student at the Royal Fae Academy was forced to take various fighting classes, including with swords and daggers. I didn’t exactly excel in the classes, but they might be enough to give me a distraction long enough to get away from them.
Again, if needed. As of right now, I don’t know where I am, but I do know that these guys don’t seem to want to hurt me. And, apparently, there are creatures in these woods that do. I’m not exactly a whiz at logic, yet I think it’s smart to stay here.
For now.
When Onyx comes back, he’s calm, his face almost serene as he signs some words to the others. I know a few words. “Fight,” for example. And the circular motion made to say “ready.”
Then Dusk and Phantom speak and I catch a few words. “Into the woods.” And, “For her safety.”
Okay, some of my classes are coming back to me!
Onyx settled near the fire, ignoring me, as Dusk handed out bowls of the soup, me first, followed by the others. It’s steaming as I hold it, but I almost dig in anyway. How long has it been since I ate last? I have no idea, but I’m not exactly the kind of girl that misses a lot of meals. Some of the bitches at school regularly made comments about my looks and my weight. But when Rayne, of the most powerful fae house, claimed me as his mate, every mean comment I’d ever heard seemed to fade away.
I felt like the most beautiful woman in the world. And, somehow, that feeling still hadn’t changed. It lingered inside of me, almost like Rayne is still with me, building me up, and making me feel loved. Even from the afterlife.
As a light fae, I can’t see the dead. But sometimes I wonder if he comes to visit me in his ghostly form.
I smile at the thought, lift a spoonful of the soup to my lips, and blow softly. There’s no way Rayne is visiting me. After saving his sister and the other dark fae, his soul has to be at rest. And I’m glad for it, even if my heart still longs for him.
“What are you thinking about?” Dusk asks, and I realize they’re all studying me.
My smile fades away. “Nothing.”
They have their secrets, why can’t I have mine?
All three of them focus back on their food, eating slowly, and I eat too. For some reason, it bothers me a little that the mood changed after my words. I’m their prisoner. It shouldn’t upset me if I hurt their feelings, or they realize that I’m keeping things close to my heart too.
So why does it bother me?I ponder the question while I eat one bowl, and then another.
The sun makes its final descent, and the colors of night blend with the last rays of day across the sky. Bits of color filter through the leaves and branches. A bird flaps and squirrels run and trees rustle. The sounds are all magnified in my mind by the silence of the men I wish I could hear speaking.
Phantom offers me a leather waterskin, which I eagerly drink, and then Onyx takes the pile of bowls and washes them in a little basket of water tucked into one little area of the cave, that almost looks like a shelf carved out of the stone. Randomly, the men sign to each other, and I try to pick out any words I can, before I realize that I’m just getting frustrated, and give up.
I stand up and look out at the night. Why do I like this place so much? I was never a huge outdoor person. The outdoors were pretty, but there were always more important things to do. But out here it feels like I’ve stepped into another world, and it’s a world I enjoy in an unexpected way.
Dusk moves to stand in front of me at the edge of the cave where I’m leaning against the wall, going between trying to eavesdrop on the almost silence of their ASL, and looking back out at the woods.
After a second, he moves past me to one corner of our cave and kneels down briefly, before standing back up. He turns around and comes back with weapons--a broad sword, a dagger in a sheath he attaches to his belt, and the ever more modern handgun combo in some sort of utility belt that gives him a Rambo look Stallone would appreciate. They’d been hidden under a shroud that blends in with the dirt floor and walls.
Phantom gets another stone and is grinding a dagger’s blade over the whetstone’s smooth surface. He also has a gun--a go ahead and make my day kind of revolver--and what I think must be a harpoon gun.
Onyx moves back a boulder and pulls out a quiver and bow. He strings the bow--not the Robin Hood type he would’ve made from a tree branch and some sort of string. Definitely not from the woods, but one from Cabellas or Bass Pro. It’s fancy. Black. A composite. He has a mechanical pull and a hand trigger along with his black glove. Certainly, it isn’t what I expected.
“You use human weapons?”
Phantom’s mouth draws into a thin line. “Some of our men have ventured further into the human world to seek help in our war.”
“War with who?”
But they aren’t listening to me. They’re preparing for battle. That’s what the signing must have meant.
I imagine any minute one of them, probably judging by the guilt I saw in Phantom’s eyes, will be accompanying me “into the woods.” And by accompanying, I mean drag me out there for my own safety. Probably Dusk. Actually, I hope it’s Dusk. Onyx seems to dislike me, and Phantom, well, he’s a bit more intimidating compared to his brother.
And like I’m sending telepathic messages to him, Dusk, the man not the time of day, locked and loaded with weaponry, turns to me and moves as if he’s going to come to collect me. But I don’t give him the chance. I walk out of the cave past him, then turn. “Well, let’s get on with it, shall we?”
If I have to go out somewhere with him, it should be on my terms, even though we both know it isn’t. Nothing has been on my terms for a while now, not from the moment I met them anyway. So, this feels like a small way I can take back some of my power and remind these three that I’m not going to just lay down and accept this whole “mate” thing, nor the idea that I can never go home.
They all give me a look of surprise, but Phantom’s gaze turns to one of pleasure. Onyx, on the other hand, somehow seems even more pissed off. What is it with this guy?
Dusk just grins. “I’ll show you the way.”
He guides me deeper into the woods and away from the cave. I don’t know where the others are or why I’m being led away, but the air is thick with tension. Whatever bravery I felt a minute ago starts to fade, and my heart races. I’ve felt this way before. During the little bit of time before the light fae attacked the dark fae.
A battle is coming.
When we’ve gone a few hundred yards, he pulls me into a crouch beside him. He leans away from me, and I can almost feel his heart pounding as fast as mine is. I want to ask him what he’s doing, but I don’t want to bring any more trouble down on my head.
I turn to look into the woods where he’s looking. I narrow my eyes, and my stomach suddenly flips. I stand, feeling strange, almost like I’m walking in a dream, because there’s an incredible light. And I’m drawn to it. It’s a glow. A beacon, calling out to me, drawing me in. I edge closer, and now Dusk follows me, his hand on my shoulder.
He glances at me. “Holy shit.”
And I know exactly what he’s saying. The closer I get to it, the brighter the light, the sharper the glow. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s beautiful and mesmerizing.
Dusk stands staring, mouth agape, eyes wide.
“What is it?”
He doesn’t speak. Maybe he doesn’t know either.
And neither of us have time to figure it out, because behind us we hear the sounds of battle, men grunting and the clashing of swords. Dusk picks up the glowing piece--a stone maybe--and we race back to the cave, or near it, where the battle has begun without us.
I follow him because I’m drawn to that glow like a lifeforce. I don’t know what it is, but it’s incredible, and I’m not letting it out of my sight.
Nor do I want to be left alone at night, in the woods, with enemies around me.
