Maybe Styx had known she wouldn’t try to leave. Maybe he’d known, even if there hadn’t been a beast intent on tearing her apart, that she didn’t know how in the hell to get down from this mountain.
Killing herself wasn’t an option, and she wasn’t even contemplating that. This set-up Styx had wasn’t horrible—isolated, lonely, yes, but he hadn’t forced himself upon her, hadn’t raped her, and she started to feel something stronger. She couldn’t understand it, didn’t even know if she wanted to. It scared her, confused her, but most of all frustrated her. Telling him she wasn’t a prisoner and would never be only had him nodding in agreement. Was he so blind and consumed with this whole “mating” thing he kept talking about that he didn’t see that keeping her here, knowing she couldn’t leave, was the same thing as having her behind bars or chained up?
She let her gaze linger over the bulging muscles of his back, at the definition, the pronounced strength. Styx should frighten her, realistically, because she knew how much stronger he was. There was no doubt he could crush her and not even think twice about it. But he’d cared for her, made sure she was healed. He’d tended to the wound at her side, and after the encounter with the winged beast, he’d washed her feet and spread this balm on her soles. And then he’d held her each and every night, wrapping his big body around hers and making her feel safe when maybe she shouldn’t, when maybe she should have fought harder.
How could she hate someone, even if he kept her here, when he’d only shown her compassion?
He stood and faced her, holding a stone platter with strips of meat on it. Her stomach growled at the sight, even if she’d seen the bizarre looking creature he’d dressed and cooked and was now serving her.
“Eat, mate,” he said in his gruff, very male voice. He came closer to her and sat down beside her, his focus trained on her, always on her.
There was a large bandage on his chest, right over the wounds. She’d been the one to clean his flesh and apply paste on the gouges. The paste had been what he’d given her, telling her it was formulated from the herbs of the forest, specializing in prompt healing. Where Audrey came from, there were herbs that had medicinal purposes, but nothing that would speed recovery.
Once again, this made her realize she was out of her element and had her feeling like she was in another world altogether.
Looking at his face for a second and then lowering her gaze back to his chest, she lifted her hand and touched the warm, firm flesh on his chest, right beside the bandage. She saw and felt him tense and stole another glance at his face. His gaze was still trained right on her, his eyes seeming hard, his body controlled.
“I just want to make sure it’s healing well,” she whispered. When she had the bandage pulled away, shock filled her. The wounds on his chest from the fight with that winged creature were not only closed, but also seeming completely healed, and in only a few short days.
“How is that possible?” she found herself saying more to herself than him.
This just solidified even more that he was not human. The wounds, which were only a few days old, should have still been raw, fresh. Or at least they should have been if he’d been of her species.
And he’s not of your species, no matter how much he resembles it.
“My kind heals faster than yours.”
She looked into his face. “You let me clean and dress it even though you knew it would be healed so quickly?”
The corner of his mouth tilted. “I liked having my female tend to me.”
Her heart started pounding a little harder at his words and the possessiveness that filled his voice.
He lifted the plate of meat to her again. “Eat,” he said a little gentler than normal, and she felt herself relaxing, not because she was nervous around him, but because she was perpetually on edge with desire.
Taking a deep breath, she grabbed one of the cooked pieces of meat, the strip warm and smelling surprisingly good.
“You need to gain more weight,” Styx said, but he didn’t make it seem like it was an accusation, or even disgust, but more filled with worry and genuine sincerity.
She started eating the meat, and for a few seconds Styx just watched her, as if he wanted to make sure she was actually eating. He did this a lot, making sure she was fed before him. Only when he was obviously content with how much she’d consumed did he start eating. They sat in silence as they finished off the strips of meat. He got them something to drink, and the liquid was warm and tasted familiar, like cinnamon and honey.
When she was finished with her drink and eating, she leaned back against the wall and watched as Styx devoured the rest of the meat. He was a huge man, and the amount of food he consumed on a daily basis was as impressive as it was shocking.
“Will you ever let me leave this cave?” The truth was she had no desire to leave the cave, not now that she knew the kind of insane creatures lurking out there. But realistically she couldn’t stay in this mountain forever.
Styx looked at her, and for long seconds he didn’t speak. Finally he moved over to the wall a few feet from her and leaned against it. The longer he stayed silent, the more the air seemed to thicken. “Is leaving something you’d truly want to do?”
She looked at the ground and thought about what he said. “There’s danger no matter where you are, but keeping me ‘locked’ in here isn’t right.” She glanced at him again. “Even if I agreed to stay and not fight you, that I’ll stay here and be with you in the way you want…” She stopped speaking and thought about that. Instantly her body heated. She saw the way Styx flared his nostrils, and she knew he smelled her lust. Clearing her throat, she steeled herself and spoke again. “Even if I agreed to all that, you can’t expect me to stay here. I need to be able to fight, to live. I need to be a partner, like you claim I am, and not a prisoner.”
He didn’t speak for long seconds again, but then she heard him exhale. “You’re right.”
To be honest, she was surprised he’d agreed with her. Audrey could see him fighting her on this, on demanding she was his, and he’d do with her as he pleased, even keeping her in this cave.
“If you want to explore, you do so with me. You wouldn’t last out there alone.”
She took no offense to that, because after seeing that one creature coming at her she knew she wouldn’t last out there by herself. Audrey wasn’t a fighter, and never had been. She’d lived a peaceful, farming life, had never wanted anything more than to be comfortable and keep her family fed. But they were gone now, and as much grief as she felt for that, as much sorrow that filled her, Audrey had stayed strong and didn’t let it consume her. Her mother and brother wouldn’t have wanted that.
Besides, she’d done so much crying during her trip to the auctions that she didn’t know if she had more tears to shed.
“Okay,” she finally said, feeling trepidation, but also excitement filling her that they’d at least come to this compromise. The thing was, Audrey didn’t think about herself as a captive, not really, and not since Styx had saved her from that creature. But she also knew she couldn’t just be here and waste away.
“You will stay here with me without any fighting?” he asked, leaning in an inch closer. “You want to be my mate?”