Page 5

"What happens in the cellar?"I asked, dreading the answer.

He looked down at me, something like regret darkening his features."Like Garret said.You hide.We hunt."

As he led me away, I caught Garrett watching us, his expression unreadable.But behind his eyes, something burned… something just as dangerous as the beast he became by day.

And in that moment, I wondered which was more terrifying: being hunted by the monsters these men became, or facing the hunger I'd glimpsed in their human eyes.

CHAPTER4

Ididn't sleep, not really.I lay curled on the too-large cot they gave me, surrounded by musty dirt and stone walls under a ceiling that groaned with every step of something far too heavy.Every time I drifted, I'd wake to another sound… a footfall, a growl, the flap of wings, or the low hiss of something slithering just beyond the trapdoor.

The blanket scratched against my skin.I pulled it tighter anyway, needing the warmth more than I feared what lingered in its ancient fibers.

Morning came with no sunlight, only the cold realization that I was trapped in a house with seven cursed men who wanted my blood, and maybe something more.Their curse was my inheritance, a twisted birthright I never asked for.My fingertips tingled with it, that strange power that had drawn me here, the same power that now kept me alive among predators.

Hours passed in the darkness.How would I know when it was night again?I crept to the door at the end of the stairs.It didn't budge.Not locked, just...heavy.Too heavy for someone like me.The second I pushed, I heard a growl on the other side.

The door lifted effortlessly.Garrett stood on the other side, naked, shoulders tense, and arms crossed over his chest.Did these guys even own clothing?Wait, did townspeople who saw them as dwarves see them naked too?Or did the clothing magically appear too?Scars raked across his bronze skin… claw marks, too large to be human.His dark eyes burned gold in the dim light, animal and watchful.

"Where are you going?"he asked, not harshly, but firm enough to make me pause.

"Out," I said."I don't like cages."

"It's not a cage," he replied."It's protection."

"That's what she said," I muttered, and something dark flickered across his face.

He didn't stop me when I opened the door to the outside, but I felt him watching every step I took into the fog-thick night air.His gaze burned between my shoulder blades like a brand.Actually, I was surprised when my boots hit the detritus as I stepped off the porch.

The forest looked different in the dead of night… colder, hungrier.Trees stretched too tall, branches reaching like gnarled fingers.The ground felt spongy beneath my boots, rich with decay.I half-expected to hear the sounds of forest animals, but there was nothing.No sound.No life.Just quiet… and the distant snap of a twig that didn't come from me.

I turned, scanning the trees.Something was out there, watching.The hair on my arms stood on end.My breath puffed white in the cold air, and I backed toward the cabin slowly.Whatever watched me was hunting me.I felt it in my bones, in the ancient blood that cursed me to this place, to these men.

But it wasn't one of them.Somehow, I knew I was safer with the beast-men than I was outside their cabin.

When I returned to the cabin, the wolf-man was leaning in the doorway, smirking like he'd been waiting for me to come crawling back.His gray eyes cut through me, amused and bitter all at once.Sandy hair fell across his forehead, giving him a boyish look that his sharp smile instantly destroyed.

"Feel better now, forest princess?"His voice dripped with mockery.

"You're a jackass," I snapped.

"Actually, I'm a wolf, remember?Name's Ronan.Glad we're establishing roles," he said, pushing off the frame and stalking past me with the confidence of someone who knew exactly how much he unsettled people.His shoulder brushed mine, accidentally or not, and he flinched away like I'd burned him.

Inside, Kade was sharpening a knife.Not looking at me.Not speaking.But the tension in his body told me everything… He'd been listening.Black hair fell across eyes so dark they swallowed light.His movements were precise, economical, and deadly.The blade caught firelight as it swept across the whetstone.Scrape.Scrape.Scrape.The rhythm of it reminded me of a heartbeat.

"He doesn't like you leaving," The annoying fox-man called from the rafters, lounging like a fox in a sunbeam.Auburn hair glinted copper as he grinned down at me, green eyes dancing with mischief and something darker."None of us do."

"Why?"I asked, spinning to face him."Because I might die?"

"Because you might break us," he answered, voice laced with something I didn't want to name.His fingers drummed against his thigh, restless, as if he longed to touch what he couldn't have.

I couldn't figure these guys out.They needed me, needed my heart to break the curse, but they hadn't killed me.Oh, they easily could.Any one of them could overpower me and in a matter of seconds I'd be the sacrifice they needed.And yet, they protected me from themselves and from the hunters.

The stag-man appeared beside me, silent and calm, and handed me a mug of something hot.Taller than the others, he moved with careful grace, like someone constantly aware of his strength.Deep russet hair fell past his shoulders, and his eyes held knowledge that seemed ancient.

"It helps," he said softly."With the headaches.The curse causes them.I'm Evander.He's Cassian."

I hadn't mentioned my headache to anyone.The throb behind my temples had started the moment I crossed the property line yesterday.I took the mug warily.