Page 31 of Eldritch (The Eating Woods #2)

He groaned and sucked at my flesh with the gratitude of a famished man splitting the soft and swollen seam of a ripe peach.

As if he’d waited too long for this moment.

Not hurried or rushed, but savoring the taste as he’d promised.

Tongue, lips and breath, he left no part of me untouched as he stitched himself into my skin.

Quiet moans interrupted each gasp of breath that escaped me. A flush of heat burned beneath my skin, my body desperate, frantic with need. Unraveling with every masterful sweep of his tongue.

Gods, please don’t stop.

I wanted him to feast on me until I was raw and aching.

His fingers dug into my thighs as he held me apart and I turned my head, noticing the rabbit still lay twitching on the floor.

An unsettling dread swept through me, as the poor creature stared back with those black, bottomless eyes.

Then it stilled.

A gut-wrenching scream ripped through the cabin, and I snapped my gaze toward Aleysia’s room. With only a glance at Zevander, I scrambled off the table, yanked up my trousers, and raced toward the door. Before I could reach the key hidden atop the frame, Zevander grabbed my arm.

“I should go first. She might not be the same sister you remember.”

I shook my arm free of his grasp. “I understand your concern, but she’s never seen you in her life. And you don’t exactly look all that friendly. If she’s awake, I want her to see me first.”

Lips pressed to a hard line, he let out a sharp exhale through his nose. “Fine. I’m going to stay right here just in case.”

Another scream bled through the door and I twisted around on tiptoes, frantically patting the top of the frame for the key.

Zevander snatched it first, handing it off to me, his brows tight with concern.

Scream after horrific scream rattled my muscles, as I slipped the key into the lock with shaky hands and threw the door open.

Inside, my sister was sitting up in bed. She didn’t appear distressed, as she slowly trailed her gaze over the room, her wrists still secured at each side of her.

When her attention finally landed on me, her lips drew into an uncertain smile. “Maevyth?”

Tears filled my eyes, blurring her form. “Aleysia.”

The smile faded as she seemed to study me. “Your eyes…they’re silver.” Her gaze lifted and focused on a spot just behind me—Zevander, I presumed—and she jerked against her binds as if startled.

“He’s a friend,” I assured, glancing back at him. Thankfully he’d washed the blood off his face earlier, or I suspected her heart would’ve likely faltered at the sight of him.

Aleysia’s eyes widened, and she kicked herself back toward the headboard, leaning as if searching past me. “Is she here, too? The Crone Witch?”

Her reaction stirred my suspicions that Elowen may have been ill-intended when she’d thrown her into that pantry.

“No. She’s not here.” Heart pounding, I crossed the room with slow and careful steps, despite every muscle urging me to run to her.

To wrap my arms around her and squeeze until her bones popped.

To cut loose the squeal of delight caught in my throat, because I’d never been so happy in my life to see those bright blue eyes again.

But the surge of elation bubbling inside of me, yearning to be set free, remained tempered by my caution.

Though, at a glance, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with her. In fact, she seemed quite calm, given the circumstances.

She tugged at her binds, her brows pinched to a frown as she stared down on them. “What is this?”

“A precaution.” I immediately went to work on the knot in her bind, while Zevander worked on the other.

Wariness shadowed her eyes as she watched him the whole time. Once the binds were loose, I settled on the edge of the bed. “Are you okay? Are you feeling well?”

Her brows knitted together. “You’re asking if I’m one of those things?” A quiver of fear clung to her voice.

If she was, I doubted she’d have had the mental wherewithal to tell me. “I’m asking if you’re okay, and if you need anything.”

“Food. I’m starving.”

I nodded, more tears welling in my eyes as the initial shock withered and reality sank into me. “You’re okay, then.” Urgency took over me, and I threw my arms around her, trembling as my emotions swallowed me. At first, she didn’t hug me, but then I felt her arms wrap around me.

“Where did you go?” she whispered.

The question made me smile. “You wouldn’t believe me, if I told you.” I pulled away and held her hand in mine. “We’ll catch up, but first, let me get you something to eat.”

“Do we happen to have any meat?”

While the world had certainly changed since I last saw my sister, the question still struck me as odd, given that Aleysia had never had a strong affinity for meat.

I peered past Zevander, who’d returned to the doorway, toward where the rabbit lay in the other room.

“It so happens we do.” Desperate to gather my thoughts, I pushed up from the bed, my heart ready to pound right through my chest. “I’ll be right back.

” Allowing a smile, I followed Zevander out of the room, but the moment I’d shut her inside, my smile faded.

Zevander tipped his head. “Are you all right?” he asked in a low voice.

Nodding, I let out a long exhale and crossed to the small kitchen, grabbing one of the jars of carrots I’d been snacking from earlier.

An icy branching cold moved through my chest, like a tight fist clamping over my lungs. It tingled over my face and down my arms. My balance faltered, and the shattering of glass alerted me to the jar I’d dropped.

“Maevyth?”

Zevander’s voice was a distant sound to the hiss and crackling in my ears. Before I recognized what was happening, arms wrapped around me, pressing me close, as if he knew precisely what I needed right then.

His palm cupped the back of my neck, the other held me to him. “Breathe,” he commanded in a hushed voice.

Eyes closed, I nodded and inhaled deeply through my nose, my pulse throbbing in my ears. Seconds ticked off before it gradually faded.

He stepped back and tipped his head, guiding my eyes to his. “Are you all right?”

I nodded again, breathing through the lingering tremors. “How did you know?”

“Your face turned ghostly white. You looked like you were on the verge of collapsing.”

“But you …. You knew to grip the back of my neck.”

Zevander shrugged. “It just felt like a natural reaction.”

“I’ve not had one of my fits in years. Probably all the fuss over Aleysia and what this will mean.”

“One worry at a time.” He stroked a hand down my hair and kissed my forehead. “I’ll take care of the rabbit.” As he strode toward the animal, I couldn’t help but voice my thoughts.

“Zevander, do you think it was any coincidence that the moment that rabbit died, she awakened?”

“Had you asked me a week ago, I might’ve said it was a stretch.

Now? I don’t know.” He swiped up the animal and grabbed one of the squares of burlap he’d brought in from the stable a few days ago, when he’d scrounged a squirrel from the tree line.

He sat in the chair beside the table with his back to me, likely as a courtesy, since I’d told him I couldn’t watch.

I cleaned up the broken glass, and as I filled a pot with water, carrots and seasonings, I tried my best to ignore the tearing and squelching. By the time I put the pot on the flame, he’d finished skinning the poor creature, and he slipped it in with the carrots and seasoning.

While the stew simmered, I snuck back into Aleysia’s room, to find her sitting on the edge of the bed with her back to me.

“I can hear them out there. Those things.” Her body shuddered, and I tiptoed around the bed, taking a seat next to her.

“Terrifying creatures.” She rocked back and forth where she sat, a hollow dread blooming in her eyes as she released a quiet whimper. “Have you seen what they can do?”

“Yes. Uncle Felix tried to attack me. He was one of them.”

She snapped her head toward me. “Uncle Felix?” Movement caught my eye, and I looked down to see her tapping each of her fingers to her thumbs. Over and over again, as if it were some nervous gesture she’d newly acquired. “How did you get away?”

“I have so much to tell you. And I’m not sure right now is the time. But I will, I promise. I’ll tell you everything.”

“When you went through that archway, and you didn’t come back…

I thought …” Her eyes held a high shine, and she tipped her head back.

“I knew at that moment that I was completely alone in the world. I felt it somewhere inside of me. This dark emptiness that crawled into my chest.” She stared off, as if lost in a trance.

“If not for Moros, I doubt I’d have made it out of those woods alive. ”

“Moros helped you out of the woods.” My flat tone mirrored my refusal to believe her words.

The last time I’d seen Moros, he’d been swallowed by the same creature that’d flayed Uncle Riftyn and had morphed into a grotesque version of himself.

Surely, she must’ve been delusional that night.

It was possible. She’d suffered trauma, had lost her pregnancy, and had been banished to the terrifying woods all in one sitting.

But curiosity insisted I continued questioning her. “And you felt safe with him?”

“Yes. He told me not to worry. That he would find you and bring you back to me.” She turned to me, eyes brimming with a strange wonderment. “And now you’re here.”

“Tell me what happened.”