Tired.
Worn out.
Had she looked like this before Kellan had taken her? She couldn’t remember. It felt like he’d taken her a lifetime ago. She knew it had only been days, or maybe weeks. It wasn’t really clear. He’d drugged her for a little while, at least until she’d figured out to stop taking the food that he had offered her. Now she looked sickly, she thought, and a little too thin.
What would have happened to her if Declan hadn’t come to the rescue?
The top of the dresser had pictures of Declan and his friends and family members. It looked like he lived a happy life. His brothers were handsome, like he was, but they weren’t identical. Their mom was pretty, too. She always wore that same necklace, but her hairstyle tended to change from picture to picture. Sometimes it was down, sometimes it was blonde, and sometimes she had a little streak of color in it.
What was it like to have a family?
That was something she’d wondered about before. Ever since her parents died, she was alone, but if Zoa was being honest, she knew her loneliness and isolation had started long before that. Her parents had loved her, she knew, but they’d also been very busy and preoccupied with work.
If they hadn’t been so busy, would she have chosen a different career path?
Would they have spent more time together?
Maybe they would have gone on trips together, rather than separately. Maybe they wouldn’t have gone away without her. Hell, maybe they wouldn’t have died.
“Look at me now,” Zoa said to herself.
She was 28, she was in a giant treehouse with a man who could turn into a dragon, and she was wearing pink fluffy unicorn pajamas. It was safe to say that life had turned out to be just a little bit weird. Zoa sighed. She suddenly felt very, very tired.
Declan was downstairs, she knew. He was probably waiting for her. Maybe he’d want to talk to her, or perhaps he’d want to cook her dinner. She was a little hungry, she knew, and he could probably cook. He lived way out in the middle of nowhere. They’d had to fly to get here. Unless he was the type of person who liked to fly around for every meal, he probably cooked at home.
She should go down and talk to him. That would be the normal, rational thing to do. She could thank him for helping her, and together, they could come up with a plan. What was she supposed to do next? She could exactly file police charges against someone like Kellan, could she? She was smart enough to know that guys like Kellan didn’t take kindly to being reported.
Besides, she didn’t have any proof as to what had happened to her.
Kellan might have hurt her, but Declan had healed her.
She looked at the bed again, thinking about how soft it looked. Where was she going to sleep while she was here? How long was Declan going to let her stay? Her anxiety threatened to wash over her and make it difficult to breathe, so she had to get ahead of it. Instead of worrying about what she was supposed to do, Zoa tried to focus on doing what she wanted to do.
“Get in the bed,” she whispered to herself.
That was what she wanted. That was something tangible, something real, and something simple that she could focus on. She couldn’t make the pain go away. She couldn’t get herself a house or a real job or real friends right now. She didn’t have any money or anywhere she could go.
She could get into the bed, though.
She could handle that.
She climbed up onto the big bed and wiggled to the center of it. Then she leaned back on the pillows. Oh, they were so soft. She stayed right on top of the blankets. She didn’t want to get under them. If she climbed under the blankets, it would be admitting that she wanted to go to sleep. As it was, she could simply fall asleep on the bed. That wouldn’t be nearly as big of a deal.
She wasn’t going to bed, though. Nope. Not at all. She was just going to curl up on the pillow, close her eyes, and rest for a few minutes. She thought about how the pillow felt and how soft the bed was. She thought about how nice everything smelled.
It smelled like Declan, and Zoa knew that she was safe.
WHEN SHE WOKE UP, IT was dark outside. The windows that lined the treehouse walls had been filled with light when she fell asleep, but now they were dark. Zoa sat up and stretched as she glanced at the windows.
How long had she been asleep for? Had Declan tried to wake her? She was a little embarrassed that she’d just straight-up gone to sleep, but nothing could be done about that right now. She hopped out of bed and went to the nearest window. She placed her hand on it and looked outside.
The stars were out, and the moon was bright. It really was a beautiful night. There was a balcony that lined the exterior of the second floor, and she was tempted to walk outside. She didn’t, though. She would play it safe and be careful, at least for now. She could explore another time.
Zoa went to the ladder that led downstairs and carefully started climbing down. When she reached the bottom rung, she hopped off and turned around to see three sets of eyes blinking at her, watching her.
“Um, hello,” she said.
Declan was in the middle. The other two men with him must have been his brothers. They looked taller than they had in their pictures, but no less handsome.