Chapter Thirteen
“Do you read, Terri?”Azio asked.
I barely heard his quiet words over the pulse thundering in my ears.
“Terri, do you read?” he asked again when I didn’t answer.
“Yes,” I managed. “Why?”
“There are many books in our basement. Maybe you would like to read one when we get home. Cheri told Farco she finds them relaxing.”
One of the other fey snorted, and I saw him grin before he turned his head. Disbelief robbed me of some of my panic. Had Azio just made a joke about me relaxing? Now? Moments after hearing the howl?
I turned my stunned gaze on him. He, however, looked completely serious. And covered in gross bits.
“It was only an idea. Your heart was racing.”
Brownish-red smeared across his cheek, and his shirt was torn.
“You lost some color. Are you feeling faint?”
I slowly nodded but couldn’t manage to close my eyes.
There was a crescent of blood on his shoulder. A bite mark. He’d been bitten. That was why his shirt was torn. Torn while killing infected to keep them from chasing after me.
My heart stuttered a beat. The fey’s immunity to infection was the biggest reason to choose one to father my future children. Humans died when bitten. There was no saving them. No coming back from it. I hoped a half-fey child would be just as immune.
“Thank you,” I rasped.
He nodded. “I will find you a good book. Farco told me which ones to pick.”
That same fey from before made a sound again. Before I could glance his way, another motioned for us.
“We should leave.”
Groth grunted, jumped off the roof, and started to run across the field with the rest of the fey surrounding us. In two blinks, we made it to the trees. I turned my head into Groth’s chest after that and held on for dear life.
It was quiet, though, as we put distance between Warrensburg and us. Breathing got a little easier when we reached another house Azio said was about halfway. Like last time, two went in. Unlike last time, one of the fey carried a body out, and Azio joined the search of the house. It took longer to ensure it was free of infected, but I didn’t mind the extra caution since the sun was still high enough in the sky.
The heat was on inside, and the showers were running when we finally entered. Since Groth and I were clean, we gathered whatever I thought would fit the others. It wasn’t a great selection.
However, I couldn’t say I minded the view once the fey changed. The undersized t-shirts molded to every chiseled muscle they possessed on their upper halves, and the sweats and jogging shorts left little to the imagination downstairs.
While none of them minded my ogling glances, Azio’s ears grew darker each time my gaze swung his way. And boy, did it swing. Unlike that water bottle he had strapped to his inner thigh.
It was profane.
Terrifying.
Faint-worthy for sure.
Why couldn’t I stop staring?
I swallowed hard and forced my gaze away for the dozenth time but only managed a second before I was back looking at it.
It moved.
A twitch, then a stretch, the length crawling down his leg another two inches.