Page 77 of The Wild Man
“My momor.” He swivels his hips and presses against my clit, eliciting a low moan from me. “Are you mine?”
“Yes. Oh God, yes.”
“Tell me, Ever,” he rasps in a low voice. “Tell me you’re mine.”
I tighten my arms around his shoulders and dig my heels into his ass, getting him deeper inside me. “I’m yours, Wild Man.”
“Always and forever,” he adds.
“I love you, Fey.”
His name has barely left my lips when everything goes bad. Wild Man is ripped from my arms and is pulled beneath the water’s surface. I open my mouth and let out a shrill scream.
I startle awake and jolt up in bed, the sound of my piercing scream still bouncing off my eardrums. It sounds so real that I cover my ears, trying to block out the noise.
“Ever.”
I snap my head to the side, wincing when the sudden movement sends a dull ache through my temple.
My best friend sits in a chair pulled close to the bed. Her eyes glisten with tears and her bottom lip trembles.
“Rika?” I ask, my throat dry and scratchy.
She’s off the chair and on the bed on her knees in the next instant. I barely have time to brace before she’s got me wrapped tight in a hug. My own throat constricts as I sling my arms around her.
“You scared the shit out of me, Ever,” she says, sobbing against my neck. “Don’t ever fucking do that again.” She pulls back, furiously wiping at the tears sliding down her cheeks. “Swear it to me.”
I slap away my own tears. “I swear.”
She pulls in a deep breath and blows it out through her mouth on a loud exhale. She swivels and settles her ass next to my hip.
“How are you feeling?”
Truthfully? I feel like my world has been turned upside down and inside out. I feel like I’ll never be able to take in a full breath, nor feel my heart beat properly again. A part of me is missing, a part I’ll never get back.
But I don’t tell Rika that. She’ll think I’m crazy just like my dad and brothers do. There’s no way I can keep my feelings for Wild Man from her, but I need to tell her in a way she’ll hopefully understand.
“I’m okay.”
Rika eyes me like she knows I’m lying. We’ve known each other long enough for her to recognize all of my expressions.
“How long have you been here?”
I still can’t believe Dad and my brothers drugged me. They’re ruthless and protective to a fault, but I would have never thought they would be capable of something so drastic. I feel betrayed by my own flesh and blood.
“A couple of hours,” Rika responds. “I would have been here sooner, but the Horde wouldn’t let me. Jesus, Ever.” Her eyes close and her lips form a straight line, like she’s trying to hold back more tears. “The last six weeks have been hell.” She opens her lids. “We didn’t know if you were alive or dead.” Her voice cracks on the last word.
I reach over and grab her hand, bring it to my blanket clad lap. “I’m so sorry,” I say with sincerity.
I would have been freaking the hell out if the roles were reversed.
“Tell me what happened,” she demands.
I don’t want to open my mouth and let the words out. It’s going to break me to talk about my time spent with Wild Man. I still don’t know if he’s alive or dead and not knowing is killing me.
Even so, I tell Rika everything. From the fear I felt at the beginning. The anger toward Wild Man for holding me captive. The pain of the rapes. The terror when he insisted I was his and his insane need to get me pregnant. How he kept me tied to a rope and forced me to feed from his hand. The story of his parents and their skulls he keeps by his bed. The snake bite and me caring for him.
Her brows rise when I tell her I began to enjoy his touch and even initiated it. I watch the disbelief on her face when I tell her that I fell in love with the wild man in the forest.