“You are in Mercia. In England,” he added when she still looked lost. “Were you hit in the head?”
She shook it and tried to fight when Fin and Akkar tried to tie her to his horse.
“Stop resisting,” Wolf warned her. “Or you will discover what happens when my patience wears thin.”
She stopped resisting. Clever woman. He would have hated to go after her.
She walked at his side while he trotted slowly to one of the huts.
“I can’t be in Mercia, England, wherever that is. This is New York! This is some kind of sick reenactment thing and you’ve kidnapped me!”
“Call it whatever you wish,” he replied. He looked down at her and lifted his brow. “You will do what I ask or suffer the consequences.”
He almost heard her tight growl. Storms brewed in the ominous depths of her eyes. But she followed him. When he dismounted, she stepped aside just in time to avoid colliding into his body.
“I’m hungry,” he said, untying her from the horse.
“Okay?” she asked, as if she had no idea why he was telling her such a thing.
“Make me—us,” he corrected, looking behind them at the men “—something to eat.”
She laughed, tossing back her head with a dramatic flair. An instant later, she settled her darkening gaze on him. “I don’t know how to cook, and this isn’t my house.”
He tried to ignore the lock of her hair falling over her right eye. “What do you mean you don’t know how to cook? You are well past marriageable age.”
A flash of crimson brushed her cheeks. “Wellpast?”
He snapped his mouth shut, realizing the insult he’d given her. He looked over her shoulder at the other women following. “Do any of you know how to cook?”
They all nodded their heads and stared at him with fear and hatred in their eyes.
He’d have to keep his eyes on them. Men or women, none of them could be trusted. “Feed us,” he ordered.
“What’s to stop us from poisoning you?” Camelee Pendrey threw at him.
“Well, I will be stopping you by keeping you with me.” He flashed a stiff grin at her, and then found Akkar in the sea of faces entering the hut.
“The men need barracks.”
The farmer’s son nodded and ran off.
He took a step into the nearest hut and waited for her to follow. When she finally did, he stared into her eyes. He saw the hint of terror there, the battle she fought with herself to not fall at his feet and weep.
Wolf kept his gaze locked with hers. Or was it she who held the power ofhisgaze?
“Why are you not wed?” he asked while women went to work around her.
“How can this feel so real?” She fell into a chair and closed her eyes.
“It is real,” he assured her. “Are you possessed by a demon?”
She opened her eyes and gave him an impatient look. “No. I’m confused because a little while ago I was in some guy’s office in the city holding a brooch I inherited and then I was here, being captured by you! One second my whole world, my life changed.” She snapped her fingers, which Wolf noticed were each tipped with red paint or dye on her fingernails. “My bag is gone. My phone was in it, and my vape, credit cards. I don’t have any money, so you’re not going to get anything from me. Is that what this is? Are you holding me for ransom?”
“No,” he scoffed. “Is there someone of means who might give up their valuables for you?”
“No.”
She was lying. “Where is your husband? On the field?” he demanded to know.
