He stared with open confusion. “What do you mean you don’t eat meat?”
“Just what I said. I don’t eat it.”
“Everyone eats meat.”
It was my turn to scoff. “Perhaps on this side of the world. But I don’t. Nor do I eat fish. It is not our way.”
“How do you live then?” He seemed completely perplexed.
I laughed. “There are other things to eat in the world besides meat.”
“Like what?”
“Bread, cheese, vegetables.”
He curled his lip up into a snarl, revealing those awfully sharp fangs. “You can’t live on that.”
“Obviously, I can live on that.” I gestured toward myself, the fur I’d been wearing over my shoulder slipping to my waist. “I’m sitting here, quite alive.”
His gaze dipped to my body. I was aware that I had a robust figure which attracted males. While my sisters were willowy and elegant, I’d been built differently. It was part of my allure as a syrenskyn. Another gift from the gods which only attracted the wrong sort of attention. Like now.
“You look like you eat meat,” he said.
Rolling my eyes, I snapped, “Don’t be vulgar.” Refusing to let fear take hold, I set the sliced venison before the wolf who instantly ate my portion. I stood, pulling the fur with me and wrapping it around myself. “So, am I a prisoner now?”
He frowned. “What would I do with you?” Then he ate the giant piece of meat still in his hand. I couldn’t help but notice his forked tongue when he licked the juice from his lips. He was more of a monster than any creature I’d met in my travels and my time hiding away in the Borderlands.
“You’re free to go.” He gestured toward the woods.
So, he didn’t have nefarious plans for me after all. That was good. I looked off into the cold night, not relishing leaving the warmth of this fire, even if I had to share it with this ornery beast fae.
My relief vanished when he asked, “What were you running from?” He shifted off the stump and knelt with one knee beside the fire and sliced off more meat, sliding his golden gaze to mine. “Or should I saywhowere you running from?”
It was useless to pretend he hadn’t figured me out. He may look like a beast, but he was cunning enough.
“Someone I didn’t want to find me,” I answered.
He chuckled. “I gathered that much, female.”
Wolf chewed the last of the meat and stood at my side facing his master. The beast fae kept his focus on me.
“You stole something?”
“No,” I snapped.
“Killed someone?”
“No!” I cried louder.
“Then what did you do?”
“I ran away from home. That is all.”
He arched a brow at me, taking his seat again and continuing to eat. “Do you mean to tell me that skald fae came chasing you all the way from Morodon through the Borderlands and into Meerland, deep, dark fae territory?” He shook his head, disbelieving.
“They weren’t from Morodon. They were from somewhere else.” I didn’t want to confess too much to him. What if he was some sort of mercenary and decided to turn me in for ransom?
“Why are you so important?” he asked, his deep voice a silky rumble. It was a disturbingly lovely sound. He was trying to coax me into telling him the truth with a gentler tone.
