Page 19 of Dark Captivation

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything.” A womanly voice bubbled as the sound of thighs rubbing together made my ears perk up.

Malek gave my lips one last seductive glance before tilting away from me, spreading his legs and grabbing his cup.

“You know you’re interrupting. That’s why you’re here.” Malek sounded mildly annoyed as he poured more brandy into his glass.

With a mouthful of brandy, he pointed the glass in the woman’s direction, then swallowed. “Sunny, this is my little sister, Ferina.”

A goddess of a demoness rimmed the edge of the picnic blanket, taking a good long, scrutinizing look at me.

“Well, forgive me for wanting to get to know my ‘soon to be sister-in-law’.” Her lips pursed, as she tossed her flowing, golden hair behind her shoulder. She seemed to take offense at Malek’s jab.

At just under six feet tall, her gray skin was a shade or two lighter than Malek’s. Her tiny button nose contrasted her large, crystal blue eyes, making them appear even bigger than they were. Her cheeks were sharp as diamonds. Though her build was muscular, she had a tiny waist, broad shoulders and legs long enough to scale a fence. Her makeup was immaculate with jewelry decorating every inch of her.

She looked as though she were popping in before gracing a runway with her regal and confident presence.

The real showstopper though was her insanely wide hips. I couldn’t stop staring at them. Her baby blue sundress hugged her perfect hourglass figure, its hem flittering like butterfly wings as she stepped onto the blanket.

“Are those black forest ham and goat cheese sandwiches?” She squealed in delight before falling to her knees and tearing into the sandwiches.

“Ferina. We’re in the middle of a date,” Malek snarled, his eyes squinted to slits.

“Then you shouldn’t have ordered my favorite food. I could smell the goat cheese from the palace.” She downed six sandwiches in a single bite. Then, she turned her eyes to the red wine bottle on her right. Sticking her claw into the cap she popped it open and downed the bottle.

“Ferina, slow down. You’ll make Sunny think I’ve been starving you.” Malek said.

“Me? As if you could starve me.” Ferina giggled, wiping a drip of wine from her lip without smudging her red lipstick. “But I wouldn’t want to intrude on your date. Not if it will offend your lady.”

Her head slowly turned as she gave me the puppy dog pout, fluttering lashes and all.

“No, no! Help yourself. You should see what I do to BBQ bacon cheeseburgers that get too close to my mouth.” I showed her my palms. “Also, you didn’t ask, but I absolutely love your outfit.”

“Really?” She gripped her dress’s hem, perusing the silky fabric. “Consider it yours. And if you're into burgers, have you ever had the burger bomb at T.M.I. Spunkies? The ones with the fried onion bits on top.”

“I’d love the dress, but I don’t have the figure for it. And I’ve seen their commercials and always wanted to try it, but my pack was never allowed in human owned franchises.”

She stared at me in stunned silence, wine glass in hand. Malek joined his sister’s with a look of absolute awe on his face.

“Clearly your pack didn’t allow mirrors either.” Malek palmed his forehead dramatically. “My bride is unaware of her own beauty. By the gods! Those foolish he-wolves must be blind to have allowed a woman of your caliber to remain unaware of her own mouth watering physique.”

“Wow, Mally. I didn’t know you were such a sweet talker.” She said.

“You’ve never seen me around my bride.” He replied.

“Anyway, back to the matter at hand.” Ferina daintily set herself on the blanket, delicately folding her legs gracefully to the left.

“I don’t know what hell you were living through before…” She wiped a fake tear from her eye and gave a dramatic shrug, “but now that we’re friends, you won’t have to suffer through another night without a TMI burger. That’s a promise.”

Ferina crossed a hand over her heart like she was making a pledge.

“We’re friends? Just like that?” I asked.

“Darling, of course, we are!” She exclaimed as if the answer were obvious. “Plus, you’re about to be queen. I don’t want you kicking me out of your palace.” She giggled while pouring herself a glass of wine.

Honest and kind, I liked Ferina. She was funny, loved to eat and had a good soul. She was exactly the kind of woman I wanted to be friends with. But being her queen wasn’t in the cards for me. My one and only goal had to be to stop Malek’s war plans, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have a little fun and make a few friends along the way.

The three of us chatted for a while with Ferina dominating the conversation. It was fun getting to know Malek and his sister at the same time. Malek really dropped his guard and showed more vulnerability with his sister here.

At a certain point, Malek and I simply allowed her to speak uninterrupted. Ferina had so many fascinating stories to tell and Malek and I laughed our way through all of them.

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