Page 20 of The Howling
“Where am I?” I look around the room.
“You don’t remember?”
I shake my head, and when it spins like a top, I wish I hadn’t and make a note not to do it again.
“This is my ancestral home,” Reavely says.
Now my vision is clear and my head is screwed on, I see he’s fully dressed, which is somewhat of a surprise, given so far allI’ve ever seen him in is a pair of trousers. Seeing him in a formal shirt and a dark red silk waistcoat is somewhat disconcerting.
Still, it sort of suits him, even if his dark fur tumbles out at the neck and the buttons on the waistcoat strain to contain his broad chest.
Reavely looks down at himself.
“It’s been some time since I wore these.”
“I think you might have got bigger,” I respond before I can stop myself.
“Entirely possible. I have not been here since I was little more than a pup.” He looks around the room and I follow his gaze.
I’m not sure where the night has gone, but it’s daylight now, and I can see rolling hills through the windows, the green fields bright in a spring sunlight. I can take in the fact the room has a dual aspect, along with a big carved fireplace in which a small fire burns merrily.
It makes me think of Lilburn. I wonder if she survived whatever happened. Tears prick at my eyes. I don’t want her to be hurt.
“What’s wrong?” Reavely studies me, those expressive eyebrows a picture of worry.
“Lilburn…she worked with me in the dungeons…is she okay?”
“Lilburn? The Hedley Kow?” he queries. “It would take much to damage a Hedley Kow.”
“So, you didn’t…” I swallow hard. “…hurt her?”
Reavely looks shifty.
“I didn’t check. But Hedley Kows are tricky. She’ll be fine.”
I appreciate that may well be the case, but his answer worries me even more.
“There were others in the fortress. Gloriana and my friend Kaitlyn…”
“I didn’t burn the place down,” Reavely snaps. “I should have.” He glares at me with his flame-filled eyes.
“Because you want their souls?”
With a growl, he rises from the bed. Even in this form and clothed, he is absolutely enormous, six and a half feet of pure muscle. The sleeves of his shirt rolled back, revealing his arms corded with veins. There is no denying he is one powerful monster.
A monster who either doesn’t know what he did, or he doesn’t care.
“You are mine now,” he growls. “No one will harm you, and no one will come for you.”
“And what if I don’t want to be yours?”
Reavely doesn’t reply. Instead he gazes at me like that’s a question which has no meaning.
I’ve stopped being the possession of one monster, only to end up clutched in the claws of another.
REAVELY
She doesn’t trust me.
