Page 6 of Bound By Blood
"I'm very sorry about this." She threaded her fingers through his. "But I can't have you blood magicking me or anything."
"When I get out of this, do you have any idea what I'm going to do to you?"
"Hopefully, nothing."
He swore again, but he didn't say no. That was probably what he meant, though.
Her stomach fluttered. This was so bad, and it kept getting worse. No one was going to be out this way until morning, and she had just done about half a dozen things that no human should do at any point but especially not at night. The one good thing was that his powers were fairly low right now.
He cleared his throat. "All right. I give up. What's your plan?"
"We're just going to sit here until my friends arrive. Then maybe you'll be reasonable."
"So you aren't going to drag me into the wilds."
"Well, I've been thinking—"
"Seems like a rare thing for you."
She shot him a glare, but she couldn't deny that forethought had not been particularly present in this whole endeavor. "I won't leave you to be eaten or mauled or whatever. So that means you couldn't stay tied up. I am clearly not safe in my house. At least not for tonight. But I don't really have anywhere I could run. Even if I did and even with the head start, I'm not really sure I could outrun you. You have long legs. I think you're probably a fast runner."
"I do not disagree with anything you have said so far."
"Also, sometimes when things spin out of control, I need to sit and just think and figure out a better solution than what I was originally headed toward."
"Fair. I have a solution."
"Oh?"
"Get off me. Untie me. Give me the apparition, and I will leave without doing any harm to you."
"Are you going to kill the dog?"
"It's not a dog!"
"Fine. Are you going to kill it?"
"It isn't alive."
"But it's scared, and killing it wouldn't serve any purpose. You can't do that."
"So your plan is to just sit on me and hold my hands until your friends arrive or something dreadful happens. You realize that you are out in the open at night? Wards won't stop dragons or night eagles. Or gryphons, for that matter. This isn't smart."
"True." She peered up into the sky. "But I don't see or hear anything. Besides, you were here. And you didn't come with protection, so that probably means you knew there wasn't a big risk."
"I didn't plan to be stranded in the open with a human on my back either."
"But you are clearly a somewhat intelligent fae, so you would not have risked it without checking, right?"
More dark mutterings followed.
"Now, as long as we're sitting here, why don't you explain to me just why you can't leave the dog with me?"
"I'd happily leave a dog with you, but that isnota dog."
"Fine. The apparition that looks like a dog, feels like a dog, sounds like a dog, and walks like a dog. And that you're going to kill."
"I'm not—I need to get the energy back, all right? I don't have enough. It's very important. I have nothing against the thing. Why do you even care? Why do you want it?"
