Chapter 45
Dropping it on my te, I sit back down and cut into it. Blood oozes out as I slice the tender piece.
Popping it into my mouth, I chew slowly and try to swallow, wincing when I do and clutching my throat. I
re at my te, my stomach growling, yet I know it is going to be torture to eat it. Regan also won’t
wait around for me to do so.
However, when I take another bite, Lyon drops his fork and Zeke gives me a strange look while Regan
tilts his head to the side, watching me.
“What? Or have you changed your mind about what I can eat?” I snap at Regan, my voiceing out
hoarse, and my eyes dart to my te. I didn’t add that much, although it is more than what I would
normally eat. There is enough here tost me a couple of days back in the cave if I rationed it, but Lyon
is right. Zeke will probably give me a damn lettuce leaf to eat tomorrow, so I should try to eat what I
can.
“But it’s not cooked, it’s barely even seared?” Lyon says, looking at me appalled, and I stare down at
the te.
“Yeah, I don’t know why they burned it,” I tell him, poking the outside with my knife before staring at the
massacred meat on the tter in the center of the table. It reeks of burned flesh.
“But you’re human?” Regan says.
“Humans eat meat too, that doesn’t mean I’m vegetarian?” His eyebrows raise. Are all the servants on
a vegetarian diet? Come to think of it, I have never seen a servant even eating.
“Apparently not!” He says, sitting back in his chair. Zeke’s brows raise and Lyon crosses his arms
across his chest.
“Go on then?” He urges, nodding toward my te.
Shaking my head, I cut off a piece, trying to chew it as small as possible, and have to reach for my
ss of water. I can feel it scraping down the sides of my throat, my eyes burn at the pain, and my
fingertips prod my neck. Sighing, I am about to give up. It’s not worth the agony it causes every time I
try to swallow.
Using my fork, I try to mash up some potatoes when I hear Lyon’s chair scrape across the floor making
me look at him. He bites the side of his hand.
“What are you doing?” Zeke demands when Lyon holds it over my ss of water. His blood leaks into
the ss, turning it red, and I pull a face.
“She is in pain and my saliva won’t heal the inside of her throat unless I kiss her. Or would you prefer I
did that, Zeke?”
“Let her suffer, maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll starve to death before father returns!”
“Drink it, Zirah,” Regan orders beside him, and Zeke turns his head in his direction.
“Zirah?” Zeke spits at him.
“Yes, it’s her name!” Regan growls and I quickly snatch up the ss, gulping it down if it means the
pain would go. Surprisingly, it doesn’t taste bad. I half expected it to taste as crappy as their
personalities.
“I can think of many others more suited.”
“As can I, for you, want to hear them?” I ask and I almost moan at the pain leaving, his blood making
me feel tingly all of a sudden and I giggle. Lyon snickers.
“I dare you to speak them!” Zeke challenges. My head feels funny, clouded even, and his face morphs
and twists. One minute he looks normal, the next his nose is growing bulbous. I blink at him before
shaking it off when Lyon grips my shoulder, making me look at him.
“It’s just the high from my blood. You’re fine. It will pass in a few minutes.” He says, though his voice
sounds musical when his face also warps and twists.
“I don’t think I like this feeling,” I tell him.
“Most humans like it. Some even be addicted to it.”
“You’re an addiction?” I question. Trying to remember what the word means. Heughs, the sound
echoing around me making me turn my head to figure out where it was echoing from.
“No, our blood is. It’s why Lycans aren’t supposed to give it to other Lycans. Blood sharing can bond
you with them and make them extremely high, in some cases turn them rabid. Humans not so much so
it will just make you high as a kite.”
“Where’s the kite?” I ask, looking for it but not seeing one.
“Just share all our secrets with the damn wench, why don’t you!” Zeke snaps, drawing my attention to
him.
His face swirls, his eyes morphing into one, making him look like a cyclops I saw in a picture book
once. He growls just like the cyclops in the book did.
Regan snorts augh for some reason, and I look across the table at him, stunned by his gorgeous
eyes and his smile. He shakes his head, grabbing his bottle of liquor.
“I might keep her high when she’s with me.” Lyon chuckles and the room begins to settle. My ears no
longer make everything feel hollow, and I can suddenly feel my tongue when I identally bite it. My
sense of smell returns and my stomach gurgles loudly as I shake off the lingering effects his blood has.
“Eat. I want to have an early night. I have a Skype meeting at 8 AM,” Regan states, and I pick up my
fork, suddenly feeling energized.
Cutting off a piece of steak, I pop it into my mouth and chew quickly, swallowing it down and sighing
when I feel no pain. Slicing into the meat, I start devouring my food, suddenly feeling absolutely
ravenous like I haven’t eaten in weeks, the hunger worse than before making me wonder if it is also to
do with his blood.
“She’s really eating raw meat?” I hear Lyon murmur, making me look up.
I raise an eyebrow at him and note both Regan and Zeke are also gaping at me. Making me wonder
what is wrong with them, not that I’m not used to weird looks. Granny and I used to get them all the
time for never cooking our meat.
Granny always said we’ll lose all the nutrients, that it ruins the vor and she is right. I have eaten
cooked food a few times. I tried it out of curiosity. It made me sick and gave me food poisoning the first
time. I’ve tried other things, but to me; they tasted nd. I have built more tolerance for cooked food
since but prefer everything fresh and raw. The only thing we ever cooked was fish, poultry, and eggs
when we could find a tree low enough to get them down.
But that was only after Granny got sick from some eggs we found when I was around seven. She said
they must have been off. She never ate eggs again after that night. In fact, it scared her off from eating
a lot of things besides fruit and wheat unless it was cooked. She was sick with fevers for a week and
could barely move besides throwing up.
I thought she would die, and the other cave people said it served her right for eating everything raw and
told her one day she would kill me. I was too scared to eat after that, but once she was better Granny
insisted I did not change my diet and that things affect her differently since she is getting older. She
said they don’t understand what they don’t know about. I was relieved because while she was sick it
was one of the first times I had eaten cooked food and I ended up right beside her spewing my guts up.
Eating my dinner, I have to fight back emotions thinking of Granny. It’s stupid. I know I’ll see her again
in the next life, but knowing that doesn’t seem to make her loss hurt any less. By the time I am finished,
I just want to go to bed. “She really ate it all?” Lyon whispers, making me look at him.
“Pardon?” I ask him. He shakes his head, giving me a weird look, and I look at Zeke.
“Natural selection at its finest. Maybe I won’t have to identally kill her tomorrow. If we’re lucky, her
weakened immune system will take her out for us.” Zeke chuffs with a smirk.
“Where are you taking her tomorrow?” Lyon asks, looking at his brother.
“Don’t you worry about it, brother? We’ll be fine, she’ll be perfectly safe from any danger with me.” Zeke
says, though by his tone, and the way he speaks, means he promises something else.
“Get your rest, human. You’ll need it,” Zeke states, reaching for the bottle of wine. Regan gets to his
feet, shooting a re at Zeke. I push my chair out to follow him as hees around the table when
Zeke speaks.
“Oh and Zirah, don’t be breaking Rule 5. I’ll be making sure.” Zekeughs and my eyes go back to the
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rules when I gape.
5. Bride must bathe the Kings.