What the hell was he doing? His instinctive terror of werewolves left his body apparently when Declan kissed him.
Declan was within biting distance of his neck, he should be more worried about getting his throat ripped out, yet here he was fighting the urge to tip his neck to the side to bare himself to Declan.
Declan stepped away quickly, turning away from Faun. "Dinner will be brought to you, please eat." He said stiffly, his words coming out formal and distant.
Faun leaned breathlessly against the headboard, staring up at Declan in disbelief.
Declan didn't turn back to look at him though, his dark haired mate strode out of the room instead, much faster than he had come in.
Faun went cold after the door clicked shut, noticing for the first time that although Declan was gone, his scent was still heavy in his nose.
He didn't need to glance down to tell, Declan had marked him with his scent. He wished he hated it.
Faun slid lower on the bed, resting on a pile of pillows, he felt drained.
His exhaustion wasn't physical considering that he had spent the entire day sleeping, he was mentally and emotionally drained.
He loved Declan so much that them not being on good terms sucked the life out of him.
Things were already complicated when he thought that Declan was human. Now that Declan had turned out to be a werewolf, it worsened.
Faun wanted to be with Declan just as much as he wanted nothing to do with him.
He made no move when the door opened, instinctively knowing that it wasn't Declan.
It was the werewolves who had come for him back in the cottage, they brought a large tray of food with them.
For some reason, he could now better control his terror. Maybe he was adapting to being around werewolves all the time, or maybe he felt bolder because of Declan's scent on him.
"H-Hi." One of the werewolves said nervously.
He was tall and muscular with tousled, dark brown hair and earnest light brown eyes. He was still dressed in the black, military looking clothes that he had on in the cottage.
Faun made no sound, watching him with slanted green eyes.
The other werewolf stayed back, he leaned against the door and watched his partner with hooded eyes.
"I um… I wanted to apologise about what happened earlier." The dark haired werewolf muttered nervously, scratching his hair.
He kept a reasonable distance away from Faun which was just fine with him.
"I'm Ash by the way and I'm really sorry for pulling your hair." He apologised contritely.
Faun watched him quietly still but the wariness in his eyes was gone, a little spark of curiosity lighting up his soft green irises.
"That's Cade over there." He forged right on, indicating the other werewolf who was standing quietly behind him. "We're Declan's personal bodyguards."
Faun said nothing but managed a little nod; honestly, they had been nicer to him than most werewolves or humans would have been.
This seemed to work for Ash because he beamed, his chest puffing out in relief. "I'm glad we're cool, here, I brought your dinner." He started chatting, bringing the tray closer to Faun.
Faun surprised himself by not flinching, he doubted he would eat the food though, it could be drugged again.
Almost like Ash could read his mind, he immediately tried a bit of the fancy soup that had been brought for him. "It's clean, you should eat, you'll need your strength."
Faun looked away from Ash's eyes, it felt like he could see right through him.
"Also you can use this phone to call either one of us if you need something, we'll get it for you."
Faun's eyes brightened at this, a thought sparking in his mind. "Thanks." He muttered stiffly.
Declan's guards didn't need to be nice to him but they still were.
"Um?" He raised his small voice slightly when Ash made a move to leave.
"Yeah?" Ash urged him, pleased at how well their interaction was going.
"I need to use the restroom." He mumbled, glancing down even as his cheeks flushed a dark red from embarrassment.
He truly did need to pee but he also wanted to get a look around the room, he knew he couldn't do that if Declan was around.
Ash exchanged a meaningful look with Cade over his shoulder before turning back to Faun. "Sure, just wait a moment, let's go grab the keys." He agreed airily like they weren't talking about the keys to his handcuffs.
Ash dragged Cade out with him when it seemed like the other werewolf would rather stay and just stare at Faun from the other side of the room.
He let out a breath, his situation was still no better but Ash was right, he had to bide his time. To do that he had to be strong enough so that he could take advantage of whatever opportunity he got to run away.
He wondered what Declan's response would be, fortunately, he wasn't desperate but it would sting if Declan turned down his request.
He hated being chained to Declan's bed like he was property to be owned, a glorified pet.
-*-
Declan's expression was particularly dark when he sat down to dinner with the rest of his family, and Lola.
He had planned to simply scent Faun and leave but he had gotten distracted by those gorgeous eyes and pretty pale skin.
He also had no reason to be this bad tempered but there was no fixing his mood, even Gigi knew to leave him well alone.
So it was death glares he shot at his two bodyguards when they came looking for him.
Ash gulped when Declan excused himself from the table to come over to them. "Sure we should have done this?"
Cade was thinking along the same lines too, getting on Declan's bad side was inadvisable.
"What?" He half growled, staring them down.
"Ah, the hybrid… Faun? Said he needed the restroom so we came to get the key." Ash spoke quickly before his guts failed him.
Declan visibly calmed down, and without saying a word, he reached into the pockets of his fitted pants and pulled out a key which he handed to them.
"Damn." Cade muttered under his breath. "I thought we were about to get our asses handed to us."