Chapter 81: Bread and Jam, Jam and Bread

Blair sat awkwardly on the edge of the mattress.

Daemus’s bedroom was massive, but it was ridiculously messy. Large, framed posters of professional hockey players plastered the walls, interspersed with dozens of shining gold and silver trophies displayed proudly on floating shelves. Discarded gym bags, empty protein shake bottles, and loose clothing littered the floor.

From the bathroom, the loud sound of running water echoed through the quiet room. He was in the shower.

Daemus hadn’t spoken a single word to her the entire walk here, and Blair had been far too nervous to break the silence.

She sat on the edge of the bed, her face still burning a brilliant, fiery red. Every single time she blinked, the image of his nakedness flashed vividly behind her eyelids.

She couldn’t stop it.

She had seen three beastmen completely naked now. And against her will, her mind was digging down into the rabbit hole of sizes.

They were... so big, Blair thought.

"No, no, no," Blair muttered frantically to herself, slapping her hands over her hot cheeks. "What am I thinking? I can’t be thinking about that. I cannot be thinking about that!"

She stood up from the bed, pacing a quick circle in the small clearing of the messy floor.

She shouldn’t even be in his room. The full moon is in two nights. The rut. Clarice had told her that Daemus would slowly fall into a violent, insatiable state of lust leading up to the full moon.

But I’m not his mate, Blair’s brain argued. I’m just a fake. So maybe the rut thing won’t even apply to me? Maybe it won’t be a problem?

She paused, looking toward the bathroom door.

But what if it is?

She couldn’t risk it. To be safe, she needed to get out of there right now, before he finished his shower.

Blair quietly limped across the room. She slowly wrapped her fingers around the doorknob.

"Where are you going?"

Blair froze.

She slowly turned her head. Daemus was standing in the bathroom doorway, a towel wrapped loosely around his waist, water dripping from his dark blue hair and trailing down his chest. His silver eyes were locked onto her, burning with an intensity she had never seen before.

Blair stepped back until her back hit the door. Her chest heaved with every breath, her heart hammering a frantic rhythm against her ribs.

Daemus closed the distance, standing close to her. He looked down at her, his broad shoulders practically blocking out the rest of the room, but he never actually touched her. Still, Blair could feel the heat radiating from his damp skin.

She kept her gaze firmly fixed on a silver hockey trophy sitting on a nearby shelf. "I—I wasn’t going anywhere," Blair stuttered out, her voice trembling slightly.

Daemus only hummed in response. "You didn’t get to eat anything."

Blair’s eyes darted briefly to his glistening, muscular chest that was right in her face, before quickly snapping back to the trophy. "I’m not hungry," she squeaked.

Immediately on cue, her empty stomach let out a loud, embarrassing growl that echoed in the quiet room.

Daemus smiled, an amused glint returning to his silver eyes. "I guess your body can’t lie."

He gently tipped her chin up with his index finger so she was forced to look at him. His expression softened, the intense, burning look from earlier melting away.

"I hope you don’t think what happened tonight was your fault," Daemus told her softly. "My father and I were bound to knock fists eventually." He let out a quiet chuckle. "He was holding back. I guess I still have a long way to go before I can kill him."

Blair’s eyes widened. What is wrong with these people? she thought wildly.

But then she quickly corrected herself. These are beasts. This is how they operate in the wild. The strong survives. Kill or be killed. Eat or be eaten... kill your father? Huh?

It was all too intense for her brain to process.

Blair finally let out a shaky breath when Daemus stepped away from her, moving across the room to open a small cupboard near a mini-fridge.

"Can you say something?" Daemus asked, glancing back at her over his shoulder. "It’s kind of fucking with me that you aren’t talking to me."

He pulled a bag of sliced bread and a jar of strawberry jam from the cupboard.

"I thought you were upset with me," Blair responded quietly, keeping her arms wrapped tightly around her waist.

Daemus raised a brow, genuinely confused. "Why would I be upset with you?" He set the bread and jam down on his desk. "I know my mom dressed you up like that and sprayed that thing on your neck. I’m not mad at you."

He sat down on the edge of his bed, pulling out a few napkins and laying them flat on the bed. He began spreading the thick, red jam onto the slices of bread. "I owe you a real meal, but this is going to have to be dinner tonight."

Blair looked at the bread and jam. It was exactly what she had eaten almost every single day growing up at the church orphanage. She wasn’t tired of it, really... okay, maybe she was a little tired of it, but she was starving.

She awkwardly hobbled over, sitting as far away from him as physically possible on the edge of the bed. She scurried uncomfortably, adjusting the tight, puffy wool dress as she took the slice of bread Daemus offered her.

Blair took a small, hesitant bite.

Her eyes widened slightly. It was completely different from the cheap, stale provisions at the church. The jam was incredibly sweet and rich, bursting with fresh strawberry flavor, and the bread was impossibly soft and fluffy. It tasted so good.

Daemus smiled, watching her chew. "Is it good?" he asked.

Blair nodded quickly, taking another, much larger bite.

A very long, very awkward silence stretched between them as they sat on opposite ends of the bed, chewing their bread. The only sound in the room was the quiet ticking of a wall clock.

The silence bothered Daemus.

He turned his head to look at Blair. He noticed a small streak of red right near the corner of her mouth.

"There’s jam on your lip," Daemus murmured.

He shifted his weight, closing the distance on the mattress as he moved closer to her. He reached his hand out to wipe it away.

Reacting to his words, Blair quickly ran her tongue across her bottom lip to clean it just as his finger brushed against her mouth.

Her warm, wet tongue swiped across his fingertip.

The contact lasted less than a second, but a jolt of electricity shot straight through the air. Daemus froze, his silver eyes blowing wide.

And immediately, a tent formed beneath Daemus’s towel.