Page 36 of Primal Hunger

“Several,” I huff. “And none of them have ever knocked me unconscious and dragged me through a portal, only to be anasshole once I’m in his world. Then again, none of them have ever taken me captive and dragged me through a portal before.”

If the Grim could show emotions, I’d imagine his face would contort with utter confusion, and I’m not even sure why I’m saying the things I am. Maybe it’s the nerves, all coming out as word vomit at this point.

“Crossing realms knocked you out, not me.” He chuckles once. “You fill me with humor despite your annoyance,Erin. For that reason, you’re still alive.”

I fill him withhumor? I don’t know if we’ve existed on the same planet because I haven’t said anything remotely funny.

In fact, aside from our escapade in the woods, I haven’t said anything but nasty things back to him at all. Maybe he finds anger and irritation amusing.

“Glad I can offer you some entertainment,” I say, dragging my eyes away and glancing at the items on the wall again. “Do you know what all these things are?”

I already know the answer to that question too, but now that I have him talking, I want to keep the conversation flowing. Find out what I can. I’ll get tidbits of information out of him that will help me escape, to be better prepared for what I’ll find outside, but I have to keep up the act.

“No.” He shakes his head, eyes sweeping throughout the room. “I have guesses about many of them, but I’m not certain. No human has survived long enough to tell me.” His lower jaw drops and I think it’s a smile. “I’m always too hungry to let them live.”

“All except me, apparently,” I say dryly.

Flattering. I’ve already outlived all his other victims and there’s no one here that I can brag to about it. Go figure.

Maybe if they’d tried bartering with sex they’d have made it this far. I shake my head, disgusted at the thought.

“Have you ever bothered to ask them?” I say instead. “No, you probably had the cauldron already bubblin’ and you didn’t want to wait.”

He huffs out what might be a laugh. “Care to use your imagination?”

“Well…” I sigh, knowing I have to find something to distract him and fill my time because it might be the only way I stay alive. “Do you want me to tell you what these things are?”

He waits as though contemplating the decision before lowering this chin once in a clearyes.

I’ve gone from searching for the Grim, to being hunted and fucked by him, to now teaching him about things from the human world. Never in a million years would I have predicted this, and no one in a million years would ever believe it.

“All right.” I say, rubbing my hands together. “Where do you want to start?”

Chapter

Thirteen

Syros

Iam not the onlyassholein the room.

At least, not by Erin’s definition. Since she so keenly pointed out the meaning of the word, it seems only fair for me to judge her under the same standards.

I want to eat her.

But something about her keeps stopping me in my tracks, and I don’t know why.

Considering how deprived I’ve been of food for the last six months, I should have killed her the second I caught her in the woods.

I wasn’t lying when I told her she amuses me. There’s just something about her that piques my interest in a way that no other human has, and it’s not just her intoxicating scent.

She alternates between fear and bravado, which may stem from the same source, and yet she has the ability to stare me down like she is utterly unbothered by what she sees.

I am not simply a creature in those moments when she meets my eyes.

I am not a man, either.

Yet there are other moments, there and gone in flashes, where it seems as though she is eager to study me and figure me out.

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