Page 26 of Goldie and Her Bears (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 3)

I stared at the tray holding seared fish of some sort, roasted potatoes, and grilled carrots and onions. There was even a slice of bread slathered with thick honey butter.

It all looked so, so good. It would also be a shame to let any of it go to waste. And I was so very hungry.

With little further prompting, other than the urgency of my stomach, I dug in. I was sort of glad none of the men were in the room with me. They had a thing about watching me eat, or so it seemed… especially Jasper. I wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable with it. I supposed I understood where they were coming from, which was understandable. Guys like to watch girls eat. It was a thing. But with the way I was eating this meal? I was making a pig out of myself, sucking and licking up the juices and moaning when the flavor danced along my tongue in a particularly pleasing way.

Everything was better than it looked or smelled. And before I realized it, I was done. My tray of food was cleared.

Minutes later, Kai entered the room again. I kept my mouth closed as he took the tray and then handed it off to someone in the hall who stood out of sight. It wasn’t unreasonable to assume it was either Jasper or Chase, but I had a feeling it was more realistic for the person to be Chase. Jasper struck me as exceptionally protective when it came to Kai having any sort of interaction with me.

When Kai didn’t leave the room again, I started to question what was going on. Then he took a seat in Jasper’s corner.

He sucked in a deep breath. On the exhale, he said, “You’re going to answer some of my questions, and you’re going to be honest about them.”

I arched an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest. “Or what? You’ll drag me through the cabin again?”

I was enjoying the effects of the delicious meal. But it appeared Kai had the nasty habit of wanting to ruin everything that was good for me.

He huffed through his nose as his eyes darkened a shade. He was super easily angered. I was going to have to keep my sarcastic comments to myself if I wanted to make it through this without further injury. I don’t think Kai would normally abuse or physically assault a woman, but with the way he looked at me, he didn’t see a woman.

That realization made my heart sink.

I sighed. “Fine. I’ll answer your questions so long as you aren’t rude about it. What do you want to know?”

“Where did you come from?” he asked.

“Seattle, Washington,” I said. “Why is that important?”

“It just is,” he said. “And I’ll be asking the questions.”

I huffed and rolled my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest. So, he was going to insist on being an ass when talking to me, then. “Fine.”

“Why did you come here,” he asked barely meeting my gaze. But I knew that he was studying me, which made me realize this wasn’t just a game of twenty questions, but an interrogation.

“I already explained that to you. The story isn’t going to change because you believe I’m lying to you. I came in this direction to find my family’s cabin, I followed a map on my phone via GPS coordinates. The cabin was left to me by my parents who died several years ago. How many exactly is none of your business, so even if you do ask, I am not going to tell you because that is private, and you don’t need to know.”

My anger was getting the better of me. He ruined my meal. He seemed hellbent on catching me in some sort of suspicion he had about me. I was certain it didn’t matter what I said. He had made up his mind already about me and there was no changing it.

He could ask for answers, but he wasn’t going to get every detail of my life to uncover whatever it is he thought he was looking for. I would sooner take my chances out in the woods, completely on my own, before I did anything remotely close to that.

“Why didn’t you come before now to search for your family’s cabin?” he asked, changing the direction of his questioning. But just slightly.

“None of your business,” I said and leaned against the wall at the head of Jasper’s bed.

“It is my business,” Kai said. His words came out firm. Almost as though he was daring me to argue the point with him.

“How?” I asked.

“Because you came into my home, unannounced, uninvited, and helped yourself to whatever you could get your hands on before you fell asleep in my bed.” His voice grew louder with each word. “Now you will answer my questions because if you don’t, you’ll have more than a hurt leg to worry about.”

I scoffed. “Now you’re threatening me! Unbelievable!”

“Not a threat. A promise, Witch.”

I let out a sarcastic laugh. “Do Jasper and Chase know what you’re doing?”

“Jasper isn’t here,” Kai said. “Sorry, but your boyfriend isn’t going to be the one to save you now.”

“How nice of you to assume we’re dating,” I snapped. “You seem to have the habit of assuming, which is another sparkling quality to go with your stellar personality.”

---