Chapter 7

7

Lunabelle

I need to busy my mind. Sitting here thinking is troubling my nerves. When I woke this morning, I smiled as I felt myself wrapped in Kilgore’s strong arms. I cuddled into his tight embrace. Then I breathed in his manly scent and grew instantly hot as the memory of last night flooded in. It took a force of mentally prying myself out of those shameful thoughts to remind myself that I’m being held against my will. I wasn’t cuddling with a man who’ve I’ve chosen to mate with; I was locked under the man who’s holding me prisoner.

But as the minutes ticked by and the seconds dwelled on as he slept, I began studying his handsome features. Watching as his mouth quirked in a smile as he slept. Hearing the soft whisper of my name upon his lips, and then all my strength began to unravel. I started to convince myself that he can’t be that much of a monster. With his size and strength, he could’ve done anything he wanted to my body. He could’ve brutalized me in a vicious way, but he didn’t hurt me.

I started to rationalize his need for company, convincing myself that he must be lonely, being isolated out here, locked away in a cave. Although, his home is quite magnificent. But how sad is it that it’s never been filled with Christmas. It’s never smelled like pine and cookies. Never sparkled with twinkling lights or been filled with joy and laughter.

I think it’s sad that he’s never celebrated the one holiday he and his people protect. As I laid there watching him, I even started coming up with ways I could make this Christmas special for him and show him how merry the holiday truly can be. But then he shifted on the bed, his huge member protruding upward, and my thoughts grew shameful again. I had to hop into a cold shower, trying to rid myself of the forbidden desires. But a cold shower and a reminder of all the reasons he and I could never be together still did nothing to squash the feelings stirring in my belly.

If I don’t do something to get my mind focused on other things, I’m going to go mad. At home, I’d be baking cookies to clear my thoughts.

“I’d like to bake cookies,” I state as he places another huge log on the fire.

“By all means, Little Red. You do not have to ask. This is your home now.”

“This is not my home,” I snap. “I have a home. I have a family. And I’m sure they’re worried sick about me. But you refuse to let me go.” I bet my parents are searching every crevice of the village for me. It fills me with guilt that they’re spending their holiday panicked, not knowing where I could possibly have gone.

“Even if I could let you go, Little Red, you saw for yourself. The snow is impassable. The path won’t be clear until spring, so you may as well come to terms with the fact that you’re stuck with me.

His smirk is angering. “I wouldn’t be stuck with you if you hadn’t kidnapped me in the first place. Do you make a habit out of stealing things that don’t belong to you?”

He shakes his head. “This is the first time I’ve ever wanted something.”

I’m shocked by the sincerity in his comment, trying not to let the flattery cloud my judgement. “But you don’t even know me, Kilgore. I could be a wretch who farts all the time, smells like a hyena with a laugh to match, and be a negative ninny who loves to complain and is miserable to be around.”

The chuckle that rumbles out of him is a serenade to my nerves. I have to bite the side of my cheek to not follow in his amusement. His laughter is highly contagious. His smile a merry sight.

“Well, if you were a stinky hyena with bad gas and a bad attitude”—he comes to stand in front of me—“I’d feed you coal tablets to settle your stomach, do everything in my power to make you laugh. And I’d personally draw your baths and bathe you in flowers multiple times a day.” His voice grows deeper. “Making sure to wash every part of you thoroughly. Scrubbing until you smell as pretty as your pretty face.”

His eyes drop to my mouth, making me suck in a breath as his heated stare burns me head to toe. “And if you were the type to complain all the time, I’d be more than happy to teach you the error of your rudeness and punish the brattiness right out of you.”

Oh Gods! Those tingles are sparking to life, making me break into a sweat as my pulse races and my breathing becomes laborious. The tightness is back in my lower gut, the ache nagging at me from between my legs. Images of him spanking me are flooding in and I can feel myself slipping. My head drawing closer to his. My lips sizzling with anticipation for a kiss.

“Gods, you smell good, my Little Red. You smell like cookies.”

Cookies. Yes. I must make cookies before I make a huge mistake.

“Where do you keep your eggs and butter? And do you have vanilla? Flour? Sugar…”

I start listing off every ingredient and kitchen tool I need, doing everything I can to prevent other words from slipping out.

“Let me show you where you can find everything, my darling elf.”

His mouth is too close, so close I can feel his hot breath. I jerk back, putting a few feet between us, trying to fill my lungs and get my wits about me. “After you.” I point my hand toward the stone hall.

He shakes his head and turns. “This way.”

I honestly cannot believe my eyes when he takes me into a room filled with hens. “You raise your own chickens?” I rush to the coup in awe of the pretty birds.

“Yes. But only for eggs. I do not eat them. They are my pets.”

I’m shocked once again. A big brute like him I would believe to be beastly and bite a chicken’s head off, but he actually has a soft spot for animals.

“How many eggs do you need?”

“A dozen,” I answer, and he quickly grabs a wooden basket and starts collecting eggs, surprising me further when he calls each chicken by its name and thanks it for the egg it’s provided, before giving it a pet and moving to the next. There’s something rather endearing about that. There’s a kindness that lives beneath the surface of his brutish exterior. It makes me think he’d make an amazing father.

Gods, Luna! You’re a lunatic for thinking that a kidnapper would make a great dad. Sheesh!

I shake the thought away and step out of the room, needing a bit of air, needing to reclaim my grip on my sanity.

“If you ever need any vegetables or fruit, the greenhouse is that room.” He points to the room across the hall. “And this way is where I store all the dry goods.”

We enter a huge room carved into the mountain that is stocked full of everything you could imagine. Spices, flour, sugar, grains of all sorts. It’s bigger than our village grocer I shop at back home. Kilgore has things I’ve never even seen before.

“How do you get all this?” I look through all the shelves, thinking of all the things I could make for him. I mean for us .

He grabs a bag of sugar and props it on his shoulder. “Santa comes after Christmas and delivers supplies for the winter.”

I run my fingers across the row of spices, grabbing the cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla.

“So, Santa does come. Does he bring you presents?” He gives each of us elves a present after Christmas. Something we truly want. This year, I asked for the special baking set since my mom would never get it for me. She would never do anything to encourage more baking, that’s for sure.

“Nah. The food is enough of a gift. I don’t need anything else.”

I suppose it is rather generous for him to supply them with all these goods. I’ll be able to bake a million cookies with everything he has. But it still makes me a bit sad that Kilgore isn’t going to get something he truly wants. Not just something he needs.

“If you could have anything, your very own Christmas wish from Santa, what would it be?”

He raises a brow at me. “I think you already know the answer to that question, and Santa is not the one who can give it to me.”

A flush washes over me, and I have to tuck my head to hide my blushing cheeks and the smile tipping up my lips. Yes, I think I’m well aware of what he wants.