Page 51 of Haunted Nightmares
“And getting there?”
I frown. “Getting there?”
“Procreation, love. Keep up.” My mate licks his lips as his fangs elongate. “Bodies flush against each other, writhing and pulsing in ecstasy. Mycockin yourpussywhile I do unspeakable things to every inch of your bronzed flesh?”
My face and neck heat over his choice of words but I nod anyway. “All of it, Wraith. I wantyou,I want our life back. I just?—“
The breath is knocked from my lungs as I go sailing backward, my body pushed by an invisible force that lifts me off the ground and whips me through the air. Then I’m crashing into nothing, my head snapping back on my neck, my back arching from the sudden stop and as my arms and legs are spread like a star again, I realize there are no shadows this time.
My mate is using nothing but his mind and that’s almost scarier than anything else he’s done so far.
“You want me?” Wraith shakes his head and chuckles darkly. “Still love me and dream of that life you had planned?”
“Y-yes,” I stutter out through a clenched jaw because he’s apparently keeping my mouth shut too.
I watch him slowly get to his feet before he begins unbuttoning his shirt. “I’ve always known our love transcended time and space, was stronger and deeper than any to come before or after it but I also believed it made us both oblivious.”
Narrowing my eyes, I ignore the way that insult made me flinch and try to speak, only to confirm my mate is preventing it from happening.
“A bond like ours made us stronger, sure, but it had its negatives as well.” He finishes unbuttoning his shirt as he walks toward me, tugging it out of his slacks before moving to his belt. “For example, you only saw the supposed good in me, the big picture goals I wanted to achieve while ignoringhowI intended to achieve them. You turned a blind eye to all of my shortcomings in the name of said love because that’s all that truly mattered to you.” Wraith tosses his belt as he stops in front of me then looks me dead in the eye. “And I was under the delusion that I’d be able to protect you, tosave youfrom every little thing that posed a threat, simply because I never thought I’d have a bond like ours, and I didn’t want to let you go.”
A few more silent tears roll down my face as I watch the most sardonic grin form on his.
“Fools, the both of us,” Wraith growls. “And that ignorance got you killed.”
I shake my head the best I can, desperate to make him see that’s not what happened, pleading with my eyes for him to hear me out because there’s so much more to it than that, but he doesn’t.
No, my mate glares as he holds me firmly in place and continues taking digs at everything we shared. “The fact that you still want me after all of that, that you still wish to make that future a reality shows how naive you truly are. Even death did not open your eyes to my truth, and that is the most fatal mistake of all.”
Growling against my closed lips, I try like hell to jerk my arms, to kick my legs and free myself so I can knock some sense into him but nothing happens.
Nothing but my beautiful dark king losing his shit completely.
“You still want this?!” Wraith bellows as he rips his shirt off and points to his chest. “The body I once used to love yours isgone and in its place is a rotting corpse! You want to mate me again like this?” He motions to the blackened skin on his face and neck, his chest and arms, my mate’s anger rolling off of him in waves once again. “You wish to bind yourself to the king of the damned, to the mad ruler wreaking his bloody vengeance on a world he once wanted to protect?”
Clenching my jaw tight, I harden my stare and push my voice into his head the best I can, one word that will hopefully be heard.“Yes.”
Wraith looks at me for a long few moments, unblinking, unmoving for what feels like forever before gritting his teeth and spitting out, “So be it.”
In an instant my clothes are gone, the light sundress and flats all but melting from my body, exposing every inch of me to the male I love.
My nipples instantly pebble under his gaze and while my core clenches in response, ready and needy for my mate, this is not how I wanted things to go.
“I can scent you, Zephyr,” Wraith says as he looks me over from head to toe, my skin almost heating in the wake of his gaze. “It is different, yes, but no less enticing. No less…” His eyes lift to my face. “Mine.”
I can feel myself grow wetter at his words, my instincts taking over, the primal urge to be with my fated one putting me in a chokehold but I didn’t want things to be like this. I know Wraith well enough not to expect flowers and candle light but I wanted our first time together after everything we’ve been through to be special in some way, to at least be meaningful outside of reclaiming territory. But I also know this male well enough not to expect anything less than what is happening right now. No matter what I want, he’ll do this on his terms and I’m just going to have to deal with it.
“Hmm.” He hums as his shadows quickly return and wrap around my wrists and ankles, harshly pulling my limbs apart and covering my mouth as I’m lifted off the floor. “Tell me, love, does beingreborncome with any other fun little details I need to be aware of? No more nasty little mark of the Counsel, no more honey and chamomile. What else changed when you were gifted a second chance at life?”
Wraith abruptly cups my pussy as he looks me in the eye, firmly grinding the heel of his hand against my clit as he grins. “This, perhaps? Are you an untouched virgin once again?”
Asshole.
I didn’t plan on keeping that from him and I knew he’d figure it out once I told him everything but again, this is not how I planned on losing my virginity or mating the love of my life, both for the second time. Wraith was part of my plan, sure, but not while he’s all pissed off and feeling unworthy. Because that’s exactly what this is.
My mate feels like he deserves me even less than he did before, and I was stupid for thinking I could convince him otherwise as soon as he believed I was back. Of course his mind was going to immediately go to my death and all the blame and the guilt he has over it, just like he was going to take a hard left toward banging out all of those feelings.
I didn’t plan for this accordingly, and I have no one to blame but myself.
