Page 65 of Haunted Nightmares
I found it adorable back then that her innocence was such that she’d never had the need to perfect the skill, and I thoroughly enjoyed drawing the truth from her when Zephyr would try to lie to me.
Now… in this moment, at this time in our rather fucked up story, the fact that my mate still believes she can or needs to lie to me is irritating, especially when I can scent her truth as she wriggles beneath me.
And I’m bloody pissed off that I’ve abandoned my plan and overall pissy mood just to prove her wrong then mate her in the process.
“Zephyr,” I tisk as I lift my head and meet her narrowed eyes. With a satisfied smirk, I scan her face, take in her unmatched beauty, squeezing my knees together on either side of her legs. “If you’re going to lie to me about how badly you want me inside that dripping wet cunt of yours, try masking the scent first.”
She sucks in a sharp breath as her thighs rub together, causing friction at the apex of her deceit. “It’s the bond.”
“Is it now?”
My mate nods, clenching her jaw as she does it again.
“So your reaction, yourdesireis caused by the simple fact that you and I are fated to be together? Not because you’d happily impale yourself on my cock then ride my hips until you saw stars?”
“Right,” Zephyr pants, her pupils dilated so fully they nearly take up the amber that is swirling with flecks of actual light.
My gods, we have much to discuss.
Something she has said to me at least a dozen times since I blew into the bayou but I find the more time I spend with her, the more normal I feel, and that means there’s clarity to my thought process.
Well, more clarity than I’ve had in a long time, anyway. With clarity comes realization, and the one I’m having now is that I, once again, am unable to deny our bond and scare her away. Zephyr was brought back for a reason, one I will find out later, and fighting the fact that our bond is ironclad truth, and I’m a part of the reason she is here now is far stupider than I thought when I decided to be an arse about things.
Thank fuck this is happening sooner than it did last time.
And bloody hell, I really hope we don’t have to do this again.
“Well,” I say with a sarcastic sigh. “If it’s only the bond and?—”
Before I can even finish my thought let alone my sentence, Zephyr bucks beneath me, taking advantage of my internal distraction to throw off my balance on the uneven ground beneath us. My left leg sinks as it bears the majority of my weight, partially submerged amongst the dead once again and as soon as my hands loosen on her wrists to prevent myself from falling, my mate flips to her stomach and makes her escape.
“I’m not mating you like this!” she shouts as she begins crawling away from me. “Frankly, I don’t know why I want to at all, you’ve been such a dickhead the last few days.”
Scowling, I regain my balance and reach for her foot as it slides out from between my legs. “My true nature never seemedto bother you before.” My fingers wrap around her ankle as Zephyr’s flip flop slips off. “And honestly, it’s rather daft of you to assume I wouldn’t be worse than that after living without you for so long!”
“You don’t have to be such a jerk to me!” She kicks her leg and tries to shake me off, my gentle breeze up on all fours the best she can. “I thought you’d be happy to see me or something else reasonable.”
“I was!” I lean forward and grab the back of her dress with my free hand, pulling her toward me, only now realizing that my mate is not only stronger on the inside, she apparently embraced what our kind is capable of because she’s actually putting up a decent fight. “I was goddamn elated!”
“Could have fooled me!”
“That was your job in this entire mess, I left the deceit up to you.”
Zephyr growls as her head swings in my direction. “It was notdeceit.”
“Bullocks.” I give her dress another yank and smirk when I hear the fabric rip. “If not deceit, betrayal then.”
“No, you stubborn jackass,” my mate growls again, flipping to her back, bracing her hands on either side of her hips. “I didn’t do anything wrong, not until I came to you way before schedule, and if you’d just talk to me about this instead of acting like a spoiled brat, you’d know everything!”
My mouth opens but nothing comes out, nothing except a strangled grunt as Zephyr tries to propel herself backwards but slips on the bodies, promptly sending the top of her right foot directly into my crotch.
I release her immediately, both of my hands moving under the apron to cup my dick and balls as I drop to my side then quickly curl into the fetal position. White spots dance across my vision as I heave and cough, fighting the urge to vomit while themost intense pain radiates through my nutsack up into my gut and down my thighs.
“Wraith! Honey, oh my gods.”
I can barely hear Zephyr scramble toward me over the way my pulse is thundering in my ears but I know she is and as soon as she’s back in range, her warmth begins to seep into my skin as she cups my face and tries to turn my head.
“Wraith, honey. I’m so sorry. Damnit, I swear I didn’t mean to do that.”
