Page 66 of Haunted Nightmares
Unable to speak, I try to nod my head because I know it wasn’t intentional, my mate would never stoop so low but I can’t even do that. I can’t do bloody anything because I can feel my goddamn heartbeat in the family jewels.
“I’m making such, such a…” Zephyr sniffles and I try like hell to open my eyes. “I’m making such a mess of things. The Gods of Old are pissed at me, my guards are pissed at me. Lorna wants to wring my neck for showing myself to you before I was supposed to.” Her fingers push through my hair, slowly moving it out of my eyes, relaxing me the slightest bit with each gentle stroke. “But I just… I needed to be with you. It was killing me to walk around this stupid city knowing you were so close but still out of reach. So I messed everything up because I wanted to, because I couldn’t go another day without you and that’s where my mistake was.”
The tension in my body loosens as she continues, Zephyr silently crying tears neither of us thought she could shed, running her fingers through my hair in a way I never thought I’d experience again.
She carefully scoots around, adjusting her position before slowly lifting my head into her lap. “I knew the madness came for you, knew it the second I left this plane but I thought.” Zephyr blows out a shaky breath as she slowly traces my eyebrow. “I just figured coming back would fix everything and Iwanted to see you so badly that I didn’t think about what would happen when I finally did.”
“Zephyr,” I grunt as I look up, her actions releasing the tension and pain from my body enough to do that. “If anyone has made a mess since you, well, these last seven months and more specifically the last two, it was me.”
“No.” Citrine eyes clash with mine as a tear slips down her cheek. “You had no control, not when you were grieving.”
Arching a brow, I pull a hand from my dick and motion to the entirety of the sitting room, making sure to point out the fencing, the buckets of watery goo I used to waterboard her, and the two or three feet tall layer of dead vampires we’re sitting on.
Which is when the most breathtaking, the most beautiful thing happens.
Zephyr laughs.
A real, genuine, one.
It was soft and quiet, it was brief but it happened, and it was all mine.
“Well, ok. You made a very literal mess but…” Zephyr shakes her head as she looks around then meets my eyes again. “I was going to say that it’s understandable, warranted even but I’m not sure going mad and grieving your mate causes this kind of shit.”
“Probably not to this magnitude, anyway.”
Another light chuckle has my chest warming for the first time in ages, and pulling a tiny smile across my lips. “No, not to this magnitude.”
“I like to think of myself as anoverachiever.”
“Go big or go home, right?”
“Right.”
Zephyr smoothes the tip of her finger over my brow, lightly trailing it over my temple before she traces my cheekbone. “Are you ok?”
“Are we still discussing the status of my mental health, or is that question in regard to my racket and balls you tried to squash?”
“The latter,” she says with a tired giggle.
“I’m fine.” I carefully, almost hesitantly reach up and wipe the remaining tears from her cheeks, my eyes focused on the contrast between my rot stained alabaster skin against her golden bronze. “In the right scenario I might have even liked it.”
My gentle breeze snorts and rolls her eyes. “I’m sure. You always did have a fascination with cock cages.”
And though I give her my own genuine chuckle, hearing that come from her mouth has changed the game.
No one, and I meanno one, not even Declan knows me the way this female does and within a minuscule fraction of that time, Zephyr has shown me on more than one occasion that she is willing to fight for me in spite of it. And instead of being grateful for the opportunity to have the chance to be with her twice in one lifetime, I’ve dug my heels in and fought her nearly every step of the way.
But I can do so no longer, I’ve no real fight left.
Which is why I cup her cheek as my other hand leaves the apron, now propping myself on my elbow so I’m closer to her level. I search Zephyr’s eyes as I caress her silky skin, still in awe that this is actually happening, still confused by the how and why. Still bloody mad but far more in tune, far more in control of myself and for some reason, that gives me something I haven’t had in just as long as I went without Zephyr.
Looking into my mate’s eyes and seeing the love she still harbors for me reflected in those amber pools, it gives me hope.
Most likely premature and misplaced but it’s there. The feeling of hope wriggling inside my chest, of the endless possibilities my mate’s love brings. Those things are trying totake root once again and while I’m attempting to make peace with the concept, there’s still a long way to go.
“But you don’t have to go it alone,” Zephyr whispers, a few more tears slipping down her cheek. “If you stop fighting, if you accept our bond as the truth I know you believe in, you won’t ever have to do anything alone again, honey.”
Giving her a small smile, I press the pad of my thumb against her lower lip, reveling in the petal soft feel of it. “Things are different now, my love.Iam different now. And we are still very much in danger.”
