Page 83 of Haunted Nightmares
Not that he doesn’t really want to, I saw his dick through his pants, but he also knows we have business to attend, and that I’d be upset if he ruined this door.
It’s original to the house, and I’m not ready to start peeing in front of him yet.
“Zephyr,my love, this is Duke of Eoforwick,” Wraith says as he meets me at the bottom of the stairs, his black eyes still full of so much heat as he extends his hand for me. “He’s been an ally to our cause for as long as I can remember.”
I smile as Duke takes my hand from my mate’s, bowing deeply while he places a kiss to my knuckles. “It is an incredible honor to finally meet you, my queen.”
“Likewise. I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”
“All good things, I hope?”
With a smirk, I shift my gaze to his son briefly, the male nervously standing behind his Duke as if this is a test he’s about to fail. “Of course, not one male in this house has had a negative thing to say about you.” Archer blows out a relieved breath, hisshoulders sagging the slightest bit but it’s Sadie who has me ready to crack up because she’s giggling and nudging her mate in the ribs.
So I refocus. “And you must be Penelope.”
The adorable human female smiles brightly, her eyes almost the same blue as Sadie’s. “I am so honored to be able to be here, your majesty.”
“Zephyr, please. I’m not very fond of all the titles and formalities.”
“You can call me Pen.” She takes my hand and shakes, firm and excited, so much so that the hold I have over my power slips and I’m suddenly thrown into her memories.
I see everything this woman has been through, how she wound up with Duke, the closeness her family shared with him and Archer. I see the relationships built, the friendships forged. Penelope and her husband were married on Duke’s property, he helped with Sadie’s nursery when she was pregnant. The way they were both embraced and supported when her husband died, how Duke helped her through her grief.
Penelope has lived almost the exact same life I was born into, both of us contracted into affluent families for our own safety, a future supposedly protected by generations before.
But our experiences were vastly different.
“Zephyr, my love, are you alright?”
I blink a few times, frowning when I see the worried expression on my mate’s face. “I’m fine.”
Wraith shakes his head and lifts his hand, gripping the side of my neck in a way that grounds me. “You seemed to… “ He glances back over his shoulder, nodding toward four very expectant looking people. Which is when I realize I’m sitting on the steps since Sadie and her mother aren’t as tall as me, and I’m definitely not as tall as my mate. “It was like before.”
“What was like before? I don’t know,oh,” I say as it clicks. “It wasn’t quite like before.”
“I need you to clarify, love, because if we’re to be dealing with the same sort of thing when you come into contact with people I’m going to insist you wear more material than these dresses are made of.”
I lean forward and press my lips to his, smiling as my wicked king kisses me back. “I have way more control than I did before but Pen’s excitement got the best of me. It’s really nothing to worry about.”
Wraith searches my eyes as his thumb moves slowly over my pulse. “You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
“If you insist,” he says, concern still dripping from his words as he kisses my forehead and helps me to my feet. “But I will be keeping close tabs on you.”
“You already do.”I smirk as he scowls. “And I love you for it.”
“Now then.” My mate turns back to our guests, my hand still tightly in his. “What brings you two all the way out here for a visit?”
Duke offers his arm to Penelope as the two of them follow us toward the study. “Some rather morbid business, I’m afraid.”
“So it has nothing to do with your berk of a son and how he and his mate wound up out here in a relatively permanent kind of way?”
“Not at all.” He chuckles, deep and low, and very genuine. “I’m familiar with all that, no need for a refresher. I do find it rather interesting that we both had to call on you for the same reason, though.”
I did too.
Wraith said it was a one in a million chance that a parent and child would both have human mates who needed to beconverted, that it was a fluke and nothing more, but I don’t believe it. Not when my mate was the one to assist in both conversions and successfully saved the females involved.
