His fearsome form didn’t shrink back from her accusation. On the contrary, he growled like a beast in the wild, his gaze taking on an even more terrifying glow.
“I’ve known since the first night I detected your scent, well before you caught me feasting upon your tears. Even as I hid the truth from myself, I knew I could not allow you to fall into the possession of another. I could not bear to lose you, dear dreamer. Including to the depths of your own nightmares.”
Addison closed the distance between them. She realized his show of fearsome power was a front for his concern for her, and while she couldn’t touch him the same as she’d done last night, she tenderly cupped the cold air of his cheek and met his glowing yellow gaze until he softened.
“Thank you.”
The fire blazing in his eyes slowly scintillated out. He nodded curtly and gestured back to her computer screen.
“Continue. As you work, tell me about the human named Addison.”
She snorted. “All right, but it’s pretty boring.”
“A boring life does not incur such horrors that draw wraiths from the underworld.”
“Fair enough.”
She knew he referred to the traumas that led to her twisted dreams, but she launched into the more light-hearted details all the same, like how she’d grown up on the beach. She mentioned being bullied in school and the frenemies who sometimes appeared in her nightmares as a remnant of her inner child’s pain, and about college and how she’d wound up working at a fish counter instead of utilizing her design skills because of Justin.
“The man who broke into your home,” he interrupted with a sneer.
“Yeah. My ex. Looking back, I think I was in love with the idea of being needed by someone more than I loved Justin himself.” She shrugged. “We were supposed to live here together, but he said I was a needy bitch and left me with all the bills.”
A growl emitted from his throat, something entirely inhuman and more violent than she’d heard from him before. The sound reminded her again that he was, in fact, a demon, and not just a gentle lover. “Good.”
“Good?”
“Yes. I would have had to crush him in his sleep.” He licked his lips. “You aremine.”
Another thrill shot straight through her core at his possessive words. “Well, I hope you like aneedylover.”
“You don’t know needy.”
What the hell does that mean?Before she could ask, his shadows caressed her skin and she closed her eyes to the cool sensation.
“And what of the night terrors? There must be something in your history. Perhaps if you share it with me, I can be of assistance in healing what festers within your subconscious. It is imperative we get your dreams under control, for there are creatures even I would be incapable of protecting you from.”
Flashbacks of hot brandy-soaked breath banished the happiness from his soft caress. Her mother’s contorted face in the doorway, a rictus of anger, and smelling of the same brandy that licked Addison’s neck.
She hesitated. She stared down at her lap, unwilling to watch his reaction as she spilled her discretions.
“When I was fifteen, my mom’s boyfriend of the month kept hitting on me. He would make sure to be in the spaces he knew I occupied.” Addison absently rubbed the back of her neck, where the feeling of warm, wet breath suddenly lingered. She laid her hands palm up against her knees and took a steadying breath. “He took me to the mall and bought me stuff. I thought it was cool, and my mom liked that we were getting close even though shebarely knew him.”
The mahr stayed quiet, his comforting touch never wavering from its semi-solid place behind her. The computer timed out and she glanced up to see his shadows dancing in the black screen.
“Anyway. When he finally made his move, I was too scared to run. My mom found us like that and said I seduced him. She eventually apologized, but by that time it had been years of internalizing the awful things she said to me that night.”
Addison ended on a shrug and glanced over her shoulder without looking high enough to meet his gaze. “It was so long ago. It’s no big deal.”
“Addison.”
At the iron in his voice, she summoned the courage to meet his eyes, which shone with the intensity of a thousand sunsets. His fangs were out and his gentle but firm tone was resolute.
“You were just a child.”
She rolled her eyes. “Humans call fifteen ayoung adult. We’re expected to be thinking about what career we want. Hell, if we commit a crime at fifteen, we could be tried as an adult in some cases. Maybe for elves it’s different—”
“Human or elf, the first fifteen years are developmental. You. Were. Only. A. Child. You could not have been expected to navigate a situation like that. You certainly could not be held accountable.”
