To live bound to her bedroom until death stole her away would be an honor. A privilege. To hear of her triumphs and watch her spirit grow, free from the bonds of childhood shame, to be by her side each night while her passionate heart followed its dreams; each night revisiting his treasured landscapes hand in hand. To drink from her cunt as it overflowed for him, to feel her flesh on his flesh, no more ghostly sensations but the real thing, every night.
Traeyr smirked. He sounded like a mortal with his pithy dreams and wild ideas. There was to be no binding, for how could he possibly be entertaining forfeiting his travels for one mere dreamer? No, he would not. But he would spend their next night together with his own flesh body. Although not the one he was born with, it would serve him the highest pleasure tonight.
Another sleeper’s dreams invaded his musings and he followed them to the house beside his mortal’s. After consuming the wayward nightmare, he visited her bedroom window to steal a peek at the woman who’d stolen his common sense. Expecting to find her at the writing desk, the empty bedroom surprised him, the entire house void of movement.
Where is she?He’d been there when she’d canceled her commitments, too dazed from their shared dream to focus on a day of trivial work. His mind immediately ruminated on the chance that she left in search of deeper knowledge of his kind to trap him against his will. As hard as he tried to banish the thought, it burrowed into his consciousness and planted seeds of growing doubt.
Have I misjudged the human?Did her seductive voice and illustrious curves cloud his judgment?
She owned his name now, for better or worse. There was always the chance he was being preposterous.
Perhaps she is in trouble.
This notion was somehow even more unsettling, and he found himself rushing through the keyhole of her front door, the exhilarating feeling nothing compared to his concern for his dreamer.
There was no sign of a struggle. All her belongings were in the same places as before as far as he could tell, though he had been captivated by her words and could have overlooked some things in the room. He alternated between his two forms as he paced the room, his heart torn between fear for himself and fear for his dreamer. Though he found himself admitting that if it were between the two options, he hoped she planned to trap him and was unharmed.
Ages later, after night had fallen and sleepers nearby beckoned him to feed on their dreams, the front door slammed open against the wall. Addison rushed in, nearly tripping on a box in the walkway. He stayed floating stalk-still in his smallest form, waiting for an explanation. She sniffled and blubbered when she saw him in her room.
Something happened. His mind thundered, wondering if it was guilt or sorrow that flooded her cheeks.
“I’m so sorry. I got called in to work. And then—and then—” She broke into something similar to laughter, the strange sound conflicting with her obvious pain.
And just like that, he saw the error in his thinking. How could he have possibly considered she’d turned on him?
His waning form flitted around her. His worry had burned through his power reserves and he lacked the necessary power to wield the shadows enough to comfort her. He eagerly drank from her leaking brown eyes for a jolt of power.
“And then I got fired! Fuck Nathan!” She threw her hands up, the strangled half-laughter, half-weeping sound still choking its way from her throat, the wild look in her eyes akin to a ferocious buffalo trapped under his touch after thinking itself too good for the demon’s feast. She dropped to the bed and hung her head in her dainty hands. “How will I pay for this stupid house now?”
Traeyr fluttered around her aggressively. If she did as he’d instructed, he would be better equipped to comfort her.
“I’m not in the mood, Traeyr. I don’t think I can.”
Annoyed at his lack of power over the situation, he lapped more of her sorrowful nectar and used the burst of power to conjure his voice. “Do as I instructed so I may console you.”
Shoulders hunched, she peered at him through clumped eyelashes and nodded. She hunted through some boxes in the walkway and returned with a roll of blue tape, then followed him around the room as he showed her all the spots he could escape from. Once they were all sealed, she slid under the covers and closed her eyes. He perched on her chest and braced for the inevitable rush of ancient magic that was to come.
“Traeyr.”
His name upon her lips was like a blessing even as it sent a cursed amount of pain reaming through his every fiber. He gasped for air, theneedto breathe a novelty he’d not experienced in centuries. A shiver ran through Traeyr’s bones, the sudden sensations overwhelming. The ancient power contorted him, rebuilt him, fleshed him out until he was fully physical. His dreamer watched the transformation with wide eyes and parted lips, lips he hoped to kiss until they were sore to ease the sadness still coating her cheeks.
Chapter 18
Addison
Shadows peeled away as flesh coated bone. His transformation lifted him from the bed, all of this taking place before Addison’s wide eyes.
The structure of his body was similar to what had appeared in her dream with a few minor differences. Most of his body was coated with shiny black fur, horns twisted above his head, and fanged teeth protruded from his grin. There was a humanoid structure underneath all the fur and his softly padded abdomen, but everything was elongated, exaggerated. He was so tall that his horns almost touched the ceiling. His hands and feet were proportionally large, but so was his enormous cock, which bulged uncovered and taunted her against his leg in its half-erect state. Just like his body, it looked much bigger and much less human than the one from her dream. Its bulbous head peeked from its covering of skin and fat veins raced down its thick shaft to the corpulent sack between his legs.
His whole being was indisputablynothuman, not even as human-esque as it had been in the dream. Was that his doing or the work of her own subconscious?
Either way, seeing him in a physical, touchable, lickable body did wonders to help forget her troubles. Losing that dead-end job could be a sign of something better, if only thatbetterthing happened quickly and in a timely manner.
She pushed the stray worries away and focused on the beast in front of her.
“Traeyr,” she reached for him.
“I shall hold you.” More of a command than a statement, his voice made her heart flutter. His cock flexed every time he spoke, sending more heat through her and causing her to struggle to lift her gaze from the gigantic thing she hoped to be impaled upon soon. “You are too beautiful to cry. I shall banish the demons that haunt you.”
