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All this time when he was talking about the beast inside him, I really thought he was being metaphorical.
He wasn’t.
Oh god.
But I don’t have any time to dwell on the monster, because his cock hits me at just the right spot and I scream, unable to stop it from happening.
I’m coming again, my orgasm a tidal wave, sweeping the world out from under me. I’m lost to the undertow, drowning in desire and fear and a building sense of awe, while my body feels like it’s breaking into a million shining stars and I’ve been strewn across the night sky, flirting with the moon, and, and…
And it’s when this beast is inside me, his own guttural cries filling the room as he pours himself inside, still fucking hard like the savage animal that he is, that I realize the truth.
My truth.
Amethyst was right.
I’m in love with him.
Hell of a time to realize it.
“Lenore,” he pants, voice rumbling, still not quite his, but at least he knows my name. “Lenore.”
I close my eyes and rest my forehead on the bed as his pumping slows, knowing that something otherworldly just happened here, that I just felt Solon in the most real and raw way possible. I was exposed to the side of him he never wanted me to see.
He’s a monster at his core.
A beast.
And perhaps I didn’t tame him, but I’m also not afraid of him.
Finally, he stops thrusting and he lifts his hand off my head, and I raise my chin in time to see the blackened ash reverse flow, quickly traveling down his arm, leaving only his luminous pale skin behind, until his hand is the familiar one I know so well.
He straightens up and then pulls out of me and there’s a moment when I feel him just kneeling behind me, trying to catch his breath, wrangle his thoughts. I know he doesn’t know what to do, what to say to me. He didn’t mean for any of that to happen, it was his worst fear come to life.
But I’m still here.
I’m still here, I tell him.
I hear his shaking exhale and then I finally flip over, turning around to look at him.
He’s back to his now naked, yet still formidable self, though his expression is as fragile as I’ve ever seen it, wary and close to unraveling.
“What are you?” I whisper.
Chapter Twenty-Two
There’s a circle of blood in the snow all around me.
I stand there in the middle, naked, frozen to the ground, ice spreading up my legs.
It’s quiet and empty all around, not a soul to be found, just the rolling hills of frosted white. The sky is a pale grey, light enough in parts that it’s hard to tell where the horizon is, and the sun is a faint glowing orb in the sky, close to breaking through the clouds.
A shadow passes over the land and I look back up to the sky in time to see black wings. They blot out the sun, blot out the world, enveloping me, like a giant leathery bird of prey.
But I don’t feel fear.
I feel safe.
I feel powerful, like I could fly up into the sky on these very black wings.
But then…then…
Everything changes.
The wings fade to smoke, just a faint shape hanging in the air before being carried away by the wind.
There’s an insidious hiss at my back and I turn around to see the cloaked figures creeping closer to me, white bony arms outstretched, pointing at me with nails that are far too long and curved.
“He can’t save you, Lenore,” a low, inhuman voice says from behind me, but I know if I turn around these creatures will attack me, the ones without faces behind those hooded red curtains. The ones that are all teeth. “No one can save you now. You’ll see, soon enough.”
I feel the presence come closer to me, then claws running down my spine, making me cry out.
“You won’t survive the Dark Order, and you certainly won’t survive me.”
With a violent thrust, his claws stab me in the back, breaking through my ribs, reaching right through to my heart.
I scream.
And then I wake up, tangled in sheets, the scream choking in my throat, panic seizing my body.
Then big, strong arms wrap around me.
I smell flowers and smoke and I know it’s Solon, holding me to his chest, his heartbeat trying to soothe me.
“Shhh,” he says to me, kissing the top of my head. “It’s alright. You’re having a nightmare.”
My eyes open to darkness and then the real nightmare of last night comes back.
Monster.
Solon turned into a monster.
I lift my chin to look up at him, his gaze going straight into my soul, a sad smile on his lips. “Unless you were dreaming about me,” he says quietly.
I stare, trying to recall everything about last night, even the things that I don’t want to. I remember it all, except I asked him what he was and he said he’d explain in the morning. I said there was no way I’d be able to fall asleep, but I guess I did. I’m still exhausted, every part of my body aching, but I’m ready for him to talk.
