Page 158 of Pareidolia

CHAPTER 23

NOX

I can feel him in the distance, the way he runs back to the forest like it’s the only place he’s ever belonged…

The way he runs back to me like an inevitability, like gravity dragging him to the center of his world.

I wait at the edge of the trees and watch as he rips the gloves from his hands as soon as he enters the shelter of their darkness, stripping out of the jacket that covers up the glowing tattoo on his chest as he falls to his knees.

Aspen’s fingers dig into the dirt and brittle pine needles so hard that his shoulders tremble. His head falls down until the leaves tangle in the pale blue streaks of his hair… and then he screams.

It’s low, like he’s trying to keep the sound trapped in his chest. It’s raw and ragged, and the wordless shout slowly forms into a syllable.

One syllable.

“Nox!”

He screams my name the same way humans shout to their God—for mercy and salvation. My entire body feels every breath of it down to the bones I formed when I crawled from the shadows and made myself whole.

He screams my name like I’m the only thing that can keep him tethered to this earth, and I don’t keep him waiting.

“Little monster,” I murmur, and his head snaps up instantly. His eyes have that same glow, pale moonlight, that they had when I filled him with my shadows. I can see them now, crawling along his edges, spilling from the claw marks and wounds on his body in little wisps that make him writhe.

“I can’t breathe,” he gasps, tearing at those tendrils, clawing his own skin. “I can’t… it’s… fuck. Fuck.” He stumbles to his feet, lurching across the clearing. His nails bite into my skin as he drags his body against mine. “So hungry.”

Changed.

Aspen is changing—the hunger in his chest is a small echo of my own… but I recognize it.

He’s changing, and the desperation as he looks up at me is the sweetest emotion I’ve ever tasted, because it means he’s never going to leave.

I never want him to leave.

“What did you do?” His teeth chatter as he asks the question, but his fingers are needy where they cling to me. He drops his face to my chest and inhales, pulling even closer, as though he wants to crawl inside my skin.

“You were never made to be with humans, Aspen. You were born for the shadows.” My wings unfurl as I whisper, flicking behind me and drawing the tendrils from my back. They wrap around him, dragging him up until we’re face to face and I can see the need glowing in his eyes. “Born for me… for my hunger.”

“Hunger,” he whispers. “Our hunger.”

Ours.

My tongue spills out and licks at the seam of his lips—he tastes like bitter blood and coffee. “Do you want to hunt, little monster? What you felt before was nothing. Now you can truly feast on emotions. Would you like that?”

He shivers and nods, dropping his head to my throat. The warmth of his tongue licking along the length of my neck is a new sensation that sends streaks of heat through my body.

“Hungry.” It’s muffled against my skin, and his teeth find a hold on my throat and bite down. If I could, I would feed him with the desire that surges through my body—the sense of claim and ownership that makes me want to take him on the forest floor and fuck him until he’s in pieces.

“Then hunt.”

My eyes flick back to town, to the sound of footsteps approaching and a voice calling out to, “Wait.”

Aspen’s eyes follow mine, and he freezes in my hold.

The person followed him from the restaurant. I don’t usually take people from the town… but for this one, I’ll make an exception, because I can smell their emotions still clinging to his skin.

“Not her,” Aspen whispers, but even as he says it, he pushes away from me and circles around the clearing so he’s clearly visible at the line of the trees. “She’s probably a good person.” He slips on his jacket and zips it up before stepping forward so she can see him.

“There you are.” Her voice is sweet and the desire she has for him rolls off her in waves that make me want to tear her head from her shoulders. The only thing stopping me is the hunger roaring inside Aspen, and the way he slips to the side to draw her into the trees.