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And when Onyx and Dusk learn what happened, well, the king better be ready, because there’s no wrath that compares with the wrath of the three of us. That bastard is going to burn, and our Ann will be back safely with us again.
I swear it.
SEVEN
Ann
I’m warm, wrapped in a dream of sweet happiness, cradled in strong arms on a comfortable bed under a soft blanket. And it’s divine. I haven’t felt so safe or protected in… I can’t remember ever feeling so safe and protected.
If it’s a dream, I never want to wake up. I never want it to end.
But like all good things, it does end. And when I look behind me to see who’s holding me, my heart flips. I’m with Phantom, in a comfortable bed, with his arms and his scent wrapped around me. It’s intoxicating. Everything I’ve dreamed of and more.
It’s been so long since I’ve known comforts like these–a mattress, a blanket that doesn’t smell like soot and ash, walls that aren’t made of earth and roots, a floor not made of packed dirt. But that’s not what matters to me now. I’m back with my stolen mate, and he looks like himself again as he smiles at me.
He’s wearing a pair of silk boxers and nothing else. His body is as perfect as I remember–smooth broad chest, wide shoulders, sinew, and muscle–and my palm itches to run across the width of it. Instead, I spend a second staring my fill before I spot the small spot above his heart. Something crystal clear sticks an inch or so out of his skin.
A moon shard.
I reach for it, and he catches my hand. Slowly, I look up once more, and his smile widens.
“Good morning, my sweet Ann.” His gaze is everything. Everything I remember, everything I need. Although, I have no idea how I came to be here with him.
But right now, it only matters that I am. That I have him back.
“Phantom.” His name on my tongue is like a sweet berry. But I have so many questions I don’t know where to begin.
Where are we? How did we get him back?
Is he… Phantom again?
He kisses my temple then smiles. The evil I thought I would see isn’t visible. He’s genuine. “It’s me.” The voice is the same, the gentleness of his touch, the reverence, even his eyes are right.
It’s really him.
I’ve missed him so much I’ve ached with it, felt like part of myself has been missing. And here he is–flesh and bone–holding me. No signs of the ghost of a man he’d become. No signs of the man who had sent shadow beasts, grave trolls, and rot monkeys after us for weeks. It’s just… Phantom.
And I don’t know if I care how we got him back, only that my mate has returned to me.
Yet, I have to ask. And Ihatethat I have to ask. “What happened?” It’s logical to ask, coherent even in a time where my thoughts are terribly incoherent. I can’t understand how this is happening. He was lost to us. We’ve been fighting to get him back, but here he is, beside me. Gazing at me. Affectionate. Running his fingers through my hair.
The question isn’t specific enough, but I can’t think beyond it. My thoughts are slower here. I need to revise, but I’m still reeling, and I can’t think of exactly what to ask.
“You’ve all misunderstood. You and Onyx and Dusk.”
He sounds… not quite sincere, but matter-of-fact. And I want to believe him.Has he just been pretending all this time to get access to his father? Or is the shard weakening and losing its control over him?
“How have we misunderstood?” I ask, reaching up and touching his face, staring into those remarkable green eyes of his, desperate for an answer that makes sense.
“I’m not evil, Ann. I just understand how things are now.” He leans down and kisses me, a kiss that sets my body aflame. A kiss that instantly brings me back to every time this incredible man ever touched me.
I couldn’t say no to him before, less so when he turns us so his body is on top of mine and continues kissing me over and over again until my head spins and my heart swells. He gathers my hands and pulls them over my head, holding them there as he grinds his hips into mine.
It’s harder than when we were together before, rougher than any of the others, but not wholly unenjoyable. When he touches me, it’s like all my thoughts fade away. A small part of me thinks this might all be in my head, but I can’t seem to care.
He releases me and pulls the long, white nightgown I’m wearing off. His gaze burns as it runs over me, and then he removes his boxers, tossing them onto the floor. Settling above me once more he kisses his way up my throat, catches my lips, and captures my hands, placing them back above my head.
My legs spread to accommodate him as he settles in lower, and then he begins to rub his length along my hot core. My body trembles. I feel myself getting wetter and wetter as desire rushes through me.
