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Phantom’s breaths become shallower. “We thought our father had lost his mind. Not that he was up to trouble, but that it was connected to our mother, and then there was the fact that his young bride was lost to him. Perhaps he realized that a man cannot fall in love again after losing his mate. Perhaps it was guilt for even trying. We weren't sure, but we thought he just needed our help.”
Dusk’s eyes are dark with guilt. Shame. Sadness. "We were wrong."
"Our foolishness cost us everything, cost our people everything," Phantom murmurs.
“I can’t.” Dusk suddenly pushes to his feet and walks to the entrance to the cave, standing silhouetted in the dim light of night outside. Even from where I sit, I can feel his emotion, feel how deeply he's trying to make it through this story, even though he's overwhelmed with the memories. And I want to go to him, to wrap my arms around him, but there's a sense that they aren't done, that there's more to say, so I stay seated, feeling on edge.
Phantom continues more slowly. "Our fathermighthave lost his mind, but hewasabsolutely dangerous. He took the moon stone. He plunged our world into a darkness that spread across the land like a plague. We faced off with him. Dusk had... had a chance to kill him, but he didn't. Some part of us both thought he could still be saved, that deep down the man who still loved us as kids was inside of him." Phantom rubs his face again and Onyx reaches over, squeezing his shoulder for a long moment before Phantom presses on. "We made a mistake. My father tried to kill me and Onyx took the blow, losing his hearing in the incident. We barely got out alive with some of our men. We thought in coming to this world maybe we’d have a chance to figure out what was happening and then come back to save our people, but we quickly realized that we couldn't win this war. That all we could do was keep the earth alive as long as possible. There was... a brief time when we thought we could enlist the help of others here, but that was quickly proved to be foolish thinking."
Onyx begins signing after a quiet moment, and Phantom's voice carries his sad words. "And then we saw you, our mate, and we still weren't sure. We knew once we felt the connection with you that our father would feel it too. He might not understand it, but he'd track it down, find you, and either take you for himself or kill you. So, we had to take you with us. We were... defeated, to say the least. Not even really thinking about the prophecy. But, once we met you, then it was all we could think about."
The look in Onyx's eyes says something entirely different. Not that they were only thinking about the prophecy, but that they were thinking about me.
I feel my cheeks heat once more and try to pretend not to notice.
Phantom stares at his brother’s back for a long minute then glances at me. “In our culture, the father can’t have our mate once we’ve bonded with her, of course, which wasn't something we thought would be a problem. We naturally assumed our mate would... would want us too.”
Ouch.
From the doorway, as if he’s speaking to the night, Dusk continues, “It’s the bond of mates that stops him, from what we understand. It’s physical. He won’t be able to take you or claim you. We don't know if it'll be enough to actually win this war and save our world, but it's the only hope we have.” He sighs again. “That's why we need to do this. Not just because we love you and feel compelled by this connection, but because we want to keep you safe. And what’s more, we feel we owe it to our people to see if this prophecy can save them. Not that you do. You owe us nothing.”
So much pressure.Not from them specifically, but my heart is weighted with it.
“What is it exactly? The mate bond between shadow beasts?” Maybe if I know what has to happen, I can accept it, or at least understand it.
Dusk turns and shrugs. Phantom shakes his head. But across from me, Onyx begins to sign, “We each have to have sex with you.”
"S-sex?" I stutter.That's all?
He continues signing, "It's more than just the physical act of making love."
Rayne stands and turns away because there’s nowhere for him to go in the night that is safe for a fae in a shadow beast’s body or certainly he would get out, but he’s heard enough. I know deep down he knew this was coming. Eventually, sex would be on the table if he shared me with them. But I think knowing it and hearing it are two completely different things.
Onyx continues, his gaze locked onto mine. “You have to take us into your heart.”Whatever that means.
Sex with each of them. Plus, the hard-to-pin-down 'take us into your heart.' All to save our world, their world, and fulfill a prophecy. Pressure is an understatement for what I'm feeling right now. But I had already decided to be their mate, to stay here for this fight and see it out to the end. So does it matter what they call this whole thing?
I'm not sure.
And like I don’t know the time is falling away, Dusk clears his throat. “There isn’t much time until nightfall. It’s a lot, but you have to decide. Now, if you can. Because there are already signs of my father's men coming back, and if they can come back, father is getting strong enough to protect them here. Which means he's strong enough to come back. Which means... he's strong enough to come back foryou.”
For me. Great. Just great.
"We don't want you to say yes just because of all of this," Phantom says, giving an apologetic look. "We'll keep fighting, keep trying, even if you never agree to be ours."
Dusk clears his throat. "And Rayne has agreed to go along with whatever you want."
"So, what do you want to do?" Phantom levels me with a look that carries all the weight of this decision.
Oh yeah. I’ll just maybe have a little sex, save the human race. All in a night’s work.
Everyone stares, and I open my mouth, not knowing exactly what I'm going to say. Well, maybe knowing what I’m going to say, but not how to say it.
TEN
Phantom
I watch her,waiting for her answer. Every change of her face enchants me, wraps me deeper in her spell, and for once, I don’t care. That’s part of the mating bond, this inability to resist her, but I can’t find it in me to try to stop it. It's clear she's working through a thousand things in her mind. I find myself holding my breath.
