Dreaming of Darkness

Chapter Eight

Traum

My hand curled around Bailey’s as we walked up the sidewalk of the large building.

I hadn’t enjoyed a day like this in years, if ever.

Bailey and I had spent so long in the shower this afternoon that her fingers had gone pruned.

But I’d never had the chance to care for a female before and I had been fascinated by the process of shampooing, conditioning, even going so far as to kneel on the tile and offer to shave the short hairs from around her legs.

She had sputtered at first, shoving me away.

But after more kisses and a few passes with the loofah, she’d finally given in.

I had done a decent job I thought, especially since I’d been more than distracted the whole time with her still slick core so close to my face.

I huffed a breath in, trying to calm my already regrowing arousal.

It was hard with her this close.

After showering and dashing into a nearby shop, I’d come out with a black suit that set off my human glamour with its deeply tanned skin and clean-shaven jaw.

The white shirt and dark tie made my throat itch a little, but I couldn't deny the overall look was intriguing.

And of course, my mate, she was dressed in black velvet, her soft curves demanding my hands on them.

Even more so as more and more eyes landed on us as we approached.

A tiny table greeted us at the front of a large, decorated hall, with bright blue up lights spread against the walls.

In the distance a light illustrated the brand of the company Bailey worked for, Woodson and Company.

And below, the milling crowd moved to the sounds of a band.

I smiled, charmed and surprised by how much I was enjoying this.

The woman behind the table gave Bailey a smile. “Hi there, checking in?”

“Yes, I’m Bailey Emerson, I’m sorry, I don’t think I RSVP-ed for a guest though.”

The other woman’s eyes looked at me, growing slightly wide at my appearance. “I’m sure

we can make room for your friend.”

I could sense her lust immediately. Huffing a short breath, I stepped closer to Bailey, running my hand down her hip. “Did you hear that, darling?”

I leaned in, my lips against her ear as I curled her close, “They can make room for your friend.”

Bailey made a cute little squeak of surprise but didn’t pull away. “Thank you, I appreciate it.”

The other woman busied her hands with pulling out little white squares, passing them over to Bailey with a thick writing device. Bailey bent, breaking my hold lightly to bend over. I smiled coyly at the woman as Bailey wrote, my mates backside pressing against my thigh as she moved.

“Here you go,”

Bailey said, straightening, and pressing a nametag over my chest. I read my own name in big letters before giving her a look.

“It doesn’t really go with the ensemble,”

I said, gesturing down at myself.

Bailey giggled as she tugged me towards the music. “We have to wear them, so they know we belong here.”

I grunted but let her tug me towards a large assortment of food laid out on trays. When she broke away to fill her plate, I was distracted by the decorative lighting that the music group seemed to have surrounding them. It was beautiful, and so very different from my home’s celebrations.

When I turned back, another male, a few inches taller than Bailey was animatedly speaking to her, his eyes all over my mate’s body. My temper rose as fast as my instincts and a moment later I was at her side.

“Who is this?”

I asked, my voice barely human. I cleared my throat, focusing on keeping my glamour in place as the man took a small step back. My back was ramrod straight; eyes dark on him as he recognized the clear threat in my pose.

“I’m Alex, I work with Bailey.”

He held out a hand, and I took it like Bailey had instructed earlier. I squeezed the man’s palm. “I’m Traum, I sleep with Bailey.”

“Traum,”

Bailey hissed, her fingers poking into my sides as I released the other man, who now massaged his hand with the other.

“Message received, man, loud and clear,”

Alex nodded at Bailey, “See you later.”

And in a flash, he was gone. When Bailey looked up at me, her mouth hanging open, I couldn’t stop the devilish smirk. “What?”

“You are in so much trouble,”

she said, quickly beginning to fill her plate. I moved to stand behind her, and when she finally slowed her pace, I leaned against her, letting her feel all of me.

“Then why, little dream, do you smell like you loved that?”

Bailey turned, just enough to glare at me with one eye. I pressed a kiss against her temple and then reached over to grab a small slice of pear from her plate. Then with a quick jerk of my fingers, I ripped my name tag from my chest. Another movement and I had replaced hers with my own, essentially swapping our tags.

I now wore Bailey’s name on my chest, and mine was on hers. “There, more accurate now.”

“You’re ridiculous,”

she breathed out, but she reached out and smoothed a hand over her name on my chest.

“You enjoy it. Now, hurry and eat, I can’t wait to dance with you.”

The rest of the night we were whisked into the crowd, and after I made sure that she’d eaten everything she needed, we found our way to the dance floor.

And I could get used to this. While Bailey appeared quiet, she obviously enjoyed the music, her body moving to the beat with ease. I loved every excuse to put my hands on her and let her rub that velvet wrapped body against me. Plus, it gave me an excuse to frown at every other male who ever came close to her.

I had asked my brother before I left if the urge to mark my mate might ease at some point. To which he’d confessed to snarling at a neighbor only that morning who had helped his mate stand up from her garden.

I guessed not.

I didn’t think Bailey minded much. She’d had a few glasses of a sparkling beverage, and her hands were just as clinging as mine were, if not as bold. During one of the quiet songs, I leaned close. “Are you having fun?”

“I am,”

Bailey looked up at me, her dark blonde hair was slipping from its pins, and I loved the little pieces that framed the eyes she’d made up with dark lines. “I didn’t think I would, I was so worried about you and me just…”

“Worried about me?”

Bailey lifted a shoulder, “This is all very, I don’t know, basic and human.”

I cocked my head, “But it is important to you, and therefore important to me.”

I smoothed a hand down her spine. “Besides, the chance to hold you, to feel her against me. I will never give up a chance for that.”

“What do you celebrate in the Underworld?”

I could feel the smile, “There will be a rather large event when my niece or nephew is born. And as strange as it might seem, we also celebrate when our kind pass on the great sleep.”

“You celebrate death?”

I hummed, trying to think of the right words. “We celebrate a life well lived. We are sad to no longer have the companionship of those individuals, but going to rest after a long life? What better action would you think of?”

Bailey nodded; her brows pulled together in an adorable little frown. “You celebrate life and death. I guess that makes sense. Anything else?”

I cleared my throat, my throat suddenly feeling a little thick. “We celebrate matings as well.”

Her hands tightened on my shoulders, “Like weddings?

“Similar, I guess, from what I’ve seen through dreams. There is a ceremony in both, but the party afterwards,”

I mouth actually watered at the thought, “It is more…primal. No fancy tablecloths or cakes cut.”

“You don’t eat?”

I let my eyes flicker down to her cleavage and back up to meet her eyes. “Oh, we eat, little dream. But not in the way that you’re thinking.”

“Oh,”

Bailey’s mouth snapped shut and I actually felt the shiver of interest ghost down her spine. I pulled her closer, letting her feel the thickness of my cock as I pictured her at one of our events.

“Any other questions?”

“Hundreds,”

she muttered, “But definitely too afraid to ask them here.”

I laughed, “Why? Afraid you won’t like the answer.”

“Nope,”

she said, popping the ‘p’ sound as she rose up on her toes to brush a kiss over my lips, “Afraid I will like them too much.”

“Fuck, mate,”

I hissed, chasing her mouth for another quick kiss. “Too much more of this and I won’t care who sees.”

Bailey giggled. Giggled. I might have been irritated at her dismissal of my threat if I wasn’t so obsessed with the sound.

“I like when you call me that.”

“What?”

She sighed, “Mate.”

This time I was the one who shivered. “I’m glad.”

“Are you ready to go home?”

she asked, her smile soft. I reached up, cupping her face. “Wherever you go, I go.”

Bailey’s smile slowly fades, her eyes shining with something close to tears, but when I move to brush them away, she pulls away slightly.

“Let’s go,”

she said, stepping out of my embrace. Together she twines her way across the dancefloor, past the buffet and through the front doors. Her silence swirling around us as we climbed into the back of what she called a cab, and together we made our way back to her house.

***

Bailey

Wherever you go, I go.

That’s what he’d said. And the words, the assurance and gentle consideration behind them had sent a bolt of fear straight to my gut. Not because my heart didn’t crave that kind of love every single day. But because it was so simple for him.

He didn’t know enough to say that.

But still, he’d said it.

He didn’t know what I was like, what I was really like. He was prepared to bind himself to me–to commit himself to me for the rest of his very, very long life.

And God help me, I wanted him. I wanted him to do that. But I feared the resentment. I feared what might happen to us. And that was all I could think of as Traum and I stepped into my house, letting my jacket slip from my shoulders.

Traum was there a moment later, his hand at the small of my back as we moved into the kitchen. “I can feel your anxiety, little dream, do you want to tell me what bothers you?”

I paced back and forth a moment, before pausing to rid myself of my heels. Flat footed, I immediately began to pace again. All thoughts of hiding my flaws suddenly thrown out the window.

“I don’t know how else to tell you this.”

Traum leaned against the door jam and like a skin peeling back his human glamour slipped from his skin, revealing the deep red skin, fangs and horns that I’d gotten so familiar with. “What is it? Are you alright?”

I reached up, feeling the nametag, his nametag, still on my dress. I pulled it off and held it out to him. “You just claimed me. As if it were nothing but a causal decision. You woke up one day in my living room, saw me and decided that you would love me for the rest of my life.”

Traum’s head tilted, his horned shadow flickering over me as I paced once again. “You don’t understand, and I don't’ know how to make you understand.”

“Make me understand what?”

Traum’s voice was even, calm, even as my emotions went roiling away.

“That if you had a choice in the matter, you wouldn’t want me.”

That got his attention. Spine snapping straight, Traum widened his stance. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, this is pure instinct and sexual need. You would usually see someone like me and think ‘oh another human’ and move right along. But because of this fated mate business, you are drawn to me. It isn’t really about me. I would be a raging bitch and you’d still be drawn to me.”

“Hmm,”

Traum looked curious, “Interesting angle to take, little dream. Are you, in fact, a raging bitch?”

I huffed a short laugh, “I mean, no. But, God, I just…”

My frustration peaked and I knew that he must think I was crazy. “I’m not perfect.”

“I’m not either,”

Traum said simply, still watching me with dark eyes.

I sniffled, “But you are, you are beautiful, you are insane in bed, you dance, you flirt, you are even fun to shop with. Everything I’ve seen about you is perfect.”

“Is that, perhaps, because you want to see me as perfect? Because you know, just as much as I do, that we were made for each other. And this fated mates business, as you called it above, is merely an excuse to finally take what you really wanted?”

I stared at him, emotions still running high. “I don’t know. But Traum, you have to know something. You need to know them before you say things like that. Permanent things.”

Traum came into the room, sitting on the small armchair, which he immediately made look like a kids toy. “I’m all ears, darling.”

I drew in a long breath, “I hate mornings, I bite my nails when I’m nervous, I get angry when I don’t know how to do something and I’m a horrible driver.”

Traum remained silent, so I pushed on. “I burn everything I bake. I get lost in my own neighborhood. I’m a selfish friend and partner. And I don't know how to be in a family.”

Silence followed again, broken only by the sound of my ragged intakes of breath. Finally, Traum cleared his throat. “That’s it?”

“Uh,”

I sniffled, “That’s all I can think of right now.”

“Come here,”

Traum commanded from his seat. I didn’t move. I was suddenly terrified to move. Because what had I just done? I had just come completely unglued after a beautiful night together. I had ruined it.

I was ruined.

“Fine, I’ll come there then. I was only suggesting the chair because your feet have to be sore.”

Traum pushed up, coming to stand in front of me. His hands slipped into my hair and with a soft tug he pulled my head back, so our eyes met.

“I have one more thing to add to your list.”

I swallowed, “Okay.”

“You are, without a doubt, terrified to fall in love with anyone,”

Traum said, his dark eyes burning into mine. “Which, while a small hurdle, also thrills me to my core.”

“What? Why?”

“Because this panic you’re feeling, it means that you are falling for me.”

His smile was bright and full of teeth. “And that, little dream, I can work with.”

I reached up to grip his wrists as he held my head. “I’ve never been with anyone like this, and you are so…”

“I’m a lot,”

Traum said with a shrug, “But if you’re hoping I will apologize, I won’t. What we have is something my kind kills for. And while I can never predict what I would’ve done without the bond driving us together, I will tell you this.”

He waited until the single tear that had been gathering streaked down my cheek. “You are kinder and funnier than you think you are. I love the way you smell. I love the way you dance. I have a hundred questions to ask you and I hope we get to spend the rest of our lives answering them. Because I don’t know everything. I know enough.”

I could actually feel my heartbeat pounding in my ears.

“And I will wait, for as long as it takes, for you to understand that. Three dates or three hundred, I will wait until you are just as sure as I am that we are meant to be together.”

“But the coins?”

Traum shrugged, “I know a demon who owes me.”

I laughed, surprised. “Okay.”

His hands gentle on my scalp and he leans down to drop a kiss on my mouth. “No pressure, little dream.”

“No pressure,”

I echoed. My chest and mind were already lighter. “How long until you have to go home?”

Traum glanced around, “Soon I’m afraid. I probably have time for one more dance though.”

My heart physically ached at his words. At the goodbye behind them. “I’d love that.”