Chapter Twelve
“ S ythia!” Blake screams as the ice begins to cover his body. “Please help me.”
I thrash at the bindings holding me back.
Unable to call for him.
Unable to go to him.
And worst of all, unable to stop the ice from consuming him whole.
My body begins to shake, and I hear a distant voice…
“Forsythia, please wake up.”
My eyes snap open at the sound of Lucian’s desperate plea. His eyes are filled with worry as I take in my surroundings and reorient where I am.
In the forest, with Lucian. We spent the night together… many times… before we drifted off into a blissful sleep. Only my sleep didn’t remain so. The nightmares came back again.
I reach up and cup Lucian’s cheek. He turns his face into my hand, closing his eyes and taking comfort in my touch.
“I’m sorry I worried you. It was just a nightmare,” I tell him.
His eyes spring open, and looks down at me with a pinched expression. “That didn’t seem like just a nightmare. Do you mind telling me what it was about?” He asks. His tone shows how much he truly wants to know and that he truly cares. Or maybe those are just the impressions I’m picking up from this new soul-bond.
I drop my hand to my stomach and sigh. “It was Blake. Every night since I… came back from the dead…,” Lucian lets out a small growl at my words, but I continue on, “I’ve had the same nightmare almost every night. Blake calls out for me. Asking me for help. Then he stops calling out as his entire body is encased in ice, and I wake up. Whenever I wake up, then I’m filled with this anxious energy and want to get moving to find him quicker.”
Instead of laughing at me or calling me crazy, Lucian nods. Then he leans in close and gives me a quick kiss on the forehead before standing up.
We are still completely naked, and even with the aching pain in my nether region, I can still feel myself getting wetter the more and more I look at him. I feel insatiable, and I’m about to test my luck with round–is it eight or nine now?–but my heat gets doused when my sexy giant tosses my clothes and hits me right in the face with them.
I can hear the laughter in his voice as he works on getting himself dressed. “You can get washed up and get your clothes on while I get us some breakfast.” He glances up at the sky and smiles. “The morning star will be shining brightly soon.”
Only a moment ago, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from my burning desire for this man, but now? Now I just stare at him in awe. With the barely noticeable light beginning to fill the sky and casting a minute glow on his face, he truly looks beautiful.
If Blake is my fire, then Lucian is my ice. Both fierce forces of nature, truly beautiful, incredibly deadly, and the pieces of myself I have been missing.
Smiling as I walk over to the creek, I feel no shame in my actions from the night before, and if Lucian’s more relaxed posture this morning is any indication at all–let alone the slight impressions I can feel through the bond–then he also feels more whole than he has in his entire existence.
Because of me .
I bring out the peace this wonderful man has been missing in his life.
Guilt? How in the world could I ever feel guilty for creating something so beautiful with such an amazing man like Lucian?
Yesterday, I thought the Gods were fucking batshit crazy. I never felt that I deserved one soul-bond mate, let alone two. But now that I have Lucian, I understand completely. My magick feels more grounded than it ever has before. I finally feel like I actually have some control over it. I feel more… powerful .
By the time I finish washing and getting dressed, Lucian has a bowl of oatmeal and berries waiting for me. Since I only have one bowl, he takes the pot and sits down beside me with his breakfast.
We eat in companionable silence, and I realize that while he couldn’t make the nightmare go away, Lucian did give me what I needed this morning. He gave me a distraction with the task of washing and dressing. He has given me breakfast, and I know that when we finish, he means to help me find Blake.
This man is a gift all on his own.
Giving in to the new urge, I lean over and kiss Lucian on the cheek before polishing off the rest of my breakfast.
I feel extra giddy at the thought of getting to Blake, but also incredibly nervous about my proposal for him.
Maybe he won’t want me as much as I want him? Especially since I’m now a packaged deal.
Whatever he decides he wants from me, it doesn’t change the fact that I am coming for him.
And the fuckers that dared to take him away in the first place, will not stand in my way.
Hold on, Blake.