Chapter Twenty-Four
I missed the swirling grey clouds of our dreams, and I can’t help but feel my hopes lift when I find myself back here.
There’s something peculiar about this place, something that makes me feel like I can relax, like I can breathe for the first time and it’s familiar.
Not familiar because he’s here, but familiar in a way I can’t put my finger on.
Soft, dark grey rain clouds swirl around my feet as usual, and this time, I’m in all black, the same clothes I wore when I first came to the Folkland. When he first saw me.
My monster claims I am in control of my dreams, but I don’t see a selection of cakes and chocolate and milkshakes. If I were in control, I’d have those for sure.
Like every time I see him, my monster takes my breath away. He is sitting on a cloud a few feet away from me, a book perched on his crossed leg.
“You read,” I murmur in surprise, walking through the fog towards him.
My monster’s lips tilt up, and he slowly drags his eyes over me, from my boots to my eyes. I shiver at the way I enjoy that. “I’ve decided to acquire the taste for reading more often now I see you like it.”
“That is only something a stalker would admit because he’s been watching me.” I pause an inch away from him.
“Stalking you, watching you.” He closes the book with an echoing thud. His black eyes are somehow playful, and I like this side of him. “All the same. This is the book you half read and your selected stole.” He says the word like he’s unsure selected is what I should be calling Elizabeth.
I remember what the priest said about how she would become my guardian if we survived, and there is a chance we could get out of the Folkland now. A real possibility. “Do you think I should be calling her my guardian? Or something else.”
“Guardians to oblivion-touched are rare, and her title is a very coveted position in the court.” He watches me, and I can tell he is being careful with his answer. “I do not think she is strong enough to be your guardian. What is done cannot be undone, and oblivion will heed the choice.”
There he goes, saying that word. Oblivion. “What court? Crone, Maiden or Mother?” I know the packs have courts filled with nobles who help the royals make choices for the packs.
His eyes flash with something. “I can’t tell you yet, but you can remember.” He cocks his head to the side. “All the answers you are searching for are in your mind, love.”
I chew on my inner cheek. “I don’t know what you want me to remember, my monster.”
“I know.” He breathes out in annoyance. “Do you want your book back?”
I hold out my hand, a playful smile on my face. Something in my stomach is glad for the change of subject. “Yes.”
At some point, I realize I’m not scared of him at all. I should be, but I think the truth is, other than when he bit me and caused this lovely glowing mark on my wrist, he hasn’t actually hurt me. He’s saved me.
He spreads out his wide thighs, the tartan that he wears bunching up around his knees, and he curls one hand. “Come, sit on me, and I’ll give it to you.”
He is the picture of male arrogance and seduction when he looks like that.
Holy goddesses, I want to sit on him. My cheeks burn, and I wish I were confident enough to go over and straddle him and take the book.
But I’m not. My feet feel frozen to the fog-covered ground.
He laughs deeply and watches me. “I am yours to claim. You need not feel embarrassed.”
I nearly choke at his suggestion. “I’m not embarrassed…
but we are not in a relationship or—” I yelp as he grabs me, pulling me onto his lap, my legs spread wide around his waist. My face is inches from his, and he brushes my hair off my shoulder.
Goddess, the way he looks at me. It’s raw, unfiltered, and he owns it.
I gasp when he runs his nose up my neck, and my eyes roll back.
It feels so good when he touches me. So right.
My hands dig into his shoulders, clutching him as his fangs gently graze down my neck, right before he bites me.
Oh, goddesses. His teeth sink into my neck, and there is a pinch of pain, just for a second, and then there is nothing but blinding pleasure.
His tongue swipes over the bite mark, sending shivers exploding down my spine.
A moan bursts out of my throat, and he growls, the sound vibrating against my sensitive skin, his hand slipping between my legs to cup my pussy, and I shake, needing more.
“Please,” I breathe. I beg, barely recognizing my own desperate voice.
My monster doesn’t disappoint. His fingers trace teasing circles on my pussy through my clothes, and pleasure so intense wipes any thought except for him.
I breathe in his midnight air scent with each pant that leaves my lips.
Heat pools low in my belly, building with every purposeful stroke, and he knows exactly how to do this.
I never want him to stop. I know I’d beg him if he tried to stop, but his groans of pleasure against my neck tell me he won’t.
My hips rock against his hand, seeking friction, seeking the release only he can give me.
I whimper, knowing I’m so close, my breath coming in ragged gasps, and he sucks on my neck harder.
His other hand tangles in my golden hair, holding me to him.
My moan echoes loudly as I come, crying out in sheer bliss as my orgasm rockets through my body in pulse after pulse of overwhelming pleasure, and I fall onto his chest. He holds me tight as aftershocks tremble through my limbs, and I hear him murmuring words in another language that I can barely process through the haze.
He takes his teeth out of my neck, slowly licking over where he bit me.
“We are in far more than the word relationship could describe. Fucking remember that when you try to describe us again. You. Are. Mine.”
My eyes are wide as I look up at him, seeing my blood on his lips, the silver stars in his dark eyes glowing bright.
His hand brushes down my spine, and his tartan does nothing to hide how much he enjoyed that too.
I can feel him hard and pressed against my ass, and it’s damp.
Any smart word has left my mind with that earth-shattering orgasm.
I can die happy now. It can’t get better than that.
I clear my throat and pick up the book. “I’m sitting, and now this is mine.”
His laugh washes over me. “You make me happy, love.” His hands are still moving across my back, my waist, my stomach.
“We don’t have a lot of time together, and I will be punished for coming to see you.
The goddesses have made it harder for me to get into your mind, and you are not opening your dreams to me on the nights they look away.
The wolves’ magic somehow clouds you from me.
” I feel like I should apologize, but he is a man, and even though he just made me see stars, I am not saying sorry to the other gender.
“Why do the goddesses not like you interfering? I don’t want you to be punished.” I’ve wondered this a few times now.
“Because it has to be fair. The human in every Folkland has to get their powers on their own.” He plays with my hair. “Everything’s different this time because of you. This game has been played so much that the goddesses are growing bored. Every human that walks in here—”
“But there’s never been a human in the Folkland before,” I interrupt him.
“What have I told you about the wolves lying?” My heart pounds at the look he gives me.
I believe him. “What happened to the humans from the Folkland then?”
He leans into my face. “They walk out of here and the alphas take them, I assume. The goddesses say they are gone, and they grow annoyed. I expect they plan to make sure the next human will not die at the alpha’s hand.
” Me. He means me. “Love, tell me what happens to the most powerful being in the world when they leave this place as a champion?” The most powerful?
A human being more powerful than a wolf?
It wouldn’t happen, and they wouldn’t be alive long.
They would be a threat to the wolves, and maybe humans wouldn’t just be slaves and controlled if they had someone fighting, who actually stood a chance against a shifter.
A human with power could change our world.
“The alphas of the packs want me killed in here. They told every wolf to make sure they killed me, and their families were threatened.” His shoulders are so tight that he snaps his teeth together. “Why would they want me dead in here if they just plan to kill me when I get out?”
“Maybe you’re more dangerous than even you realize.
Even they realize. They’re fools to think that you can be killed in here.
It takes more than a dagger to kill oblivion-touched, more than drowning, more than burning or what any element can conjure.
The only way the oblivion-touched can die is—” He pauses so fast, like he can’t speak it.
I clutch my fingers around the book. Midnight air brushes across my senses, and I lean closer to him.
My monster has all the answers, and I have a thousand questions, but I know that we’re running out of time.
I can almost feel myself waking up. “The Maiden test is tomorrow, and it is the most dangerous. You need to be ready.”
“What will happen in it?” I quickly ask, my body fading like smoke.
“I cannot tell you.” His voice is laced with sadness.
“One more trial and you are one step closer to our freedom. We will never be parted again. Remember, call for me and tell the world that you are mine. It is the only way I can protect you.” His lips press onto my forehead.
“Unleash me, love, and I’ll destroy the world for you. ”