Chapter 33 Shadows and Fairytales #3
“Hate me if you wish, but all I want is to keep you safe and let you find the happiness you deserve. Forgive me if my excitement over the thought of a possible future together was a bit overwhelming, but you are all that matters to me.” He leans back against the stone counter, hands gripping the edge as if it’s all that’s holding him up, his eyes dull and empty for the first time.
“I don’t hate you, Ere. Not at all. I just…” I lose my train of thought as he pushes off the counter and steps toward me.
The scent of him is like a midnight breeze tinged with the essence of shadows. It’s hard to describe how comforting and calming Ere smells, only that taking a deep breath, breathing him in, makes me feel like I’m back outside in the cool night air and I could live within that scent forever.
‘This is hard. I don’t know what I feel for you anymore,” I whisper, staring at the floor, unable to look at him as I confess the truth.
My love for him still exists, but I can’t pretend my feelings for Kairos are non-existent. I fell for him, too. Throw in the magical connection of fated mates and not knowing who I’m meant to be with, and it’s hard to know what the hell I’m supposed to feel, let alone what I do feel.
The soothing touch of his hands as he brushes my hair back and then tilts my chin up, forcing me to look at him, makes my heart flutter.
“You only fell for him because I left you, and I am sorry for that. You thought he was all you had. That he was the only man who could keep you safe. You were wrong.” His fingertips graze across my cheek bone and he tilts his head slightly.
“I think you know exactly how you feel for me and what it is you truly want, my little flame.” His smile is brief and small as his gaze lingers on my lips.
“I just don’t think you are quite ready yet to admit the truth. ”
“Why do you use that name for me? My little flame. You never called me that until I got here.” Lifting my chin, my eyes roam over his face and get distracted by his lips, the perfect curve of them driving me wild as he inches even closer.
“It was a name I gave you in the past. You used to love it. If you hate it now, I can stop.” He grips my hands and places them on his chest.
I shake my head. “No. I like it.”
I close my eyes as the steady thumping of his heart soothes the ache I feel in my own over the possibility of hurting him if I don’t choose him.
If he isn’t meant for me. But there’s something about touching him like this that sends waves of hope and trust rushing through me, a gentle reminder that he has always managed to keep me calm regardless of what I’m going through.
His hands hold me captive, the smooth warmth of his skin pressing into me as I feel and listen and get lost in the rhythm of our hearts.
I keep my eyes closed, letting his comforting energy wrap around me and remind me to breathe.
“Tell me what you are feeling right now. Do not think, Nora. Just feel.” His words are a command, but there’s a longing laced within his voice, as if begging me to surrender to the sound of him and the feel of his heart and to the moment we’re sharing here together.
Everything. I feel everything with Ere. As my breath catches in my throat and my heart beats wildly, I’m momentarily stunned to silence over that admission to myself.
Every moment is intense and full of passion with Ere, especially when our bodies are so close.
It’s hard to deny or hide from the truth.
“I’m afraid of what my heart feels for you. It’s like there’s a depth to it I can’t fully grasp,” I admit, the words rushing out with no filter.
He sighs, his grip tightening around my hands, refusing to let me go.
I open my eyes and his fiery gaze burns into me.
“I have so much I would like to say to you, but it is not the right time yet. It kills me every day that you cannot remember our love and the bond we shared for nearly a century. You have the freedom to choose or control whatever you would like. My only hope is that you choose me in the end.” He swallows, his grip loosening as he rubs his thumbs across the tops of my hands.
“However, there are things about me which you cannot control, either. One is the absolute satisfaction I will feel while mercilessly slaughtering anyone, immortal or otherwise, who dares to stand in the way of me having you by my side. And you will not control the way my anger rips through the entire world if you are taken from me. I will not lose you again.” His fingers tremble, flexing slightly as he frees my hands.
I stand frozen for a moment, hands still pressed to his chest, a heated shiver running down my spine as I struggle to grasp the depth of his feelings for me.
I knew he loved me, but this possessive, ‘I’ll burn the world down for you’ passion is new, and although his words and the truth they hold should probably scare me, they only make me want him more.
His intense gaze flickers away as he turns to leave, and without pausing to reconsider, I grasp his face in my hands and force him to stop.
To not leave. To stay here with me. The warmth of his cheeks burn my palms as I kiss him with an intensity that could make the entire realm combust into flames.
In this moment, I would burn the world down for him in a heartbeat.
He stands still for a moment, shock written across his features, then in one swift motion he lifts me off the ground and I cling to him.
I wrap my arms and legs around his muscular body and hold on for dear life, wishing and praying I’ll never have to let him go again.
His large hands grip my hips and press me against him harder, pulling me in closer, and a rush of arousal forces its way in and burns me to my core.
His mouth against mine is passionate and hungry and urgent as if we may never get the chance to do this again.
His kiss and his ravenous tongue are a dangerous mix of desperation and possessiveness that I’ve learned to crave, a kiss that makes me fearful it’ll be the death of me one day.
Tendrils of shadows envelop us in a blanket of darkness, dancing and spinning and brushing against my sensitive skin, forcing our bodies closer together.
Oxygen escapes my lungs in breathless moans to make room for him deep within every part of me.
As he deepens the kiss, his fingers tighten around my hair, getting lost within the moment.
My scalp burns from the pleasure of that small amount of pain, and I melt into his arms. A desperate moan escapes into his mouth, begging for release, for more, for him to never fucking stop.
I need him. I think of nothing else as I pull my lips from his, my entire body coiled in tension and burning with a desire I’ve never known before.
This moment with Ere is one that could never be forgotten or stolen or replaced, it’s a moment that will forever be etched into my memory.
“I want you,” I whimper, squeezing my thighs tightly around his hips, my forehead pressed against his as I close my eyes.
“Not good enough, my little flame,” his voice is dark and taunting, and I know he’s smiling without even looking.
He grips my ass and presses the hard length of his cock against my center, slowly and torturously grinding against my clit again and again, and I writhe back and forth desperately. The bastard.
“Please. I need you,” I beg, thighs now trembling with desire and need as I force my eyes to meet his. I want to prove that I’m thinking clearly and that I’m sure and that I have no other thought besides him and I.
“I thought you might never ask.” His smile is playful and cruel and delicious in a way that makes my insides burn.
His eyes are glowing orbs of hope and his shadows a menacing power that others might fear, but in this moment, I feel lucky that he only has eyes for me.
I can’t deny there’s something special between us.
It could all really be true, couldn’t it?
We might be fated to be. If that’s the case, then I will thank the gods for allowing me a chance with such a sexy, terrifying, amazing creature, because Ere is what many women’s dreams are made of. I would be lucky to have him.
Once upon a time, I imagined my life would resemble a fairy tale, where a gallant knight would rescue me from the darkness in the world, and we would live happily ever after.
Here I am being dragged into the shadows by the King of the Underworld, and enjoying every dark, blissful minute of it. Close enough, right?