Chapter Twelve #2
“I can’t have you go hungry. My fear won’t be enough, will it?” Her fingers play with the bone ring piercing my nipple.
“Your fear is the best I’ve ever tasted. You fuel me like no other.”
“So you don’t need more?” She pulls back with a smirk. “Am I enough? Or does my lust cloud my fear?”
“I might need more,” I admit. “But I can live without anyone else’s fear as long as I have you.”
“But what if you had more?”
“Why would a detective help me?”
“Bad people don’t hold any sympathy from me. I’ve seen what the worst of the worst can do. I don’t mind feeding you. It’s what you need.”
I tighten my grip on her neck and pull her back, keeping her sinful lips from toying with my body. “How about we find out?”
“What do you mean?”
“Run,” I growl, shoving her away from me before I lose control. “Run as hard and fast as you can.”
“You’ll chase me?”
I chuckle at the childlike word.
“No, Little Dream.” I lean forward, licking a fang. “I’m going to hunt.” I can’t hold in the growl.
Her eyes widen, fear permeating the air, followed by the delicious perfume of her desire.
My eyes roam her body up and down. “You don’t seem to mind that idea.”
“But, I-I-” She spins around, stretching her arms out. “I don’t know where to run. Everything is dark except this yard and house.”
“Afraid of the dark, are we?”
“A little,” she admits, taking a step away from me.
“Just run into the dark. It’s endless since it’s my nightmare—well—a dream now that you’re here.”
“Don’t sweet-talk me when you’re about to hunt me. You’re going to give me a head start, right?”
“Lula-lala-la-la-laa,” I sing, a warning that I am no longer in charge, but my nightmare is.
“You’re the song.” True astonishment has her walking backwards, trying to put more space between us. “I’ve heard you for days now.”
“It’s one of the waysss I get into your head.
” I tap a finger on the side of my skull.
“And I do love getting into your head, but you’re in mine now.
That’s a very dangerous place to be. It’s worse than the dark.
” I fall to all fours, blowing out a breath that turns to fog in the night.
“Tick Tock, Lula. You’d better run. I’m becoming impatient. ”
She turns, launching herself into a sprint. Her hair flows behind her, wild and untamed. Looking over her shoulder to see where I’m at, I paw at the ground, the rhino fueling my veins to charge.
I give her such a large head start that she disappears into the night just like I told her to.
My blood heats with the anticipation of catching her.
My cock extends from its mouth, already dripping with precome.
My claws extend, digging into the cold, wet surface of the earth, my muscles trembling and ready to launch.
Do I play with her emotions? Do I tease her? How long should I scare her?
Reaching between my legs from the thoughts, I swipe a finger over the flared thick crown, gathering the precome, then suck it into my mouth.
I shiver when I allow myself to think about being connected to her in reality.
She’s still wrapped around my cock, her tightness gripping me as more orgasms take over her body.
I don’t only want her in reality.
I want her in my nightmares too.
This nightmare, especially, is the darkest one I have. And already, she’s making it feel like a dream.
When I can no longer hear her breathing as she runs, I take off, running full speed into the darkness. The further away I get from the house that holds my mother’s and father’s murder, the better I feel.
The emptiness of the abyss of space morphs into a forest. The trees are tall with massive trunks that can easily be hidden behind.
She has no idea how I’ve set her up to fail.
I can easily find her now by her scent, hearing her breathe, hearing every step she takes, her heartbeat, everything is working against her.
It’s a few degrees cooler within the thick of the woods. Fog hovers over the ground, drifting in slow motion. Lifting my head, I inhale, allowing her aroma to seep into my lungs to tell me where to go.
With a quick jerk of my head to the left, I run again, tearing down trees that are in my way with one solid swipe of my arm. The ground shakes with every step I take, the leaves shaking from the vibrations traveling through the ground and up the roots of the trees.
When I’m close enough to her, I slow. I don’t want to give away my position.
She’s up ahead, twisting and turning to find me.
Even from this far, her fear smells like a fresh rain at night with loud thunder and hot, intense lightning.
There’s a warm undertone to it, a bitterness that reminds me of licorice.
Lula is my sweet treat, even when she’s afraid.
“Lula-lala-la-la-la,” I sing, dashing closer to her with my enhanced abilities.
I hide behind the tree next to her, remaining quiet and stealthy. My heart is fucking racing. I press my hand against the middle of my chest, needing to feel the strong beat bumping against my ribcage.
Taking a moment to wonder what I’m experiencing, it dawns on me that I’m excited.
I’m…happy.
She’s allowing me to hunt her. She accepts me, for me. What I need to survive, to thrive, she’s willing to give.
My mate deserves the sun, but unfortunately, she is damned to the moon.
I peek around the tree trunk, my mouth salivating when the salty air of her sweat lingers. A growl works its way up my throat, but I hold it in, needing to remain quiet.
“Lula-lala-la-la-la.” I dash to another tree, dig my claws into the bark, and climb up it.
“Shade!” She twists and turns, that wonderful smell of her fear feeding my sinister soul.
I climb higher into the tree, hiding myself in the snow-covered branches. Our surroundings are so dark, it’s impossible for her to see me unless I’m directly in front of her. A chitter clicks within my throat, the nightmare singing its happiness.
Jumping from one tree to another, the snow jostles from the branches and falls. Lula peers up, trying to locate where I’m at before taking off running again. I laugh to myself, finding her effort to escape me adorable.
“Lula-lala-la-la-laaa.”
She pumps her arms, sprinting as fast as she can, but she’ll never be as fast as me. Lula stops again. The woods in my dream are never-ending. This hunt could last forever if I wanted it to. I could have us live inside my mind for all eternity.
Hooking my claws into the bark, I use gravity to allow me to slide down, engraving my mark on the tree.
She spins when she hears the grating of wood, and I blur to a spot directly behind her. Bending down, I smell her hair, the citrus scent causing more precome to leak from me.
She steps forward, curious and careful, not wanting to spook me if I am waiting for her behind the tree.
Adorable.
“This isn’t funny anymore,” her voice is ridden with emotion. “I don’t know where I am.”
Of course, she’s afraid. She’s running through someone else’s mind. When something is new and unknown, it’s scary at first, but over time, she’ll realize the safest place she’ll ever be is with me.
Growling so close to her ear, I speed away to another tree, watching her spin around to find that no one is behind her.
Oh, toying with my mate is so much fun.
“Shade?” Her bottom lip quivers, another fresh wave of terror hanging thick in the air. “Shade, this isn’t funny. I’m ready to be caught.”
I don’t like my food to surrender so easily.
That’s too fucking bad.
Using my vampire speed, I run right in front of her, having her wonder if what she saw—she actually saw.
“Shade? Is that you? Shade!” she screams for me, my name echoing into the void. “Shade!” Lula desperately tries to call for me, all while I’m right here, five steps to her left.
I chuckle, amusing myself as her panic rises. Such a big, empty space for a delicate human. And no matter what she says, Lula is delicate, compared to me, she’s as soft as a flower petal.
Standing behind her again, I move to the left and right, dodging her gaze when she turns around to find me. She can sense me when I’m that close.
“I know you’re close. I can feel you.” Her frozen breath puffs past her lips. “You’re not far. I bet your hair is standing on its ends, warning you that a predator is close.”
I hide behind her, lifting strands of her hair with my claw. I press them against my nose, closing my eyes to sink deeper into the place her scent brings me to.
Peace.
I rub the ends against my cheek, so soft, so silky. I want them to drag over my body as she kisses her way down my stomach to suck my cock.
Screeching at the top of her lungs when she feels me, she turns around to catch me red-handed, but I’m gone before she makes sense of what she thought she felt.
“Lula-lala-la-la-la,” I sing, running around her in circles so she has no idea where the song is coming from. “Lula-lala-la-la-laaa.”
She spins and spins, left and right, trying her best to locate me, and she becomes dizzy.
Lula loses her balance and collapses in the snow, groaning.
She’s on her hands and knees, taking a moment to gather her breath, but all I can think about is ripping her pants free and splitting her open with my cock.
Gripping her by her hair, I yank her head back, her eyes glazed with worry and arousal. Her pheromones are so strong, an orgasm threatens to paint the fake forest floor.
She inhales, her lips parted, open and inviting, but I’m not done hunting her yet.
I tug on her hair again, forcing her to get to her feet. She hisses, reaching back to where I’m gripping her by the root.
“Run. And don’t look back, Lula.”
“You have me now. Do what you want with me.”
“Oh, I plan to.” I push her forward, falling to all fours again. I crack my neck, left, then right, the sound eerie within the silent forest. “Run.”