Chapter 8 #2
"After two years, he decided he was tired of taking care of me, and that if my mother wanted a child, she could carry his.
She agreed. He sold me to someone who had use for my particular brand of magic.
She wiped my tears away as she thanked me for paying the fee their unicorn midwife would charge.
Then he took me to them. I lost control of my magic partway through the drive, and drained his life.
The car crashed, but the people they sold me to found me, and took me. "
"Are your scars from them?" Grayson knew those scars better than anyone. He'd asked about them before, too, and I'd given him small pieces of information.
Most were made by arrows. They'd hurt like a bitch. I hadn't been given anything to help with the pain or healing.
"From the people who took me, yes. My mother's mate never left a permanent mark."
"How long did they have you?"
"About five years. Them teaching me to hone my magic the way they did was what allowed me to kill them and escape in the end."
"When you were fifteen?"
I dipped my head in a small nod.
"Where did you go when you got out?"
"Home." The word was simple, but the swell of emotion that thickened my throat even further was anything but.
"My mother hated me for taking her mate from her.
She hid her son from me after he answered the door.
He looked identical to her mate. I couldn't handle that any more than I could handle her hatred, so I left. "
I stared down at the blanket that covered my lap. "News about what I could do had spread to the pixie settlement nearby, and their queen offered me food and a safe, secluded place to live if I killed her abusive mate. It was my first bargain."
"At fifteen?"
"Yes. Her story reminded me of my own too much to refuse.
I ended his life, and I was safe and provided for indefinitely in exchange.
Callum joined me there a decade later, and Darius and Liv followed eventually.
We stayed until we needed to create Rumor.
When my power would get too difficult to contain, I found a woman who looked like she'd been through hell, and made a bargain with her to drain the life from whoever had hurt her. "
"That continued after you came here."
"It did. Eventually, there were more women to bargain with than I needed to keep my magic under control.
When that happened, I killed simply because I couldn't stand the idea of another woman experiencing what I had.
No one should ever be treated that way. Taken advantage of because they're smaller, weaker, prettier, or kinder. "
"Absolutely fucking not."
Grayson finally grabbed me by my thighs and lifted me onto his lap. The blanket fell lower, exposing my bare breasts, but his gaze remained locked with mine. Our skin wasn't touching, so I was paying the price of my magic, but the overwhelm was manageable with his shadows around me.
He'd never looked at me like this. Like he was fighting to stay in control.
His shadows flickered around us wildly, angrily, as if they'd taken on a life of their own.
I searched his eyes for a sign that he was disgusted or annoyed. That he judged me for anything I'd told him. That his opinion of me had changed, he wanted me to be someone else, or he wished I was different.
I didn't find any of it.
"I'm not your mother's mate any more than you're her." His voice was low and rough.
My eyes burned with his words.
He took my face in his hands. The moment his fingers touched me, my inner world went silent.
No noise.
No stress.
No overwhelm.
Just me, and Grayson.
Bliss.
Complete, utter bliss.
His hands were so big, and so warm.
The touch felt so good that the burning in my eyes became straight-up watering.
"We are not them, and we are not doomed," he said, lowering his forehead to mine. I pulled him closer, breathing his scent in as he held me.
"Do you really think so?" I finally asked.
"I'd bet everything on it."
I hoped he was right.
We fell back asleep for another hour or two before an alarm went off on Grayson's phone. My lips curved just a little when I woke up in his arms.
He groaned quietly, rubbing his bleary eyes. "I've got to get back to the mansion. People die every time I leave."
My smile disappeared.
He tipped my face back and kissed me lightly. "Are you coming back home with me, or am I going to have to hunt you down again tonight?"
Despite his anger when he'd shown up in the middle of the night, he wasn't really pissed. Not anymore.
"It's undecided," I said.
He nodded slowly. His shadows gathered around me, significantly more of them clinging to my skin as he focused the magic. "I'll leave them with you for as long as I can."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me. I have big plans for you tonight."
My face heated. "You didn't get off earlier.”
"I'm good. Or I will be, tonight.” He winked at me.
With that, he set me down on the couch and strode toward the front door.
"You forgot your shorts," I pointed out.
He paused.
I tossed them toward him, and he caught them, pulling them on deftly. They didn't even almost hide his erection. Or the slight bulge at the base of it. I guess when he got really turned on, his knot refused to be hidden.
"We need to talk about your true form," I said.
"We don't."
"We do."
He strode toward the front door, calling over his shoulder, "We don't!"
"We absolutely do!"
"Bye, Love." His voice carried through the room before he shut the door behind him.
I sent Rae a text, then headed for the spare room Darius kept ready for me.
If I was going to seal my bond with Grayson, there were things I had to do first.