AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t overthink it,” she says. “You’ve come back from death because a reaper fell for you at first sight. A demon prince brought you together. You have ghost friends…human and canine alike. Maybe let that beautiful brain?—”
“Damaged brain,” I interrupt.
“Beautiful brain,” she says again, breaking the words down like they’ll get through my formerly fractured skull if she stresses each syllable. “If you give the worries a rest, who knows? Maybe you’ll make space for magic.”
Well, damn. Good Time Glenda is a guru, a flippin’ genius.
Her words follow me even if she and Maximus physically don’t as I move through the aisles, filling my basket with way too much fizzy candy. The colorful packaging and bright lights blur together behind my dark lens while mentally, I’m already making detailed plans as precise as any architectural wonder because I have a mission.
I’m going to ravish my reaper.
Wren
Hayden returnsfrom her latest supply run, driving the van’s tires through the wards on almost the same treads as where she left which will make repairs easier.
Her ghost friend pushes out of the passenger side, Maximus in her arms. “Good luck, Render.”
What does she mean? Has something happened to Hayden? Were the lights in town too much for her? Or the headlights on her drive back? Has she had another headache? How fast can Isummon Theodopolis for a healing potion? Regardless of how much I hate the demon, his alchemist crafts better potions than wizards in multiple realms.
The damn ghost disappears with my dog before I can ask.
I wrench open the driver’s door, prepared to wrap Hayden in darkness until I can find a fix for whatever’s hurting.
“Hello, mate.” She steps out of the van and into my shadows, toeing off her sneakers. “Let me be very clear about what I want. I want you. Now and for as long as whoever you say fated us to be together will let us have.”
My mind short circuits, my magic surges, and I can’t catch a thought. Not a single one. I stare at her in my shadows, at the way my darkness moves around her. It loves her like I love her.
She strips her leggings to her ankles and lifts her shirt before my brain kicks in. Wrapping shadows around her wrists like manacles, I take over while she’s still struggling to free herself from the fabric twisted at her feet.
The scent of her desire? I need a taste of that.
I run a shadow along the neckline of her shirt, ready to pull it down and see which of her pretty animal-print bras she wears today.
“You’re mine now,” I say in a low, demanding voice. “Trapped so I can do whatever I want to you.” I stroke a teasing touch along the place where her thighs are pressed so close together in her temporary binding. I could get used to this. Especially the way she shivers. I should’ve restrained her more in our play. “What do you say to that?”
Licking her lips, she says, “Take me.Claimme.”
She doesn’t know what she’s asking for. I freeze, struggling to keep control over my desires when she uses such dangerous words. A true claiming. My cock aches to sink inside her heat, and I touch my tongue to my fangs where I can almost taste her blood.
In that moment, I see decades with her.
The fantasy made real.
A future.
“I’m sure of it,” she rushes to add. “I don’t need a moment more to think about it. Whatever is keeping you from truly making me yours, whatever reason you had for this delay, don’t let it stop you. Us being together will work out, just like you said.” Her eyes go wide. “Unless you don’t really want forever with me.”
What?No.
Barking explodes from the house, Maximus appearing in three-headed form in the doorway with revenants running his way. He blinks out of existence, reforming a second later to attack the hind leg of one of the beasts.
“Stay here,” I tell Hayden and rush toward the house.
The abominations flood out like a legion. Where did they all come from? I destroyed the labs, the necromancer’s stashes, each of his lairs. Had these creatures all waited in the ley lines beneath the house?
“Maximus!” Hayden’s scared cry tears at me. My mate doesn’t fear much, didn’t fear me upon first sight. “Wren, I can’t see him.” Her footfalls sound as though she’s running.
Absolutely not. She could get hurt. I snap a shadow to hold her back. “Don’t you dare come closer. Stay behind the wards.”
