Page 14 of Our Dark Winter Wish

The comfort of his eyes keeps me grounded, chasing away the threat of flashbacks.

‘I’ll be your nightmare,’ he says, easing in a third finger as I continue riding him. ‘And I’ll be a far greater nightmare to anyone or anything that threatens your peace.’

He takes the holly and presses it into the second place I was cut. The old mark is gone, but the one he creates replaces it, hot and comforting as he drags it over my skin. The threat of flashbacks bites at me again, but he simply holds me closer, looking up at me with nothing but devotion and a promise.

That he is mine, and I am his.

And in our darkness, we are safe.

‘Count, Pixie.’

He cuts a third time.

‘Three,’ I whisper.

The snow falls. My blood trickles into the blanket of white.

He stops when he gets to seven. That’s the number Cole got up to. He’ll go no further.

He drops the holly so he can pin me to his body. Both his arms engulf me as I ride him. He thrusts upwards and slams me down onto him. The pain cuts right through me and has me shouting.

But my gods… the pain is perfect, and it’s all I want.

His tongue runs along the cuts, and he moans in response to its taste.

‘You taste so fucking good,’ he says, sealing his lips around the wound and sucking.

They do not need my blood, and only Shaw seems to enjoy the taste of it still. A fact he has kept to himself. He only indulges in that need when it’s just us, and I haven’t said a word to anyone about it.

I would willingly open any vein for him.

His pace quickens, and with his fingers still buried deep inside, as well as his throbbing cock, I feel him tense.

He grunts and swears as he spills himself inside me. And I am almost crying as I find my release, too.

Panting, I look down at him. Our breath is still visible in the air, and as we smile at one another, I lean in to kiss him.

4

Shaw

Icling to her, holding her naked body as close to me as I possibly can. Our kiss is slow but deep. Her lips move with mine, and it’s not the cold air and snow landing on my skin that has it rippling into goosebumps.

It’s her. It’s always her and always will be.

My arms encase her, and she shivers in the cold. Reaching down, I scoop up her long coat and wrap it around her.

I am amazed at the sheer amount of forgiveness she can offer. I would have slaughtered me the first night we met if I were her. And I would have slaughtered us all a hundred times over by now, for sure.

Not her. Part blood witch. Now a goddess of the earth.

And with the heart of an angel.

‘It won’t happen again,’ I tell her. ‘I’ll get the nightmares under control. I promise.’

I can’t see her scream like that again. I can’t, and I won’t. I rest my head on her chest and hold her closer still.

‘It probably will happen again,’ she replies, caressing my check and offering me a sympathetic smile. ‘And that’s okay. We’re just a little broken right now, but it will pass.’

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