Page 48 of A Spark in the Ash

The room begins to glow as light splinters over his body. My shadows grow larger. They swirl around us, pressing against Jaxon, trying to keep me safe from the very thing I want most. His touch is so hot it almost feels like ice.

It’s so messed up. This pleasure comes with so much pain.

But this is us. Kissing in the dark, while he splinters into light, and my shadows swirl around us in a nightmarish dance of perfection.

Chapter Fifteen

Something warmand soft presses against the back of my neck.

My conscious stirs as the warmth shifts to the side of my neck. Then it shifts over to the peak of my shoulder.

My eyes blink open, and I look over to find Jaxon kissing his way down my neck and then down my arm.

When he sees I’m awake, he rests his chin on my shoulder, staring at me.

I’m lying on my side with my back to him. He’s tucked right up against me, one hand resting on my burned hip.

It’s perfect. It’s everything I’ve been dreaming about for the past month.

“Morning,” he breathes quietly.

I roll onto my back, cupping my hand behind his neck and dragging his lips down to mine. “Morning,” I say softly.

He looks down at me, the gaze in his eyes soft.

“What are you thinking right now?” I ask, dying to know.

A small smile pulls in the corner of his mouth. “I’m thinking I could do this for the rest of my life,” he says. “Waking up next to you every morning… This is everything, Serena.”

I smile as I look into his eyes. There’s something warm and soft growing in my chest. It makes it kind of hard to breathe, yet it’s the best feeling in the world at the same time. “Then let’s do it every night.”

He smiles in agreement. But we both know that it’s unlikely to come true.

“Come on,” he says. “We need to get ready to meet Aaron.”

Great. Work.

We both roll out of the bed, and I make my way to his bathroom. I wonder then what it might be like to have a home of our own. One we pick together. One we decorate together. One where everything isoursinstead of his, or the darklings’, or the Grays’.

I pull my long, thick hair up into a messy bun at the top of my head. I grab my pants that are still lying on the floor next to the shower and shimmy my way back into them. I peel Jaxon’s shirt off and pull my bra on just two seconds before Jaxon wanders into the bathroom.

He’s only wearing a pair of—of course—black jeans. No shirt. And he’s barefoot.

I smile as he steps up to the counter and grabs his toothbrush.

“What?” he asks with his own smile as he puts some toothpaste on it.

I smile again and shake my head. “It’s just…nothing about my life has been normal since the mid-eighteen-hundreds. I mean, I’m nearly two hundred years old. But this…” I look to him and then look in the mirror. Jaxon looks, too. There we are, neither of us wearing a top, but both of us looking so comfortable. We look like we’ve been doing this for years. “This feels normal. It shouldn’t. I mean, nothing about what’s happened since we met has been normal. But…” I turn and cross to him. I hook my hands behind his neck, and his arms circle my waist. “This feels normal. Being with you, Jaxon, it kind of feels like…destiny.”

He nods in agreement, the expression in his eyes soft. “I never thought I’d be with anyone ever again, Serena. I didn’t think I could risk it, not with the life I’ve lived and my history and family. But then a terrifying shadow spider came along, and I wasn’t scared anymore. Me and you were made for each other.”

I nod because I absolutely agree. “I love you,” I say as a smile pulls on my lips. “And it feels amazing to finally say that.”

He smirks, and I know it’s because I threwfinallyinto that sentence. We’ve only known each other for a month, sofinallyis a little bit of a stretch.

But it’s the way it feels.

He nods. “And I love you, my little spider.”

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