Page 30 of Dreaming of Darkness

I laughed, “Why? Afraid you won’t like the answer.”

“Nope,” she said, popping the ‘p’ sound as she rose up on her toes to brush a kiss over my lips, “Afraid I will like them too much.”

“Fuck, mate,” I hissed, chasing her mouth for another quick kiss. “Too much more of this and I won’t care who sees.”

Bailey giggled. Giggled. I might have been irritated at her dismissal of my threat if I wasn’t so obsessed with the sound.

“I like when you call me that.”

“What?”

She sighed, “Mate.”

This time I was the one who shivered. “I’m glad.”

“Are you ready to go home?” she asked, her smile soft. I reached up, cupping her face. “Wherever you go, I go.”

Bailey’s smile slowly fades, her eyes shining with something close to tears, but when I move to brush them away, she pulls away slightly.

“Let’s go,” she said, stepping out of my embrace. Together she twines her way across the dancefloor, past the buffet and through the front doors. Her silence swirling around us as weclimbed into the back of what she called a cab, and together we made our way back to her house.

***

Bailey

Wherever you go, I go.

That’s what he’d said. And the words, the assurance and gentle consideration behind them had sent a bolt of fear straight to my gut. Not because my heart didn’t crave that kind of love every single day. But because it was so simple for him.

He didn’t know enough to say that.

But still, he’d said it.

He didn’t know what I was like, what I was really like. He was prepared to bind himself to me–to commit himself to me for the rest of his very, very long life.

And God help me, I wanted him. I wanted him to do that. But I feared the resentment. I feared what might happen to us. And that was all I could think of as Traum and I stepped into my house, letting my jacket slip from my shoulders.

Traum was there a moment later, his hand at the small of my back as we moved into the kitchen. “I can feel your anxiety, little dream, do you want to tell me what bothers you?”

I paced back and forth a moment, before pausing to rid myself of my heels. Flat footed, I immediately began to pace again. All thoughts of hiding my flaws suddenly thrown out the window.

“I don’t know how else to tell you this.”

Traum leaned against the door jam and like a skin peeling back his human glamour slipped from his skin, revealing the deep red skin, fangs and horns that I’d gotten so familiar with. “What is it? Are you alright?”

I reached up, feeling the nametag, his nametag, still on my dress. I pulled it off and held it out to him. “You just claimed me. As ifit were nothing but a causal decision. You woke up one day in my living room, saw me and decided that you would love me for the rest of my life.”

Traum’s head tilted, his horned shadow flickering over me as I paced once again. “You don’t understand, and I don't’ know how to make you understand.”

“Make me understand what?” Traum’s voice was even, calm, even as my emotions went roiling away.

“That if you had a choice in the matter, you wouldn’t want me.”

That got his attention. Spine snapping straight, Traum widened his stance. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, this is pure instinct and sexual need. You would usually see someone like me and think ‘oh another human’ and move right along. But because of this fated mate business, you are drawn to me. It isn’t really about me. I would be a raging bitch and you’d still be drawn to me.”

“Hmm,” Traum looked curious, “Interesting angle to take, little dream. Are you, in fact, a raging bitch?”

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