Page 8 of Dreaming of Darkness

Traum stepped forward, until I could practically feel the heat from his body as I stared down at the heavy boots he wore. “Bailey, look at me.”

Slowly, I let my gaze move up his body, over the dark pants, the soft white shirt, the gaping collar exposing more of that deep red skin. And then finally I was staring him right in the eyes, the pupils there blown black and wide.

“I would love to come back tomorrow. And every night until the Lords stop me. But I don’t know how this works. I’m not even sure how it worked this time. But I promise you, you are mine, and I will find a way to come back and convince you to love me.”

My mouth opened in surprise, “Whether that be in five days or five hundred.”

I huffed out a short, surprised laugh, covering my mouth with my hand as I looked up at this living impossibility.

“Okay,” I said, my heart pounding in my ears. “I’ll be waiting.”

Traum nodded, his jaw clenched as he began to step back into the doorway. I reached out, brushing my fingers over his shirt as he moved. “But first….”

Traum’s soldering gaze found mine.

“Kiss me goodbye.”

This time I could see the tick in his jaw as he visibly shuddered. “I can’t do that.” Rejection was choking me. “What?”

And then Traum is there, a hand on my belly, turning me, until I faced away from him, my body plastered against his front. Hisgrip was firm, holding me there as his breath coasted over my shoulder, up to where it met my neck. Everywhere it touched, heat blossomed.

“What I am, what I can do – a single touch of my skin on yours will make you shake and beg. A kiss will send you straight over the edge. And my saliva,” Traum paused, his pants like fire against my skin, “there is a venom in it; venom that will bind you to me in every way. And if I were to feed from you, in the old ways, then I would never be able to let you go.”

His hips ground against me, making me acutely aware of just how hard and thick he was against me.

“Until you are ready to either risk it all, or tell me that you are ready to be my mate, then I suggest we keep clothing and distance between us.”

I moaned, my bottom half shifting against him again, suddenly more desperate to feel the hard lines of him again.

Traum’s hands moved, finding my hips. “You have no idea what it is like to feel you against me, so eager, so wanton, mate. But….” He pressed me away. “To have you now and never again, will be the end of me. So we will wait.”

He dropped a closed mouth kiss over my clothed shoulder and then stepped back. I turned, feeling dazed as I watched Traum stand in my doorway. He offered me a small smile, but I can see the tension in his eyes, the way his mouth is tense and thin.

He was worried. My stomach lurched at that realization.

“Goodbye,” I whispered.

Black fire bloomed around my doorway for just a second. Traum gave me a quick wink, “Goodbye, Bailey dear. I’ll be back.”

And then he was gone, leaving me staring around my living room completely sure that I’d either gone completely nuts, or met the love of my life.

Whichever it was, I was in for a hell of a ride.

Chapter Three

Traum

I sat up with a gasp, my hands running over my chest with quick, frantic movements. For a moment I was sure that maybe, for the first time in my lifetime I had lost control over my mind. But then, I looked down, my claws curling together around a single golden lock of hair.

She had been real.

Instead of sliding into dreams, feeding off of that sexual energy that I plied from them, I had spent my entire evening in Bailey’s living room.

In my mates house. My human mate.

She had pulled me through my dreams, pulling a reversal on my own abilities as only an incubus or succubus mate could. Only a mate could engage with us, or allow us to touch them. And while we could interact with our dreamers to a certain extent, there was only one way that I could have brought this strand home.

“Oh fuck,” I held up the blonde strand in front of my face in order to examine it one more time. It had been sitting on the edge of her couch, a castoff strand from the woman who had watched me with such wide, fascinated eyes. Impulsively I had picked it up, letting the silken strand tangle with the darkness of my claws.

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