Page 107 of Grave Possession

“Just because I know, doesn't mean you’re ready for me to know,” he parrots my words from earlier back at me, and warmth spreads through my core. All anywoman wants is a man who listens, and actually absorbs what they say. I don’t think I could love him any more than I do in this moment. Squeezing his hands in mine, I hope to convey my feelings without words because I’m liable to crumble to a mushy, blubbering mass of emotions if I dare speak.

The clouds part and the moonlight beams down across his mask, green eyes sparkling beneath the mesh. “I see you…all of you. Even the darkest parts you refuse to show me. I see them…and I’m just as infatuated with them as I am with every other part of you.”

“How come you can see things I can’t see in myself?”

He lifts his mask first, then my own. “It’s a perk of watching you when you think you’re alone. I witness a side of you no one else is lucky enough to see. Not only did I watch the broken parts of you freeze over and dissociate, I saw the fire struggling to breathe inside of you. Fighting to thaw that icy, emotionless husk you were becoming. It called to me, trapped me, and wrapped itself so tight around my chest, I felt like I couldn’t breathe without being near you.”

I release his hands, and launch myself against him. My mask falls from where it rests against the top of my head into the overgrown grass as I embrace him as tight as I can. “Thank you,” I mumble against his chest.

Nox’s arms band gently around me, holding me close as I listen to the steady beat of his heart. “For stalking you?” he questions.

“For saving me.”

“I didn’t?—”

I glance up at him from beneath my lashes, silentlyboth daring him to challenge me on this and pick up what I’m putting down. If he hadn’t barged into my life, I might not have survived being taken. Whether he literally saved me or not, he freed me enough that I was able to save myself. “Mallory, you did that all by yourself.”

“No, I didn’t. It was your voice in my head that told me to keep fighting. It was your strength I leaned on when I wasn’t strong enough. Even if you weren’t with me, you were with me. You dug yourself so deep inside my heart, I’d never be without you.”

The smile that splits across his face stalls the breath in my lungs. He’s so violently beautiful, sometimes I swear he was made specifically for me. “Just what I wanted,” he says, voice thick with emotion.

I don’t know how my disgusting confession turned into this heavy emotional conversation, but we need to get a move on before the sun crests the horizon.

I stretch up on my tiptoes, placing a gentle kiss on his lips. Nox’s body relaxes against mine, as if he’s been holding his breath this entire time. The lingering tension woven through his body erodes as he melts for me. I start to pull away but his hold on me tightens as he deepens the kiss. What starts out as soft and sweet quickly turns hungry.

I want to show him just how much I appreciate everything he’s done for me, no matter how unorthodox. His soul recognized mine, and knew exactly what I needed. Words escape me, they’ll never be enough to properly convey the depth of my feelings for him anyway. I’m as desperate for him as he is for me.

I reach for his zipper, working my fingers under hishoodie, racing to have him inside me. Ghost swats my hands away. Spinning me around, he pins my back to his chest with his arm banded across my chest, effectively trapping both my hands between my tits in the process.

“What are you doing?” I breathe.

“Now is not the time, baby.”

I suppose he’s right but I don’t have to like it. “Fine,” I huff.

“Show me the darkest parts of you and let me love you anyway.”

“Ghost…” I whine, wiggling my ass against his erection.

“Show me,” he growls.

“Okay.”

He releases me, bending down to pick up my mask. Nox hands it to me then slips his back down over his face.

“Lead the way, my deadly little siren.”

Graves

Now that Mallory can see where we are on the mill property, I let her lead the way. The area is pretty much empty except for a few lingering partiers finishing a game of beer pong. She stops, looking left and right, takes a few more steps, then freezes in place.Well that can’t be good.

I step up beside her as the ground squelches beneath my boots. The tang of iron lingers heavy in the air, and I suck it into my lungs. The lethal aroma brings with it memories of carnage. My dick fires to life beneath my jeans, and I’m seriously regretting denying Mallory’s advance mere minutes ago.

Her hand slaps against mine, cold and uncoordinated, pulling me from my thought of fucking her next to her latest kill. Mal’s breathing is fast and erratic, she’s on the cusp of a panic attack. The pulse in her neck thrumming in overdrive as I turn to look at her.

I quickly observe the area, but there’s nothing here. Infiltrating her vision, I move to stand in front of her. “What’s wrong, baby?” She doesn’t answer me as a tremor runs through her body. I look around, making sure there’s no one close by before I slip the mask carefully from her face. “Mallory,” I say a bit more firmly. “Come back to me.” I pull her shivering frame to my chest, and let her breathe me in, my warmth sinking into her.

“Lennox…”