Page 22 of Shadows Lost
She laughed softly. “You’re just going to have to learn to trust me, shifter.”
Basking in the three moons glow, I huffed. “Using my own words against me, little umbra.”
“If need be.”
I inhaled deeply, her scent of lilies getting stronger. “Are you sure that’s all you need from me then, my trust?”
She shifted uncomfortably. “You’ll never be able to give me all that Ineed, shifter. No one can. So stop trying.”
I lifted my head up and our eyes locked in the darkness. “Never.” All flirtation gone. “You are worth it. You are worth every single obstacle, scar, and heartache I may incur so that you have more than just what you need.”
Sadness bled through the green in her eyes. “You will fail.” She whispered.
I chuckled low and lowered my head back down gazing at the shimmering stars. “Failing is nothing more than trying multiple times until you get it right and one day—I will get it right and you’ll have nowhere to hide.”
Silence befell us, drawing my focus back to her delicious scent, so strong that it teased me with its seductive undertones. There was no way I was going to fucking sleep tonight.
Chapter 11
IwatchedEmon’sbodyrelax,sinking heavier into the ground, and couldn’t help but smile at the small twitch in his booted foot signaling that he was finally asleep. A strong arm was thrown over his eyes to shield the three moons’ glow and annoyingly it highlighted every beautiful inch of his bronzed torso.
Soft growling snores broke the eerie silence of the dead Balsam Plains and I was happy for it. Years of solitude had me craving more of his deep gruff voice no matter how much he pissed me off.
Staring at my dust covered hands, I curled them into tight fists, admitting what I did not want to. I liked the bastard. He was gorgeous, yes, more than pleasing to look at, and those passionate gold eyes felt like they could strip you bare in a heartbeat. Beastly and dangerous, his power was like that of the sun, bright and burning so hot that I barely noticed I was engulfed in the flames.
It made me feelaliveagain.
But the moment his knees fell into this dead earth to dig the grave of a beast that all fae feared, I knew he was more than just something pretty to lust over. There were depths within this shifter. Depths that if I looked closer at, would capture me more wholly than those gold eyes ever could.
Goddess damn him to Sheol, I didn’t even want to be here, didn’t even want to admit the tale he spun, and I definitely didn’t want to develop any deeper feelings for a shifter of all things.
A soft whimper broke the stillness of the night and my head whipped up to see Emon starting to thrash in his sleep.
“Please, no more.” He begged, growling and thrashing in the night. “I’ll give it to you..I’ll give it to you.”
He was dreaming…a dream that seemed more like a nightmare. A glistening sheen of sweat broke out across his torso that hadn’t been there moments before.
“Just stop. Please, please stop—.”
Moving quickly in a crouch, I eased around his sheathed claws that tore at the ground beneath him and knelt at the crown of his head. His face was contorted with pain and his eyes rolled rapidly beneath his closed lids. Tears stained his bronze skin and wetted the bearded scruff along his strong jawline.
Concerned, I tentatively reached out and smoothed back his hair. “This is a dream, Emon. You are safe. Safe here with me, Remnant.” My shadows hovered beside me and I looked at them. “Blanket him but do not restrain him.” I whispered. By the way he was thrashing, it already appeared he was fighting against bindings in this nightmare.
“Please make it stop, please, please, please—.” He begged.
I ran my hands gently through his hair that had fallen loose from his tie. “Shhhh. It has stopped Emon. It has already passed.” I smoothed my fingertips over the scrunched lines of his forehead.
“Remnant.” He murmured.
Wiping the tears from this formidable fae’s cheeks and feeling as if I had intruded on a private moment he did not want to share, I continued to soothe him. “Shhhh. It’s over now. Rest. Rest Emon. I will be here when you wake.”
A rattling sigh escaped his chest with a few more unintelligible, whimpered murmurs before he finally eased, sinking into his bedroll once more. Pulling my hands back, I rested them in my lap, and watched the steady rise and fall of his sculpted chest…a telling sign that the nightmare had passed.
For two hours, I stayed vigilant over his resting form, watching for any more signs of the terror that had gripped him so violently. Finally, feeling confident that he would be okay, I peered out over the darkness that seemed to have also penetrated our very souls. Tonight, I had seen his…I had looked deeper, goddess damn me, and I knew now that whatever scars he bore, they were similar to mine.
I was not alone. Something I’d never felt would be possible, not after what had been done to me.
Trailing my hands through the black lifeless dirt, I pursed my lips. Irritatingly, Emon was right. This place was tainted, sick, evil—everything about it suggested the Sanguine.
