Page 26 of Shadow Weaver
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Brady was nowhereto be found when I crawled into the top bunk, but the room smelled of him, and my heart ached for him. To be bound like that, to be a slave to this mating instinct.
I couldn’t lead him on.
I’d set the record straight when I saw him.
The sun was coming up in a few hours and forging was a day chore, so I’d be lucky to get a couple hours of sleep. Still, I didn’t need much.
I closed my eyes and switched off my brain.
Bloodin my mouth and on my hands, but this time, it was Hyde beneath me. His hands on my waist, his body moving beneath mine, but there was something wrong. He was moaning, but not in pleasure. In pain. His hands weren’t gripping me; they were trying to push me away. I pulled back and looked down at his face, twisted in disgust. Get away from me. You’re not what I need. I need Deana. Not you. Never you. His words were like knives stabbing me in the chest, and the tears that I’d held back earlier spilled down my cheeks now.
I turned and ran.
Arms around me,thighs beneath me.
“Hush, hush, it’s all right,” Brady crooned in his soothing baritone.
The final vestiges of the dream slipped away, and the heat of Brady’s body registered. My tearstained face was pressed to his bare chest. Cedar filled my head and calmed my nerves.
“Better?” he asked.
I nodded against his pectoral, feeling small, protected, and safe.
He rocked me. “Was it the same dream?”
I opened my mouth to lie, to tell him yes, but the word wouldn’t come.
He shuffled back onto his bed, taking me with him. I needed to protest. I needed to pull away, but he felt so good. It felt good in his arms.
He lay back, and my head was pillowed in the crook of his shoulder. I could take the comfort. I could take advantage, but guilt swirled in my chest.
“Brady?”
“Huh?”
“I know about your ogre mating thing …”
His body tensed, and then he sighed and relaxed against me. “I was going to talk to you after orientation week. I tried to fight it. I can’t.”
Why did it feel so natural lying here with him like this? I ran a hand over his abs, reveling as they tightened beneath my fingers.
“Indigo.” He sounded pained.
“I’m sorry. I like you a lot, but my heart—”
“I know. I don’t care,” he said. “I can’t stop this.” His hand cupped my hip, fingers warm imprints through the fabric of my shirt. “The ogre doesn’t care. It wants you, Indigo, and I can’t fight it. So … you have me, if you want me, for however long you want me.”
My heart squeezed painfully in my chest. I lifted my face to his. “For now, all I can give you is friendship.”
“And snuggles?” he said, deadpan. But the wordsnugglescoming from Brady’s lips was just ridiculous.
I bit back a laugh. “Snuggles.”
His dark eyes were filled with stars as he looked down at me, and something sweet and unnamed twisted inside me. I reached up to run my fingers across his jaw, down his throat, and across the scars that marred his perfect skin. He didn’t even flinch as I caressed him. He didn’t pull away this time. Instead, the stars in his eyes grew brighter.
“You’re beautiful, you know that?”
