Page 69 of Bizarre Bonds
“I understand. I don’t blame you for thinking that way.” I might have believed the same things if I hadn’t gotten to observe so many humans before the one who imprisoned me, if I couldn’t sample the emotions roiling inside them and know the true flavors of their hearts.
I tip my head against Hail’s shoulder. “Why didn’t you just stay away from them? You ended up at the school—Rollick must have heard something that made him think you needed to be ‘reformed.’”
Hail grimaces. “I didn’t want to let the humans win. I had the idea—Istillhave the idea—that I could build a space in the human world, places for shadowkind to go where they’d be safe. Why couldn’t we have our own parks and malls and theatres and… whatever? Which I guess Rollick is kind of already doing, although it doesn’t seem as if he’s pushed all that far into the human world, only a hotel here and there. I don’t want people to be able to stop us from enjoying everything about this realm that we want to.”
With each sentence, his voice gains strength. It reverberates with more passion than I can ever remember hearing from him.
“That sounds amazing! It’s a wonderful goal. I’d like to see that too.”
He glances down at me. “Of course you would. You always want every being to be as happy as they can be.”
There’s no dismissal in his tone, but he slides his arm free from mine. I’d regret the loss more if he didn’t immediately wrap that arm around my back, nestling me right against his lean frame.
My pulse skips a beat and then thumps on at a giddy pace.
Hail strokes his fingers up and down my shoulder, summoning sparks through both my skin and his.
His words stay solemn. “I was getting ahead of myself. I didn’t have the knowledge or the control to put on a good enough front and actually start building an empire. I kept losing my cool with the humans I had to interact with or be around. But getting a little revenge was never satisfying for more than a few seconds.”
His arm tenses against my back. “They’re so… everywhere, doing so many stupid things and not giving a fuck about anything other than themselves…”
I don’t think it’d help to tell him how many things I’ve felt humans caring about. Even things that seem odd to me, like characters who are only drawings on TV screens or how many times a bunch of them can kick a ball across a field.
Hail started out with a wound in his heart when it came to mortal people, and it’s tainted every observation he’s made of them. How could it not have?
He bows his head again. His voice goes quiet. “Maybe I couldn’t stop myself from acting out because I knew I’d never accomplish what I wanted to anyway. I couldn’t even defend the one shadowkind who deserved it the most. How am I going to stand up for anyone else? Rollick would probably laugh if I told him what I’d like to do.”
I slip one arm around his waist and lift my other hand to touch his jaw. “I don’t think he would. I think if he knew all that, he’d have an easier time helping you adjust to the mortal realm. And then you could do all sorts of great things for other shadowkind.”
“I haven’t been great to very many of them either,” Hail mutters. “I was so pissed off about being stuck at the school…”
He lifts his head abruptly. His eyes shine with the faint moonlight that filters into the glade. “But you saw right through my bullshit. You saw something worth believing in when I’m not sure even I totally did anymore. You’re still here, after all the crap I’ve thrown at you.”
A soft smile touches my lips at the awe that’s in his voice and resonating through the bond between us. “It was just talking. When it came to the important things, you had my back.”
He swallows audibly. “I can’t promise I’m never going to get cranky or hostile again. There’s still a whole lot I need to figureout. But I don’t everwantto take it out on you, not like I have before. I don’t…”
His voice drops to a whisper. “I don’t want to break this bond. Being around you, feeling the things you feel—it helps me remember all the things that were really important to me.”
The crème brulé sweetness of his admission shivers through me. I beam up at him, knowing my hair is beaming too from the pinkish golden light that tints his pale skin. “If you want to keep it, I’m happy to. Whenever your resolve feels shaky, you’ll always be able to find me.”
“You…” Hail makes a strangled sound low in his throat, and then his mouth is on mine, startlingly hot.
As he claims my lips, I kiss him back just as eagerly. The heat rushes straight to the apex of my thighs.
I press my legs together against the swiftly building pressure and clutch the front of Hail’s shirt.
He groans and kisses me again before marking a scorching path along my jaw to my neck. “I screwed this up before because I couldn’t wrap my head around what I wanted. I was stupid. I only want you. No one else at school eversawme, not like you do. None of them glowed like you do. None of them were half as sweet.” He nips the side of my neck. “My cream puff.”
At the jolt of sensation, a gasp slips from my mouth. I tilt my head to give him better access. “You can be pretty sweet too when you decide to be.”
Hail hums with a vibration across my skin. “I want to be, for you. Fuck, it’s incredible being able to feel how good I can makeyoufeel.” He teases his hand across my breasts, and I press into his touch, chasing more pleasure from the caress. “Just like that. Just stay right here with me, Peri, and I’m going to take care of you so well.”
A quiver of anticipation races right through my body. This shadowkind man has been hurting and harsh, but he’s lettingdown all his defenses for me. He’s letting me in like he never has before.
And I can feel how much it matters to him. Not only physical pleasures radiate through his nerves, but also tender wafts of affection that match his adoring words.
He tugs my jacket wide and eases down the neckline of my dress so he can continue his path of searing kisses past my collarbone. My voice comes out breathless but sure. “I’ll always take care of you too. We look out for each other. A real team.”
