Page 63 of Imbalance
No. He didn't want to commit to me, and honestly it wasn’t fair to me to stay on this rollercoaster of emotions with him as he flipped back and forth between being done with me and then realizing he actually didn’t want to let me go.
I knew my worth and that I would offer my heart to him if he’d just let me in, but I wasn’t going to allow him to use me as his emotional punching bag as he sorted his shit out.
I honestly didn't know how long I sat there, but the air began to chill around me, and a weird buzzing seemed to go through my body and into my brain. I frowned, trying to shake it as I felt as if we were going through a damned earthquake.
"What the—" I murmured as my hand reached out to the closest tree to steady myself.
Suddenly, the tree gave out, and I let out a small scream, right as a hand wrapped around my mouth and an arm grabbed me by the waist. The last thing I saw was the desolate surroundings of the darklands fading from view as I was pulled into a void absent of reality. When darkness collapsed over my consciousness, I heard a familiar voice echoing through my head...
"Welcome home, Little Temptress."
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Ama
Iwas pulled out of the darkness of my unconscious state, but at first, I wasn't sure by what. All I knew was that whatever it was...was comforting and created a feeling of safety within my chest—one that had me letting out a contented sigh as I stretched out and enjoyed feeling like I had awoken from a long nap. Hands smoothed over my sides in a languid up and down stroke that had me wanting to burrow into whichever one of my mates was doing this.
"Princess."
My Reaper mate. The man who’d driven me crazy for years of my life, yet never lost his place in my heart the entire time.
Drayven's voice had me opening my eyes to find myself back in my bedroom in Mortem. The sheets were instantly recognizable and made my brows furrow together in confusion.
Home? I wasn't supposed to be here.
I sat up and looked around, finding it both confusing and exciting that Drayven was in my bed and lying next to me. I had dreamed about this happening so many times, even despite being angry at him during many of those moments. I could never deny the pull that I felt with him. It was as if a part of me knew that he was still mine, despite him being an asshole.
But instead of looking relaxed, as I would have assumed, his eyes were filled with an immense amount of concern and anger when I stared into their black depths. The rings of emerald green that flashed around them were pulsating. That only happened when he was ready to wield his scythe in battle.
Why was he upset?
"What is going on?" I asked, confused on how the hell we were here.
He sat up next to me and reached for my hand, squeezing softly. My eyes darted down to the soft black silk nightgown I was wearing. When I looked back up at Drayven, his eyes were roving my body, and his lust was clear—but it was also mixed with a primal anger that made the hair on my arms stand. It was intense and made my stomach fill with dread.
"Dray?" I softly asked, wondering why he wasn't answering me.
His hand tightened on mine before he answered. "We are not home," he clarified softly. "We are in a dream, like in the carriage. Do you remember how we dream shared?"
"Oh," I answered, and my cheeks flamed with the memory as I absentmindedly tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "Yes. I do."
How could I forget the first orgasm he’d given me while we were still simmering like enemies in an enclosed carriage? I had thought it had been my own private sex dream, but turned out I had used my Succubus powers unknowingly and pulled him into it.
"Where are you?" Drayven's voice was raw as he reached up and gripped my jaw with his free hand, tilting it up.
My head pulsed as I ran a hand over my face, trying to remember what had come right before this, the moment at the edge of my memories. It was right there. Right within reach...yet I couldn't grasp it.
How did I end up here? Why the fuck wasn’t my brain working properly right now?
A part of me wanted to scream in frustration as I wracked my brain for answers and came up with scattered pieces of memories.
"I was in the camp..." I offered, not quite remembering what happened to bring me here. "The last thing I remember was..." I trailed off as the memory of my fight with Nico slammed into me. "I was with Nico."
My heart squeezed as the emotions of that fight returned. I had to tune it out. Now was not the time to try to process it.
Why didn't he know where I was? We had been arguing together.
He shook his head, "You ran away from him, Princess. We've been searching everywhere for you. No one has been able to find you."
