Page 54 of Loving Nightmares
I felt his love.
Then the power equalized, Damian’s returning to him along with a ton of the excess energy I had from thesis metas. That excess didn’t go only to him, though—no, it traveled through allof my bonds, and as it radiated through them, tears of pleasure and relief traveled down my face.
Not only because of the loss of excess power, but because of the purity and strength between the nine of us. The connection between my mates and me, our bond, had been solidified in that moment, showing me the eons of time we had ahead of us.
“Don’t cry, shit.” Damian sounded panicked, his thumb brushing over my cheek.
“Not bad,” I whispered, my voice hoarse from moaning his name so loudly. “Just overwhelmed. I feel so much better, all because of you, Damian. I love you. I love you so much.”
Damian’s cock flexed inside of me as he cupped both sides of my face and kissed me lightly, his eyes filled with soft affection. “I love you so much, cherry blossom. I will always love you, until the day I die.”
Melting into him, I let out a shaky breath, just allowing the moment to wrap around us like a cocoon. It was beautiful.
“They’re going to come in here soon,” Damian said, kissing the shell of my ear. “Can I help you get dressed?”
“Sure,” I whispered, pulling back in a daze. After pulling out of me, leaving my thighs covered in both of our releases, a feral flash ofsomethingwent across his face at the sight. Then he shook himself and continued to clothe me before returning to his human-like form, leaving his shirt off and instead pulling it over me since he’d partly torn mine in the effort to get it off. It was only then that I even thought to start asking the important questions.
“Where…where are we? What happened?”
“You did it,” Damian said, his eyes filled with joy. “You killed War.”
A massive weight lifted from my chest at his words, confirming what I remembered seeing, and before I even had amoment to respond, a familiar voice sounded from outside the car.
“It still counts,” Saint growled. “I killed him a little bit also.”
“Sorta counts,” Zain countered.
“Not really.” Amun had followed them, and whatever they were talking about had Damian chuckling.
Suddenly the car door was thrown open and Saint offered me a bright smile, holding something behind his back. “Flower, you look in good spirits.”
“I am,” I whispered.
“Good. The others will be up here soon and will probably want to make sure you aren’t going to die or anything. Razar is a bit paranoid about that.”
“With good reason—she’s precious,” Amun pointed out. Zain nodded in agreement, causing my cheeks to flush.
“Now, flower.” Saint offered me a charming smile. “I have something for you. I haven’t had a chance to get you a gift recently because of our lack of missions, but this one tops all of them so far.”
“Oh no,” Damian groaned.
Shifting so I could give him my full attention but still be on Damian’s lap, I smiled up at him. “Yeah? I’ve loved all your gifts…but what is it?”
Saint thrust forward a large skull from behind his back with a proud smile.
“It’s the literal skull of your enemy. I’m going to put it on our fireplace mantel.”
Staring at it for a long moment, I burst into laughter, unable to contain the overwhelming relief at Saint’s physical proof that War was gone. Tears of happiness streaked down my face, and I surged forward to kiss him before taking the skull, the morbid, romantic gift fitting us perfectly.
“I see only one problem.” I brushed tears away as the others joined us.
“What’s the problem?” Blackwell asked curiously.
“Why is she crying?” Razar frowned.
“The problem is that we don’t have a fireplace or a mantel—we don’t even have a house!”
Damian spoke up then. “I think I have a plan for that.”
