I’d spent so long blaming Ada for my monstrous changes, but she’s right. I couldn’t leave her, because she needed me. I couldn’t stop going to her dreams, because I needed to know that she’d be okay. Because Ada gives me life, and it was my turn to return the favor, no matter how ineffective and feeble my attempts were.
Emotion makes my voice thick. “You don’t ever have to be alone, Ada. I’ll stay as long as you want me. Whatever you need, I’m yours.”
She shakes her head as she smiles, like she still doesn’t quite believe this is real. “Thank you. I don’t know why you care so much, or how you’re even here, but thank you.”
I want to protest with all the ways she enchants me, but her eyelids are beginning to droop. Later. Now, she needs my care.
I stroke a hand lightly against her thigh. “Can I make sure you’re not hurt?”
“Y-yeah.”
The way her breath hitches as I ease her leggings off from where they’re shoved down by her knees makes my cock pulse, but when I coax her thighs apart, she hisses in pain.
“Oh, Princess, look at you,” I rasp, staring down at her puffy pussy still leaking my cum. My worry is accompanied by a sense of pride at the evidence of how well she took me, my cock thickening. I lean forward, lapping up a rivulet of our shared essence, and groan. “Let me make it better.”
I’m certain she’lltell me no. That she doesn’t want a masked monster doing that in the comfort of her home. I’m meant for nightmares and dark basements and forest chases, not soft, intimate moments. My chest aches before the rejection even happens.
Hope blossoms when she nods. “Please.”
I take my time, exploring every inch of her with my tongue and lips. Before, I devoured her like a feral beast, but now I get to savor it. Finding what makes her gasp and making her do it over and over, dipping my tongue into her sore channel to apologize for my rough intrusion earlier, and circling her clit until she’s coming with a low moan as she clutches my hair.
When I’ve eased her down from her release and sit back on my heels, I can’t hold back a grin. “Better?”
Ada releases a hoarse chuckle. “Yes.”
“Good. Now I can clean up the rest of you.” I incline my head to the steaming tub.
“Oh, I can do that on my own.” Her cheeks flush.
My fingers tease the hem of her shirt. “I know you can, but you don’t have to, remember? I’m here for whatever you need.”
She smiles. “Whatever I need? Because I’ve been meaning to find a therapist.”
A loud bark of laughter bursts from me. “Okay, whatever you need that I’m qualified to do. But I can help you find one, if you’d like. I can be there with you if that’d help, though I’m not sure how they’d react to…” I gesture to my mask. “This.”
She chuckles, but after a moment her expression sobers. “Can you take it off?”
I’ve been so busy with rescuing Ada and then everything that happened after that I didn’t slow down to check. My fingers twitch. I’m about to reach up and test it, but I pause.
What if I can’t take it off? And if I can, will I find my old self underneath, or does that version of me no longer exist?
I swallow hard, uncertain what to do. “Do you want me to?”
“Yes. No.” Ada shakes her head, brow furrowing. “If you can, it’s fine, but it’s also fine if you can’t. You’re still my Seth either way.”
My Seth.Gods, I love the way that sounds.
“Let’s worry about it later then. After I’ve gotten my princess cleaned up and fed and taken care of.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
Seth eases me into the tub as if I’m an egg he’s worried about cracking. The hot water stings my skin into awareness, and I hiss as he lowers me. With a jerk, he stands back up, yanking me out of the water.
“Shit, did I burn you?”
“No, no…” I wave my hand in front of my face. “It’s ok, put me back. I’m just not entirely warmed up yet and just had my back blown out. It’s a good hurt.”
