White misty eyes widen in surprise.
"Don’t say that. Don’t ever say that again," I yell.
I don’t care if I sound unhinged. I’d rather scream than feel that cold silence again.
Tears stab at my eyes like red-hot pokers, but I refuse to let them fall.
The change in Shadow is swift and brutal. His eyes ignite into a searing red inferno.
My body slams onto the bed, pinned by dark tentacles as he calmly approaches. I struggle against their hold, desperate to get close to him. I need to hang onto him. I need to make him understand.
I don’t care if it makes me weak or pathetic. I’m desperate not to be left by him again.
As Shadow grows larger before my eyes, gaze burning with hellfire, he speaks in a near demonic growl. "This desire you have, it is misguided. You must know that."
Despite the fire in his eyes, his words hit like a bucket of ice water—with an extra shot of shame.
"If you haven’t noticed, I am a monster." He leans in, his voice rolling over my skin like bits of sharp gravel. "I delight in the taste of blood." His forked tongue flicks out, slithering up my neck, leaving goosebumps in its wake. My lower belly twists as I strain against the hold.
The tongue trails across my collarbone, sliding down the exposed skin of my chest, nearing my breasts. "I consume hearts. And the fact you are trying to give me yours is beyond foolish."
He’s trying to scare me. To warn me off.
But his tongue lashes against my skin with a ferocity that sets fire to every nerve ending. The sensations ignite a wildfire through my body, and I writhe and whimper under his touch, helpless to stop it. Once again, I’m a mindless, hungry demon for him.
Something flickers in his eyes—realization. He’s had the opposite effect.
And then his red gaze darkens with what Ifantasizeto be lust.
In the blink of an eye, he’s across the room. His tendrils vanish like he’s afraid of what they might do next.
"You should stick with the nice, safe human," he finishes.
His words cut cleaner than claws. Like he's drawing a line I wasn’t ready to see.
In my deluded mind, I believe I detect a hint of dejection in his tone.
The fantasies I’ve concocted for myself.
"You and I both know humans aren’t safe," I say through gritted teeth, that old pain rearing up like a hungry fire ready to consume me until I’m nothing but ash.
That silences him.
I get up off the bed to stand before him again. His shadows crowd around him like armor.
My hand reaches up and touches his cheek.
Even if my fingers pass through smoke, I need the contact. I need to feel like he’s real.
It doesn’t matter that his face is always blurred, an out-of-focus darkness. I know him better than I know myself, sometimes.
He doesn’t move away from my touch.
"If you left me forever, it would be worse than death."
There’s no exaggeration in me. Just the raw, splitting truth.
"You wish to know where I’ve been." His voice lowers to a husky rasp. "I was imprisoned."
