While I shed all my clothes, my gaze lingers upon my naked reflection in the glass. My cock hangs heavy, semi-erect against my thighs. An effect brought about by my little umbra’s presence. I almost feel like a creep, being aroused around her when she is soundly sleeping in my bed.
I submerge myself in the sunken basin, a bathtub fit for a ruler who bathes in stillness and remembrance. For me.
CHAPTER 23
Aimee
Ijoltbackintoconsciousness,my heart beating loud in my ribcage, my skin prickling with a burning numbness. Gods, where am I? What happened?
The bed I’m in doesn’t feel like mine—too big, the cold sheets foreign to my touch. No! No! No! Have I been kidnapped again? Red glowing eyes burn behind my eyelids. The last thing I saw. The onpyrs attacking. Killian fighting.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I heave, tears blurring my vision. My lungs rebel with each painful inhale and exhale, each breath scorching my insides.
After a heartbeat, or maybe hours, firm hands land on my covered knees, and I flinch in fear. My pulse is loud in my ears, sounds muffled and incoherent.
“Umbra, it’s me. You’re safe!”
You’re safe. You’re safe. You’re safe.The words chanted like a fervent prayer pierce through the haze. I blink throughtears, and see his face. Unharmed, weary, and heartbreakingly beautiful.
“Killian!” I throw my arms around him hastily, needing to feel his body against mine. I need his touch to anchor me, to ground me in the now. Violent trembles rake through my entire body, and I press myself harder against him, like a drowning man clinging to a lifeline in the middle of the churning sea. My brain registers just a little too late that he is wet—wet andnaked.
I rear back and look at him.Really look at him. His hair is damp and unruly, his muscled chest and arms gleaming with droplets of water. He gazes at me, eyes filled with silent relief.
His crimson tattoos swirl in endless loops on his torso, and as my gaze lowers, I catch a glimpse of his impressive length. I gasp in utter dismay. It’s picture perfect in ways a cock should never be. It’s better than anything I could’ve ever fantasized. Almost identical to that shadow sex dream.
“Why…why are you…” my voice trails off, my thoughts still a jumbled mess. If from the earlier panic attack, or the growing hurricane of desire coursing through my veins, who the fuck knows?
“I was taking a bath while you slept.” He chuckles, raking his fingers through his midnight-black strands. “Goodness gracious, umbra. You scared the living shit out of me. You were out for a while. The healers said you’ll be fine though; you won’t even have a headache.” He gently grazes his fingertips against my temple, in the spot where I hit my head. No pain ensues, not even a slight sting.
“The attack? Are you alright?” I ask as I let my hands wander to his face, cupping his jaw with trembling fingers. He kisses the inside of one palm, then the other.
“Our spies that we sent to Burneside Keep.” His sigh is full of sorrow. “We lost another four good vampires to Morweena. Ikilled them all, but a fifth unknown attacker escaped. Blaise is searching for him.”
I embrace him again, this time slower, more mindful.
“We’re alive,” I say in a whisper against his moist skin. The thought rampages through my body like a spark igniting kindling in a bone-dry forest. I’m set ablaze from the inside,alivenesswreaking havoc in my soul, like a hurricane of feeling wiping out everything in its path. Everything except for him and me.
I jump to my knees, crashing into him on the bed, our lips clashing in a tumultuous tangle of tongues and teeth. His possessive tongue battles my own, his war-calloused hands gripping my sides, twisting in my hair, grabbing handfuls of my ass. A deep moan slips from my lips into his mouth as I claw at his arms, scratching deep ravines on his back.
“My clothes…off!” The words come out between kisses—half plea and half whine—and he pulls me off the bed. We stand at the foot of the bed as he rips my dress to shreds, not breaking our kiss. I’m burning up, as if suffering from a deadly fever, and nothing can quench my thirst for him. I let him rip my pants, my panties, only sighing in relief when I feel the crown of his generous length press greedily against my glistening folds. My fingers itch to touch it, and as I wrap my hand around the velvety hardness, I feel a soft kiss on my shoulder. Smooth hands are gathering my hair on the side, while gliding heavenly on my back. But his grip is on my waist, his lips on mine.
“What the fuck?” I startle, breaking our kiss, and jumping back to see another Killian standing behind me, crafted from crimson mist. My dream Shadow Killian.
“You’re real?” I choke out in surprise, and the shadow male shrugs nonchalantly, smirking devilishly. I spin around to a frowning Killian and point an accusatory finger his way.
“You can split yourself, you asshole?”
“I mean, yes, my shadows are sentient and my shadow double emerges, but only in battle. This has never happened before,” Killian says, cocking his head sideways, as if trying to solve a puzzle.
“Bullshit! You sent your shadow self to fuck me the night before you left for Dithrau, you lying, conniving bastard!” I seethe in betrayal.
“He did WHAT?” Killian shouts, and I stumble back into the open arms and smooth chest of his double. The waves of rage flowing from him are so palpable it feels almost suffocating. He’s shaking with unrestrained fury.
“You didn’t know?” I ask, disbelief clear in my voice. The shadow male behind me caresses my exposed skin in soothing circles, and I can’t help shuddering in pleasure. “How the hell would you not know? Aren’t you connected, even when you’re apart?”
He pulls at his strands of hair in frustration, shaking his head no.
“I woke up with a raging boner in the middle of the night that lasted until morning, but it’s not like I haven’t had raging boners every Akaoridamn night since you stepped foot in this castle.” His eyes narrow in disdain, as if a thought just occurred to him. “He fucking ravaged you all night?”
