“I’ll have to work harder to convince you that staying is the right thing. I’ll make you fall for me again.” The taste of her tears as I lick them off her temples hardens my resolve. Every drop is proof she’s still here, still within my reach. “If it means binding you to a bed in a small town where no one knows us, holding on to you like that for the rest of our lives, so be it.”
That last part finally does it. Lilith stops fighting and mumbling.
As if giving up, her body sags into the mattress, her sobs growing louder, her chest hitching.
She’s going through a panic attack.
Fuck.
“No, no, no, baby. It’s not like that. Even the worst-case scenario will be okay.” Sliding to her side, I pull the covers over us and drape an arm around her. “I’ll never hurt you. I swear. This is me, holding on to the one thing I love. The one person who truly matters. It’ll be fine.”
I press a thumb to the pulse point at her neck. It’s racing. Fucking wild.
I get it.
She needs more reassurance. I’ll always be there to give it to her.
“You’re such a good, perfect girl, you know that?” My palm cradles her neck, my lips moving against her cheek. “I’ve been obsessed with you since the first time I saw you in the cafeteria. You weren’t just beautiful. You had this aura. This pull. I couldn’t stop thinking about you, even when I had no business wanting someone as pure and sweet as you. I fell, and I fell hard.”
The longer I speak, the more her breathing slows. Her shudders subside.
My stomach is as hollow as it was when my motion detector alerted me to movement in my storage unit.
“Good girl. That’s it. Breathe. You’re safe with me.” I kiss her cheek. Her temple. Along her jawline. “This isn’t a punishment for going into my storage unit, if that’s what you’re worried about. You’ve done nothing wrong. It’s all on me. I should’ve been more discreet. Shouldn’t have let you stumble into this mess without a warning. It’s my fault. Fucking mine.”
Her breathing evens out as I murmur anything that might take the pain away.
I keep kissing her, keep telling her I’m sorry.
Even after she falls asleep.
Even after dawn washes the room in shades of blue, then pink.
Only when the sun is high in the sky do my eyes finally fall shut.
And even then, I dream of Lilith.
33
LILITH
Soft lips press against my temple. My cheek. My nose.
“Lilith.”
I haven’t fully woken up yet, and my body is already responding to Alaric, same as it does every morning.
Need pools between my thighs. My nipples tighten. A warm flutter races over my skin.
“Little devil.” A strong hand curls around my throat. The touch is confident. Comforting. It’s home. “Time to wake up.”
“Mmm.” That indulgentmmm, I never did that before I met Alaric.
It’s his fault for turning me into this pampered, worshipped princess. His gifts, his affection, how he takes extra care of me after we have sex.
No one can survive this kind of treatment without becoming a little spoiled.
That has to be why my eyes stay closed. Why I refuse to bother myself with anything other than, “Mmm.”