Monsters Among Us, page 16
He pulls my face up to his. “I’m sorry, Bella. I’m sorry I didn’t introduce you to Cortney as my girlfriend. I’m sorry if I made you feel like you didn’t mean anything to me. That was never my intention. Gods, Bella, you’re all I think about. I’ve been going crazy thinking about how to fix things with us, and I swear I heard your voice in my head once. When I told my mother that, she’s the one who told me that you’re mine. That not every mated pair has the same abilities.”
I place a hand on his cheek. “Thank you for apologizing. I should have spoken to you sooner. But I’m stubborn, and I didn’t want to admit that I overreacted. It seems so stupid now, but I was jealous of her. Of the relationship you had with her. And I was upset that she gave you her number and you left it on the table for me to see.”
He shakes his head. “I didn’t leave it there for you to see. I left it there so I wouldn’t take it home with me. I didn’t like her. I didn’t want her. I wanted and still want you. Just you.”
I lean my forehead against his and laugh softly. “I guess we should have talked about it, huh?”
He smiles at me, and it’s the most beautiful smile I have ever seen grace his lips. “From now on we speak about anything that bothers us. Deal?”
I pull his lips to mine, kissing him like he’s the oxygen I’ve been missing. I pull away and grin. “Deal.”
“There’s more.”
“Spill it all.”
“We complete the mating—meaning when you die, I die, and vice versa—by, you know…” he trails off with an arch of his eyebrows. I lift one of mine in question. “Sex, Bella. We have to have sex to complete the bond.”
I feel the heat fill my face and neck. “Got it.”
He cups my face in both of his warm hands. “You’re so damn beautiful.” I flush again, and he smiles as he places kisses all over my face.
“Stop it.” I giggle.
“Okay,” he says with his cocky grin. Man, do I love that damn grin. “Also, we’re here until Nisbel deems us ready to go back.”
“Seriously? How the heck long is that going to be?”
He shrugs. “Not sure. But I know she’s collecting supplies from our families for our studies.”
I sigh and fall onto my back. “What else aren’t you telling me?”
He tells me everything about the fight, the revelation that came after about Amelia, how our magic was entwined in the barrier, and how I killed all of those monsters. All except for Amelia. That bitch is a real thorn in my side these days.
“It’s my destiny to kill her?”
Brian nods. “Yes. With the strength and power from me, we will take her out.”
“Killing a human just isn’t in my DNA.”
Brian grimaces. “Is she a human, though? She’s been injected with Demon blood since before birth. She’s controlling them. She’s one of them.”
“I guess when you put it that way, I can change my opinion of her. She’s definitely a Demon.”
Brian hovers over me, looking into my eyes. “I’m glad it’s you. That you’re my forever.” He leans down and kisses me, and I swear I feel his affection for me in that panty-melting kiss.
“So am I.” I grin up at him. “Now, I don’t hear nurses or anything, and I don’t see or smell anything to indicate that this is an infirmary. So where are we?”
“This is your room.”
I look around my surroundings with new interest. This room is huge. There’s a door in the right back corner with a vanity against the wall a few feet from it. There are two wardrobes, too. One on either side of the room. I guess for normal wear and fancy wear? I don’t know. There’s one dresser beside one of the wardrobes, too. My bed I know is big. I think it’s a king. If not, definitely a queen. My bed back home is a full, and this is larger than that one.
“I feel like this is a suite for royal guests.”
Brian shrugs. “It’s just as big as mine. I’m right next door.”
“At the risk of sounding clingy, I don’t want to be apart from you.”
Brian sighs. “Me neither. But it’s what your parents demanded. They said, and I repeat, ‘I know the way mated pairs are, and the desire to claim one another will be too strong to share a room. I’ve known your parents for twenty-five years.’”
I laugh. “Yup, sounds like my mother.”
“I guess we need to go and inform our host that I’m awake.”
“Yeah, probably a good idea.”
Closing my eyes, I call out to Nisbel. There’s a knock on the door a few seconds later.
“Come in,” Brian calls out, not leaving my side. I’m grateful. I don’t want him to go yet either, even if it’s killing me not to release my bladder.
When Nisbel walks in, she’s with another Fae, this one a male. He’s about an inch taller than Nisbel at most, which is still shorter than me. His hair is brown, but it’s a faded brown that reminds me of the tree bark from my favorite tree in my backyard. His hair is kept shorter than I would expect for Fae royalty. It stops just below his ears, looking a mix of rugged and neat. A hot biker with the need to appear flawless. His eyes are the color of moss, and his skin is luminescent like Nisbel’s. Don’t forget the pointy ears. He’s handsome. But not my kind of handsome. No, that’s reserved for this man beside me. And he’s mine. Like, forever.
“Hi, Nisbel,” I say, sitting as high as I can in bed, with Brian by my side.
“Annabella, it’s nice to see you awake. How do you feel?”
“Honestly?” I ask. She nods. “Well, my head feels like it’s going to implode, and my eyes hurt a bit too, but I think it’s more due to the light hitting them for the first time in two damn days.”
Nisbel grins and shakes her head. “I’ll bring you something for the pain. But you should shower and dress for dinner. Eating a full meal will help with all of it. You’ve been getting nutrients by magic for two days.”
I nod. A shower does sound good.
“Annabella, this is my husband, Dregin.”
I wave. “Hey.” What do I say besides that?
“It’s nice to finally meet you. I hope you have had some training, because you are in for a beating.”
My eyes widen. “What?”
He laughs. “I’ll be your combat trainer. I’ll teach you how to fight with weapons and with your hands and feet. When you leave here, you’ll be able to take me down.”
I nod. “Well, I haven’t really gotten to that part of my training yet. I wasn’t in school long enough.”
“You will have the best any realm has to offer,” Nisbel says with pride. “He is truly remarkable.”
“Well then, I look forward to getting my ass handed to me.”
Dregin chuckles. “I like your spunk.”
I wink. “You say that now. Wait until I know more about you.”
“Yeah, then she’ll start calling you out on your shit and poking fun at you at every chance she gets.”
I smile sweetly when Brian’s done speaking, the image of innocence.
Nisbel shakes her head. “Alright, Brian, go to your room. Annabella needs to get prepared.”
I reach for Brian. “Please don’t make him go. I promise we won’t do anything.”
Nisbel and Dregin look at one another, and I know they’re having a conversation in their minds. I’ve spoken to Nisbel in my head before, and she responded.
“Fine. Just know that I will tell your parents that you are in separate rooms. This is to appease them. I personally do not care since you are soulmates. You are old enough to make decisions on your own. I trust you to make smart choices.”
I blink.
Brian doesn’t say anything either.
“What?”
Shrugging, I say, “I just thought that I was going to have to fight a bit harder for this.”
“In Fairy, when the children are sixteen, they are considered adults. It may seem young, but we do not have the same ideals as you humans do. In Hunter years, you are considered an adult at seventeen. You turned seventeen two days ago.”
I nod. “Yeah, but I don’t think they meant that it gives me license to share a room and bed with my mate.”
“Nevertheless, I will keep up the ruse of you not sharing. Now, Brian knows the dinner dress code. I will send in Krena and Giselle to help get you ready. Dinner is in an hour. My handmaidens will be here in thirty minutes.”
I smile. “Thank you.” They both leave my room.
“I need a bathroom,” I say to Brian.
He points to the door in the right back corner. Good to know. I jump out of bed and race there before my bladder explodes. Two full days of not peeing. Not sure how I managed that. Glad I didn’t piss my pants in my magic-induced sleep.
A feeling of bliss fills me when I’m done. Damn, I needed that.
I poke around the bathroom and look into the closet, pulling out two towels and finding everything else I need. Toothbrush and toothpaste, and a hairbrush. I set them all out on the counter and then head back into my room.
“What do I wear?” I ask Brian.
“I’m sure that armoire over there has clothes for dinner. The dresser will have your other necessities, including pajamas and training clothes. At least that’s how it’s set up in my room.”
I dig through the drawers and pull out new underwear and a bra. Then I go to the armoire he pointed at and see several dresses. I sigh. Fancy dinners every night? Fine. I don’t mind getting dressed up. And after a little while, I’ll get used to doing it every day.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
ANNABELLA: ONE YEAR LATER
Knocked on my ass again. I flip back onto my feet, ready to kick some serious ass. You would think that after a year of this I would have learned his moves, but he keeps surprising me.
I spin and release a wooden dagger, one that is weighted exactly like the ones I will be using in a real fight. It hits him in the chest. He drops to his knees, and I send my magic into him. Just a jolt, nothing harmful, just enough to show that I’ve got him dead.
Dregin smiles. “Very good, Annabella. I am impressed.”
I huff, exhausted and full of sweat. All I want to do is take a cold shower and crawl into bed beside my soulmate. That word. That meaning. It took me by surprise the first time I heard it, and it still does to this day. For twelve months I have been training with the king and queen of the Fae. For a year I have gone through grueling and extensive training to make sure Brian and I know how to link up our magic and use it to rid the world of the evil that has taken root.
I haven’t been able to see my family, Leah, or Corey since I left. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to them since I was brought here while unconscious. I haven’t had any contact with them, either, but Nisbel sends me news of their exploits, and she sends updates of my training to my parents and Brian’s.
Soulmate. He is mine. I am his. Forever entwined are our fates. For the past year, Brian has been patiently getting me up to speed on the different stones, crystals, and potions we use. What they are used for, and when to use the power of the stones or Crystals. I learned a lot in the books that Mom sent with Nisbel on one of her journeys to relay my progress. But Brian’s firsthand experiences with them helped me get a better idea how to utilize them.
“When do I get to go back? Not that I mind getting my ass handed to me on a daily basis by you, of course. But I miss my family.”
“You do know that if this were a real fight, you probably would not be getting your ass handed to you. You have the instincts, now you have the training. When adrenaline and fear take over, you will be a formidable foe. Linking with your mate, that will give you an advantage not many have either.”
I sigh. “Thank you, Dregin. I’m glad you have that much faith in me.” I grab my water from the floor and chug half the bottle before I place it back down. It’s still cold. Always cold. The magic here works wonders. The bottles are never empty, and they are always cold.
“If I did not, it would make me a crappy teacher, right?”
I smile. “Yeah. Maybe. So what you’re saying is that being my teacher is a lot like being a parent; you have to have that blind faith?”
Dregin laughs. “You always do this to me. Take my words and spin them into something foul.”
I stretch my neck, readying for my next ass whooping. He strikes out, and I block it. Kicking out with my right foot, I knock him on his back, pull out my wooden stake, and press it into his chest.
“See?” he says, swatting my hands away from his chest like they aren’t holding a weapon to him. Technically, I’m not. But still.
“Yeah. Yeah.” I hold my hand out to him to help him up.
“You are done for today. I will see you at dinner.”
This time my smile is full of joy. “Thank you, Dregin.”
“You are very welcome. You have earned it. Do not forget, tonight is a big night. That dress Nisbel got you, you have to wear it. Let the ladies do your hair and make-up, too. You only make their life harder when Nisbel has to reprimand them.”
I shudder. The first few times they tried to make me look like a member of the court or important enough to be there, I wouldn’t let them touch me, telling them in no uncertain terms that I would not be made up to look like a princess when the rest of the world is being held in the hands of evil.
Brian talked me into letting them dress me up after hearing Nisbel yelling at them for letting me wear jeans to dinner.
“Yes, sir,” I say to him. His answering smirk tells me he likes the mischief I cause. Tonight is the night that Nisbel and Dregin officially take over as the sole rulers. Her parents finally accept that she is ready.
I make an X over my heart. “Promise to let them make me look like a princess. But I am not wearing those silly shoes. I’d rather go barefoot.”
The shoes are platform heels. They make me taller than Brian by two inches, and I feel like more of a giant than I already do. I will wear flats. Fairies are no taller than five feet. They have an ethereal beauty about them, and their souls all call out to me as being good, light, and happy. I can see why they aren’t usually monsters that we have to take out.
“Your flats should be in your room, Annabella. I will see you at dinner.”
I bow slightly. Even though he isn’t my king, he is housing me and training me. It’s a sign of respect even if I cuss him out on a regular basis as he trains me.
I make my way to my room. We weren’t supposed to be sharing a room. Nisbel hates that she lied to my mother, but I refused to let Brian leave my side. I promised Nisbel no funny business, and for the most part, we have kept that promise.
Waking up to him holding me and falling asleep while he tells me of all the things he did while I was training is heaven. That’s what I’m going to miss most when I get back to the human world.
The castle is large, and bright colors adorn all of the walls, with light streaming through every window. I quickly felt at home here. No electricity fills the lights. They use fires and magic to light up the streets and houses at night. The nights here are beautiful. The night sky is filled with so many stars that it looks fake. The moons, there are two, are always parted by the night sky. They make the sky more brilliant. You can see the blue in the sky because of the light the two moons and millions of stars emit.
I make it to my room and push open the door. Brian is standing there, naked, with nothing but a towel around his waist and water dripping down his toned torso.
I lick my lips at the sight of him. I don’t even shy away from his gaze as I once may have. What we share is more intimate than seeing him almost naked.
In the year that I have been here, every day we are pushed to open the link between us. The first few times were hard. Now, I can open it without any thought to it.
His voice floats down the bond. Like what you see?
I send him an image of what I really want to see. I can tell when he understands, because he drops the towel. Now he truly is naked and stalking toward me like a lion hunting its prey. For just a moment I get to take in every glorious inch of him.
“Now, Bella, I thought you promised no funny business.” His voice is husky, and his eyes have a hungry look in them.
My own voice comes out strangled. “I think a year of being good—mostly good—deserves one pass.” I lift my hands and run them over his bare chest and then tangle my fingers in his hair. He brings his mouth down on mine in a kiss that feels like I’m feeding a starving man.
He pushes me up against the door, bolting it locked as he does. I wrap my legs around his waist, pulling him closer to me. I feel every inch of his hard body pressed against me. I pull his hair, bending his head back, and kiss down his neck, then gently bite him. He moans, pushing his hardened member into me. His hands roam all over my body, and my clothes are being taken off, thrown about the room in a haste to get me naked and against him.
“You sure you’re ready for this?” he asks against my neck. He kisses and bites my neck as I had done to him. I lean my head back, giving him better access. His tongue snakes out and licks up my neck. If I weren’t so turned on, I may have been grossed out. I am coated in sweat.
“Yes. I’m sure. I want this. I want you.”
He moves me from the door, which we were still pressed against, to the bed. He lays me gently down before crawling atop me. “Bella, look at me.”
I do as he says, seeing into his soul as he can see into mine. “I love you,” he says to me before placing a gentle kiss on my jaw, then my neck.
I grab his head and bring it inches from my own. “I love you, too. With my entire being. Make me yours, forever.”
As his mother told him, giving yourself fully to your soulmate binds your souls together completely. If he dies, I want to go with him. I can’t imagine my life without him in it. He has become so important to me, and I refuse to go on without him.
He leans down, kissing me more gently now than before. He looks into my eyes, watching me as he gently enters me.
Chapter
Twenty-Five
BRIAN
