Nightmares weren’t romantic or soft in the least. The way we handled everything, even affection, was dangerous and rough. So instead of seeing it as a bad thing, my subconscious had been immediately pleased by it, viewing it as a ‘love bite’ of sorts. The closest I would probably ever get to marking her in general.
If I actually bit into her skin and tasted her sweet blood, I would have to be inside of her. There was no doubt about that. I wouldn’t be able to control myself, so this was a far better option. I needed to keep my mouth away from every part of her. I had only so much trust in my control, and without knowing, Arabella tested it daily by putting herself in danger.
My frown deepened as the core of our true problem once again vibrated through every cell of my being, refusing to be ignored.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want Arabella. No, very much the opposite. The problem was that I wanted to savagely mark her, railing into her soft body while leaving an imprint of my cock inside of her tight cunt, until all she knew was my name and how it sounded coming off her lips in a scream. The problem was that what I wanted with her was completely unattainable and impossible.
Not just because of my possessive and protective tendencies that came alive around her, contradicting the dark need I had for her. Or the fact that I had a not so small obsession and fascination with Arabella that I knew wasn’t just my own affliction. No, my entire team suffered with a sick need for her. Hell, I even knew she was attracted to me as well as the others.
So what was the true problem? What made this goddamn happily-ever-after so impossible?
There was absolutely no way Arabella could survive something like that.
Fucking a nightmare wasn’t anything like what humans partook in. It was a very valid concern that anything we would want to do to her, that what our creatures would demand of her body while mating, would absolutely shatter her. That wasn’t even taking into account if we lost actual control or shifted into nightmare form. There were far too many dangerous factors that could easily end her life, and no one was willing to risk that. I may have wanted the woman like my next breath, but I wanted her to take hers more than that.
With that being said, I could practically feel the tension growing in my body at the feeling of her lithe, sexy frame pressed against mine. I was going to suffer for this later when I was laying in bed by myself, thinking about how fucking fantastic she would look bent over as I pounded into her like the little fuck toy that she could so easily be.
A growl broke from my throat at that as Blackwell shot me a look, clearly knowing where my thoughts were going. Not that Arabella noticed—she was still looking over at Cy and Razar, only moments having passed while I’d been consumed by my thoughts, diving into a deep, dangerous place.
As if Blackwell could talk, for the record. She had kissed him once, and he had practically torn down the institute to find her because his nightmare instincts were riding him so hard to mate with her. I didn’t blame him, but he had no fucking right to act like he wasn’t ten times worst than myself.
“If we are done with this,” Director McCroy began with a wave of his hand, his eyes moving from the two of them towards Amun, who was still staring at my cherry blossom.
I growled and pulled her closer to me, her delicate hand rubbing against my chest in a comforting motion. It wasn’t just that Amun wanted her. It was that he didn’t realize how careful he had to be with her.
I didn’t just call her ‘cherry blossom’ because of her stunning hair. No, she was so incredibly, beautifully breakable, and I don’t think he fucking realized that, which was going to be a problem to his own health. If he put her in danger, I didn’t care if Arabella wanted him on our team, he wouldn’t see another day in his supposedly ‘immortal’ existence.
McCroy continued, interrupting my growl. “We have things to talk about, Amun, and I won’t be able to do that if I am constantly worried about you accidentally hurting my daughter in a tug-of-war.”
Arabella offered her father an affectionate smile that made me once again realize how important that type of thing was to Arabella. I wouldn’t know, considering my lack of a relationship with my own parents. If you could even call them that. Amun offered the man a sharp look before moving his gaze back to Arabella, seeming to not know what to do. I had a feeling he would still try to get his hands on her if I let my guard down.
“Cy!” Arabella chirped, breaking the tension while casting him a bright smile. “Good morning, handsome.”
Cy looked over her expression before offering her a warm look that was probably the closest the man ever got to smiling. I mean, unless he was killing. Then he had absolutely no problem smiling, usually while using his fangs to rip out his victims’ throats.
But Arabella didn’t see most of that part. Not that I think she would give a shit. I mean, Saint was still in the picture, so we had to do something pretty fucking bad for her to decide we were too ‘monstrous’ in comparison.
No, I was well aware that Arabella accepted us exactly as we were, and I never questioned her being technically human, because it didn’t change anything between us… well, except when it came to fucking her. Then I was cursing her humanity.
Amun let out a low, frustrated sound at her words towards Cy, which had me shaking my head. How the hell did she think this guy was going to fit on our team? Not only was this motherfucker thousands of years old, but he didn’t get it.
It being the one rule that absolutely controlled our team. The only aspect that kept the group of us in any semblance of order and small construct of humanity.
Arabella made the rules.
It didn’t matter if my little cherry blossom was quite literally barely five feet tall or had rose-colored hair. It didn’t matter that she appeared to pose literally zero physical dominance or threat. The woman was indisputably the one in charge here. She made the rules, and we followed them. I didn’t think she fully realized that was how it worked around here, but that was fine. As long as she was happy, that was all that mattered.
Still, if Amun wanted to actually stay with this team, he was going to need to understand how all of this worked, and fast. He also would probably need to learn to avoid using the world ‘mine’ in reference to Arabella around Razar. It was a trigger, to say the least. I mean, it pissed me the fuck off as well because if she was anyone’s, it wasn’t his. She was ours. She was on our team, and while it was a small win on our end, a small claim, it still fucking counted. With Razar, I knew it hit differently, because he truly did consider Arabella ‘his’ in the truest sense of the word. He had ‘found her’ and he was ‘keeping her.’
It would have been funny if I didn’t feel a very similar pull of possession towards the woman.
“Can you put me down, please?” Arabella looked up at me, her voice a soothing melody that had my cock pulsing. Something that was wholly not unusual in her presence because everything about the woman turned me on. Hell, even the way she seemed to not react to very obvious threats did it for me. Nightmares fed off fear, so I should find it frustrating and possibly even annoying, but instead I found it attractive.
Arabella had magic, it just wasn’t the type that nightmares or humans recognized. Yet it was impossible to explain the reaction she caused in others—she was like the world’s strongest sedative. She made you both want to close your eyes, falling into a lulled sense of security, and devour every inch of her sweetness.