Page 84 of Their Blood Queen

CHAPTER 21

CAIN

I realize my mistake when I detect the shame and panic in Scarlett’s bright, mirrorlike eyes. She’s even more beautiful in the Dream Realm than she is in the real one. And she’s naked, which is new and delightful.

I want to play, but when I slip into her mind now that she opened the door, I see that she’s not alone.

And she’s confused. Aroused, yes, but something is off.

She’d frightened me when she had almost come to me in the Dream Realm moments earlier. I’ve never known a human to do that while awake. Walking between worlds can be dangerous if one doesn’t know what they’re doing. Scarlett’s brush with the Dream Realm had sent a shock wave that had hit me square in the chest.

I had decided to anchor myself on a couch, then peer outside the windows at my dark city while I waited for her to call me so I could find her and make sure she was safe. Bernard was already on his way, but I doubted he would make it in time.

Then she said my name.

But she hadn’t been really calling me, had she? My name had slipped from her bloodied tongue as a natural expression of pleasure.

Pleasure I hadn’t been giving her.

“I believe I’ve made an error,” I say, my voice coming out gravelly and low while in my beast form.

He wants to stay, but he doesn’t like the confusion in our mate’s eyes.

Not ours, I remind myself.

Because she’d just been with Earl Rinhold. Not me.

She had let him touch her.

Because my blood is inside her, confusing her, I think, arguing with myself.

When Scarlett stares at me, the last few moments play out in her head, displaying them for me to see. Memories are like dreams, and I steel myself when I see her suitor kiss his way down her body.

And taste her.

“Are you him?” she asks, breaking off the growl I had been releasing, making the world around us tremble.

“What?” I ask, startled by the question.

“Cain,” she says, taking a brave step forward. Her entire body is shivering. The Dream Realm can be a cold, desolate place, and she wraps her arms around herself. Bumps spread over her wet, naked skin, and I want nothing more than to warm her with my tongue.

I want to override this new memory she has with ones of my own.

“Yes and no,” I tell her honestly.

My Dream Eater half has become another entity entirely, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever be whole again. Cain, King of the Elite City, is a different beast than the one who lives in nightmares.

She comes close enough to unfurl her arms, and she grazes her fingers over my chest. She seems to be exploring me, and I let her.

Her body relaxes as if she found something she had been looking for. “You feel real… You feel right.”

Had Earl Rinhold not felt right to her? Most likely. I’m starting to suspect that he chose my blood because he knew of the compatibility I shared with her.

He must also have known that my blood would shield him. The blood contract impacts both parties, so whatever attraction Scarlett might feel for the male is likely fabricated from what she is actually feeling for me.

This is all my fault.

Clashing emotions squeeze my chest, and I wrap my arm around her and bring her in close. My other hand goes to her face, and I run my thumb over her lips.

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