Page 44 of Guarded By the Nightmare

And why him?

I thought it was because Iknewhim now, as much as it was possible for anyone to. Going to Timelandia had been like doing really good drugs—I’d gained a lot of clarity.

“What does normal mean to you?” he asked.

“That’s such a good question,” I said.

All I knew was that I wanted it in a way I couldn’t quantify. I wanted to live in a world that was fair, where things made sense, where I could go back to just being a girl who was a little messed up, but who still had a clean conscience and a present best friend.

“Then might I suggest something?” he asked, and I gave a soft nod. “Sit down.”

I frowned at him, but he’d sworn he’d behave—and he wasn’t human, which meant that maybe Icouldtrust him. So I did as I was told, waiting for something horrible to happen, wondering if I’d evernotbe waiting for something horrible ever again.

“May I grab hold of your thighs?” he asked.

“You have to say mother-may-I first,” I snarked, but then nodded.

He took the tops of each of my thighs into his hands and I felt the pinpricks of his claws. “You have lovely skin.”

“I bet you say that to all the girls you’re going to murder.”

That made him chuckle. “May I touch you, Mina?” Seeing as he already was, I had a feeling where he meant. “Not in, though, I promise,” he said—and I felt a ripple between my legs, like a sea-creature breaching the surface of the water, running up my seam. I gasped, and he asked, “Shall I continue?”

It was nice to be asked.

It was nice to be touched.

It was nice, after so many goddamn months of festering silence, to be heard.

“Yes,” I whispered, and so I felt him again, heat and pressure, rubbing against me, sliding back and forth. I felt myself part slightly as he slid across my opening, and something hot and blunt nudge against my clit. He did it again and again, making nerves light up as I started breathing with his rhythm, rocking back and forth in his time.

“Do you like that?” he asked.

I swallowed. “Yeah.”

“What other normal things might you like?” His tone was even and calm, even as he was rocking up into me.

I bit my lips. Normalcy was now or never—because after he read Nolan’s mind tonight, I’d never get the chance again. “You.”

“Let us wait a bit,” he said, sliding his hands up my thighs, to my hips.

“Why?” I heard myself—I sounded upset.

“Because I don’t know when I’ll get to do something like this again. If we are not in a rush, I would prefer it to not be over too soon.” He tilted his gaze up to look at me.

It never would’ve occurred to me that we were both searching for the same thing. “What do you see when you look at me?” I asked, wondering which set of eyes he was looking at me with.

“A pretty human, grinding on me.”

“Pretty, eh?”

“More attractive than seventy-five point one percent of all humanity,” he said, and I stilled. “That’s counting men and women by the way,” he went on, as the edges of his lips quirked up.

“Fuck you,” I said with a laugh.

“Or, you can fuck me,” he offered instead, flexing his claws against me as he rocked, moving against me, making me move against him. “I can feel how wet you are now, Mina. If I were on fire, you could put me out.”

“Don’t judge.” I frowned, pouting.

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