“I don’t know how you could ever love a monster like me, but I am so in love with you too. I am. From the moment I saw you, I knew. I knew you were the one I’d been looking for. I was just so scared.” I felt a warm tear drip along my neck before his lips were at my ear, his warm breath tickling my skin. “I fucking love you with every ounce of me there is. I will always love you. You have become my entire world. I only hope I can be a fraction of yours.”
He pulled away from me and scribbled those words into the notebook before handing it back to me.
“So you remember,” he murmured. “They aren’t only words to me. They’re promises. I’m yours. In whatever capacity you need or want me, you own me, Sirena. I belong to you now.”
I took the pen and wrote the only thing I knew in that moment.
And I belong to you.
MIRAGE
The worst thing about being wild was the cold. I hated the cold. I stared out at the barren cemetery from the dark line of the woods, watching as Sin walked with Sirena through the darkness to the mausoleum.
“Is it always like this?” I murmured. “Watching. Waiting.”
“Always,” Bryce answered from my side.
“You really are a shadow,” I mused.
“I’m what lurks in plain sight.” He let out a sigh and shifted next to me.
“If it helps, I think Sin has finally wiggled his way into her good graces.” I watched as Sin pulled her to a stop and kissed her gently beneath the falling snow.
“And you’re OK with that?”
I smiled. “She’s been through a lot. I owe her. So yes. I’m OK with it. I want whatever she wants. I always have.”
“I’m pretty sure she didn’t want to be murdered with a shovel.”
I ground my teeth at his words. “That wasn’t me. That was Asylum.”
“Right. Right. Same coin. Different sides. Got it.”
I grunted. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to just get this shit out in the open.
Waiting is the hardest part.
Don’t I know it.
Shh. . . the wind is changing.
SHUT UP!
I shook the third voice out of my head and focused my attention back on Sin and Sirena, who had gone to sit on the stone bench near the mausoleum.
“Were you upset it wasn’t you trapped in that coffin with her?” Bryce asked.
I was quiet for a moment, contemplating it before I answered.
“At first, I was. I was upset that it happened at all. But you know how Asylum is. He sees things and goes for them.”
“And you? You just. . . wait?”
“I’m good at waiting. It’s all I know how to do,” I said. “Although, I’ve been getting antsy lately.”
“Your inconsistency is killing me,” Bryce muttered before pulling his dark hat lower over his head. “So is this cold.”
“It’s not cold when you’re in someone else’s arms.”