Page 49 of Regally Binding

“No,” Strike replied while side-eyeing Bear.

“And I can go to the party? I want to go to the party.” Liss gazed at Bear, who continued to stare at the phone as if it were a treasure map.

“You can go to the party,” Strike spoke again for the two of them. “There’s nothing special about this threat, and we’re both in agreement.”

But she wasn’t interested in Strike’s opinion. Bear turned his phone over repeatedly in his hand. “Can I go to the party?”

“Yes.” It was like the grunt of a stroppy teenager forced to finish their homework.

Liss occasionally gazed out the window at the strangers whose lives no longer resembled hers. Her earlier happiness was gone.

Surely, a future of threats was worth it for a family. And of course, the party would be safe. It had to be, right?

Chapter Twenty-Five

Darkness surrounded her.

Hands reached for her from the walls. They called out her name as they grabbed and pulled at her clothes. One hand gripped her around the throat. “You’re alone,” it rasped. “You’ll die alone with no one to save you.”

“Get away,” she cried, but another hand forced itself over her mouth.

The entity behind her was pushing her towards the stairs of the pub. They wanted to throw her down them.

“No one will save you.” The voice left an icy chill that filled her bones even as her body burnt with fire. “You’re already dead. No one cares that you exist. You have no one.”

Hands held her at the top of the pub stairs. She cried out, but no one came for her.

“Princess Felicity,” the voice said before cackling. “You’ll be dead before you take that name.”

Fingers dug into her shoulders as hands shook her.

She gasped as she woke to find Bear leaning over her with his hands holding her shoulders. He wasn’t piercing her skin with his fingers like the monster in her dream. His large body filled the space beside her bed, his presence like a foreboding creature who could crush her with one hand, but his touch remained gentle and his face full of concern.

“Liss?” he whispered. The room was a strange mixture of light and dark. The only light in the room glowed from her open bedroom door. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” Liss rasped as if glass was embedded in her throat.

“You were screaming.” Bear eased himself onto the bed and opened his arms. Liss filled the gap, and he held her close. His leg bobbed, and his pulse thrummed in his throat.

The bedding was damp, and sweat drenched her T-shirt. Liss’s shivers grew with each second. The terror from her nightmare wouldn’t leave her. She may have been awake, but it was as if her body kept the horror. It flowed through her blood and threatened to take her under once more; her limbs continued to tense.I’m going to die alone.It didn’t matter that she’d have blood relatives close. The heat and care in Bear’s embrace weren’t enough to obliterate the nightmare.

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Sit closer, Princess. I need to get you warm.”

She climbed into his lap, and he cocooned her with his arms. She hissed as she moved her sore arm. Bear held it gently as if it were a treasure worth more than gold as he rocked her slowly, and she wept against his chest.

“I don’t know what that nightmare was about, but Strike and I won’t let anything happen to you. He’s fought against bigger enemies than this joker writing you notes.”

His voice was low and soothing, but his rapid heartbeat betrayed him. Liss focused on how his accent rounded words. He smelt of wood and citrus, and she breathed him in.

He continued, “And I might not be a former soldier, but I’ve fought beasts in my time. We’ve got this, and we’ve certainly got you.”

Liss wrapped her good arm around him. He was pure muscle yet still soft in the way she needed. “Then why is your heart beating so fast?” Liss croaked against his shirt.

He didn’t reply, but his heartbeat slowed as he rocked her. Liss breathed in time with him. His shirt was crisp enough to leave creases on her face, and she’d probably soaked it with her sweat and tears, but she didn’t let go. His hands rubbed herback, the heat penetrating her cotton top. He brushed her hair with kisses and hummed an unfamiliar tune. Eventually, her eyelids drooped, and her body pulled her to sleep, but she shook herself awake.

“I smell bad,” she griped, ruining the moment.

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