Page 90 of Charming Her Monsters

“You might have, if we had more time,” Osen’s voice holds so much sorrow. “But I messed that all up. I failed you. I failed us. I’m so sorry, my love.”

Emotions overcoming him, Calder clasps our face and kisses my lips… kisses Osen. Years of repressed passion and love pour into us.

Calder peppers kisses over my cheeks and forehead. “I missed you so fucking much.”

My heart pounds, and my sex tingles. Osen’s turned on. To be fair, I am too.

Then I feel Osen’s shock. He didn’t expect to be turned on and have his lover still able to move. He believed his incubus feeding shadows would paralyze Calder like they had always done when he was alive.

Was that why he was hesitant to touch Calder when I offered?

I mentally nudge Osen to respond instead of him remaining in shock.

He catches Calder’s frenzied mouth with his, and they kiss. Their tongues tangle and they hold each other so tightly I can’t help but to feel like a third wheel. And damn if these guys don’t know how to kiss.

When they gasp for air, Osen speaks to me,“I never got to kiss him like this. So freely.”

“Never? Because of your powers?”

“Yes.”A wave of gratitude hits me square in the chest.“Thank you, Jade. But I need to pull away before I’m tempted to take over your body and do more than kiss.”

I don’t know what to say to that. Part of me wants to be generous and offer myself for them to connect more. The other part doesn’t want to be a passenger in my own body. While I’m debating what to do, Calder comes to his senses.

“We should slow down.” He presses his forehead to mine, closing his eyes, likely imagining that it’s just Osen with him now.

“I love you,” Osen says. “I didn’t say it all these years, and I should have shouted it every day.”

Calder sucks in a breath. “I love you too. It breaks my heart that I’ve lost you.”

“I’m not gone completely yet,” Osen reminds him.

“But how long until you move on from this plane?” Calder asks.

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t feel like I’m going anywhere for a while.” Osen looks down at my hands, turning them over and studying our shared body. “I would have thought I would have been exorcized when Rob attacked Jade. I think it might be her who must cut some sort of tether to let me go.”

He’s probably right, but I don’t like knowing I have that kind of power over someone’s soul—holding onto it.

I try to remember how I released the spirits in the past, but the returning memories are fuzzy. It’s there, just out of reach. Calder’s suggestion, when he pretended to be Rob, seems to have opened the door. Perhaps, over time, I’ll be able to remember all that happened under Rob’s spell.

Osen’s emotions are crashing into him again, and he embraces Calder in a tight hug. Calder melts into me and strokes my back lovingly. The love that these two have for each other resonates in my own heart. I just wish I could fix the broken pieces.

But right now, all I can offer is this… this strange moment, deep underground, wondering how many more moments we have left.

Something different tugs on my heart, and it isn’t the scene we’re playing out here.

“I think it may be Flint. Or even Maxum or Arran,”Osen tells me mentally, reading my thoughts.

My concern for my guys puts me in a spin. They should have been here by now. At least Flint should have come for me if he won. I want to reach out using our developing mental link, but I don’t want to be a distraction if he’s still fighting. But what if he didn’t win the battle?

“Jade, don’t,”Osen says softly.

“I’m sorry. My brain is being too loud for you to enjoy this moment,”I convey inside my mind.

“That’s not what I meant. And I’m not complaining… I wouldn’t have this moment if it weren’t for you.”

In the shadowscape, Osen appears standing in front of me. He’s in his shadowy form as usual, and I’m barely able to see what he might have looked like when he was alive.

“What are you doing here with me? You should spend this time with Calder,”I say, with a bit of reprimand.

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