Page 49 of Summer's Seduction

This is love, I thought as I lifted my hips to have him poised at my entrance. I should say it. That’s what people did, right? But those three words added so much pressure to whatever this was. They tethered a moment into a cliché, reducing it to pretty words. And it was growing alarmingly clear that what I felt for Morpheus was cosmic. Greater than love. It was all-consuming. Never ending.

“I’m yours forever,” I vowed instead, dropping onto his length as I captured his lips with mine. I pulled back, my hips undulating as I worked his length with my pussy. His golden irises were ringed red from my blood, his pupils blown wide with hunger and tendernessfor me.

I curled my fingers in his hair, the tips of my nipples dragging against his chest as we moved.

“And you’re mine.”

MORPHEUS

“No, please! I didn’t mean to—” Larkspur’s voice cut through peaceful sleep. The scent of her fear and panic dousing the air caused my pulse to race as I cast my wings around us in a cocoon of black, shielding us while I listened for any sign of our enemy. But none came.

“Don’t leave me here,” she pleaded, snapping my attention back toward her. A small, sad whimper fell from her trembling lips, and tears coated her cheeks despite her eyes remaining closed.

This was a nightmare.

Keeping my wings wrapped around us, just in case, I leaned down, brushing strands of hair away from her damp brow and giving her a soft shake. “It’s only a dream.”

She thrashed under my touch, terror spiking as she kicked and lashed out at me, batting me away.

“Larkspur, you need to wake up.” Tapping into my magic, I injected all the power I could into the command.

My eyes widened as the humming of my magic quieted. Larkspur was still trapped in the horrors of her mind, caged in whatever power this was. I’d never seen something strongenough to keep a soul in a nightmare when I commanded them to wake.

Dread coiled in the pit of my stomach as I watched her writhe, helplessness chilling my bones as her pulse continued to climb. She was spiraling further and further away from me, drowning in an ocean of churning waters with no chance of surfacing. I needed to reach her. And reach her quickly.

“Hold on, little monster,” I breathed. Drawing her into my arms, I lifted her wrist to my lips, fangs extending, and bit.

Mist filled the forest, so thick I could only make out the shape of my hand despite the full moon overhead. Pine and damp earth swirled in the night air, familiar and not at the same time. My eyes narrowed as I searched for any sign of Larkspur, knowing she was the anchor for this world.

There was nothing but the eerie stillness of a cursed forest, the pine too strong, and the snow beneath my boots too stiff. But our minds were linked now. The only way I knew of escaping this hell was by finding Larkspur and helping her realize this—whatever this was—only existed in The Nightmare Realm.

“Please, don’t leave me here.” The cry came from a child, the small plea devoid of hope even as she asked.

Some of the mist cleared, revealing a tall woman with the same coloring as Larkspur, racing through the trees with a child who was no more than eight, trailing behind her.

“Father will be so angry?—”

“Hush, Larkspur,” the woman scolded, whipping around to shoot her a venomous glare. “If you keep your mouth shut, your father will be none the wiser.”

My nostrils flared as the woman, it must have been Larkspur’s mother, pushed her toward a clearing.

“Wait here until I return.”

Young Larkspur nodded, but I recognized the hard glint in her eyes, which spoke of a plan churning in her mind. Her mother didn’t notice, turning toward the waiting forest without glancing back.

I stepped forward, aware that the quicker we left this place, the better. “Larkspur, you’re in a dream. You need to wake up.”

She looked right through me, unable to see or hear anything I was saying. But Iwashere, our minds woven together. Whatever magic had started this should be gone. This—whatever force was keeping her—wasn’t a physical restrain but an emotional one. Larkspur wasn’t ready to leave. I’d have to walk through this memory with her and hope I’d find an opening to shatter the illusion.

I stalked behind young Larkspur like a shadow as she followed her mother’s trail. The mist still clung to the ground, but the broken branches and disturbed snow patches were easy to see. Larkspur crouched as she spied, allowing me to look ahead to what she saw.

It wasn’t long before we slowed, her mother’s voice carrying through the trees. “I’ve brought her.”

“Where?” A deep voice rumbled through the branches, the mist growing thicker as I tried to focus on his features.

Large, leathery wings shone behind his towering frame, the red tint to them so deep they were nearly black. Dark, close-cropped hair and silver eyes with obsidian rings stared down at Larkspur’s mother. Olive skin shone between swirling shadows—no, not shadows, but tendrils of the blackest night. Faces flashed in the darkness that whirled around him, contorting and writhing in pain—souls trapped.

“Don’t take that tone with me, Epialos.” Larkspur’s mother lifted her nose in a poor attempt to hide the scent of her fear, which was so potent I was sure young Larkspur could smell itfrom here. “I may not be as powerful as you, but we both know I'm unrivaled when it comes to binding spells and wards.”

---