Page 33 of Unleashing Mayhem
Nightmare nodded. He would take every truth Matteo wanted to give him.
“I’m not supposed to be alive right now,” Matteo whispered. “Dominico was growing restless with all of Luca’s false promises about me, and Luca had given up on me ever taking over. After they got rid of the Kozlovs, Luca was going to either kill me or finally give me to Dominico to do the job for him. Sascha and Kai freed me, but I knew I was living on borrowed time. I knew that Dominico would find me eventually.”
Matteo crawled forward, placing his hands over Nightmare’s on Nightmare’s knees and using them as leverage. “So I’m not even a real person, Scary,” he continued in that quiet whisper. “I’m the ghost of a lost boy who was given away, forced to use a name that was never even his.” He tugged on Nightmare’s shirt, coaxing Nightmare to bend his head. He cupped Nightmare’s cheeks. “But you’re here now. And you being here makes me feelreal. You covet me? You can have me. I’m happy to be yours. I would have been dust otherwise.”
Was this what it always felt like when a demon found its mate? It couldn’t be. No other creature could have felt a triumph this sweet, this perfect.
Nightmare grinned, all sharp teeth and shadow.
He’d known it from the moment he’d caught the scent of Matteo’s soul, back in that wretched Void. He’d known Matteo was destined to be his.
Nightmare had found his terrible purpose, and it was more beautiful than anything else in all the realms.
10
Matty
Matty stared at Nightmare’s sharp-toothed grin, momentarily frozen in place by pure, unadulterated joy.
Nightmare wanted Matty.Covetedhim, he’d said. He planned to keep him.
He’d planned to keep Matty all along.
Something heavy and warm and wonderful settled in Matty’s chest as Nightmare stared at him with naked hunger in his strange white gaze. Matty had been claimed by this creature of the dark without even knowing it, and it was a better fate than he ever could have hoped for.
And maybe Matty should have longed for freedom after a lifetime under Luca Caruso’s cruel thumb. Maybe he should have wanted independence, a chance to find his inner bravery. But Matty had tried life on his own here in Seacliff, and while it was better than what he’d left, he’d still hated it.
He didn’twantto be alone. He wanted what Sascha had with Kai. He wanted tobelongto someone. Someone so strong and fearless that nothing could stand in their way.
And maybe that made Matty weak, this need to be protected. But he’d already known that about himself, hadn’t he?
It was silly to expect him to resist, anyway. Nightmare was perfect. He was exactly what Matty needed. What hewanted. Darkly compelling but also tender. Ripping a man apart in one moment and talking sweetly to Matty in the next. He fit around all Matty’s broken pieces, his shadows filling all the painful gaps.
Matty didn’t even care if Nightmare was acting that way just to seduce him into a bond. Let the seduction continue forever, then. Matty was game for it.
There was a gentle tug on Matty’s wrists. Nightmare’s shadows, urging him even closer. Matty went willingly—easily—crawling fully into Nightmare’s lap.
“Kiss me now,” Matty ordered, tilting his chin up in invitation. “Please.”
Nightmare did, wrapping strong, slender arms around Matty’s back. Matty stretched up as much as he was able, slinging his own arms around Nightmare’s neck, tugging him down so he could kiss his demon back with all the yearning in his veins. The kiss was sloppy, messy, and hungry. Nightmare didn’t seem to mind. He let out a rumbling growl as he ravaged Matty’s mouth, encouraging Matty to rock against him, Matty trying desperately to get friction against his aching cock as all his blood rushed south.
This was good. Very good. Talking and confessions of eternal devotion were fine and all, but really, there should have been more kissing all along.
Eventually Nightmare allowed Matty to breathe—overrated—and Matty instantly started tugging at the ties on Nightmare’s pants. “Take it out. I want to see it again.”
Nightmare huffed a laugh, but he unlaced the ties, lowering his waistband to release his cock. Matty scooted back on Nightmare’s thighs, making room for the monstrosity.
Why did the sight of that strange cock make Matty sohungry? There was something about it—large and dark and unlike anything he’d seen before—that made him ache inside. He wanted to rub his face against it. And his…chest? And his dick. Definitely his dick.
For the moment, Matty settled for rubbing his thumb against the head of it, enjoying the way it made Nightmare’s rumble deepen. “Do the petals stay like that?” Matty asked.
“Petals?”
“These.” Matty brushed one deliberately, watching it lift, smoky gray precum leaking out.
Nightmare gently knocked Matty’s hand away and wrapped his own slender fingers around his cockhead. He slid his hand down, and the petals bunched down around the head, revealing the bulbous black tip to the air, shimmering with precum.
Matty’s own cock jerked at the sight, and he squirmed on Nightmare’s lap. “I want to touch it,” he breathed. “And—and suck it. And I think you should fuck me with it.”
