Page 134 of Lost in the Dark

“What the fuck happened?” Michael roared as he stumbled toward me.

I adjusted my shirt, my gaze fixed on the darkness in front of me. I couldn’t see him anymore, my monster in the dark.

“Violet!” Michael snapped.

I wrenched my gaze to his, finding Damon and Monica behind him. But I didn’t know what to say, what could I say?

I had no idea what to even tell myself, how could I tell them what I'd just done?

“I fell,” I answered carefully.

“You fell?” Michael snarled, coming closer, looking down at my shirt, and my jeans still undone. “And you decided to take off your clothes?”

“Yes,” I answered quietly.

I didn’t know why I was even answering him, why he even deserved a second of my time. I narrowed in on Damon and Monica behind him. And it all came rushing back. They were the reason I was out here in the first place.

No…Michaelwas the reason.

Now I was torn. I turned my head, searching the gloom for movement. Because what just happened was no knock on the head.

“Come on.” Michael grasped my hand, pulling me forward. “You must be fucking freezing.”

I shivered now, but I hadn’t before. I understood now why he'd wrapped his wings around me, and it wasn’t just to smother out the light. It was to protect me, to keep me warm…to care for me.

My heart boomed, my body still pulsing from him.

My beast in the dark.

Michael shrugged out of his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders. “I’ll get you back to camp and warm by the fire, okay?”

I didn’t fight him when he fixed the jacket closed around me and tugged my hand, dragging me back the way he'd come. My feet slipped in my boots, growing heavier with every step I climbed. Every step further away fromhim. By the time I reached the top of the first embankment, I knew I didn’t want to go back.

I wanted to stay in that forest, with my monster.

The cold cut through Michael’s jacket. But I could still feel Dregon's wings around me, and the warm blast of his breath on the side of my neck. Those midnight eyes filled my head, making me stop.

Damon grabbed my hand, hauling me upwards as we kept climbing. “It’s not much further,” Michael urged.

I let him lead me back through the darkness until the faint glow of the campfire shone through the trees. And in a brutal heartbeat, I was out of the fantasy and slammed back into reality. The tent. The chairs…the pain.

I couldn’t have been gone long. An hour…

An hour of madness…

An hour of pure erotic fantasy.

“You’re still shaking.” I was numb when Michael rubbed my shoulders from behind, leading me to the chairs near the fire.

Until his touch felt like betrayal…and I couldn’t stand the contact anymore.

“No.” I shook my head and stumbled for the tent.

“V!” Michael called, anger bleeding into his tone. Like he’s the one who should be angry.

“Just let her go, buddy,” Damon muttered. “Don’t even worry about her.”

You’re so uptight!Michael’s berating rose inside me, and with it came a flood of all the cruel things he’d said over the years.You thought I was going to propose?His laughter followed, booming in my head, making me wince as I stumbled into the tent and closed the flaps behind me.

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