Page 10 of Loving Nightmares
A short elevator ride took us to the room that we had met in before leaving for our road trip, and the minute we stepped out into the hallway I knew something was off.
Cy. His energy was everywhere.
I broke away from the others and hurried down the hall, nearly slamming right into the man as he pushed out of the meeting room doors. I stumbled, almost falling after hitting his hard chest, but he easily snatched me up and pulled me against him. I inhaled his minty scent and didn’t even realize he had me pinned to the wall nearly half a hallway down from anyone until Saint’s voice rang out.
“Flower, he’s a bit of a mess right now.”
Pulling back from where I was buried against his neck, his hands holding my waist, I examined his hypnotic eyes and realized I had never seen Cy this upset before. He was visibly trembling with the effort to calm down.
“Cy.” I ran a hand over his cheek as his gaze hyper-focused on mine, holding it to the point that I almost felt dizzy. “I need you to breathe.”
“I can’t,” he said, his chest heaving with panicked breaths. “I can’t watch you get hurt, pixie. I will have that image of your skin being burned in my head for the rest of my life. I can’t handle that. The idea of you being hurt sends me fucking reeling.”
“I know,” I soothed, “but I’m fine. I’m a lot more durable than before.”
“We should have protected you better,” he bit out. “You shouldn’t have to be durable.”
“Cy.” I used the strongest voice I could manage. “I need you to listen to me.”
“I hear everything you say,” he whispered, his jaw so tight I worried it would shatter. At least his breathing was starting to steady.
“Iwillget hurt. It’s just life; it’s going to happen. It’s happened before, and it will happen again. I’m a mostly human woman mated to eight nightmares and living at an institute filled with them. I’m engaged in a war with humans, and I am going to fight to protect our home. And that’s not even including normal stuff, like when I have children or shit like that—”
“This isn’t helping,” he groaned.
“The point I’m making is that there’s nothing we can do about it. Pain is part of life, but I know you will protect me and try to stop it. I trust you, so trust yourself as well. Today we were unprepared, which is why we’re having this meeting, because that shit is done with.”
“Exactly, Cy.” Saint’s voice was relatively relaxed, but I knew him well enough to see that the man walking towards us was on edge. “So chill out and let’s get in there.”
Cy let out a long exhale, letting me slide down his frame. He pressed a kiss to my forehead before tugging my hand gently to follow him. Saint intercepted, though, tugging me around the waist.
“I love you,” I called out to Cy as he continued down the hall without us. He looked over his shoulder and offered me a tight smile, the tension not gone but for sure lessened. I think being able to hold me had helped, and it didn’t surprise me completely—Cy always did better with communication through touch.
“Flower—”
“No, no, no.” I cut him off before he could even start. “Seriously, Saint, you are not going to tell me about how you don’t think this is a good idea—”
Saint chuckled softly. “No, I think it’s a good idea.”
“Oh.” My brows furrowed. “You look all tense and worried.”
Saint let out a low rumble and captured my jaw. “I am worried about you, flower, but what I was going to say…”
“Yeah?”
“I need permission from you to bury all those motherfuckers out there.”
5
ARABELLA
I was extremely temptedto let him.
The only thing holding me back was the knowledge that it wouldn’t help in the long run because there would always be more humans for War to influence. He was the true problem here, and while I knew not all lives could be saved in this effort—specifically human ones—I hoped to preserve as many as possible.
Well…at least the ones that deserved to be saved.
I knew War was influencing them, but it made me wonder how much hatred already existed.
