Page 24 of Shadows of Light
And, if there was one thingbothparts of him wanted… it washer. And she could give him that.
CHAPTERTWENTY
Feeling a little like a sacrificial lamb,she grasped the bottom of his tunic and pulled it over her head. With a soft rustle, it fell to the floor.
Lexi thrust back her shoulders as she stood naked before him. Cole’s breath sucked in; she hadn’t believed it possible, but the silver of his eyes burned brighter in the moonlight.
The shadows danced and swayed around him; some of them floated toward her before he reeled them back in. Andthatwas when she realized theshadowswanted her too.
She had no idea what those things would do to her, but they also sought her out. She suppressed a shudder at the thought of those things touching her, but it didn’t matter; she would let them if it saved him.
What if there’s no way to ever separate them? What if this is what he is from now on?
Lexi tried to shove aside the possibility, but it refused to relent. She’d believed she would find a way to bring him back, but she might not be able to.
There was a chance this was who Cole was now, who he would always be.
And she would love him anyway. But she didn’t think that would happen.
He’d come here tonight, something he couldn’t do a week ago. He now stood before her, looking as if he would devour her as his gaze raked her body.
His hands clenched and unclenched, and bones popped as claws extended before retracting again. The lycan was seeking to dominate the shadows, and she hoped it won.
“You have no idea what you’re playing with,” the shadows hissed.
“Am I playing with fire?”
“Yes.”
“Fire doesn’t burn me.”
The shadows wanted her, but they also feared her; she saw that when they recoiled from her words. If there was something to fear from her, the shadows could be defeated… or maybe brought under control a little more.
“Lexi,” Cole breathed.
Tears pricked her eyes and burned her throat as his much-loved voice broke through the shadows. She’d longed to hear that voice for the past two weeks andyearnedto see him again.
He was a dream in the sea of nightmares that had plagued her since the end of the war. She often woke, covered in sweat, and unable to catch her breath as she found herself back in the Lord’s throne room over and over again, except, this time, he defeated them.
In some of her dreams, she watched Cole and all those she loved die. In others, she ran through endless halls covered in blood, searching for Cole, her dad, and Sahira, and unable to find them.
But the dreams that haunted her waking moments were the ones where countless immortals pointed at her and booed. She stood before them in the arach crown as they called her a failure, a pretender, and blamed her for failing them.
And she woke with the knowledge that, while the Lord was dead and couldn’t torment anyone again, she could fail. One wrong move and she could let down every immortal in all the realms.
The Lord never worried about that, but she did. The weight of it was beating her down, but here, with Cole, she didn’t feel as battered. She felt hopeful, happy, andloved.
“You have no idea the things I’ve done,” he said.
“The things we’vealldone. I’ve killed too.” And those deaths also plagued her at night.
“Weenjoyit,” the shadows murmured.
Lexi closed her eyes at this admission; he’d always been a killer, always done his duty, but when she first met him, those deaths haunted him. They didn’t seem to anymore.
Would that change if the shadows relinquished their fight for control over him? Or had they forever altered him?
“I love you no matter what,” she told him.
