Page 25 of Shadows of Light
“You shouldn’t love a monster.”
“If you’re the monster you believe yourself to be, then you wouldn’t hesitate. I can see how hungry the dark fae is, and it’s impossible to hide a lycan’s desire for its mate. If you were truly a monster, you would already be on me, taking me as I’m offering myself to you.”
When the shadows released an angry, guttural sound, Lexi realized she’d struck a nerve. The dark entities slid closer to her but didn’t touch as they hovered around her body.
They were so close she wouldn’t have to move an inch to touch one, but they didn’t connect with her. Instead, they became a darkness swirling beside her.
Anger etched Cole’s features as he strode toward her, and his joints continued to pop and crack. His fangs lengthened until they were outlined against his compressed lips.
“You don’t think I’m a monster? I’ll prove it to you,” he said, and his voice mingled with the shadows again.
His hands grasped her biceps, and his eyes burned as the black slithered faster beneath his skin. The lycan sought to break free as his claws grazed her flesh.
He was a terrifying sight to behold; anyone else would have run screaming from him, but she didn’t flinch. He didn’t scare her, and he never would.
Lifting her chin, Lexi stared defiantly back at him. “Then prove it.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
When Cole first grabbed her,he’d meant to make her understand. He’d meant toshowher how volatile and broken he was.
The second his skin connected with hers, the vengeance and bloodlust driving him since he welcomed the shadows into his body, calmed. She didn’t completely quiet the storm but turned a tumultuous hurricane into a windy day.
He could almost breathe again without feeling like the shadows would tear him apart and unleash devastation upon the realms.
He still wasn’t entirely in control, the lycan, dark fae, and shadows continued to war against each other as each sought to claim something from her.
He knew what the dark fae and lycan sought; he had no idea what the shadows sought. Whatever it was, they wouldn’t get it. If it was the last thing he did, he would ensure that.
As he held her, Lexi stared defiantly up at him, her chin raised and her magnificent green eyes blazing with determination and love. She shouldn’t have so much faith in him when he didn’t have it for himself.
When he clasped her throat, she didn’t flinch, and her eyes didn’t waver. She was beautiful, everything about her was magnificent, and she’d become the queen the Shadow Realms deserved.
He should push her away; instead, he pulled her closer. Given what he was, what she’d seen him do, and how he held her, she should show some alarm. She didn’t.
Cole didn’t know if that made him love or fear for her more.
He wanted to make her pull away, hate him, and seek to start a new life without him. She should forget him and go on to live a wonderful life in this world.
It would be difficult at first; she loved him, but she was young and would learn to move on. Maybe, though it was unlikely, she could love another again.
The idea of it happening tore his heart in two, and his claws extended but didn’t mark her skin. It was selfish of him, butno oneelse would ever touch or know her as he did.
And that made him more of a monster than the shadows. He could never give her the life she should have; he should set her free, but he wouldn’t.
“When are you going to prove it?” she taunted.
The shadows hissed at her words, and Cole pulled her closer. He claimed her mouth in a punishing kiss that should have made her recoil from his brutality, but this valiant woman didn’t.
Instead, she gripped his arms, rose on her toes, and kissed him back. She didn’t try to soften or change the kiss; her kiss was as harsh, demanding, and unrelenting as his.
When her fangs sliced his lip and drew blood, his erection swelled to the point of pain. His hand tightened a little more on her throat, but she didn’t push him away or lessen her kiss.
Her fangs sank into his lip and set his skin on fire. With his hand on her throat, he guided her back until her heels hit the wall.
Releasing his arms, she slid her hands around his neck and melted against him. He couldneverforget what it was like to have her in his arms, but over the past two weeks, blood and body parts had dampened the memory.
Now, how amazingly right she felt came screaming back to him. She was the missing piece of him, and he’dfinallyfound her again.
