Page 106 of Pretty Little Shadow
He was already asleep when horror curled in my chest...
Because I had no fucking clue if I loved him back.
I slipped outof bed when I knew he was asleep enough not to notice me leave.
Sleep wasn't coming for me. Not at the moment.
I took a few steps toward the bathroom, but hesitated, looking back at the man in my bed.
Our bed.
My mate. He was my mate.
Darius looked as content as he felt through our bond. My shadows danced slowly over his skin, the magic intense and protective, blocking him from the price of his magic.
Half of them weren't clinging to him.
Allof them were.
Almost all of them, at least. I was the one who now had only a small dusting of my power on my skin.
His blood ran through my veins even more than his soul connected to mine. My magic thought he was more me thanIwas.
It might've been right.
At least he wouldn't have to deal with his apathy anymore.
I walked the rest of the way into the bathroom, and sucked in a breath when I saw myself in the mirror.
The woman staring back at me was almost identical to my mother, but she had my father's striking blue eyes.
Tears welled in those eyes.
I wasn't just looking at the Wraith identity I'd been clinging to since I clawed my way back to life in that cellar.
I was looking atme.
Raven Levine. The daughter of two wealthy vampire politicians.
She felt more like me than the Wraith did, but I didn't know how to be her. Not now that so many things had changed. I hadstill died and lost everything as a teenager, regardless of what I looked like.
I didn't know if I'd ever be ready to embrace my identity publicly.
But a glance back at Darius in my bed told me what I already knew.
I couldn't run.
He needed my shadows, and I needed his blood.
For better or worse, I was going to have to wrap my mind around the city realizing who I really was, because there was no way to hide my past anymore. As soon as pictures started circling, the demons would start talking, and someone would figure it out.
But not tonight.
Tonight, I would just enjoy the feel of my mate's body wrapped around mine.
I tried once again to shift into my vampire form, the way I did automatically when I was a kid, but it was gone. That part of me must've died in the cellar when I tethered myself to the shadows, somehow.
I walked back to my bed and slipped into the arms of the fae king who had somehow become mine.
