Page 72 of Loving Amari

I’m going to hold my man for the first time in so long.

And I don’t know if I’ll be able to let him go.

My feet carry me deeper into the forest, toward where I know he’ll be. Toward the web bed where he waits for me every night. My heart pounds in my chest, a sensation I’d almost forgotten. Anticipation. Hope. Love so strong it makes my chest ache.

I can see the web bed through the trees, glowing faintly with bioluminescent threads. And there he is.

Amari.

My vampire. My mate. My everything.

He’s lying in the web bed, staring up at the stars like he always does. Waiting for the sound of my voice. Waiting for the few hours we get to talk each night.

But tonight is different.

Tonight, I can touch him.

24

AMARI

I’m sitting in the web bed, chatting with Moria, Kemnebi, and Tofi. I’ve dedicated my nights to talks with Carla, and then quality time with my children.

I’ve even hunted with them in the forest a few times, cheering on their kills. But there’s one thing I can’t do for them. They miss their mommy desperately.

I sit up and look at each of them. “One day, we are all going to be one big happy family again. I can feel it. I know it’s going to happen.”

Suddenly, Tofi, Moria, and Kemnebi begin sending me images in excitement. Mommy, Mommy’s home, Mommy.

“No, children, she’s not...” I stop when I capture the familiar scent that now feels foreign to me because it’s faded after months of not being with her. Peaches. That sweet, peachy scent that used to cling to her skin, to her clothes, to our bed.

My entire body goes rigid. My heart, starts pounding against my ribs.

I sit up slowly on the web bed and look down. She’s staring up at me from the forest floor with her hands on her hips. Hercurls are wild and free around her face. Her eyes are locked on mine.

“Well, this is quite the role reversal. Are you going to come down and give me a kiss?”

I freeze, looking down at her. My vision blurs. I’m crying. She’s crying too. Her tears are pink, full of magic, glowing tracks down her cheeks.

“You aren’t real.” My voice breaks on the words. “You’re just in my head. Like every night.”

She sighs, and the sound is so achingly familiar. “Come down and find out.”

I shake my head, still suspended in disbelief. My hands grip the edge of the web bed. “Nuh uh.”

She giggles, the sound washing over me. She starts pacing below me, and I track her every movement like a starving man watching food. “I remember a moment like this when you tried to get me out of my web and I wouldn’t.”

The memory hits me. When we first started this, when she was still so guarded, so afraid to trust.

She looks to Tofi with a wicked grin. “Tofi, cut the web bed down.”

I grin and the smile is almost childlike, hopeful, terrified. My face feels strange making the expression after so many weeks of grief.

She looks at Tofi again. “Do it for Mommy.”

Tofi does. She cuts the web with one precise slice and I drop from it. I’m perfectly prepared to land on my feet with, but Carla uses her magic to stop me before I land. A magical web wraps around me, pink and glowing, humming with her power. She grabs the magical web, pulling it closer like reeling in a fish. Then it vanishes, dropping me at my feet when I’m just inches away from her.

I can feel the heat radiating from her body. I can see the rise and fall of her chest. I can smell that peachy scent so strong now it makes me dizzy.