Page 41 of My Dark Obsession

‘Acceptance Of Darkness-Acceptatio Tenebrarum’

Amaya

Bri’s coffee shop was dark and empty. It was pretty late but no amount of knocking had her answering.

I knew she lived in the quarters above, so where was she?

After tutting at Ziel and his suggestion to just smash the glass and wander in, we made our way to Rí’s bar where I knew he was waiting for me.

He had spent the day with the Bookkeeper, trying to work out exact dates of my birth and potentially a sign of who my father could have been.

The butterflies in my stomach were new; the excitement of seeing the big brute had me picking up my pace.

The king's liquor was bustling with drunken misfits of all kind; Wolf tails knocked full glasses of purple liquor, big burly bear shifters growled their annoyance, and an orange haired leprechaun stood atop the bar pouring drinks.

The atmosphere was insane. It wasn't this busy the other night. There were crowds of people everywhere, and not one table was free of half-full glasses and chattering supernatural.

The fact that this now was completely normal to me was crazy.

Just a few short days ago I had thought I was hallucinating when I saw a large bear shift into a human for the first time.

Now, although magic was still very much new to me, animals shifting into actual people didn’t faze me in the slightest.

Things really had changed in such a short space of time.

I knew where Rí was without truly having to search for him.

The scaled jewel at my breasts and both our Mating Circle and bite mark pulsed with his presence.

He walked through the door from his quarters carrying a large crate of glass bottles full of his secrecy.

His huge arms bulged with the weight. His nostrils flared before his head snapped in our directions, a tooth bearing smile lit his face up.

Dumping the crate with a loud clatter, he prowled to me, grabbed my waist with his big hands and lifted me to his eye level.

“Mo Chridhe,” he rumbled before firmly sealing his lips to mine.

The possessive bitch in me preened.

The obsessive sickness swirled to life.

The introvert stiffened at the public display.

My mark swirled its happiness at being back in his presence. With Ziel close to my back and Rí plastered to my front, my insides screamed in need.

I knew it, knew the moment I explored my sexuality I was going to become an obsessed sexual deviant.

I mean come on; obsession was my entire personality.

Wolf whistles and cheers pulled us from our kiss. Rí grumbled and growled at them but I saw the gleam in his red eyes; he enjoyed them seeing I was claimed, seeing I was his. I didn’t mind too much; I understood the need to claim what was yours.

Grabbing my hand and shoving the slumped-over wolf shifter from a stool at the bar, he guided me to sit and said, “The Bookkeeper still found nothing, ye’ birth was not recorded. I got the old goat to check every birth recording book he had, just in case it had been put somewhere else.”

The news didn’t surprise me; I had a feeling a lot of things were hidden and kept quiet.

I sighed and shook my head at the leprechaun when he offered me a glass of whisky. Ziel took it and downed it in one.

“Do you know where Bri is?” I asked, looking around the room for a sign of her bouncy curls and bright eyes.

Rí furrowed his brow and shook his head, “Nae, she doesn’t come to the bar usually.”

Ziel hummed from behind me and reached into his pocket for a smoke. He frowned deeply whilst rummaging around and poked about in the other pocket before swearing under his breath.

“I’ll be back.”

“Whilst ye’ break in, see if she’s in,” Rí said and rolled his eyes .

Ziel wrapped his hand around my throat and pressed his mouth to mine.

To those around us it looked as though he gently and softly kissed me, but it was far from it; his vines slipped from his sleeves and tangled in my hair as his teeth bit into my lower lip, hard enough to draw a drop of blood.

He licked it away and pulled away with a hungry gleam in his eyes.

I slowly looked at Rí, gauging his reaction to another man kissing his Mate. He smiled kindly down at me and smoothed my hair behind my ear before sighing at the commotion a rowdy crowd had created as they entered the already busy bar.

Their greasy hair and dirty baggy clothes created murmurs of annoyance from the patrons.

“Lemme sort these Vamps out, then I can feed ye’ and ye’ can tell me what ye’ found out,” he grumbled and walked towards the chaos in the far corner.

Vampires?! If I was being honest, they weren’t what I was expecting.

I always assumed that if vampires were real, they would have been something to really look at, and that their presence would have been magnificent and quite spectacular.

The stories they could have talked about, their age and the things they had seen.

These vampires looked like a bunch of street rats.

“You’re sick.” A body slid onto the stool next to mine.

I didn’t need to turn to know who it was; my mark itched as the smell of cedarwood drifted to me.

Internally sighing, I refused to look at him, refused to show him that he affected me in any way, so I did what I do best, and closed my face to any emotion.

“You hear me. You're sick. Your darkness is a poison.” He slurred as he sloshed his glass of Rí’s liquor over his own hands.

He was drunk. But as always, the words didn’t hurt because I knew this already.

I knew I was sick; I knew I was poisoned with a darkness.

I hid my dark thoughts and fantasies as best as I could, ignored the constant noise within my head.

There was nothing this man could say to me that would hurt me, as I knew he didn’t want me.

I knew he hated the thought of being mated to me.

And although my body and blackened soul called to his, I knew this was different to Rí and Ziel.

We had accepted each other’s sickness. We had accepted each other body and soul.

Ziel and I had been close to being fully mated.

Cole: -he had already told me he didn’t want to be Mated to me, had shown his disdain toward my magic and well.

..just me. After spending my entire life being beaten and talked to as though I was literal dirt on the humans’ polished shoes, I just didn’t care anymore.

I would have my boys. I had Rí and Ziel.

I had Ravioli and Jerry. Hell, I even had my first friend Bri.

I just wished my body was on the same wavelength as my head because even with him stinking of strong liquor, a sickness and that weird spicy smell, his cedarwood scent had wrapped around me and had me squeezing my thighs together to stop the heat that was gathering.

Fucking Fates and their stupid games.

“I was getting better, I was...I was losing it.” Scrubbing his hands down his face, he huffed when I still didn’t turn to him, instead turning my head to watch the leprechaun almost fall from the bar from the alcohol he was now drinking instead of serving .

I watched as Rí literally threw two Vamps from the open bar doors, his bright red eyes glowing in excitement over the fight he was no doubt going to win. I shook my head and gave a small grin. The dragon deserved to have his fun after being alone and grumpy for so long.

I had no idea what Cole was losing but I didn’t care.

I didn’t.

“You just…just accept it! It’s not working anymore. I can’t remember…” Slamming his hand down onto the bar he slid from his stool and landed in a heap on the floor groaning as he just gave up and laid there.

I sighed. He was a mess. I peered down at him as his bright blue eyes caught mine.

“Why are you here?” I asked quietly, tilting my head as he just stared at me, mouth slightly open. When he showed no sign of answering me, I rolled my eyes, hopped down from the stool and grabbed his arm. Heaving his heavy ass into a sitting position I snarled, “Give me some help here witch.”

He fumbled about before dragging himself to his feet and leaning heavily on my shoulder with drooping eyes.

“Damn Dark Witch–”

“Just shut up,” I snapped before I started to drag him towards the hallway leading to the stairs to Rí’s quarters.

This drunken idiot needed sleep. I hated that I needed to help him. In fact I was so annoyed at myself I almost dropped him at the bottom of the stairs and left him there, but then he whispered so quietly I thought I’d mistaken him at first.

“I can’t...can’t get her out of my head. I wish I could just accept it.” Lifting a strand of my hair to his nose, he inhaled, before closing his eyes and smiling .

“My Mate, she’ll know what to do. She can stop him.”

What? Stop who? His Mate? Me?

“What are you on about?” I huffed as I dragged him up the stairs then stopped as I stared at the door handle.

Shit.

I hadn’t thought this through and there was no way I was going to drag this lump back downstairs. Looking over my shoulder at the dark stairway, I contemplated just throwing him down. He was big; he’d be fine right?

“I’m weak. Weak and poisoned.”

Augh, the damn man had become more trouble than I needed.

Huffing again, I slowly reached for the handle and just about managed to open it with the White Witch leaning heavily against my hip and shoulders.

I dragged Cole through the door as he wrapped my hair around his finger and mumbled more nonsense about how he just couldn’t remember, but there was so much blood.

After dragging him across the floor and practically falling onto the bed with him, I stood over him panting.

“What blood, Cole?” I managed to get out over my wheezing. I was really out of shape.