Page 105 of Nightshades

“Keep going. He likes it.” I rub my still flat stomach, wanting my unborn child to get all the nourishment he needs.

Shade’s face becomes something different. The light he has when he looks at me is gone. There’s no happy emotion except rage and terror.

I flinch when something tickles me on my cheek. I reach, confused, when I pull my hand away to see a snowflake.

It’s snowing.

In the middle of the desert.

“Memories,” Shade explains. “Sometimes you feel them, and others you won’t.” He pushes another pile of sand inside the hole, another scream ripping free of Reba. “So interesting what people are afraid of. Being buried alive is specific. I think people think of the worst thing that would never happen.”

“And now you exist.” I help by kicking in my own sand, wanting to contribute since this is a family matter now.

“Please, please, don’t do this. You aren’t like him! You’re a cop, right? You’ll help me. You have to help me.”

I peek my head over the hole, staring down at her pressed against the edge of one of the walls. “I’m off duty,” I pout, sticking my lip out. “Sorry.”I gasp, my hand flying to my throat when it holds the same eerie undertone as Shade.

“Mmm, my son wants to come play.” I’ve never heard Shade sound so happy before. “You are beautiful all the time, but pregnant? I’m going to fuck you into darkness when we are out of here, Little Dream.”

I’m surprised it doesn’t bother me to push sand in as Reba screams at the top of her lungs. Shade is faster, using his abilities and strength to gather more sand, pouring it into the hole.

Her cries for help soften, and when I leer over the edge, all that is left is her face peeking out from the sand. The sand around her eyes is wet from tears, but she is no longer fighting.

She knows her fate.

“I’ve nearly drained her of all the fear she can feel,” Shade explains, pouring in the last bit of sand.

The hole is covered. Reba is officially buried alive.

“Her heart is slowing.” Shade taps his ear, explaining he can hear her heartbeat.

When I blink, I’m pulled into reality again, standing by Shade, and staring at a very still, pale Reba. Her eyes are open. Pupils blown. And sand spills from her mouth.

Shade tackles me onto the bed, kissing my lips with hunger and desperation. “I fucking love you,” he says between kisses, ripping my shirt over my head just as the alarm goes off on the nightstand, blaring one of my favorite reggaeton songs that has me grinding myself onto his very hard cock. “I’m taking you inside every nightmare from now on.” He sucks a nipple into his mouth, causing me to arch my back, then his fangs scratch over the sensitive edge of my collarbone. “I need you,” he murmurs, the only warning I have before he bites me, dragging my blood down his throat.

I hold his head to my neck, my orgasm getting closer with every pull. “I love you too, Shadey. So much.”

He kisses my neck, whispering so low he probably can’t think I can hear him. “How do you know?”

“Mi alma lo dice,” I whisper, and those words have him bite me again, harder, deeper, growling, his teeth hurting to the point of pain.

He might be a nightmare, but he is my absolute dream.

My soul says so.

The end