Page 32 of Shadows Ascend (Remnant Archives #2)
“ D o I really need to draw blood, little umbra or do you yield?”
“Screw you shifter.”
Emon inhaled, his nose trailing along the outer curve of my ear. “You know my response to those words, Remnant. Care to try again?”
I huffed, the fury that was once there slowly dissipating into hurt. “Why did you not tell me?” I whispered, staring out at the beautiful grove, full of sunlight and warmth. The opposite of what I felt inside.
Growling, Emon threw the sword across my neck away, hugging me closer into him.
His face buried in my hair and his chest rumbled against my back before he spoke.
“Little umbra, in a span of just a few days, you gained a daughter, a soulmate, were forced to kill a fae you had just gained as a friend, you were reunited with your family who happens to reside in Sheol with towers full of soulless fae including our own friends, and then learned that I also will succumb to this in a few short days.” His arms tightened around me more.
“And here you are, sacrificing a piece of yourself for others…again. Goddess, Remnant, if holding back my inability to shift gave you one fucking moment of peace in the chaos of your long list of worries then I’d do it again in a heartbeat. ”
Defeated, I closed my eyes and let my head fall against his chest, my hands reaching up to hold onto his strong arms.
My chest rattled when I let out a long sigh. A sound drawn straight from the warring agony inside of me.
He was right, goddess damn it, I didn’t want to admit it but he was right.
The trees shook softly and hummed in agreement, blowing my dark hair across my face, and, whispering the secret music of life upon the wind.
Unfolding his arms he trailed his fingertips along my own before threading his fingers through my hands, and spanned them over my abdomen. “Dance with me," Emon purred huskily, his hot breath sending pleasurable shivers through my entire body.
The grove seemed to answer for me. The sunlight sparkled and the wind increased to gently push us with the sway of the trees.
I simply nodded, not wanting to whisper a word that would break the sudden enchanting moment we found ourselves in.
"Breathe,” he whispered against my skin and I exhaled. “Move with me, little umbra."
I nodded, moving with Emon, our bodies swaying together, following the shift of the wind within the grove—its warm air guiding us in a series of steps, twirling and cutting to music that only it knew the sound of.
Soon I was lost in the moment and began to glide along without the support of the breeze, Emon falling in step with my rhythm without hesitation.
My hips rolled and his followed, my arms drifted low and his engulfed me, hovering his gigantic body just inches over mine.
And when we arched backwards, the movement was so fluid that together we opened our hearts up to the sky, to the world, and to the universe.
Enthralled by the feel of him, our bodies twirled and swooped, curved and bowed, the flow of the wind following us this time, the trees dancing inward drawn by our grace, and the glade whispered its joy while our soulmate bond burst into life.
Emon’s breath was my breath, his heartbeat was my heartbeat, and when his hands trailed over my body…
pushing and pulling us as one, I dared not open my eyes, wanting to be lost fully in this moment.
Never returning.
Stepping into me, Emon spun my body to face his, his leg pressing between my own.
Rolling my hips, he dipped me to the ground, his nose trailing up from my stomach to my chest, his other hand sliding up my leg, gliding over my calf, burning deliciously over my heated skin.
His hand moved higher, teasing over the hem of my shorts and moving upwards to lovingly spread wide over my womb, pausing there longer than any other place, as if he was willing his golden light to heal the scars and the emptiness from what had been taken from me—from us.
Tears prickled behind my closed eyes and I felt Emon's warm shaky exhale against my cheek before his hand moved upward again, grazing over my breast, and settling between them over our joined beating hearts.
This was love…this was power.
My eyes snapped open, seeing my same realization reflecting in Emon’s golden stare.
"Do it," Emon bowed his head, whispering against my heated skin, his chocolate spiced scent dominating my senses. “Command the shadows just as you command my heart.”
Breathing deep, I reached out to the darkness. I beckoned to their cool, simple existence, letting them come to me through the flow of my body, gentle and peaceful waves of shadow that embraced me in their purity.
Sighing, I released them, blanketing the grove in complete darkness, the only light shining was from Emon's and I's burning gazes.
"Fucking beautiful…" he purred. Pulling me upward, taking my hands in his, his body slowly twirling and spinning me through the darkness.
"The way you steal my air." He whispered in the dark, pushing my upper body away from him but keeping his lower half pressed tightly into me where I could still feel our energies connected.
"The way you seize my heart." He circled me low, so that my hair grazed the forest floor before pulling me back up.
Our noses brushing, my breath gasping, "the way you dominate my soul.
" His eyes bore into mine. "All of you is so fucking beautiful.
" Growling, his eyes gleamed, spinning me away from him before pulling back slamming me into his chest with a breathless gasp.
"Move them," he commanded. "Make them dance with us. "
I smiled widely and twirled my fingers still captured by his hands.
The darkness began to shift and glide, following Emon's shifter grace as he waltzed us around the grove, and when they spun around us, he picked me up, pirouetting me in the air with them.
I laughed, stretching my arms out wide, dipping my fingertips into their cool abyss, sighing as I weaved them up over my arms.
Bringing me back down, Emon nuzzled my cheek, inhaling deeply.
I cupped his face, feeling rather than seeing the rough stubble of his beard. "Your turn, shifter," I said breathlessly.
"Close your eyes then, little umbra and feel me."
My breath caught and my eyelashes fluttered closed, a slow victorious smile spreading across my face when a flash of bright light sparked beneath my eyelids.
When I felt the large brush of an animal rub against my hip, the flickering of soft furred tail wrap around my bare leg, the low purr circling around my still form, and a long warm lick on my tattoo brands, I grinned wider.
"Drop your shadows, little umbra, and open your eyes."
Reaching out with my hands I drew them up towards the sky and my eyes followed, opening to unveil the darkness. Blinking into the sunshine filled grove, I stared in awe at Emon's majestic beast sitting patiently in the middle of it.
His shifted form was gorgeous and it was his. A large black panther bowed its head down at me. Golden eyes, I loved with every fiber of my being watched me with the same reflective emotion.
"Amor vincit omnia. Love conquers all," Emon purred in my head in ancient fae, bowing to me as if bestowing gratitude. "You did it, my love, my soulmate, my little umbra."
Stepping towards Emon's bowed form, I pulled his great panther head to me, and ran my hands through his midnight black fur. "No Emon. We did it.”