Knox picked up one and then the other. The girls laughed as Sven grumbled about stupid sisters. Tears rolled down my cheeks, forcing a soft sob to leave my throat. He was definitely playing with ghosts. Stepping closer, I pushed my fingers through Evelyn’s curls, gasping at how real they felt. How real she felt.
“You can’t stay here with them, Knox. I want to, too, but I need you. Our babies need you. Come home to me?” His head lifted, which caused my heart to flutter.
“Stay with me, Little Monster. It’s better here. I’ve missed you.”
“I missed you too,” I whispered through the tears. “So much,” I agreed, only for something to step through me. My eyes narrowed on…me?
“They’re winning, my love.”
“They always do, Knox.” I said, even though it wasn’t me.
“Ember?” I asked, uncertain if that was even possible. She’d looked like me, which was the only explanation I had. Turning in a circle, I narrowed my eyes on the walls around the library. No, it wasn’t the library. It was something like the library, but it was all wrong. Walking to the walls, I ran my fingers over the ink on the side.
“What are you doing?” Knox whispered against my ear. Heated breath drifted against my throat, forcing me to turn around. The way he looked at me caused my heart to still, then thud to life at the love shining within the ocean depths.
“This isn’t real,” I swallowed, uncertain how he could see me. The others were gone, which sent a trickle of unease through my mind. Why would he have sent them away? My eyes caressed every inch of him, feasting on the life breaming in him.
“It is,” Knox argued before sliding his arm around my waist, then yanked me against the hard, warmth of his body. A devilish smile played over his lips, causing my mouth to dry with the need to kiss him. “Do I not feel real enough for you, gorgeous girl?” His lips brushed against mine, sending eddies of arousal slicing through my belly.
His palm touched my cheek, even as his head tilted, forcing a whispered breath from my lungs. The tenderness of his touch mixed with the lips drifting over mine in feather soft whispers of lustful promise. Arousal warmed my belly, sending heat coursing through my veins like an untended fire, burning out of control.
“God, I miss you so fucking much,” I whimpered, unable to pull away from the tenderness he delivered.
“I’m right fucking here with you,” he hissed against my mouth. “I have dreamt of you for months, craving to feel your soft edges against mine. You taste so fucking delicious. I love your noises, and the way you melt for me, wife.” Knox devoured my lips, nipping the bottom one as he asked permission to plunder. He ravished. He destroyed. Knox devasted every sense within me, even as he tempted me, luring me into the sin his lips promised.
Knox went to war against my mouth. His tongue conquered, forcing me to submit with only his kiss. Heated lips provoked mine to part, allowing him to ravish my tongue as his slid against it, coaxing it to life. His growl sent arousal rushing toward my cunt, readying for him to plunder the treasure he’d earned.
“You feel real.” His honeyed-whiskey voice slipped all around me, warming me more than any drink could. “Touch me, Aria. I need to feel you.” Lips whispered over mine, then danced their way to my temple, then the other side before slowly continuing down my jawline. “Fuck, woman. I’ve missed feeling you against me.” Skillful lips drifted up one side of my face, then slid down my jawline, driving his fiery mouth to the other side to continue his wicked discovery. Then, he nipped my bottom lip between his teeth, forcing it to sting before sliding to my throat, sucking on the hollow of my throat. “I miss the taste of your skin against my lips. I could stay with you like this forever, touching, tasting, discovering every secret your body holds.”
Tears burned my eyes as I slid my hands over his chest, leaning against him as he continued kissing my collarbone, and throat.
“So fucking tempting, Knox. I see the appeal.” I did. To be trapped in a haven with our daughters? I wanted that, too. So fucking badly it ached. This man was my safety, my anchor. He kept me grounded when the world tried to break me. “I love you so fucking much, it hurts. I need you to come back with me. You can’t stay here because I can’t. And I can’t do this without you.”
“Stay with me,” he begged against my shoulder, slowly trailing his scorching mouth over the skin of it, flicking his tongue over his mark, reminding me I was his. “I’ll be your fantasy, your filthiest dream, whatever you want, My Queen. I will be it if it means I get to keep you with me. Our girls need you, too. Sven needs you, Aria.” What he’d said had me battling against the sob seeking to escape.
His body against mine felt real, but I wasn’t crazy enough not to realize something was crafting a dreamscape. He was living within his mind with our children. Knox brought his lips to my throat, dragging them over it to my shoulder, kissing the mark marring my smooth flesh. How could he feel so fucking real? And good. So fucking good.
“I dreamed of you. It was more of a nightmare. I couldn’t escape, Aria. I woke up screaming for what I’d done to you. It fucking broke me, destroying me from within.” That he’d probably dreamt of what had actually happened forced me back to reality.
“Knox, who made this world for you? Did Hecate create it?”
“You think I’d let her make anything for me? I’d rather light the bitch on fire so I could fuck you in the flames. I’d never let her around our children, ever. They’re so fucking gorgeous. They look just like their mother, but fuck if they’re not going to be a handful.” Tears slowly trailed down my cheeks, even as I touched every fucking inch of him I could reach. “I want to fuck you right now,” he admitted, leaning over to brush his lips against my ear. “I want that pretty pussy to paint my lips with your pleasure. I already know it taste like heaven against my tongue.” A shiver rushed through me, threatening to weaken my knees. “This is my heaven. My girl, our girls, and Sven. That’s all I want. As long as you’re here, I am home.”
“This isn’t real, Monster. You’re not dead any more than this place is real. I know it feels like it, but you’re in the library. The light is healing you, but you’re not waking up. I need you. I need you to come back to me. You’re going to be a father. I don’t want to do this without you.”
His hand collared my throat, walking me back to the wall. Hot, demanding lips collided with mine, devouring them. His tongue flicked against my lips, demanding I let him in. The moment I did, I moaned at the real feeling of his kiss.
Knox didn’t merely kiss, he fucking dominated me with his fiery, passionate kiss. My mind melted to the pleasure he gave while consuming my thoughts, changing my mind with one wickedly skilled flick of his tongue, at a time. I felt him pulling my skirts up, and then his fingers were sliding through the wetness between my thighs. Pulling back from my lips, he pressed his forehead against mine.
“This feels real to me. So fucking real.” Knox’s fingers trailed through the wetness, tapping against my clit with each pass through the arousal. “You feel real to me, Aria. This pussy feels so fucking real. Such a messy girl for me. Fucking hell I love how you melt for me.”