4 - Claire

His bed smelled like him. It was all man and spice and pine needles. I wanted to drown in it. Everything about his scent called to me, and I was lost. It lulled me to sleep quickly, and once I fell asleep, I dreamed of running through the woods.

My bare feet pounded on the ground as something large chased me. Twigs and branches pulled at my hair and scraped my skin as I fled from whatever was behind me. Howls rent the air, and my lungs burned with the effort of running. They were close. I could smell their rancid breath; it stank of rotten meat and decay.

Whatever they were, I didn’t believe they were friendly. I jumped over a fallen log as I ran deeper into the forest. The sounds of their footsteps grew louder, but I was getting tired. I slowed.

I launched myself over a fallen branch, or I thought I did. My foot got caught in a protruding offshoot, and I fell. I cursed. My ankle was twisted at an odd angle. The speed I had been running, combined with the force of my fall, may have broken it.

Eyes appeared in the night, glowing yellow and luminescent. There were too many of them to count as they approached me, and the foliage above blocked out the light of the moon, so I couldn’t make out what they were. I screamed as one lunged at me.

“Claire!” came an unfamiliar voice. “Claire, wake up.”

Somebody was shaking me gently, and warm, muscular arms surrounded me. I breathed in the scent of spice and pine needles, and it took me a moment to remember where I was. Opening my eyes, I saw the reds and blacks of Adam’s bedroom.

Adam was holding me. I realized I must have been crying because my cheeks were wet. “You’re okay. It was just a dream,” he said as he stroked my messy hair.

I took in a deep, shuddering breath and sat up. “What time is it?” I didn’t see a clock in the room.

“It’s a little after three in the morning. You’ve been asleep for only a few hours. Do you think you can go back to sleep?” Adam asked, rubbing circles on my lower back.

I shook my head. I’d had nightmares before but not for a long time, and they were never this vivid.

“So, what would you like to do?” He hadn’t stopped touching me, and the soothing motion he made on my skin had a calming effect.

“I don’t know. Will you distract me?” I was surprised at how shaky my voice sounded.

“Sure. Would you like to hear a story?”

I nodded, and he pulled me back to his chest, molding his body around mine until we were spooning. His breath tickled my hair as he spoke.

“Let me tell you about how I became the leader of the Juarez cartel,” he murmured. “The previous leader, Thorne, was a vicious, bloodthirsty fae. Although he was a shifter, his great-grandmother was a dark fae, and he inherited a touch of her powers.”

“I thought the fae emerged only as one order. How was he able to use both abilities?” I asked, sitting up.

“Rest,” he said, pulling me back down to him. “I’ll explain.”

I settled back against his hard chest, and he continued. “It’s rare, but sometimes a recessive gene will allow a fae to operate under two orders. In Thorne’s case, it was shifter and dark fae. Most of the time, the second order is weaker and only able to do the equivalent of parlor tricks. That was not so with him. He was strong in both orders, and he used his advantages to lord it over the lesser fae.

“Thorne used his shifter abilities for violent acts, but he used his dark fae abilities for subterfuge, manipulating shadows so he could spy on his subjects. He was a paranoid man, always worried that his people were plotting against him. But in this case, he was correct. No one wanted someone with so much power to rule over them, let alone someone so cruel. His reign of terror had turned nearly everyone against him.

“That was where I came in. Although I was young, I was strong. The strongest in the clan besides Thorne. I had already gained the people’s respect by fielding Thorne’s anger and paranoia to protect them from the brunt of his wrath. The people asked me to lead a secret rebellion, and considering my thirst for power at that age, I agreed.

“I led Thorne into a trap under the guise that I’d found some fae that wanted a revolt. When we got there, and he realized it was just him and me, it was too late. The drink I’d offered him before we left—laced with a paralytic drug—had begun to kick in. I’d timed it perfectly. Then I shot him before he could have time to do anything. A bullet right between his eyes.”

Adam paused for breath. “I hated doing that, though. To be honest, it was the underhandedness of it all that bothered me the most. If I was less of a coward, I would have challenged him outright. But I’d also be dead and the people still under his brutal, erratic rule.

“They were thankful and immediately welcomed me as their new head of the clan. That was twenty years ago,” he said.

I’d forgotten how slowly the fae aged. Adam looked no older than twenty-five, but he had to be over a hundred. “It sounds like you saved them,” I said. “How could they not receive you when you delivered them from that?”

“That doesn’t mean I’m a perfect leader,” Adam continued.

“Nobody’s perfect.” I turned around to look at him. His eyes were clouded with some unreadable emotion. “But you don’t have to be perfect to be loved.”

Something shifted in Adam’s gaze, becoming all at once tender and warm. He kissed the top of my head as he said, “No. You do not.”

I didn’t understand what had just changed, nor the strange new feelings filling my chest, but I felt entirely too exposed under the weight of his gaze.

“Do you think you can sleep now?” my mate asked.

I nodded, but inside, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know how I could sleep after a story like that, one that both touched me and made me realize how deadly the man holding me could be. He was as cunning as a wolf, and I wasn’t sure if I had the same cunning to keep up.