“Shit!” Whirling around, my chest hitched at the sight of him, my hand going to my throat.
Turtledoves.
The vivid blue eyes I saw last night stared back at me, watching me with fervor. Trevor was good looking, but compared to the man in front of me, he wasn’t even in the same realm. I forgot how unreal and sexy Frost was. His dark features and chiseled face were beyond any man I had seen. His eyes didn’t just look at you; they peeled and stripped you bare. His powerful physique didn’t just loom, it engulfed. And his presence didn’t just fill the space; it consumed and devoured. He was raw, sexual, ruthless, and confident. Everything about him scared the mashed potatoes out of me.
I felt safe with someone like Scott or even Blaze. In control. Frost made me feel the opposite—scared and wild like I was jumping off a ledge with no idea what was below.
“You came.” He took a step to me. A slight smirk hinted on his lips, the mouth that had invoked sensations in my body so staggering they shattered everything in me. And I still understood it had been greatly dimmed through Trevor. If I experienced the real thing, I wouldn’t make it out in one piece.
“I don’t renege on promises. And I also came for answers.” I picked up my chin, trying to hide the way I trembled under his scrutiny. The friction thickened the air, my core clenching at the memory.
“Sure.” He scoffed, his thighs hitting mine, dominance billowing off him, capturing me in the mushroom cloud. He leaned down, his breath skating down my neck. “Tell yourself what you need to, little Liddell.”
“I’m not little anymore.” I glared back at him.
“No….” A naughty smile twisted his mouth, his lips brushing my ear. “But you were so fucking tight, my tongue could barely fit inside you.”
Inhaling, I stepped back, my spine hitting the wall, his brash words doing the opposite of what I wanted them to do, flushing hot desire through me. Angry at my body’s betrayal, I lowered my lids. “It was a mistake.”
“Really?” He put his palms on the wall by my head, trapping me in his space. “Is that why you came running down here the moment you could? Because it was a mistake and you regret it? The cries you screamed out last night were all fake?”
I tried to say yes, but the lie stuck in my throat.
“For once.” He flattened his frame against mine, letting me feel him hard and burning into my stomach. “Be honest with yourself.”
“I am being honest with myself.”
“Please.” He chuckled darkly. “You’ve been lying to yourself since you were a child, building walls of falsehoods around you until you can no longer tell the difference.” A hand grabbed my throat, his thumb pressing into my pulse. “What are you blocking, Dinah? Why can’t you remember this place? Tell me, what is the last thing you remember here?”
A glimpse of Blaze and me running, terrified, and screams of what sounded like death echoed in my head. Panic instantly punched the air from my lungs, and I shook my head, trying to look away.
“No.” Frost growled. “Tell me.”
“I-I don’t remember. I only have a few memories of being here, and they still feel like a dream.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I grew up and stopped believing in magic and Santa Claus. This is probably happening all in my head right now.”
“Stop dismissing what you know is true because you are scared,” he snapped.
“I’m not scared.”
“Please.” He scoffed. “You are so afraid of letting go, you’d rather live a life in this Dinah husk than actually take a leap. Truly live.”
“Screw you.” Ire jetted over my limbs as I fought to get out of his hold.
“I think that would help a lot, actually.” He snorted, his head shaking. “You once were so fearless. Strong, daring, and full of life. What happened, Dinah? Where did that girl go?” He leaned in closer. “You remember somewhere deep inside, little one. Stop fighting it.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Bullshit.” His elbows flattened on the wall next to my head, his mouth scraping my ear. I sucked in, my jaw clenching down. “Dig deeper. It’s there. You know what you did. Say it.”
“I didn’t do anything.” The darkness in my soul, the sense of something sinister, bubbled closer to the surface, terrifying me, lashing out. “Can’t do anything to a place or people who don’t really exist.”
“Don’t exist?” He pushed his hips in deeper, dragging his erection over my jeans, his heat soaking in. “What was it when my tongue was deep in you? Making you scream so loud?” A throaty groan fluttered my lids, the unbearable need for him to do it again curving me into him. He hissed under his breath, his hand forcing my chin up, his mouth a hair from mine. “I’m the most real fucking thing in your world, and you know it.”
Shit. I did. He felt like the only real thing to me, pumping my blood, animating the lifeless girl. But there was no way I would ever admit it to him.
“So, tell me, do I feel like I am just in your mind?”
“No.” I swallowed. “But crazy runs in my family, so I’m probably not the best judge.”
He huffed. “Your sister isn’t any crazier than you. Well, not in the way you mean.”
I froze, blinking in confusion. “I didn’t say sister. How do you know I had a sister?”
“Not important right now.” His thumb pressed down harder on my pulse, the hot and cold flaming through my veins, forcing me to bite down on my lip. “I need you to tell me what you remember. How did you do it? I need to know now, before it’s too late.”
“Know what? How did I do what? Before what is too late?”
He watched me for a long beat as if he were trying to read me, see if I was being earnest. “You really don’t remember, do you?”
“No.” I swallowed against his grip, the firmness of his hold stirring excitement in my blood. “I want to. I want to remember everything. I want to remember my time here. When did I first come down? I want to know why I can walk through mirrors. How I found the same mirror over twelve years later. How I can break it and it heals itself.”
“What?” Frost went rigid, his gaze sharpening on me. “What do you mean you broke it?”
“I smashed it with a hammer the other day, shattered it into bits, but then this morning I knew without even looking it was healed.”
Frost stepped back, his abrupt movement stiffening my vertebrae.
“What?” Nerves stretched across my neck, making me swallow. “What is it?”
“Are you sure you broke it?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “I took a hammer to it.”
Frost turned away from me, starting to pace.
“What’s wrong?”
He grunted, his hand running over his arm, nerves dancing down his forearms looking like hot wires.
“Frost?” I blocked his path, directing his eyes to me, which seemed to blister brighter than usual. “Tell me.”
“It shouldn’t repair itself. Once broken, they are broken forever. It’s why we have so few mirrors here now,” he said, rolling his shoulders as though they were hurting. “I thought mine was a fluke.”
“Yours?”
“I destroyed this one too.”
“What?” I tipped my head. “You mean the one upstairs in perfect condition?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “Blaze thought I demolished it, and I had, but it showed up out of the blue in the room about six months ago. Intact.”
“Six months?” I pinched my lips together. “It suddenly appeared six months ago?”
“Yeah, why?” He wiped his damp forehead, his cheeks looking ruddy.
“Because I bought mine six months ago.”
His blue eyes bore into me, the weight coating my skin.
“What?” I whispered.
“Only a mated pair has the power to keep finding each other. And I’ve heard of just one in the history of Winterland.”
“Mated pair?” Terror knocked me back into the wall
again, my eyes wide.
He reclaimed the space between us. “Here, mirrors are extremely rare. They are used to journey between places. The traveler can go to any other place where there’s a mirror, with the destination clear in their mind. I’ve heard of just one set of mirrors being linked to only each other. Supposedly they can show you to the person who owns the other mirror, wherever they are in the world. The mirrors are said to be a myth…an old legend. They aren’t supposed to be factual.”
“That’s ironic.” I snorted. “A myth in the land of fantasy and fables.”
“You forget, little Liddell.” His nearness forced me to tip back my head against the wall, his hand cupping my jaw. “This place is real for us.” He tipped even closer, his mouth almost brushing mine. “And I guarantee it will feel very real to you. You will believe.”
“What did I do to you?” I whispered.
“What didn’t you do…”
“Blaze said not to trust you…that your mother was gone because of you.”
“You think I killed her?” He tipped his head, staying a breath away from me.
“N-no.” I shook my head.
“You are a horrible liar,” he scoffed. “I didn’t kill my mother, Dinah. Though she’s probably dead because of me.” He curved his head to the side. “Blaze doesn’t say it, but he blames me too. It’s why he hates me. He was the one who found her.”
“What happened?”
His face turned back to me, his jaw rolling. “I don’t want to talk about my mother or Blaze.”
“What do you want to talk about?” My voice squeaked over the words as he moved closer.
“Nothing.” His mouth crashed down on mine, starved and ruthless, pouring gasoline straight into my body. I reacted to his need with my own. Sparks snapped off my nerves, ready to ignite everything on fire.
A husky groan rose from my chest, my hands sliding under his sweater. My palms skated over his ripped torso, exploring the deep muscle lines and scars which marred his skin, making him feel even more vivid and dangerous.
“Holy shit,” I hissed in awe. This man was a Christmas miracle. I knew he was extremely fit and built by looking at him, but touching him? His body was insane, like nothing I had ever seen or felt before, making me lose even more brain cells, especially when I traced down his deep V-line, his skin burning hot against mine.
Now I saw the fuss. I understood why my hands couldn’t stop roaming, touching, his physique putting the version of Trevor to utter shame.
“Dinah,” he groaned. “How do I still feel your touch? Even more so now.” He groaned again. “Fuck…it feels so amazing.” His teeth tugged on my bottom lip, sucking and biting down, exploding fire inside. His tongue licked into my mouth, deepening the kiss.
Consuming. Ravenous.
Holy snowballs. I couldn’t catch my breath, but I didn’t care.
Kissing the version of Frost through Trevor had been unbelievable, but this… He claimed. Owned. Possessed every inch of me, giving me no hope for escape. I didn’t want one.
“I was going to torture you,” he rumbled against my mouth, his voice sounding thicker and more muffled than usual. “I wanted to obliterate you for what you did. Break and shatter you. End you.”
My heart thumped in my chest, desire and fear tangling together. “What’s stopping you?”
“Nothing,” he grunted, his irises blazing bright, his mouth only a hair away from me. “I will torture you…destroy you. But I’m not going to end you. I’ll take until you break in my hands. You can’t run, thanks to the mirrors. You can never hide from me now. I will always find you.”
“Bit stalkerish, isn’t it?”
He grabbed my hips, pushing me into the wall, the memories of the night before flaming my body with need. I didn’t want to ask myself if I would even try to run, if I’d want him to find me. Do everything he claimed.
“You don’t even know how close I can get…” His palms burned against my bare stomach, his hand pushing at the buttons of my pants. “How deep I will go.”
I didn’t even care anymore if it was right or wrong. The high from last night was still alive on my skin, craving and demanding more. I wanted to feel his kiss, not Trevor’s. Frost’s mouth, his hands, his tongue, his cock.
A boldness I had never known came over me, my hand tugging at his dark jeans, needing to feel him…taste him. Oral was something I did more because of girlfriend obligations than desire. Something to check off the to-do list. And it had been a long time since I had with Scott. It scared me how much I wanted to taste Frost. A craving to have him in my hands, in my mouth, consumed me, pushing me to act.
A trickle of sweat rolled down his brow as my hand slipped into his jeans, my fingers wrapping around his girth, triggering a moan to rise from the depths of his gut and mine.
Holy. Jingle. Bell. Rock. My lips parted in desire and fear at his size, my hand stroking him. I may have only been with one person, but we watched enough porn together. I saw plenty of variety in sizes and shapes.
Frost was in a league of his own. A myth in every way.
“Fuck, Dinah.” Hot and pulsing, he pushed into my grasp, my own need skyrocketing. “Your touch...”
Without a thought, I dropped, yanking down his jeans, his enormous size springing free, the hunger for him taking over even more. My tongue slid over him, tasting him before I fully took him in my mouth.
“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuccckkkk,” he bellowed. “Shit…that feels so fucking good.” His hips rolled forward, his hands tangling in my hair, encouraging me to take more of him. I felt myself get wetter, loving his taste and the noises coming from him. One hand played with what my mouth couldn’t reach, while my other wrapped around his pert ass, my nails digging in as I really started to suck and work him.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” His grip in my hair tightened, forcing me to go even deeper. “I was supposed to torment you…make you beg. What the hell are you doing to me?” His hips snapped up, desperate for more. The power I felt made me wetter. Digging my fingers into his ass, I started to hum.
“Dinah!” I heard him cry out, a warning, his grip turning painful, but I continued, pushing myself farther than I thought I could. This was so unlike me, but the more he reacted, the more it encouraged me. I took him deeper until my eyes watered. His grip coiled around my hair, his fingers tugging, sending desire straight to my core. “Dinah! Fuck! Stop now.”
I didn’t, only intensifying my actions.
His hips snapped fervently , taking more of him, my nails digging into his ass, tears sliding down my cheeks. He stilled, and a violent roar tore through the hallway, bouncing and crashing off the stone, his dick pulsing as he exploded, his taste bursting on my tongue and down my throat. I took it all.
Another ferocious roar came from deep inside him, sounding less human, launching a shiver down my spine. I felt his muscles contract as he emptied himself, but instead of easing, they coiled with tension.
“No.” His hands grabbed my arms, yanking me up, his eyes wild and turbulent.
Something seemed off about him, his face and body different, his skin paling.
“Dinah.” My name came out a strangled snarl, long nails digging into my arms. His panicked look poured fear into my bloodstream, slamming my heart into my chest.
What the hell was going on? What was happening to him?
His blue eyes fastened on mine.
“Run!”
Chapter 22
Deep terror froze me in place, my limbs locked.
“PB! Dor!” Frost bellowed toward the room, then turned back to me. “I said…run!”
This time I moved, stumbling back as Dor and PB peeked out.
“What’s going on, boss? Oh, deer dung.” Dor’s frame jolted in fear.
“But it’s too early.” PB voice rose high. “No, it can’t happen yet. I’m not ready.”
“Doesn’t care!” Dor waved his arms, turning the opposite way. “Dinah! Come on!”
PB tore off down the hall,
Dor on his tail.
“Goooo,” Frost hissed, saliva dripping from his mouth.
Oh, holy night.
Daggered teeth protruded from his mouth, his huge form curling forward, tearing at his clothes.
A cry yelped from me, and I took off after Dor and PB, racing down the passage, terror pumping my legs to move faster, a sense of déjà vu ghosting the back of my brain. The terror I felt in the glimpses of past nightmares matched mine now.
Dor weaved us down another hallway, then another, upstairs, and downstairs. Logic folded like origami paper, nothing making sense, but somehow Dor could see the end creation.
A loud earth-shattering roar howled through the fortress, shaking the foundation, and grating ever nerve, my feet stumbling to a stop.
“What was that?” A deep terror I couldn’t explain but felt in every molecule of my body, like my nightmare coming to life, licked the back of my neck, shredding shivers down me.
“You don’t want to find out.” Dor waved me to keep moving. “Come on.”
“Dor, he should have over a week left. This shouldn’t be happening.” PB pranced and bobbed around nervously.
“Blame her. Think Mrs. Cratchit’s fish-sucking skills over here brought more than one thing to a head tonight.” Dor motioned to me.
“Hey.” I glowered at Dor.
“Mrs. Cratchit?” PB gaped at me. “Really?”
My image of Mrs. Cratchit would never be the same.
“How did you not hear them, PB?” Dor shook his head in puzzlement at his friend. “All of Winterland heard him get his stocking unloaded.”
“Okay, stop.”
“Just saying…think you basted his turkey a little too much. Now his brain is creamed corn.” Dor shrugged.
“And his shorts.” PB giggled.
“Don’t think it made it to his shorts.” Dor winked.
They laughed, giving each other high fives.
“Really?” I peered between them, annoyed. “Can we get on the topic of what is going on?”
“You don’t know?” PB frowned. “Of all people, you should know.”
“Why would I know?”
PB’s mouth opened to respond, but another bellow shook from below, sounding far closer than it should.
Beauty In Her Madness (Winterland Tale Book 3) Page 21