Page 38 of Sweet Dreams

I would not fall over.

Not even now, when my entire body was still shaking with tiny aftershocks from Zaldi. Not in front of my grandparents. I would never recover. I would have to move far away. Somewhere no one ever recognized me as the girl who fainted from orgasms and aftershocks.

I, of course, would need the sex demon who had put me into this situation to come with me. Because. I mean.

Wow.

Dammit, I still couldn’t think straight.

Fuck. Right foot. Right? I stumbled against the edge of the carpet, my hand flying out and catching on the tall male at my side.

“Are you alright?” I turned, my eyes narrowing at the sexy and sin little smirk that he was wearing.

“Don’t ask stupid questions,” I hissed back, hearing the back door swing open. Before my grandparents could see, I leaned into him with another response, “Of course I’m not okay, I think you broke my vagina.”

Zaldi hummed low in his throat, and somehow, my stupid body responded to it, a seeping hot warmth spreading across my veins once again. “If I had broken you, sweet dream, you would be truly incapable of walking right now.”

I groaned at the visuals my mind immediately began to conjure up. But, then I heard the incoming footsteps and forced myself to walk forward again, meeting my grandparents halfway across the house, a soft breathy laugh from Zaldi brushing over my neck before he stepped back.

“Look at you walking around and everything,” Gigi said, stepping forward and giving me a quick once over. “No more pain?”

“Only my pride,” I said back, my eyes glued to the tall man who stood directly behind. “I’m sorry to upset you both.”

“You fell in the driveway?”

I nodded, “I wasn’t paying attention, must’ve hit it just right.”

Grandpa stepped forward, “And this man, he just happened to be right here?”

I blinked rapidly, noting that while I could see the red pallor of Zaldi’s flesh, my grandfather couldn’t. Moving closer, I held my hands up. “Zaldi had nothing to do with this. He just came to help.”

Grandpa snorted, “Ever since he and his brother got here, things have been off. I don’t like it for the city and I don’t trust him for you.”

“Grandpa, I’m a grown woman; you can’t decide who I am with.”

To my surprise, Grandpa’s hand wrapped around my arm, careful but firm, “Lulu, please. There is more we need to tell you. There are things you don’t understand. Your grandmother… she… we have to stay separate. We have to keep you safe.”

My brow furrowed, but before I could get anything out, Gigi was there, stepping between us a hand on each of us. “Lennon, take a breath. She knows.”

The tension in the room skyrocketed as my grandparents looked at each other, a silent conversation flying between them. I’d seen it so many times, it had never occurred to me that maybe it wasn’t shared time as a married couple, but something else. Something more magical that happened during these silent conversations.

Finally, Grandpa looked back to me, but his gaze didn’t rest there long, jumping immediately to Zaldi.

“Does she know what you are?”

Zaldi, to his credit, didn’t flinch. “Deeply committed and completely obsessed?” His mouth curled into a small smile that I couldn’t help but reciprocate. “I believe so.”

Grandpa and Gigi both made noises, but they were quite different from each other. Gigi had a hand pressed over her heart as she glanced between Zaldi and me. “I knew it. I just did. She doesn’t have much of the old blood, but she has enough. And even without it, who wouldn’t see our girl and not fall in love.”

Grandpa frowned. “I still don’t know if I believe it.”

“You should,” Zaldi said, coming forward, “I mean to stay with her. No matter what the consequences.”

Gigi elbowed Grandpa, then smiled at me, warmth and love shining in her eyes, “Mate bonds used to be far more common. When we were born, they were, but over the generations, they’ve faded.”

I blinked.

Over the generations? Why did that sound so odd the way she said it? My throat was suddenly dry, remembering the ease at which she’d healed me earlier. The way she hadn’t reacted to Zaldi’s true form. I glanced at him, standing calmly at my back. His love and presence a constant force against my spine.