I count the steady beats of Seraphina’s heart as she whimpers through her nightmare. I’m tempted to climb out of my hiding place beneath her bed and comfort her, but she’s sleeping so restlessly tonight I’m sure she would wake. I know I’m crossing a line, even for me, but her mournful, plaintive voice calling into the night was impossible to ignore.
“Please, please come inside.”
I could never ignore you.
It doesn’t matter that she spoke his name. My Angel needs me to soften her suffering even if she doesn’t know it yet. Seraphina’s pain and loneliness only cement what I’ve known from the beginning.
She’s been waiting for me.
I hate Tim for marrying her, but the spineless fuck not bothering to be with her enrages me. I resent him even more because of his power in this situation. He could climb up there and make her feel better while I’m relegated to staring at the bottom of a fucking boxspring.
As soon as she closed the bathroom door, I opened that stupid fucking rock and let myself in. She was in the bath for a long time, and I had ample opportunity to consider my hiding place after I did my best to get a look through a nonexistent crack in the door.
The closet appealed to me, the ability to fully watch her almost too tempting to ignore, but what got me going was the thought of being beneath her. Once decided, I took another tour through their house, much less worried about being quiet with Tim gone and her music playing in the background. I returned with time to spare when the music shut off. The bed turned out to be a wise decision once she came out and searched her room.
The fear of being caught was thrilling, but it worked better for our relationship that she didn’t discover me. I wouldn’t have been able to keep my hands off her. As hard as it is to hold back, she isn’t ready for me to claim her yet. So instead, I watched as she dried off and dressed, only catching glimpses of her smooth legs and occasionally her arms as she bent to pick something up.
Hours have passed, and while I’m uncomfortable, I’m not bored. Seraphina shifts in sleep, her foot dangling off one side of the bed, and her long blonde hair hangs over the other edge. I stifle my chuckle at the position she’s found herself in. It’s not normal for adults to do gymnastics in their sleep like children. Everything I learn about her endears me further, but I’m equally filled with the need to comfort her.
Without thinking, I reach out and touch the silky strands of her golden hair, willing her to feel the same support I offered her when she sensed the presence of her soulmate and mistook me for Tim. Wrapping the lengths around my fingers, I’m tempted to pull in a show of possession.
The temptation to prove myself the monster under her bed is almost overwhelming. Would she fight me if I allowed my baser urges to take over and climbed on top of her? Or would she give in to my fingers winding through her pretty hair while my lips tasted hers for the first time? I’m hard as a rock, and I’m so angry over her predicament I want to fuck that aggression out on her.
That isn’t what this is about, though. I’m only here as Seraphina’s protector and will be back outside before she notices my presence. As a courtesy, I’ll put her worthless fucking key back where it belongs.
Though the neighborhood watch has nothing on me, I’ll double my attention.
She rolls over once more, straightening out and stealing the sensation of her nearness from me. I’m put out, close to rejected, when I hear the most beautiful sound imaginable.
“Shane.”
