Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 151410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
“Admit it, you got help with my clothes.”
Nevio didn’t even try to deny it. “Kiara helped me.”
Despite the jet lag and exhaustion, I begged Nevio to ride a dog sleigh through the snowy landscape. In my thick layers of clothes, I couldn’t have walked the area for long without falling over like a Michelin man.
The dog handler showed us how to steer the sleigh, but the dogs got nervous around Nevio, their howls and barks rising high above the crowns of the firs around us. I understood them only too well. Nevio was a force of nature, a predator of his own right, one who had haunted my nights for a long time—nightmares and dreams, both equally passion-filled. When Nevio and I had both taken position on the sleigh, with Nevio’s arms pressing against mine as we held the handle, Nevio let out the call that told the dogs to run. I would have toppled backward if Nevio hadn’t been behind me. The dogs raced past trees, whirling up the snow, as if the devil was after them.
It was incredible, and I couldn’t stop laughing in absolute joy.
That night and the following nights, Nevio and I watched the northern lights from our bed, wrapped in each other’s arms, and the sight never got boring. Whenever I thought I’d already seen every color scheme, nature surprised me again. The night sky flared with luminous waves, turquoise and pale blue, pink and fiery orange. My breath halted as I watched in awe how the darkness lit up above our heads. It was a mesmerizing display I’d never dreamed of witnessing, but here I was with a man who hadn’t let me run from him. I felt Nevio’s gaze on me as if I was more interesting than the aurora borealis.
The colorful lights of the northern lights reflected in Aurora’s eyes, illuminating her hair and awed face.
“You must watch the lights, not me! You can watch me all the time!” Aurora said indignantly, never taking her eyes from the sky.
I got it. It was difficult to look away from something this beautiful. For me the sky came only in second place though. Still, I finally tilted my head back to watch nature’s display. Aurora pressed her head against my shoulder and released a small, pleased smile.
I leaned over to the nightstand and removed the box I’d carried with me since we left Las Vegas. Now was the perfect moment to give it to Aurora.
Eventually, she lowered her gaze from the sky and beamed at me. “This is just incredible. I won’t ever forget this moment. Thank you for taking me here.”
“I had to,” I said roughly. Aurora’s brows pulled together. “I had to because I wanted you to understand how I feel when I look at you. I want you to understand what you do to me. This Nordic sky is nothing to the darkness inside me, but you still manage to shine your light on me in a far more awe-inspiring way than the aurora borealis.”
“Nevio,” Aurora whispered, her breath creating small puffs between us.
My fingers around the box tightened, and I raised it so Aurora could see it.
Aurora’s eyes moved down to my hand and widened before they darted back up to my face in disbelief. “Nevio?”
I untangled myself from our warm nest and walked around the bed, then got down on my knee on Aurora’s side and opened the box. The lights became particularly bright at this moment as if they wanted to match the ring I showed Aurora. A piece of jewelry I’d spent a long time searching for until I’d ordered a goldsmith to create it for me. The stone looked as if I’d condensed the aurora borealis inside of it.
Aurora sat up slowly, her lips shaped an O, and her eyes glistened with tears that only magnified the glow of the northern lights in them. She took my breath away. The past few days with her here, I was fucking content. I didn’t need the thrill of a kill, of a hunt, of blood and torture. With Aurora, my destructive urges could rest for a bit. I knew they’d always be there, and these brief respites would always just be that, brief pauses in my otherwise dark nature, but it was more than I’d considered myself capable of.
I took her hand. “I told you before, but I know I should do it more often. I love you. The light side of me, which I never thought existed, but also the darkest, most depraved corners of myself, love you, Aurora, every fucking thing about you. Most of all how you keep shining brightly no matter the darkness I throw at you. I can’t let you go. I won’t let you go. I want you to be mine forever because in my heart, in my head, even in my damned soul if I have something like that, you will always be mine. Marry me.”