You wanted me to chase you, and at the end, pin you down on the ground or against a wall, then strangle you while speaking evil things.”
Naima snorted then shook her head again with a sad expression. “If I were to psychoanalyze that response, I would say that I was obviously reproducing what I’d seen in my own home. But, Zain, while the confused little girl unconsciously wanted to be punished, what I’d really wanted from you was what my Dad was doing to my mother.”
“And what was that?” I asked in a whisper.
“Showing her that he loved her. No matter how angry he got, even when she tried to hurt him, holding her neck was his way of saying ‘I will not let you hurt me, but I’m also never going to hurt you.’ Instead, I conjured up one nightmare after another, then repeated the same pattern in real life. The boyfriends I ended up with that liked pinning women against walls and holding their necks, also liked leaving bruises everywhere.”
I watched her slowly approach me, her determined gaze boring into mine. The pain in my chest expanded. I braced for the next words she would speak. They would hurt, badly. But I wasn’t letting her go. She needed me as I needed her.
“I don’t need fear or abuse in my life,” Naima said in a firm and unyielding tone.
“You need me,” I said just as firmly.
“I don’t need someone who takes pleasure in my pain and misery and goes out of his way to put me in potential danger,” she continued, as if I hadn’t said a word.
“You need me!” I reiterated more forcefully.
“No, Zain. I don’t need a Nightmare haunting me.”
Silence settled between us, so thick I could almost touch it. I felt faint with pain. I could feel her emotions and clearly read her thoughts in my realm. She meant it.
“You created me, but you no longer want me,” I whispered.
It didn’t make sense. In two more days, after the Mist ended, we were supposed to be reunited once I’d crossed over. Had I spent all those years becoming what she wanted—what I believed she needed—only to be cast aside now? Even if I wanted to—not that I did—I could no longer change who or what I was.
“No, Zain. I do want you,” Naima said in a soft voice.
A bolt of fire exploded in my chest. I gazed at her with disbelief to have finally heard the impossible words I’d so often dreamed would one day spill from her mouth.
“BUT I do not want you the way you think I do,” she specified.
I glided forward, invading her personal space. She didn’t step back, didn’t flinch, and didn’t appear scared or worried.
“How do you want me, my Naima?” I asked in a soft voice.
She lifted her chin defiantly. “I want you the way you have been the three times we have physically or consciously met. I don’t want you to be my Stalker, but my Savior.”
I recoiled, taken aback by such an unexpected request. “Your Savior?” I asked, utterly confused.
“When Jared tried to kill me, you saved my life,” Naima said, her voice becoming more pressing. “When that Cthulhu Beast was hypnotizing me in the Observatory, you tore it to shreds. And just now, you spared me from true death.”
“But such instances will be extremely rare,” I argued. “There’s no fucking way you’re leaving me in the shadows again only to be called upon once every blue moon.”
“Not anymore,” Naima countered. “Nightmares are taking over my world in human form. They are leaving a trail of death behind them. No one is safe anymore. I am not safe anymore. At the end of every Mist, more of them enter our world and grow insanely powerful by feeding on my people.”
Naima cupped my face in her hands, hope shining in her beautiful hazel eyes. The warmth of her touch sent the most exquisite shiver down my spine. She had never voluntarily laid her hands on me in such gentle fashion. I barely repressed the moan of pleasure rising in my throat.
“You are a psychopath, my psychopath, hungry for the fear of others, for power, for dominance. You can kill without hesitation, without remorse, and even derive pleasure from it,” she continued. Her voice was not only devoid of condemnation but also filled with an excitement that awakened a sense of thrill within me. “I don’t want to change that in you. I want you to use your powers