Prison Princess (Paranormal Prison) - CoraLee June Page 0,28

heard that right. No one liked the tree spell.

“I liked it. I would have been happy to stay like that forever.” She stared out into the night, her thoughts leaving me and this place to go wherever they traveled. I hated that immediately. No, I wanted her here with me. We were in this fucked up mess together.

I was so out of practice in making conversation. “What did you like about it?”

She shook her head. “I’m not going to try to explain it. I don’t think I have the words.”

I supposed that was fair. I didn’t always know why I felt like I did either. I patted closer to me. “Come on. Hug up next to me. We’ll buckle down for the night.”

She once again did the head shaking thing. It made her hair bounce in a way that made me want to run my fingers through it. “No, thanks. I’m saving that.”

I blinked. “You’re saving your hugs?”

“Yep.” She yawned.

“For what?” That didn’t make a bit of sense.

“For the person who will someday think that I matter to him. I think we probably have a limited amount of hugs we get to give in a lifetime. I’ve decided mine are for him. For the one who’s going to matter.”

Some twisted, sad part of me felt like a child again, sitting alone at the guild and feeling unimportant to the group of mass murderers raising me. I did matter. I wanted to matter. And most of all, I wanted to matter to her.

Even I knew how dangerous of a thought process that was. She could and would never be mine. It was easier to push her away.

And yet...

“It’s not a hug,” I prodded. “I’m selflessly sharing my body heat to keep you warm.”

The quirk of a grin graced her face. “Oh you are, huh?” she asked.

“Absolutely. I need to return you back to your parents in one piece, after all.”

I was lying through my teeth, and we both knew it. I just wanted one more chance to feel her against me. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, and I pulled her closer, her body trembling. I didn’t know if it was because of the cool night air or me, but either way, I wanted to steady her with my palm.

“What are they like?” she asked. “My parents?”

I let out an exhale. Truthfully, they were like what you’d expect. “Regal. They both move in such sync it’s creepy. They seem like kind people. Maybe a little desperate.”

“What do you mean?”

“I just mean they were determined to get you back. It looked like they hadn’t slept in weeks. Your mother looks just like you.”

She relaxed against me, and part of me wanted to keep talking, if only to keep her like this against me for as long as possible. So I told her about her kingdom. I told her about her parents and the good things they’d done. Eventually, her breathing evened out in the way it had the night we’d slept together. She didn’t snore so much as she had a rhythm to the sounds she made. An evenness that was lulling even though she wasn’t a silent sleeper.

The Guild would never have let her be an assassin. We had to be able to sleep in utter silence so no one knew we were there. Still, I liked listening to her. There was something homey about hearing it, about knowing she trusted me with her most vulnerable moments.

Layne shifted slightly, and her breasts pressed even more fully on my chest. I stared up at the sky. If there was a spell I could use to make my cock go down, I’d use it. She was saving her hugs for the one who would matter.

Lucky fucking bastard. He’d get to do this. In a bed. Every night, he’d hear Layne breathe and know he was home, that she would be there when he woke up, when he laughed, when he had a miserable day, when he took his last breaths. He’d hear that sound and know he wasn’t alone and never would be because she’d chosen to belong to him.

Fuck. What was the matter with me? I forced my eyes closed. I needed to rest if we were getting through tomorrow. With a quiet flick of my hand, I set wards that would wake me if anything approached, and let my mind wander to wherever it was going to go in sleep.

Layne

“If you scream, I will beat you so hard that you