His Arrogant Human Mate novel Chapter 79

"What did you see?" a man hissed in my face, spit sprinkling me. "You stupid little brat, what did you see?"

Somehow the moon shone perfectly down at that moment, lighting up his face just enough for me to take in the details. Some part of me knew that I had to commit them to memory and it wasn't hard when the next thing he did was backhand me.

I screamed in terror and pain as he then grabbed my face tightly. "What are we going to do with you, brat?"

"We leave her," the one holding my arms said wickedly. "She's a baby. If she survives the night, no one is going to believe her. She will live the rest of her life knowing that just like the rest of her species, she means nothing and no one cares about her or her life. Isn't that right, kid? You are nothing and it is because of us that you are allowed to live." He shook me, as if I wasn't already paying attention. "Your parents left you and you get to live the rest of your life knowing that you could have saved them or gotten revenge, had you not been born a mundane."

"And if you try to squeal, we will come back and you'll beg us to do what we did to your mommy and daddy," the third one snarled, yanking my hair so hard that some came out and I was forced to look at him. The cast of the moon caught his face too and when I glanced over, I could see the second speaker's face too.

They all let me go rather roughly, shoving me into the ground before standing. "Perhaps we've done something for the greater good, boys. Taught this inevitably stupid girl that everyone will eventually leave her, even the ones she loves. You got that, brat? Your kind are worthless, slimy beings. You should worship us for letting you exist. Your parents left you like they cowards they were. Not even the love of a paternal relationship could save them or you from this fate."

I woke with a start from the nightmare, immediately sitting up and looking around. I knew it was just a dream, but being able to ground myself and see that I was safe always soothed me much quicker than laying in the dark. So I flicked on the bedside table lamp and glanced over at Dominic, who stirred slightly with the additional light. But he didn't quite wake.

Surprisingly, he wasn't spooning me or even cuddling me. Instead, his head was turned away as one of his arms was thrown over his head and the other dangled over the side of the mattress, his legs loose but laying straight. Even in deep sleep, he was one of the most handsome men I had ever seen. He snored lightly too, but I didn't find it obnoxious or funny. It was borderline endearing.

I nodded. "Just a bad dream."

Dom's arm tightened around me, holding me so he could kiss the shell of my ear. "A bad dream or a memory?" My silence answered the question. "If this investigation is going to bring back all of these painful memories and disrupt your life, we can call it off."

"I just want it to be over," I murmured. "I want to have full closure and I want the suffering to not be for nothing. If it causes me some emotional pain now if it will help me heal later, I will take it."

The arm that had been dangling off the bed moved to stroke through my hair now, an action that, from Dom, was more and more soothing as time went on. "I understand. But if I decide it is doing more harm than good, I'm cancelling it and we can come back to it later."