Chapter 343 None of Them Were You

Bell was entirely and utterly frozen in place.

Even her eyes dared not close, fearing that when she opened them again, he would be even closer.

Her breaths were short and quick, and her heart pounded loudly, filtering out any sound beyond the racing thump.

“Bell…” he hissed.

Her jaw shook, and she felt a cold numbness spilling over her. Her chest tightened, and her eyes burned.

For almost seven years, she had only heard this voice in her nightmares, but she was awake now. Awake and staring at the monster. Awake and unable to move or make a sound as he moved closer.

“It is you,” he whispered, his voice crawling over her like a centipede. Its legs prickled and pulled at her skin as the threat of his bite loomed over her.

He was bigger, larger. Even more capable of breaking her now.

Bell swallowed as he took another step toward her. Her hands moved instinctively to her stomach.

Roman stared intently at her face. At the small changes in her expression.

The terror and panic that settled over her when she first saw him, felt him. The way her eyes dilated as they filled with tears. The muscles of her jaw stiffened as she forced the saliva down her throat. Her nostrils flared with each shallow breath she took.

Roman smiled, moving towards her. He could see that she wanted to run, to scream. But she didn't. She wouldn't. Not until he made her..

He watched her body tremble as he inched his way toward her. He felt the connection between them growing more potent. Her anxious heartbeat echoed at the edges of his mind.

Like pulling boards away from an old, abandoned door sealed off to keep whatever monster was inside from getting loose.

He was the monster. And he was free.

He felt her coming through their bond. He felt the pounding of her heart, the tightness in her lungs, and the dread swallowing her whole.

Roman closed his eyes and took in a deep, shaky breath.

“I missed you, Bell,” he whispered.

He reached down and grabbed the back of her head. Balling her hair into his fist and pulling tightly.

Bell released a shaky gasp and then a soft sob as he forced her chin toward him. Music to his ears, the melody he had been searching for.

Roman tilted his head as he watched her. He listened to her panicked breathing. He felt the strong, fast thump of her heart.

It was soothing.

Bell's jaw hurt from how hard she clenched. Her chest burned, and her lungs felt both empty and stretched. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks.

She cried out softly when he pulled back on her hair. He enjoyed it. She could feel it. His presence, desire, and comfort in her fear rolled over her.

Bell wanted to scream, to puke, to run. But all she could do was stand there.

This was so much worse than before.

Before, she was ready, willing even, to die. To let him destroy her soul and body. But that was before.

Before she discovered her family.

Before Galen.

Before Ren.

This was so much worse than before. Because now, there was something to lose.

She closed her eyes and let out soft sobs.

“Look at me,” he whispered.

Bell swallowed and opened her eyes. He looked at her with a fire she had feared for almost a decade.

Roman leaned forward. He rubbed his cheek against hers. She shuddered, a spike in her fear, an internal scream. He smiled.

“You made me think you were dead,” he said. “For six years….”

He pulled back and stared into her eyes, his glowing embers burning brightly.

“Naughty girl,” he whispered with an angry smile. “I am angry with you….”

Roman pressed his forehead to hers and sighed.

Bell trembled and cried. She wished desperately that someone, anyone, would come to save her.

“But…” he continued. “I never really believed you were gone… you were always there. In my dreams, in my thoughts… I couldn't get you out of my head….”

Roman nuzzled against her cheek.

“I have been looking for you,” he whispered beside her ear. His hot breath clung to her skin, slithering over her. “Everywhere I went… I searched for you.”

Bell wanted to turn her face, to pull away, to run. But her fear, her anxiety, it was all too much. She had spent so long hiding from him, even in her own mind, that she never prepared herself for this. She had clung desperately to the idea that he would never find her here. She had been a fool.

Roman leaned his head against her and whispered sweetly.

“I found you, again and again,” he continued. “But none of them were you.”

Bell furrowed her brows. What did he mean?

“None of them screamed the way you do…” he whispered breathily. “None of them made those beautiful sounds that only you can make for me.”

Her heart stopped; the knot in her stomach tightened and churned. Her chest heaved with panicked breaths. Who were they? What had he done?

Roman pulled her closer to him, lowering his face into the crook of her neck.

“Make those sounds for me again, Bell…” he whispered before inhaling her scent. Expecting that sweet smokey scent, the smell that had pulled them together in the first place. The smell that had haunted his senses and filled him with an undeniable hunger.

He found it, but that wasn't all he found.

There was another scent all over her. The air around her throat and body was thick with this scent.

“What the fuck is that smell….?” Roman demanded. “Why are you soaked in it…?”

Her body stiffened.

Roman clenched his jaw. The fire inside grew as he pulled back to look into her eyes. The absolute terror that stared back at him told him more than any words she wouldn't speak.

He pulled angrily on her hair; she cried out.

“I asked you a question, Bell,” he growled.

Bell did not reply, but he felt a sudden panic, and then she squeezed her hands tighter on her stomach. The movement was not missed by Roman.

His eyes moved down to her stomach, she wore a baggy sweatshirt, but now that his attention was not entirely focused on her face, her hair, he could see it. The round bump of her belly.

A low growl rose from somewhere deep and primal, his fiery eyes glowing a dark orange. He looked at her with teeth bared.

He leaned forward, his face only an inch or two from hers.

“What did you do!” he growled.

The hot liquid that hit his back was such a shock he released his hold on Bell's hair, letting her fall to her knees.

Then, with an angry growl, he turned to see the source of the interruption. Only to be surprised again by something hard and cold slapping against his face before falling to the ground.

Roman looked to the ground, seeing a large pickle wrapped in prosciutto.

He looked back in the direction it had come from. There stood a large man, tall, muscular. His hair and beard shared the same sandy blond color. He held in one hand a bag. In the other was another of the pickles.

“Who the fuck are you?” Roman growled.

“Bell's husband,” Galen growled before dropping the food and charging at Roman.