Defending Nightmares (I.S.S. Book 2) Read online

  Defending Nightmares

  INSTITUTUM SEQUUNTUR SOMNIA

  M. Sinclair

  Lost & Bound Publishing

  Defending Nightmares: I.S.S. Series (#2)

  Copyright © 2021 by M. Sinclair in USA

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced/transmitted/distributed in any form. No part of this publication shall be shared by any means including photocopying, recording, or any electronic/mechanical method, or the Internet, without prior written consent of the author. Cases of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law are the exception. The unauthorized reproduction/transmitting of this work is illegal. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Editorial Team:

  Refined Voice Editing & Proofreading

  Created with Vellum

  The Union of Love & Madness

  Contents

  Description

  ISS Classified Brief

  1. Saint

  2. Arabella

  3. Cy

  4. Arabella

  5. Arabella

  6. Arabella

  7. Blackwell

  8. Arabella

  9. Arabella

  10. Razar

  11. Arabella

  12. Arabella

  13. Zain

  14. Arabella

  15. Arabella

  16. Arabella

  17. Arabella

  18. Arabella

  19. Damian

  Institutum Sequuntur Somnia

  Nightmare Classification

  Afterword

  M. Sinclair

  Published Works

  Description

  I crave my nightmares.

  I crave the shadows.

  I don’t want the light if it doesn’t include them…

  The human terror organization MAM has come to our doorstep—we just don’t know what they want. When a nightmare who resides in the high-security section of the institute tells us that this chaos, this hate that the humans feel is because of a god terror, we realize that the solution to our problems lies outside of the institute walls. Walls I’ve never left before… Something that is about to change.

  Traveling across the country in an RV with my nightmares? What could possibly go wrong? Apparently a lot, and when we find ourselves in a nightmare forest far from home, we realize that our problem is so much worse than we ever imagined.

  Will we be able to save the institute, or will chaos and hate reign supreme?

  Join Arabella and her possessive nightmares as one human woman finds the monster within herself to protect those that she loves. The ISS series is promised to feature terrifying monsters that include everything from the literal monster under the bed to Lucifer’s overbearing son, the prince of Hell.

  If you love large harems, brilliant, sassy, but slightly naive female main characters with no fear, and a thrilling adventure filled with steam, vengeance, and a happily ever after, then you are absolutely going to love this.

  Warning: This medium-fast burn RH contains several dark themes from swearing, violence, and sexual themes suitable for +18.

  ISS Classified Brief

  Terror organization MAM, Man Against Monster, has surrounded the institute in an attempt to infiltrate and carry out attacks on residents. Intelligence advises that more forces are on their way for an extended attack effort.

  Unable to currently estimate or predict the volume of the additional forces en route.

  1

  Saint

  “Killing isn’t always the answer, Saint.”

  After all this time, I could confirm that I knew a few things in life, and one of them, without a doubt, was that killing was usually the answer.

  The only reason that it wasn’t in this case was because those words were Arabella’s, which meant they were less of an opinion and more like scripture. I still found them adorable though. The smile that formed on my lips was authentic as she offered me a narrow-eyed look, trying to hide her amusement.

  We were currently waiting outside of a massive dark door for Zain to get back down here, his apocalyptic terror form speeding through the subterranean tunnel we had traveled to get here, before realizing that it appeared the Director had added a new level of security to this part of the institute.

  I had, of course, offered to just break the door down, but Arabella had instead asked Zain to run upstairs. He had done so all too happily, probably knowing that he needed to get some of the others to convince Arabella this was more than a terrible idea.

  I wasn’t going to complain about getting more alone time with my woman… Plus, he wasn’t wrong about needing the others. Our girl was stubborn, and I could see that her gorgeous eyes were lit up with a fire and determination that derived from feeling that her home and family were being threatened. Her eagerness to scare the humans was so fucking hot it was unreal.

  I wasn’t positive whether she noticed or chose not to bring it up, but my magic was already wrapped around her and had been since we’d first left the elevator. Hell, before that, if we were being honest. It was just more intense now that I’d been buried inside of her body and her soul. Both of which were mine. Absolutely mine.

  My shadows played across her skin as she leaned against the door, eyeing me suspiciously as if I would still try to break it down myself. Honestly, if she wasn’t standing there, I probably would.

  Just because I thought it was a terrible idea didn’t mean I wouldn’t give my flower exactly what she wanted.

  “I would disagree, flower.” I approached her, caging her against the door and looking down at the way her silvery skin flushed light pink. It was a beautiful color, and lighter than the natural rose shade of her hair that was still damp from our shower.

  “Surprise, surprise,” she teased back, her eyes filled with so much affection and warmth it actually floored me. I knew how she felt, but experiencing it in such a relaxed moment had the heart in my chest, which I had been almost positive didn’t exist until she came into my life, starting to beat rapidly.

  “Killing”—I moved my fingers to grasp her jaw lightly, leaning forward to brush my lips against hers—“violence, bloodshed, and death are always the answer.”

  Arabella swallowed, her pulse fluttering in excitement, as her hands came to rest on my chest. I loved that she felt no fear around me, or with anyone else for that matter. I mean, objectively she should because she was in so much danger, but the fact that she didn’t just encouraged me to show her my worst…which she always accepted.

  “Maybe in your life,” she stated primly, offering me a teasing smile.

  “Well, since you haven’t and won’t be out of my sight anytime soon,” I drew out, “I would get used to it. It is the answer on how to deal with every emotion on this cosmic plane of existence, except for the love and obsession I feel towards you. Although, I would—correction, have—killed for you, so that isn’t completely true, now is it?”

  “I thought you gardened for me?” she said, with more than a bit of sass to her tone.

  Oh yes, her garden. The garden of dead corpses that fertilized the beautiful flowers I took care of meticulously to channel my obsessive energy towards her that I hadn’t been able to express up until this point. Now maybe we could actually garden together.

  “Garden, kill, harvest souls,” I offered with a small chuckle, “however you want to phrase it. I mean, you don’t seem to mind the gifts I bring you.”

  “Which is why I ca
ll it sweet,” she admitted, her fingers tightening on my shirt, a rumble escaping my throat. The coy smile she was offering me was so goddamn intoxicating, I wanted to kiss every inch of her face before delving back into this woman.

  I loved that she liked the things I did, and I was glad she viewed it in such a positive light instead of the dark, fucked-up, and more than twisted truth of it. But her words also encouraged something far more dangerous inside of me, the part of me that I tried to keep locked up and controlled. The part of me that was a primordial terror that symbolizes death itself.

  Not the crazy bastard who Arabella found fun to tease.

  Sure, the concept of my darker side hadn’t bothered her while I was fucking her, but how would she feel if she knew what I was capable of? Truly capable of? If she realized exactly what my existence had included?

  I think it was one of the reasons I told her about all the people I killed, because I wanted it to pad the truth of how many I actually have slaughtered, so when she found out she didn’t see me for the being I was.

  A terror? Absolutely.

  A demon? Pretty much.

  A monster? For sure.

  But none of those could encapsulate being the end game for every single soul in this realm. Something that constantly fueled my magic. Something that was unavoidably part of my being, and something that created a heaviness and darkness in my soul that only Arabella seemed to be able to lighten.

  Maybe ‘lighten’ wasn’t correct, because my flower had a darker edge to her and loved the danger that seemed to crowd around her… It was more like the woman slowed time for me. I had a horrible grasp on it normally, but these past two years had felt far longer than the rest of my existence—in the best way possible—and I just prayed that Arabella would realize what eternity meant with me.

  I knew she viewed life as a mortal being. Hell, they all did compared to me… But her life was about to change fundamentally, and I hoped that she could accept all of this. All of me.

  Because there was no way I was letting her go.

  “Saint?” she asked softly, drawing my attention back to her. I let out a controlled exhale, pressing my forehead to hers.

  “Sorry, got lost in my head, flower.” I nipped her nose and stepped back slightly.

  “What were you thinking about?”

  My smile turned salacious. “My other feelings for you, Arabella.”

  “Oh, stop it.” She poked my abs, and I feigned injury before surging forward and pressing her back up against the wall, grasping her throat lightly. I nipped her lip as she sighed into me happily. While it hadn’t been my immediate thought at the time, I wasn’t lying—those thoughts, the ones about everything I wanted to do to her, were always on my mind.

  It was tempting to strip this little outfit off her and fuck her up against the wall right next to the door until she passed out…again. That was now always going to be a temptation in my head. Outside of my obsession over my flower, or maybe paired with it, the feelings associated with how much I wanted this woman had always permeated every element of my very being.

  Even after being inside of her, it wasn’t enough. It was never enough when it came to her. Although, like I’d told her, I wanted to possess all of her, and now that I had her soul branded with a massive sign that said ‘Fuck off, this is Saint’s property,’ I was on the way to feeling far better.

  I would feel even better once our team bonded how we were supposed to so we could protect her. Not from just humans, either. No, because of what she was, Arabella was constantly attracting nightmares, and while we were in a controlled environment here, I knew that wouldn’t always be the case. In fact, instinct told me that we would need to plan for that reality very soon.

  A memory jogged from my consciousness of a time we had a visiting nightmare from a different group that had a very similar setup, with smaller-level missions, as ourselves. One that we worked well together with…normally.

  “Saint.” Blackwell’s voice sounded indifferent, almost as if bored with me, but I didn’t buy it. I turned my attention from him and looked at the bastard whose neck was underneath my foot, his face turning purple as I increased the pressure and he attempted to struggle against my magic. I couldn’t help but smile at that, finding it objectively hilarious how angry he looked.

  It was nothing compared to how I felt watching him check out Arabella’s perky ass as we left that damn meeting.

  “I am just waiting for an apology,” I said evenly, looking up to give Blackwell a blank look. A gasped word came from the man underneath my shoe that sounded a-fucking-lot like ‘sorry,’ but I wouldn’t know since I pressed my boot further down on his neck.

  “I think he may be attempting that,” Zain pointed out, looking thrilled. I could always count on Zain. I didn’t really have friends, but if I did have one, it was him.

  “I didn’t hear anything,” Razar grunted as he leaned against the wall, narrowing his eyes at the bastard.

  “Can we hurry this up?” Damian walked in the door, my eyes catching a glimpse of Cy and Arabella out in the hall. “Arabella wants to go to dinner before movie night.”

  Well, shit.

  “It’s your lucky day, asshole, now fuck off.” My voice was low and threatening as I released his throat and he disappeared into thin air, unsurprising for the apocalyptic terror. I sighed happily at the fear on his face and knew that if I ever ran into him again, I wouldn’t be nearly as nice and give him a warning like that.

  We didn’t have time for all that right now though.

  Arabella wanted dinner, and it was movie night, so that was far more important.

  That bastard was one of the only ones to live after pulling some shit like that, which had actually turned out to be a good move in the end, because our relationship with the Illusions of Crow seemed more important now that the humans were growing increasingly bolder. In fact, if we needed to recruit help, it was probably where we needed to go…

  “This tunnel always gives me an odd feeling.” Arabella’s voice was soft as she looked around, a bit of caution in her gaze. It was interesting, because nothing ever freaked the woman out, so when I looked around the tunnel, I tried to view it from her point of view…and I had to admit, it wasn’t the most appealing space.

  The tunnel that led from the elevator was nearly twenty stories in height, double the size of the door we were leaning against. The rounded concrete sides were extremely clean, but the curved ceiling was so high up that it was dark and shaded. The echo was loud through the space after everything we said, and the air was cold and almost dry. It did have an odd feel to it, a bit uncomfortable.

  It shouldn’t have felt tight because of how large it was, but it made you feel almost constrained. Maybe it was the fluorescent lighting along the sides and how it lit up every twenty feet and then turned off…which was probably the uncomfortable part since the end of the hallway by the elevator was completely bathed in darkness to the human eye.

  The place reeked of danger, and it was almost made to scare you. Which was probably a good thing, considering where it led to.

  This was a dangerous part of the institute, and I rarely considered anything ‘dangerous,’ so that was saying something. Although, that assessment was more in reference to Arabella’s involvement in it.

  I knew most of the places in the institute, but there were always new places I was finding, almost as if the building was ever-changing and sentient. It didn’t have any actual power signature, but it was gut instinct that told me that was the case, that it was, in fact, changing. Either that or the Director, Arabella’s father, had managed to figure out how to bring this place alive.

  The Director. The fucking Director.

  Now that was not a conversation I was looking forward to, and not because of his daughter being Death’s mate… No, it was going to be complicated enough trying to explain to the others what Arabella was, but explaining it to her father?

  His daughter wasn’t a normal human. She was somethin
g so much more special than that…something that would cause nightmares everywhere to want her. Something that meant she was in danger almost constantly, and not for the reasons he assumed.

  Hell, maybe he knew, at least in part. I mean, he had kept her locked up here most of her life... I was sort of hoping so, because if not, this shit was going to be a bit weird.

  I paused as what she had just said hit me. “What was that?”

  “This tunnel always makes me…” Arabella’s eyes widened, and her next words came out in a rush. “Makes me feel nothing! I’ve never been here. Ever.”

  Oh, my sweet, sweet flower.

  “Flower,” I chuckled, “how often do you come down here?”

  Her eyes went wide and cheeks flushed as if she was surprised. It was clear she explored this part of the institute way more than she told anyone. I should have realized it when I noticed how comfortable she was walking into a den of nightmares that enjoyed slaughtering humans in an uncontrolled manner.

  I mean, normally she was comfortable, but this was practiced, and she had even realized the security had been updated. She had definitely visited this part of the institute before—more than once. Something I probably should have noticed, and was a bit pissed I hadn’t, especially when it had been the first thing that popped into her head upon learning of the humans’ plans… Then again, I’d just fucked her hard enough that I’d seen stars, so you couldn’t blame me for being distracted.