Free Darkness Comes by Scarlett Sanderson

Simon was a persona she’d created to bury her needs. To forget her past. She no longer needed to hide. Not even from herself. She’d reclaimed control of herself and her desires. All thanks to Dylan. Her mate. Yin to her yang. The man who made her realize she’d buried the trauma of abuse. But he made her face it, confront it head-on and break its hold. She didn’t have to be ashamed anymore.
    She couldn’t live without Dylan and the feelings he unleashed. She felt stronger, more determined than ever.
    A plan took root, unfolded. Her path became clear. She had to get Dylan out.

Chapter Seven
     
    Mia waited in her darkened apartment. Slivers of moonlight shined through the windows, casting eerie shadows that threatened to consume her. She sat nestled on the couch, knees drawn up to her body.
    She waited for him.
    There was no doubt in her mind he would come. Their doctor-patient relationship meant nothing. The connection ran much deeper. Her career meant nothing compared to what they shared. She’d been insider his mind, relived his most painful memories. He was branded on her soul.
    She focused her thoughts, picturing him in her mind.
    Dylan Benjamin. The handsome criminal.
    Ahhh, but he’d never killed anyone. Or maimed them. He didn’t deserve to be locked away with the most notorious killers on the planet. He didn’t deserve execution.
    Her mind called to him. Her body wept for him inside her. She glanced at the clock. Five hours ago, she’d planted a computer virus in the facility’s mainframe. Five hours was a long time, almost eons to an escaped convict. He could be anywhere.
    He could be on his way to some new life.
    He wasn’t.
    She opened their connection. She saw him drawing near, avoiding danger, keeping to the back streets. His body pumping with raw vitality. His brain analyzing escape routes and exits as he evaded his captors.
    Warmth flooded her, pulsed in her nerve endings.
    “I’m coming for you.” His whispered words echoed in her ears before he cut off their connection, forcing her from his mind.
    Dylan was coming to claim what was his. Yin to his yang. Heat sparked, tightened her belly. She was tired of waiting.
    She contemplated her actions. She felt no sense of remorse at helping him escape.
    The men who ran the facility were no better than the criminals they incarcerated. The only difference was the glossy veneer powerful men wore like masks. Since Dylan, she had been able to see past the human exterior, into the dark side of the human psyche and into the heart of the Company she worked for, into the depths of their corruption. Her desire to fit in had blinded her to the truth, but no longer. Dylan had set her free.
    A blessing and a curse.
    The air stirred. A subtle change in pressure alerted her senses.
    Mia shifted and stiffened. Awareness washed over her. Her nipples tingled, her clit began to throb. “Hello, Dylan.”
    “Waiting for me, Dr. Simon?” He moved out of the shadows behind her. “That’s a bad sign for someone who claims to hate me.”
    She smiled into the darkness. How naïve she’d been back then. “I never made that claim.”
    “That’s a lie. No more lies between us.”
    Dylan curled his fingers around the back of her neck, moving her hair over one shoulder. His palm was warm against her cool skin and his calluses scratched the tender surface. He moved his fingertips back and forth and Mia sucked in a deep breath. Her whole body became a sensitized mass of nerve endings waiting to be caressed.
    He’d come to claim her. To claim his mate.
    “Dylan…”
    He leaned down, inhaled the scent of her hair. “Dylan what, Mia?” He blew a steady stream of air onto the back of her neck, and her eyelids fluttered shut.
    “Don’t.”
    Dylan replaced air with his velvet-soft lips. She let out a low, guttural moan and felt him smile.
    “Don’t what, Mia?” Trailing across her neck to her ear, he sucked the delicate lobe between his lips, nipping with his teeth.