“Hunter?” she asked in a low voice as we sat in front of the fire downstairs. We’d started back with our favorite evening ritual, only now she sat right at my side. The rest the pack was giving us plenty of space. There were benefits to being Alpha.
“Yes?” I smiled at her. She was so beautiful. I zeroed in on her lips, needing to claim them with my own.
“Tell me about your dreams.”
“My dreams?” I put an arm around her and pulled her down into my side. I could feel her heartbeat and that put me at ease. “What kind of dreams?”
“What kind do you have?”
“The usual types I guess.”
“Are they ever about me?” She looked up at me with those expressive eyes of hers.
“You mean now? Are you asking if I dream about you?”
“Now. Before.”
“Before? Why would I have dreamed about you before I met you? How would that be possible?” Someone had told her something. That someone was going to be in a lot of trouble.
“How is it possible that you’re a wolf? I’m starting to believe that anything is possible.”
I ignored her use of the term wolf. It wasn’t worth an argument. She’d start calling us Dires eventually. “Do you really want to know?” The can of worms had been opened. There was no turning back.
“Yes. Why else would I ask?”
“Come here.” I gestured with my hand.
“I am here.”
“On to my lap.” If she wanted something from me, I was getting something from her.
“You want me to sit on your lap?”
“You know exactly what I’m asking you to do.”
She put a leg over mine and straddled my lap. She settled herself down, awakening my body even more than it already was. “Happy now?”
“I’m always happy when you’re with me.” I put my hands on her hips. I wanted to rip away her pants and mine. I wanted to bury myself inside of her and claim every inch of her as my own.
“Tell me about your dreams.” She rested the palm of her hand against my chest. I wanted to believe she was doing it because she wanted to, but after discovering what she’d done to Falcon she could have been playing me too.
“I’m not sure you’re ready to hear about them.”
“Why wouldn’t I be ready?” She shifted on my lap, and it about undid me in. She glanced down, likely feeling the bulge pressing against her.
“I’m not sure. Sometimes you seem so innocent that it’s hard to know.” I moved some of her hair off her shoulder, letting my hand brush against the sensitive skin of her neck before bringing it back to her hip.
“You know I’m not innocent.”
“Be careful what you say, Firefly.”
“How can you be so much more intense down here then you are in bed? You’re more careful up there.”
“And you’re more careful.” I moved my hands up from her hips slowly, stopping just beneath her breasts.
“I’m going to have to sleep with you eventually. It’s just a matter of time.” Her face was expressionless.
“Don’t make it sound like such a bad thing. We both want it.” I moved one hand around to her back and slipped it underneath her shirt. “I don’t mind you pretending otherwise, but when we’re this close I can tell how you really feel.”
“How can you tell? You can’t read my mind, remember?” She sat up straighter, my touch was affecting her.
“It has nothing to do with your mind. This has to do with your body.” I moved my hand around to her front, gently stroking her stomach under her shirt.
“Tell me. Tell me about the dreams.” She bit down on her lip.
“They always start the same way.”
“Which way?”
“With you underneath me.”
“Underneath you?” Understanding crossed her face. Was she figuring out what she’d asked me to share?
“Yes.” I cupped her chin with my hand. “With you underneath me.”
She moved to leave my lap, but I wouldn’t let her. “I like you exactly where you are.”
“I bet you do,” she mumbled.
“As I was saying, it always starts with you beneath me. I open my eyes and see your green eyes gazing into mine. You’re naked of course, and your long red hair spills down your chest, hiding your breasts from me.”
“This had better not just be a sex dream.”
“It’s more than that.” Just thinking about the recurring dreams made me want to lay her down on the couch and enjoy every inch of her. If she really didn’t want me, I’d have had an easier time resisting, but she did want me. She was afraid of that desire.
“Good.”
“As I was explaining… your breasts are hidden from me, so I go to move your hair. As soon as I reach over you capture my wrist in your hand.”
“Even in your dreams I hold you at bay.”
I smiled. “Do you want me to continue?”
“Yes.”
“You kiss my wrist, and tug on it to bring me closer, so that my body is flush against yours. At this point I’m struggling, because I know that if I moved a few inches I’d be inside you, and the pleasure waiting for me is greater than anything I’ve felt before.” Recounting the dream with her perched on my lap was near torture.
“How would you know? How would you know the sex would even be good?”
“Because it’s you, and you were destined to be my mate.”
“Continue. What happens when I pull you in, and this really better go somewhere other than sex.” Her expression was such a mix of emotions. I had no idea what she was really thinking.
“You suck gently on my earlobe before whispering to me. This is where the dream changes each time.”
“Oh?”
“You always say something about you being mine, and being the key. You tell me that we’ll be done hiding if I can only find you.”
“And then what?” She asked, raking her teeth over her lip again.
“I’m not sure you want to hear about the next part.”
“I want to hear about all of it. I want to understand what’s going on.”
“Then each time I feel you shift underneath me. I line myself up to you and take what I’ve been waiting for.”
“You mean we actually have sex in the dreams? I kind of assumed I put on the brakes with all the talking.”
I tugged on her hip, causing her to fall into my chest. “You always let me have you, and every time it’s been better and better. And that’s how you’ve cursed me.”
“Cursed you?” Her face was flushed. I knew my words were having an effect on her.
“Yes. I knew it would be impossible to find satisfaction with anyone else.”
“What about Vanessa?” Mary Anne’s face scrunched up as she said the name of my ex. I knew it wasn’t out of jealousy. She had every reason to hate her considering what the coven had put both her and Gage through.
“She wasn’t always so mean. She was a good witch. She was sweet and caring. She wanted to help us and tried to teach me about magic. She thought she could help me figure out how to end the hunt.”
“End the hunt? Meaning to get the king to leave you guys alone?”
“Yes. At one time we ruled The Society. I’m not looking to become king, but I’m done hiding.”
“Do other Dires feel the same way?”
“All of them want to end the fight. The question is how to do it, and who should really be running The Society.” I pulled my shirt over my head.
“Hunter?”
“See this?” I took her hand and made her run her fingers over the scar that spanned my entire chest.
“Yes.” She didn’t pull her hand away. Instead she retraced the path of the mark. “How’d you get it?”
“I suppose you wouldn’t believe me if I said a bar fight.”
She laughed. “No. Something tells me the real story is much better.”
“My brother gave that to me. He also gave me the one on
my face.”
“Your brother?” She didn’t hide the surprise in her voice.
“My elder brother by five minutes.”
“Twins.”
“Yes. He disagrees with my stance on things. He thinks we need to take over The Society again.”
“Oh my god.” She reached up and started tracing the scar on my face. “He tried to kill you.”
“Tried, and got close.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m alive.”
“Is he…?” She asked in a near whisper.
I shook my head. “He’s alive. Somewhere.”
“So back to your brother wanting to take over. Why? Does he think it’s your right?”
“We’re the descendants of the last Dire king, but I don’t care about that. It’s been generations. I only want my people to live a life outside of the shadows. We shouldn’t have to hide because the Pterons fear us. There has got to be a way to convince the new king that we don’t want trouble. We just want to be left alone.”
“Your brother tried to kill you because you disagreed on whether you guys should over throw the Pterons?”
“No. He tried to kill me because I became Alpha. Generally it’s the eldest from the strongest line. Fate had different plans.”
She opened her mouth and then closed it. I could tell she was mulling over her questions and trying to decide where to steer the conversation. “What did Vanessa do to help you?” Mary Anne released my face, and I missed the touch of her hand immediately.
“Magic can be used to see your future. She did a spell for me.”
“Did you see the future?”
“No. I started having the dreams.”
“Oh.” She paled slightly. “Did you think it was Vanessa in them? I mean we do look alike.”
“Yes. I did at first. I knew it wasn’t exactly her, but I thought it was just my subconscious changing it a little.”
“Did you tell her about the dreams?”
“Yes, although I didn’t mention it wasn’t exactly her. Just that it was a red head. I let her draw her own conclusions.”
“I see.”
“Don’t judge me. I thought it was her at first, or at least that it wasn’t another real person. I really did. We moved here because she’d heard about a powerful coven who could help us find out more. I’d discovered the last of the Dires in Asia had been killed, and I was more determined than ever to find an end.”
“And is that when you realized she wasn’t as great as you thought?”
“They changed her. They took a sweet, eager to learn witch and made her something different. Everything was different. I confronted her about it, and she blamed me. She said I didn’t really want her anymore, I wanted the girl in my dreams.”
“And was that true?”
“I’d started having the dreams every night, and I realized they weren’t of Vanessa. You’d started talking to me more and more, and I discovered you were human. I also realized the connection between us was stronger than anything I could ever have with someone else. And the sex. Well, I won’t go into those details now.”
“Do you think that’s why she became the way she was? Because she was jealous of a dream?”
“No. The dreams were just a side part. She became obsessed with the other witches and started spending more and more time there. Eventually she just left. By that time I was glad. We’d had a close call, and they agreed to cloak us. It seemed like a worthwhile deal.”
“And you didn’t hand Gage over because I looked like the girl from the dream? You thought you’d found her?”
“I knew I’d found her.” I was more sure each second I spent with Mary Anne.
“How? You thought Vanessa was the girl. How do you know you aren’t wrong again?”
“Because of how you make me feel. And you proved me right last night.”
“How?”
“You asked me to call you Firefly in the dreams. And I know you like that name.” I ran a hand through her hair.
“Ok, let’s pretend I am the girl from the dreams, although I still don’t think I am. What does that matter?”
“Because you’re the key. You said so yourself.”
“But I don’t know anything about any of this.”
“That’s what you used to say in the dreams.”
“Used to?”
“You told me there was only one way to make sure you learned everything you needed to know.”
“Something tells me I don’t want to know.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You do want to know.” I grinned.
“I don’t want to have sex with you, Hunter.”
“How’d you guess?”
“You’re grinning like a mad man. What else would it be?”
I laughed. “Very perceptive.”
Chapter Eight
Gage
There was no way I was leaving without paying a certain group of bitchy witches a visit. I'd probably cringe every time I saw a dog collar for the rest of my life—even if I saw it on a dog. The animal in me was even more sickened by it.
Remembering the pain the witches inflicted on me pissed me off, but that was nothing compared to my hatred of them for nearly letting Mary Anne freeze to death. Such blatant disregard for life disgusted me. And the fact that they thought they could get away with doing that to Mary Anne? Forget it. There was no way I could just sit around with them that close. My body shuddered ready to shift as I tried to fall asleep on the couch in Marni’s place.
She was sitting on a chair watching me. All her talk about trust only went so far. “Gage? What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing.” I stared up at the ceiling. I needed to calm down.
“Stop bullshitting me.”
I didn’t need to look to know she’d walked toward me.
“I’m not going to put up with it. Be straight with me.”
“It’s not her.”
“Then what is it?” she asked impatiently. “I can tell you’re angry.”
“Yes. I'm angry. I have plenty to be angry about.”
She groaned. “Oh no, what are you planning?”
I reluctantly looked at her. She wasn’t going to walk away until I did. “Who says I’m planning anything?”
“That look in your eyes. It's more than anger.”
“Because you’re now an expert on what my eyes are saying?”
“It doesn’t take an expert.” She put a hand on her hip. “So quit being stupid.”
“Then let’s say I was planning something. Would you help?”
“I’m guessing you’re angry at a particular group of witches?”
“Good guess.”
“I hate Vanessa.” She sat down on the arm of the couch.
“Does that mean you want to help?”
“Yes. Hunter’s pacified the horrid monsters for long enough.”
“Are you calling someone else a monster?”
“Do you disagree that that’s what they are?” She challenged.
“Oh, they’re monsters.”
“I thought you’d agree.” She smiled slightly. “So what did you have in mind? What kind of revenge are you plotting?” She stretched in an unnaturally grateful way. Once you knew what to look for, it was actually pretty easy to tell that the Dires weren’t human.
“Nothing too complicated. I’m more a simple and to the point kind of guy.”
“Is that how you are in bed too? Simple and to the point?” She smirked.
“No. That’s definitely not my M.O. there.”
“I’d hope not, or what a waste.”
“A waste?” I sat up.
“Yes. You’re too good looking to suck in bed.”
“Don’t think you’re going to find out, but I don’t suck.”
“I wasn’t planning on it… I’m with Chet.”
“Yeah. Chet. Think he’d help us too?” I was open to any help we could get as long as it was the kind of help that didn’t lan
d me in more hot water.
She hesitated for a moment. “No.”
“You felt guilty saying that.”
“Yes. He’s loyal to Hunter. He’d tell him everything. I’m loyal to Hunter, but I have a personal vendetta against that red head.”
“Do I want to know what that is?”
“Probably, but that doesn’t mean I want to tell you.”
“Fine. Whatever you want. I don’t really care why you hate her. If it’s enough to get you to help me, I’ll take it.” She had my curiosity piqued, but her reasons didn’t change anything. She could keep her secrets.
“Tell me the plan.”
“Like I said, nothing too complicated. We just torch the place after we get the guys out.”
“Are you going for the kill?”
“We’re going for whatever we can get.” I had more of a blood lust now that I was a Dire, but that wasn’t what was driving my determination. Those girls were going to continue kidnapping, torturing, and killing people if I didn’t do something. I couldn’t let them get away with it. The slaves were bad enough, but how many other girls like Mary Anne would they leave to freeze on the side of the road? My body begged to transform.
Marni touched my arm. “Calm down, Gage.”
“I’m ready to do this.”
“We can’t yet.”
“Then when?” I wasn’t sure how much longer I could wait.
“Tomorrow night. But you have to behave tomorrow to pull it off. We can't have Hunter suspicious.”
“Don't I always behave?”
She arched an eyebrow. “Provoking Hunter about Mary Anne is not behaving.”
“Why don't we just do it tonight then? It gives me less time to get in trouble.”
“You think we can do it that quick? Don’t we have to get ready?”
“What do we have to get ready? We need lighter fluid and a match.”
“Come on, simple or not, you can be more creative than that. Besides, they may not go down that easy. They’ve been powerful enough to cloak us, so we shouldn’t underestimate them.”
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