Even though Rachel didn’t speak much Latin, she understood those words. Release her. No sooner than Frankie had spoken the command, the dream world let her go and she found it easier to breathe.
“Frankie, what the hell?” Somnus asked, the fear evident in his voice. “We have to protect her.”
“We will. We need to go. Right now.”
“Rachel, I’m sorry,” Somnus told her. “I’m taking you out of this house and back to my family.”
She wanted to argue, she really did. But she also knew this was the best way. She had no interest in dying, and if she kept dreaming like this, that was where she was gonna end up. She nodded her head and Somnus wrapped his arms around her.
Chapter Seventeen
“Do you want to get some sleep?” Somnus offered, after he had Rachel safely in his family home. He’d ghosted her there immediately with a promise to return for her things. He’d thought it was bad knowing he had hurt her, but seeing her engulfed with fear was so much worse. He was going to find that demon and he was going to kill it. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind. It was only a matter of when.
“No,” she answered. “I’m never sleeping again.”
“You’re safe here,” he reminded her. “And I had Frankie put an extra ward on my bedroom so you will have privacy from everyone else. The only time anyone will bother you is if you’re having a nightmare again.”
“No, really,” she said, “thank you. I just want to do something to keep my mind busy.”
“I brought your laptop,” he offered.
Rachel smiled and just a tiny bit of the stress he was feeling started to lift. “That will be great. The best thing about being my own boss is that I can work from anywhere.”
“You got it,” he said, getting the laptop for her. He gently laid it on the bed. “Do you want me to stay?”
She shook her head. “No, I prefer to be left alone when I work. Just maybe a glass of water?”
“I’m all over it,” he said, ghosting out of the room. He appeared downstairs in the kitchen and got straight to work on getting a glass and putting ice in it.
“How’s she handling things?” Brea asked from her seat at the kitchen table.
“Shit,” he barked, thoroughly startled by her presence.
“There was a time when no one could sneak up on you,” she said with a smile. “She’s really got you tied up in knots.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. If she only knew.
“When’s the last time you fed?” she asked him.
“Not that long,” he told her, mentally trying to figure out exactly when that was.
“Too long ago,” Brea said. “I can see it in your face. Your skin is pale and there are dark circles under your eyes. Want me to warm up a bottle of blood?”
Just the thought made his stomach turn. “No, I’m good. Thank you, Aunt Brea.”
“Maybe you should ask Rachel,” she said.
“No,” he answered quickly. It was bad enough that he’d dropped the mate bomb on her in the heat of an argument. There was no way he was going to tell her that she had to feed him too. Nope. Way too much at once. Besides, the mate conversation had been put firmly on the backburner. He would survive without blood. He didn’t need it nearly as much as Rachel needed a little bit of peace.
“Don’t wait too long,” Brea said as she got up and left the room. She moved silently, like a vampire, even though she was still human. Her mate's blood had kept her younger, but the effects of time were beginning to show. Lines had formed at the corner of her eyes from years of laughter. Her hair that used to be a brilliant red was turning lighter and had lost some of its sheen.
Somnus knew that Angel was doing everything he could to convince Brea to turn. He supposed that one day she would do it, but not just yet. His aunt was as stubborn as they came, and she wasn't going to turn until it was her idea.
His aunt Jessica was in the same boat. After nearly sixty years of being together, the human women were beginning to age. Somnus suspected that they were just tired. There was no way that either Angel or Sebastian would let them die of old age, though. No, that wasn't going to happen. The way with mated vampires was that one needed the other to survive. The only way the men would let their mates go would be if they were already dead.
A shudder crept up Somnus' spine. What if Rachel was human enough to age? What if she wanted to grow old and die? Or worse, what if she didn't want to be his mate? He could survive without her, as long as he never tasted her blood. It would be a long, boring, empty existence, but he could do it.
His thoughts tracked back to his aunts and uncles. Brea and Jessica chose to remain human, and they chose to remain with his uncles. Each and every day, they chose this life. They could walk away at any time, but they didn't.
Brea had given birth to a wonderful girl, Somnus' cousin, Jade; watched her grow, and now Jade had a mate of her own. There were no more children for her, though. Not that they didn't want more, but vampire pregnancies were hard to conceive and even harder to keep. His family had been blessed with three hybrids. To ask for more was just tempting fate.
He wondered if Rachel would want children one day.
What the hell was wrong with him? He should be thinking about how to best protect Rachel now, not what may or may not happen in fifty years!
Somnus filled the glass with cold water and took it back upstairs. He could hear his family talking quietly throughout the house, but the only one he wanted to be around right then was Rachel. Of course, after he delivered the water he was going to have to leave her alone, but he would take even the smallest minute with her. When had he become so irrevocably attached to her?
Pushing the bedroom door open, Somnus watched for a second. Rachel was sitting on his bed, her knees pulled up to support her laptop, glasses atop her nose. She was typing at something furiously, and completely oblivious to his presence. Or so he thought.
"Thank you," she said, without looking away from her screen. "I think I'm on to something here."
Somnus set the glass on the bedside table and waited. Should he go? He really wanted to stay.
"I know this is your room, so you can stay if you want. Just try not to distract me," she said, still typing.
Somnus smiled. "I wouldn't dream of it. I'm glad you feel that way though because I need a shower in the worst way."
"Yeah, you do smell like a sloth," she teased.
"What?"
"Just kidding," she grinned, finally looking up at him. "Go shower. Do whatever you need. I'm just gonna be here."
Somnus gave her a wicked grin before nodding and taking himself to the bathroom.
***
The algorithm fell into place faster than Rachel thought it would. In a matter of minutes, she was finished with that job and ready to start a new one. First, though, she had to get into the restroom. Closing her laptop, she swung her feet over the side of the bed and stood. Her bare feet hit the plush carpet and she allowed herself to sink into it. Scrunching her toes, Rachel realized she was completely jealous of this carpet. It was like walking on a cloud. She padded to the restroom, and then heard the shower was running.
She'd forgotten she’d told Somnus to take a shower. The sound of water crept through the door, but also, he was humming. The humming turned into full-blown singing and Rachel couldn't help but smile. He had a rich baritone voice that carried throughout the room. Before she realized what she was doing, Rachel had opened the door just a tiny crack. His rich, sultry voice seeped through the opening and right into her soul. She could feel the timbre skating across her skin, covering her like a blanket and warming her from the inside out.
She didn't know what he was singing; it was in a different language she'd never heard before, but it was beautiful. The cadence sounded a little like Arabic, but she couldn't be sure. It wasn't something she dwelled on. All she could think of was getting closer to him, to that incredible voice.
When she placed her hands on the shower door, Rachel re
alized she'd gone a bit too far. She could see his silhouette behind the foggy glass, the scent of his soap wafted through the air. It smelled amazing, like musk and fresh air with a hint of chocolate chip cookies. He tilted his head back to sing another verse, scrubbing his torso with vigor. Rachel couldn't see him clearly, but that was okay, she didn't have to.
She really wanted to be those suds right then. The scent of clean man, the sound of his incredible voice—they made her want to climb on top of him, rub her skin against his like a cat. She wanted to climb inside of him and listen to that voice for the rest of her natural life.
The shower door opened and Rachel jumped back, mortified! He'd turned the water off and she hadn't even noticed. Now he was standing there, in front of her, buck naked and smiling like a fool. "I, uh," she stammered, "I had to, I just—"
"I know," he said. "I am irresistible."
"What? No! I was just saying I needed to pee!"
"Okay," he said, still smiling.
Oh, what the hell had she gotten herself into? She turned to glare at him, but instead she caught sight of the dark hair that scattered over the expanse of his chest. His wide, muscular, wet chest. The tanned skin contrasted against the hair, forcing her eyes to misbehave on their own. That hair tapered into a happy trail that led down his tight abs right to his—shit! She jerked her eyes back up. He arched one dark brow, the one over the crystal blue eye and said, "Would you mind if I dried off?"
Rachel shook her head and grabbed a towel. She tossed it at his face and growled at him. "It's about time. It's rude to stand there naked."
"It is my shower," he reminded her.
"Well get out!" She insisted. "I have to go!"
"I'm trying to get out," he chuckled, but you're standing in front of the door."
Shit, she was. What the hell had happened to her? Did she hit her head? Would she even remember if she had and there was brain damage? That was it, she had brain damage.
"Excuse me," Somnus rumbled.
Damn it, she wanted to punch him right in his smug face. She also wanted to jump on him, wrap her legs around his waist, and have her wicked way with him. Grudgingly, she moved aside so that he could leave the bathroom.
"Thank you," he said, moving past her and brushing his arm against her as he left the room. When the door clicked closed, Rachel just stared at it for a moment. Why was it so important that he get out? Oh, right! She needed to use the facilities. Why, when she was around him, did she have the attention span of an ADHD squirrel?
After taking care of business, she washed her hands and opened the door. She needed to focus, and not on Somnus. She exited the bathroom and was heading back to her computer when she stopped dead in her tracks.
He was going to drive her crazy, she decided. Six and a half feet of tanned skin, rippling muscle, and a whole lot of gorgeous was laid out on the bed, covered only by a pair of boxers. His arms were up, his fingers laced behind his head. He was lying all over the bed, taking up most of the space, as if he owned it.
Well, he did own it.
"Well, there’s no way I can work like this," Rachel said, trying desperately to keep from eating him up with her eyes any longer. "Is there a library or something I can use?"
"Sure is," he said without making an effort to get up.
"Well, where is it?"
"Go out in the hall and past the stairs. Take a left at the end and go down the back stairs to the first floor. Then cut through the ballroom and pass Angel's office. The library is on the left."
Rachel just stared at him blankly for a moment. Just how big was this house?
"Do you need me to show you?"
"No, I can find it," she announced, getting it together and shoving her laptop into its case. She slung the strap over her shoulder and walked as fast as she could, without calling it running, from the room. She was gonna find that library, if it took all night.
She walked past the grand staircase and all the way to the end of the hallway. She passed several rooms with closed doors and she couldn't help but wonder what was behind them. When she finally arrived at the back staircase, she was out of breath. Good gravy, that was a long walk. She took the stairs down two at a time, until finally she reached the end. Now, where was the ballroom? A turn to the left brought her into a large open room that was full of sculptures and paintings. It wasn't the ballroom, but it held a certain amount of appeal to her.
Rachel went in and immediately her eyes were drawn to a painting of a woman sitting on a large boulder. Her dark hair hung over her shoulders and her knees were drawn up. The look on her face was so lost, so confused, as if she were on the brink of tears. The background was beautiful but the whole feel of the painting tugged at her heartstrings. After studying it for a moment, Rachel realized that the woman in the picture was Frankie. She wondered what could have happened to make her look so vulnerable and sad.
The next painting was very obviously Brea. Her red hair spiraled over her shoulders in perfect banana curls. Her pale amethyst eyes were wide with fear as fire spread out behind her. It wasn't the fire that scared her, though. It was the shadow of a figure in the background that added the creep factor. Rachel's heart picked up in her chest and she wondered how the young human woman had gotten herself into that predicament.
The next painting was of a cross with the sun rising in the background. The painting would have been absolutely gorgeous if not for the depiction of Jessica tied to that cross. Rachel shuddered and moved on.
This room was like reading about the family history. Somehow, Rachel knew that these were more than paintings. It was life captured in art. Real life.
The next painting was of Brea again, this time holding a tiny baby girl in her arms. All around her was the family. Each one of them with so much love and adoration in their eyes that Rachel could physically feel it.
Next was a dragon. Black and gold scales leapt off the canvas as bright yellow eyes glowed against her black face. Fire raced from the mouth of sharp teeth and Rachel's breath caught as she looked at it.
"Impressive, right?" Leigh said with an arrogant smile.
Rachel spun around to look at her, embarrassed to have been caught. She didn't think she was doing anything wrong, but if felt like it. Bright yellow eyes with vertical pupils stared at her from under the curtain of raven black hair. "That's you, right?"
"It is," Leigh told her. "Have you ever seen L.A. at night?"
"I, well, not officially," Rachel said. "I saw it from the airplane window in the daytime."
"Come on," Leigh told her. "We need to talk anyway." She didn't wait to see if Rachel was going to follow her, but turned and left the room. "Leave your laptop there. No one will bother it," she called over her shoulder.
Rachel debated for only a second before setting her laptop case on the floor and running after Leigh. For someone who was even shorter than Rachel, the woman could power walk with the best. She followed her though the house to the kitchen and out the sliding glass doors. As soon as she stepped outside, she was on the beach. The water of the Pacific lapped against the shore several yards ahead of her while the moon shone brightly against the placid water. It was so calm. So surreal.
"I'd stand back if I were you," Leigh told her, standing near the water's edge. Rachel stepped back toward the house and waited. Leigh took a deep breath and the next thing she knew, a mist surrounded the woman, circling around her, growing larger and larger until it looked like a tornado without the wind. The mist turned every color of the rainbow; blue and purple first, then on to greens and reds, finally ending with a fiery display of orange and yellows. When the mist cleared, Leigh was no longer standing in front of her in human form.
Instead, the dragon from the painting stared down at her, live and in color. The moonlight shimmered on her glossy scales, illuminating the golden ones while the black ones looked like living ink in the low light. Two large boney horns protruded from just over her eyes and a row of sharp horns lined the back of her neck and the tip o
f her tail. Stop staring at me and climb on, Leigh's voice said in Rachel's head.
"Uh," Rachel stammered, "I've never ridden a dragon. I'm not even sure how to get on. What do I hold on to?"
Stop being a pansy, Leigh huffed while lowering her hind quarters. The action made her hind legs form something of a step and Rachel grabbed hold of her courage and stepped up. The dragon's scales were surprisingly soft to the touch and once Rachel was seated just behind her massive neck, she couldn't help but touch them.
Stop petting me, Leigh growled. Rachel chuckled and held on to one of the massive horns that lined the back of her neck. The dragon spread her wings and they lifted into the sky.
Chapter Eighteen
Rachel had never seen anything so amazing in her life.
The night air lifted her hair and stung her face, but she didn't care. She was flying on the back of an enormous dragon over Los Angeles. The city was lit below her, lights of every color glowed on tall buildings in the center while the suburbs spread out in a circle all around. The landscape grew darker toward the mountains and she could even see a canyon off in the distance.
"How high are we?" she shouted over the wind.
You don't wanna know, Leigh answered her.
Can you hear my thoughts too? Rachel asked without using her voice.
Yes, Leigh answered. Comes in handy when you're twenty thousand feet in the air and the wind is loud as fuck.
Where are we going? Rachel asked her.
You'll see.
Leigh flew over the mountains and then circled one in particular. Rachel didn’t know why, but she assumed that Leigh was making sure it was safe to land. When the dragon's feet touched the ground, Rachel slid down her side until her feet were on solid ground as well.
In the blink of an eye, Leigh transformed back into her human form.
"What is this place?" Rachel asked her, trying to make her eyes see better in the dark.
"This is where I go when I need time to think or to be alone," Leigh told her. "It's the only place I knew where I could speak to you alone."
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