Prelude to a Dream

by Rebekah Daniels

  Gerard kept his hands on Malachi’s shoulders, but angled his body to look over his shoulder. He didn’t speak for the couple minutes he took to examine the body. Letting out a loud sigh, he shook his head before focusing his attention back on the body. “What’s in her mouth?”

  Malachi felt the bile rise up in his throat once again, because he knew what it was. It was the first thing he had seen when he got a look at her face close up. It was large chunk of bread…probably the biscuit he had given her the night before. Squeezing his eyes shut, he shook his head back and forth to try and rid the image away.

  “Malachi, open your eyes and look at me… only me.” Gerard’s voice was gruff, but still just as steady as he had remembered from his past.

  Without hesitation, he did as he was told. Trying to ignore what was behind him, he tried to focus solely on his instructor and friend.

  “Malachi, I understand that this is not a normal sight for ye, but do ye get it now? Do ye understand why the world needs people like ye? Think of the amount of evil someone had to possess te do this.” Malachi’s gaze started to return to the body, and Gerard’s grip tightened. “Look at me!”

  When his gaze returned, Gerard continued. “This is why I push ye so hard. This is the type of thing ye will be able te help prevent. Unfortunately, there are evil people as well as evil beings out there, but your job is te help as many people as ye can. Do ye understand?”

  He bowed his head and nodded.

  “I need te hear it,” Gerard snapped.

  Whipping his head up, Malachi looked into Gerard’s eyes. “I understand.”

  Letting his gaze move back over to the girl, Malachi slowly shook his head in disbelief. “She was so full of life and happiness. She had people that cared about her. It’s hard to believe that anyone would want to harm her.”

  “Why does it sound as if ye knew her?” Gerard’s voice had turned harsh, and he swiftly stood up and towered over Malachi.

  Malachi knew he was in trouble. Taking a deep breath, the truth spilled out without hesitation. “I met her yesterday evening when I went into the village. We talked for a short amount of time. That’s it.”

  Before he could blink, Gerard grabbed his upper arm and hauled him to his feet. Immediately, Gerard started to pull him from the clearing, but Malachi fought to pull away.

  “What are you doing? Let me go!” Malachi shrieked, as he eyed the tree, wanting to get back to her.

  “No! We need te get ye out of here.” Gerard grunted from the struggle, but didn’t stop pulling.

  “What are you talking about?”

  Finally, Gerard stopped and brought Malachi’s face up to his own. Pointing to the girl, he snapped, “Ye met her last night. Someone probably saw that ye felt something for her. Now…today, her body was displayed at a place where only ye come. Obviously, this was meant for ye te find. That means ye need te get as far away from here as possible, as quickly as possible.”

  The logic made sense, and even caused an ire feeling to slither down his spine, but he still couldn’t go. “No.” He tried to turn back to the tree, but Gerard’s grip didn’t falter. Malachi then pleaded, “I can’t just leave her like that. It’s not right.”

  “Fine.” Through clenched teeth, Gerard spoke. “Once we get back, I will send people back down here te take her down and place her somewhere near her village… someplace where she’ll be found.”

  Malachi didn’t like the idea. He felt as if it should be him that made sure she was properly taken care of. The reserved look must have shown because Gerard’s grip tightened on his arm.

  “It’s the best deal ye’re going te get.”

  Malachi angrily bit the inside of his cheek, so as not to say something he would later regret. Instead, he stayed silent and stiffly nodded.

  “Listen up, boy! This should be a wake up call.”

  Malachi took a step back when Gerard took a menacing step toward him.

  “I need your word here, Malachi,” Gerard practically growled at him. “Ye will never again put your wants in front of your duty. Ye will protect the people that can’t protect themselves, and most importantly, ye will never forget this day and what ye learned.” Throwing his beefy arm out to gesture at the small body, Gerard snapped, “This is what happens when ye’re not careful.”

  Malachi nodded quickly. This was one promise he had no problem making. If he could prevent something like this from happening to even one person, it would be worth it. From now on, there would be no more village trips, no more taking his training for granted. He would become the warrior he was born to be, and nothing or no one would deter his determination to do so. “I give you my word.”

  Present Day

  Struggling not to drop the books she held, Trinity had almost made it outside the store before someone tapped her arm to get her attention. When she glanced over her shoulder, an elderly woman pointed in the direction of the register. Craning her neck further, she looked back and noticed the cashier had been waving her over.

  Grudgingly, she turned around and pushed through the crowd of people to return to the register. When she was close enough, the cashier spoke up. “Ms. Bradshaw,” she said in an irritated tone, “you forgot your receipt, along with another book.”

  Gritting her teeth so as not to snap back, she smiled tightly, and said, “Thank you.”

  Placing the book on her already full stack, she once again thought about how she could kick herself for not remembering to bring her bags from home. She was all for eco-friendly stores that only used reusable sacks, but she refused to purchase anymore since she already had a stack of them at home. When she got home, she would try to remember to put one in her car, she thought. That way, she wouldn’t have this problem again on her next impromptu trip to the bookstore.

  As she balanced the books in her arms, she mentally crossed her fingers that she would be able to make it the block to her car without spilling them all over the sidewalk.

  Originally, she came into the city to do a little shopping. A new school year was starting tomorrow, and she thought to treat herself. Of course, the shop she decided to visit was right around the corner from the cute little bookstore she liked to go to. The endless rainfall hadn’t let up, but not wanting to try to find a new parking space, she decided to quickly walk over and take a look inside.

  The moment she stepped in, she knew she was in trouble. The smell of the crisp pages just waiting for her touch was like a drug, one she had become addicted to ages ago.

  Now, here she was. She weaved back through the crowd, towards the doors, and contemplated how she was going to keep all her new books dry.

  When she finally got to the glass doors, she looked out and glared at the rain as if the inconvenience was purposefully meant for her alone. She would just have to run, she thought. On the count of three…

  One

  She adjusted the books in her arms so that none would come loose on the hasty jaunt to her car.

  Two

  Taking a deep breath in, she placed a hand on the door and bowed her head.

  Three

  Quickly, she pushed the door open and stepped out. Without another thought, she took off running in the direction of her car. She didn’t even make it two steps before she ran into a very solid wall. It felt like a wall anyways, when in fact, it was a very tall and very muscular body.

  The impact made her gasp and lurch backwards. In the process, she ended up dropping all her books onto the drenched sidewalk, and if it wasn’t for the quick reflexes of the man she had ran into, she would have fallen backwards and joined them on the ground.

  He had somehow made it behind her, and prevented her backwards descent by grabbing onto her shoulders. “I am so sorry. Are you okay?”

  His voice was heavenly. The deep sound, combined with his strong hold on her arms, caused a shiver to run over her spine. It finally penetrated what he had said. He was apologizing to her?

  “No, I ran into you. I wasn’t watching where I was goin
g, just trying to get to my car before my books got ruined by the rain.” She had started to ramble on, but what she said had somehow sunk in. Books? Oh no! She had forgotten all about them.

  Immediately, she crouched down and quickly started to swipe them off the ground. “Damaged… damaged… this one too. Ugh!”

  Suddenly, there was another set of hands down there, helping her, but her concentration didn’t waver. She was too focused on her purchases getting ruined by the second.

  The man handed her what he had picked up, and quickly stood. “Listen. Once again, I’m sorry for running into you, but I really have to go.”

  She saw that he was almost dancing from foot to foot; a telltale sign that he was indeed in a hurry. “That’s okay. I und―” That was as far as she got in her planned apology before he took off.

  Finally getting the last book in her arms, she stood and looked in the direction the man had taken off in. The sidewalk was semi crowded, but there was only one man, a very tall one at that, that was running away. She knew immediately that that was the man she had collided with.

  She was in no way ready for a man in her life, but there was no rule against looking, and he was one to look at―even if it was briefly―and only from the back. She got a partial smile on her face and remembered his smooth voice, firm touch, and an overall essence of authority. Definitely a man that dreams could form around.

  Shaking her head, she brought her attention back to the present, and started jogging to her car once again. This time, her head was up and she was facing the world head on.

  THE END

  Celestial Beginnings

  by

  Rebekah Daniels

  Being a descendant of a fallen angel, nephilim Malachi Starkman, is all about his duty in protecting mankind and preventing Satan’s army from growing any further. He leads a squad of talented warriors on this quest to preserve humanity, but as leader, he feels every aspect is his responsibility. After centuries of fighting, he is starting to feel burned out, and wondering if this is his sole purpose on Earth.

  Local teacher, Trinity Bradshaw, has been trying to move on from her turbulent past but it doesn’t seem to want to let her go. Therefore, when a deliciously handsome man with alluring eyes says he wants to help her, she cannot say no. So many obstacles stand between the two, but neither of them seem to be able to walk away from the other. Will they find common ground or will she just be a liability in his quest to destroy the one that has plagued him for years?

  Keep reading for a preview of Celestial Beginnings

  Chapter 1

  His kisses were so soft, especially when he kissed her leg… right there. She couldn’t help the small noise that slipped from between her lips, “Ahh.”

  Trinity Bradshaw couldn’t remember the last time she felt so thoroughly cherished. She moved her hands around his body, loving the feel of the solid muscle underneath his warm skin, the way everything shifted as he moved his hands down the backs of her legs.

  “You like?” He asked before he ran his tongue down her inner thigh. His husky voice sending chills through her body.

  It took a moment before she could formulate a clear thought. She knew what she wanted to say, but the only thing that came out was, “Mmm.”

  His laughter sent vibrations all the way from her nether regions to her toes, and she almost came on the spot. He was taking his sweet time, tormenting her with his tongue and teeth.

  Soon she could feel his hot breath right in front of where she wanted him the most. He leaned forward and she heard him inhale deeply before letting out an audible groan.

  “Then you are really going to love this,” he stated, right before her world turned upside down. Leaning forward, he used his tongue in one long stroke from the bottom of her opening all the way up to her over sensitized nub.

  She tried to control her reaction, she really did, but she was lost. Her hips flew up off the bed, so far that his mouth was momentarily disengaged. In a split second his hands were on her stomach pushing her back down to the bed. Moving them to her hips, he securely pinned her down.

  His mouth was back on her before her hips hit the bed. He was doing figure eights with his tongue that felt so good but were just as frustrating, because he was missing the places she wanted―no needed―his tongue to be.

  She felt herself splintering and needed to grab onto something to stay grounded. Reaching out, her hand came into contact with his head and she ran her fingers through his hair, tugging a little harder to show her frustration.

  He must have gotten the hint because in the next instance his tongue was on her clitoris lightly sweeping across and over. She needed even more but didn’t know how to tell him. “Please,” she begged.

  He paused in what he was doing to look up at her. “I know, Baby, I know. You’re just the best thing I’ve tasted in a long time.” Looking back down at him, she admitted to herself how utterly handsome he was. The tussled look of his hair and slight smirk gave him a boyish charm, but it was the hunger in his piercing green eyes that made her insides clench. “Sugar and Spice…” As he spoke, he inserted two fingers into her opening, “… but you’re not very nice, are you?”

  Wow that felt good. She reached down and grabbed the comforter on either side of her, and threw her head back when she arched into his touch. He was moving his fingers slowly in and out of her. His hand, his magical hand, was driving her insane. When she looked back down at him, she noticed that he was still staring at her. Finally, she realized he was still waiting for an answer to his question. It took a couple tries to get anything coherent out, but she sucked in a breath and finally spoke. “Not tonight, I’m not.”

  He obviously liked this answer because he bent his head back down to her and continued where he had left off. He was more vigorous this time, using his teeth, tongue… even the scruff of his slight facial hair was doing wonders to her. All the while, his hand never stopped what it was doing. She watched him while trying to control herself, thinking that if this was an Olympic sport, he could win the gold.

  She couldn’t take it any longer, it was too good, and she was too close. Trinity reached down to grab both of his upper arms and gave a gentle tug. “Please… now… I need you now!” Her words were broken as she tried to catch her breath.

  When he looked up at her, he must have seen something in her face that convinced him because he relented and began to kiss his way up her body. After finally making it all the way up, he settled himself fully on top of her and kissed her deeply, passionately.

  Eventually, she felt her body relaxing and she wrapped her arms around him. It felt so good to have this man, so strong and gloriously naked, lying on top of her. At this moment, she felt so safe. She started to run her hands over his body, where she could reach. When she stopped at his shoulders, she dragged her nails down his back as far as she could reach. It was not hard enough to break the skin, but there was enough pressure to make his whole body shudder and a deep groan be pushed from his throat.

  There was now a new sense of urgency in him, because the next thing Trinity new, he pushed up from the bed by his elbows. While staring down at her, he ran his large, strong hand quickly down her leg, stopped and gripped her knee, then pulled up to place it at his hip.

  When she felt the tip of his manhood at her opening, she knew that this was it. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back.

  “Open your eyes.”

  The commanding tone to his voice made it so she couldn’t deny him. When she opened them, his face was directly above hers.

  “I want you to keep your eyes open so you can see exactly what you do to me.” His voice was strangled and it was the last thing he said before he thrus―

  Trinity gasped as she sat bolt upright in bed and looked around disoriented. It took her a minute to figure out where she was… in her own bed and no man in sight. Ugh, her body was still humming, but at the same time, a sense of loss fell over her. Frustrated, she groaned and collapsed back down onto her bed,
throwing her hands over her enflamed face. “It was just a dream! I can’t believe it―a freaking dream!”

  Available May 2013

  About the Author

  Rebekah Daniels is a romance writer from the Midwest that marvels in bringing stories to life. Having four energetic children and a devoted husband, her days are always full of adventure and an abundance of love. When she finally has time to herself, she loves to write, read a good book, eat chocolate, and keep warm under whatever heating device is available. As a child she was always daydreaming and creating stories in her head. As an adult, nothing has changed, except now they are coming to life on paper. Her hope is that these stories will bring enjoyment to the people that get to read them.

  You can follow her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rebekahdaniels713 for more information on upcoming books and new series.