He rubbed his head on the side of her neck. “Stop thinking of all the buts and answer me this; do you feel it too?”
“I do,” she let out in somewhat less than a whisper.
“Then we work from there. I have so much to tell you and to share with you, but Dad just sent me a message that they will be here within the hour.”
She hadn’t even noticed him checking his phone.
“I should feed you now, but I am selfish. Can we just lie here together, with my arms wrapped around you?”
Heck yeah, she was up for that.
“No talking. Just silence and possibly some sleep if it hits us?” Well his plans weren’t aligned with hers, but she was actually exhausted. “I need to feel you near me. To know you are real. The dreams were pretty fabulous, but they are not the same as having the real you here.”
“We can do that.” The more he spoke the more she felt like this was the best idea ever. He let her go and leaned down to remove her shoes and then his own.
He laid down first holding his arm out to welcome her, and she snuggled in close. It felt like coming home. They laid there in silence, and she felt herself starting to doze off. Safe in his arms. This was someplace she wanted to be often.
“You are supposed to be resting. Resting. Not visiting me. Resting.”
She looked over to see Jesse in the chair in the corner.
“Why did you get out of bed? I liked having you here with me.” Wait, he was wearing a tie. “Why are you in a tie?”
“Look down, Jolie.” She looked down and saw that she was no longer wearing the clothes she had on that morning and she was in a gorgeous red rockabilly dress. She was dreaming.
“Oh,” was all she was able to muster. If she was going to have this amazing skill, she needed to learn how to control it and fast.
“You look gorgeous by the way, but then again you always do.”
Her face probably matched her dress by this point. She was not used to getting compliments.
“I think I’m going to have to work on this dreaming thing. Last I knew we were snug as a bug in bed getting our rest on. Somehow my brain took that to mean it was date night.”
“Is that what you had in mind? A date?” He looked amused and very, very cocky. It was a good look on him.
“Honestly, I have no idea. All I know is I saw this dress online and almost bought it, so that is probably non-buyer’s remorse.” She looked at him dressed to take on the world. “Your clothes must be to match mine? I need to talk to my mom about this one.”
He looked truly mortified, and she realized what she just implied. “I mean how the dream thing works not how we ... umm … you know.”
“Well, that’s good. So I figure we have a bit until one of us wakes up. We are all dressed up …”
“But?” She inwardly hoped he was going to ask for them not to be dressed at all.
“But I was thinking I could show you something instead of going on a date?” He stood up and she noticed some of his cocky swagger was gone. He was almost, dare she say, nervous.
“Whatever you want. I’m just glad to know this is a dream and that we will both remember it.” He walked over and grabbed her hand. Before she knew it, they were in the middle of the woods. It was her dream, but somehow he was in control.
“How did you do that?” he asked her with awe in his voice. “This is where I was taking us.”
“I thought you did it.” Had she done it? She had never been here before, so not intentionally to be sure. “Where are we?”
“Behind my house. If we walk a mile that way,” he pointed behind her, “you would see my house in about a quarter mile. It is my favorite spot. I come here a lot.”
She looked around. It was nice and all, but nothing overly spectacular. “Why do you love it so?”
“Honestly, can I show you?”
“Umm, sure.” She looked down at her feet, silently cussing her subconscious out for having on such high heels. Sure, they made the dress look amazing, but if they were going to be walking in the woods, they would not be helpful.
Instead of leading her to whatever it was that made this so special, he began loosening his tie.
“So what I am going to show you is real, but in a dream. You know what I mean.”
Did she? She was unsure, but she nodded anyway as he went from tie removal to shirt removal; she was mesmerized. As he went to remove his pants, she wanted to join in the fun. She took a step closer before he motioned for her to stop. He wanted her to watch; well that she could do. Now watching without drooling, that was another story. His pants fell to the ground and proved her theory. Drooling was on the menu.
“Just remember this is a dream and nothing that happens here can hurt you.” She nodded, looking his amazing body up and down. She was only half listening. What girl in her right mind could concentrate with lickable abs so very close? Not to mention that magnificent cock, which very clearly noticed her. “I need to hear you tell me you understand, Jolie.”
“I understand.”
She barely got the words out when he became blurry. She blinked a few times, trying to get her vision back in order, and when she finally opened them, a wolf sat in his place. It was beautiful with a thick grey coat and sat like a well-trained house pet more than a wild animal. She needed to learn to control her dreams. She much preferred the naked man to the wolf she replaced him with. Then the wolf stood up and started toward her, very slowly as if it were afraid she would run. She looked down at him and its eyes met hers. His aquamarine eyes.
“What the fuck?” she yelled as she closed her eyes tight. “Mother, I am so mad at you right now I could spit. I know you can’t hear me, but it is true anyways. You should have taught me to control this whatever it is.”
“Jolie?” He was back. Apparently anger worked.
“You’re back. What a relief. For whatever crazy ass reason, my subconscious turned your glorious nakedness into a wolf.”
He took a step back.
“Jolie, what did I say as I was getting naked.”
Was he kidding? Like anything he said sunk in while he was doing that. “Honestly, I have no idea. I was a bit … preoccupied.”
“Jolie, look me in the eyes and listen very carefully to what I am about to say.” She did as he asked and a pit formed in her stomach. “That wolf was me. I am a shifter.”
She was seeing red. “You are a bodark? You have got to fucking kidding me. Why tell me about them? To lull me into a false sense of security?” She was now in front of him, not remembering how she got there and pounding his chest with her fists and he let her. “Am I ever getting out of the cabin or did you bring me there to stab me? And why the heck … wait, why would you need to kill me if you already can change?” She kept pounding, but with less force. “You could have killed my dad if you needed more. You’re not a bodark are you?”
He let her come to her own conclusions at the mercy of her wrath. True, she was less than a match for him physically, but he didn’t need to let her pound on him, even if it was a dream.
“No, I’m not a bodark. They are evil and are created. I was born this way.”
She wrapped her arms around him, regret and relief filling her. Seeing him turn into a wolf was no big deal if she took out the bodark factor. “So your dad is a shifter, too?”
“He is the alpha.”
Pieces of the puzzle started clicking into place. Why he warned Jesse about confronting him when others were around. Why the rest of town treated him so differently. Why he needed to get away.
“So shifter means you turn into a wolf?”
“Being a shifter means I’m basically like anyone else except I’m pretty darn strong, have amazing hearing, and sometimes I change into a wolf. Even when my wolf takes over, I am still me though. Unlike the bodarks.” He took a slow step forward as if testing the waters of her comfort. She appreciated that small gesture. “So are you all right?”
“Jesse, sorry I hit you.”
; He chuckled at that.
“What?”
“We are in a dream, sweetling. Even if you were strong enough to hurt me, I would have known it would end when my dad got there. You needed to work through it all.” That she did. If he had told her, she would have called him crazy and forced herself awake, hoping to get to his car before he woke up. She was no helpless damsel in distress.
“So, my mom knows.” Just then she remembered the story her mom used to tell her about her wolf family. “Crap, she told me about that too.”
“Glad I’m not your mom.” He was right, being her mom next time she saw her was going to stink. Big time.
“Yeah, I am too.” She looked at his still very naked body. “I really don’t want to see her naked.”
“Me neither, but I wouldn’t mind seeing you naked.” His eyes flashed and she was standing there naked. His eyes turned to the deep lustful shade she was used to seeing in her dreams.
“Wait, how did you do that? The thing with your eyes?” He looked at her as if she were speaking Greek. “The glowing thing, that made my clothes pop off?”
“I told you I have no power here. The clothes popping off was all you.” He looked her up and down. “Not that I am complaining any. Your curves drive me to distraction in the very best of ways.”
He took a step toward her, and she took a step back, stopping him in his tracks. “The eyes?”
“What exactly did they do?”
“They glowed-ish.” Now that she went to explain it, she realized how quickly it had happened and how little she actually saw.
“Oh that.” He took a step forward which she allowed. “That was the mating call.”
“The mating call?” She had heard her mother referred to as her stepfather’s mate. Was that what he meant? “As in horniness?” She didn’t know what she wanted the answer to be. Horny or marriage? What was wrong with her? She didn’t even know the guy’s last name, and here she was planning out what to say if he says marriage?
“No, not horniness.” He took another step. He was so close his erection was leaning against her belly. Not that she would complain. “Well, yes, there is lots of horniness, but no, I meant as in my wolf is calling for me to make you my mate.”
“Like my mom and your dad?” It felt creepy just to say that, much less think on it too long.
“No, not at all. Like my dad and my mom.” His hand caressed her cheek, and she leaned into it. “Wolves mate for life, and even though she is gone, she will always be his one and only.”
“So …” She didn’t want to say what she was thinking. How could she? It was so very hurtful.
“So nothing, Jolie.” His other hand landed on her waist. If he kept this up, the conversation would be over before its time. “Your mom’s true love was your father. My dad’s was my mother. They both know the score, and I can’t be one hundred percent sure, but I think their ‘mating’ is in name only.”
Jolie thought back to that afternoon. They hadn’t acted much like newlyweds, but they did seem to care about each other. If they had truly known each other for as many years as the picture indicated, of course they cared about and probably loved each other. Why would they get married though, or mated, or what have you? Loneliness? Financial? Crap on a cracker.
“They married to keep me safe.”
“That is my guess, love.” He leaned in a bit closer, and she wanted him to close the distance almost as much as she wanted answers. “But they knew you were mine, so there has to be more to it than that.”
“They knew what? Last I checked … aw screw it, I totally am, but how did they know?”
“You probably don’t remember this, but you came to me in a dream before we met.”
She tried to look through her imaginary file box of memories, but he was so close, even if it was there, she would never find it. He body was so attuned to his that she barely could form sentences at this point, much less think.
“I don’t know if it was your prom or maybe you were just dreaming about prom, but you wore a sparkly blue dress which barely came to your knees and you had your hair up with an old hair comb in it that you said was your grandmother’s.”
She remembered prom. It pretty much stunk. The boy that took her was using her as a beard, and while she knew it going in, hanging out with his actual date’s beard all night was less than the romantic image she'd had throughout high school.
“You told me that you wished I had taken you instead of your date and kept asking me why I hadn't found you yet. I knew then that you were mine.” He gave her a chaste kiss before beginning again, and even that peck had her belly clenching with need. “I told my dad the next morning my mate was coming, and that is when I started planning the house. I wanted to be ready for you.”
“I don’t remember.” She wished she could. How could something so important happen without her remembering?
“You didn’t need to remember. I did. That first day, on the bench, I didn’t recognize you at first, but the second you got close, I felt it and knew. You were the girl of my dreams.”
She had felt the pull as much as he had. Never in her life had she thrown such caution to the wind with anything hormone related before that night.
“And then I realized who you were, besides being my mate, and I panicked.”
“You mean you were an asshat loser.”
“Yeah, that. I knew the plan for your mom to marry my dad.” Her mom was so facing her wrath the moment she saw her. “And then there I was, finding my mate, and she turns out to be my future stepsister.”
“I can see that causing panic. Why are they okay with it? Because it is all kind of creepy if you think about it objectively.” Not that she wanted to think objectively. She wanted to objectify his body and quick.
“They both understand true mates. I tried to deny you, and we see how well that worked out.”
He was right. They found their way to each other in dreams, and the second they were in a room together hormones blazed.
“But no one can know?” She wasn’t sure how okay with that she was. She wanted him. Truth. She also wanted to be someone she could look at in the mirror and feel proud of, and sneaking around with her stepbrother was not going to accomplish that. “Wait, is that what Mama knows?” She was going to have to revisit the entire week with this new lens. So much was starting to make sense.
“Yeah, Mama kind of senses thing. I think sort of the same as you.” He took a deep breath and rubbed her earlobe between his fingers. “And to answer the important question, no one can know.”
She went to take a step back and his arm around her waist tightened.
“No one can know until we figure out who is trying to kill you and we stop them. After that, I am going to parade you all around town, bite mark and all, so everyone knows that you are mine.”
“Bite mark?” Why did the thought of that nearly cause her to come on the spot? She was trapped in a novel, and she was just fine with that.
“Yes.” He leaned in the last wee bit. His lips touched her neck right where it met her shoulder. “I am thinking,” he mumbled into her, “I will do it here.” He gave her a quick nip and her sense of control was gone. She needed him now. She reached for his head, to pull his lips to hers when she heard a knock.
“Nooo.” This was not happening! But she felt herself pulled further and further away as the knocking sounded louder and louder.
As her eyes fluttered open, she heard her name between knocks. It was her mother. She went to roll over and was held in place by Jesse’s arm. At least that part had not been a dream.
Mother Daughter Time:
AKA Are You Freaking Kidding Me?
As much as she hadn’t wanted to, Jolie managed to leave the warm security of Jesse’s arms. He was just as reluctant, but it was time. She wanted to talk to him about all that had happened in their dreams to make sure it was all true, but knew that now was not the time. Now she needed to deal with her mom and to find a wannabe bodark and put him o
ut of his misery—or torture him. She was still undecided on which was preferable.
They walked out to see her mom and Garrick in the front room. Garrick standing by the fireplace and her mom pacing.
“Mom. Alpha.” Her words were curt, and while she immediately felt a tinge of guilt for speaking to them that way, she wasn’t about to apologize. “Find anything out in the meeting?”
“I see you and my boy had a talk.”
“Yes, sir.” Okay, maybe she felt a bit of remorse for how she spoke to him. Her mother, not so much.
“Very well then. If you have questions, we can get to them later. First, we have things to discuss.” Her mother stopped pacing at that and took a seat, as if the direction had been given. Jesse followed suit, pulling Jolie down with him.
“While you were with Jesse at his house, I had the men look at your car. Something felt off about the whole ‘run you down’ plan.”
“I thought so too. Why would someone chance killing me if they needed to stab me?” Maybe this wasn’t a bodark thing at all.
“Exactly. At first, when Jesse told us about the incident at school, we thought it was a scare tactic.” How did he know? Ah, the dreams. Those things could come in handy if she learned to control them. “But the truck appearing on a road, that was more than just to scare you.”
“They want her dead for some other reason?” Jesse’s voice was tight.
“Or the same one,” her mother added as if she had an epiphany. All eyes were on Liv. “What if they want her dead so the people who want to turn into bodarks don’t get her?”
Great, now two people wanted her dead.
“If that is the case, Liv, then whose tracker did they find?” Garrick was all business. He gave no emotion away.
“You found a tracker?” Jesse was now standing. “It’s not here, is it?”
“I know she is your mate, but you need to regain control. You are no good to the pack or to me when you are like this.” Garrick went back to addressing the whole room. “We have some people in town looking into reversing the track. We are hoping to find out who it is and which side they are on.”
Beyond The Veil: A Paranormal & Magical Romance Boxed Set Page 68