by Honor James
Turning, Ben saw what he would have sworn was a water nymph and blinked. Well hot damn, this was definitely better than his normal nightmares, or so he hoped it would end better. Moving to the water’s edge, he crouched and watched her moving toward him slowly. “Hello there,” he said gently afraid that if he said too much, too loudly he’d shatter the pleasant dream.
“Hello to you, too.” She paused at a rocky outcropping and placed her strong arms there. “I would pull out of the water but I don’t want you to blush.” She winked at him and then shrugged. “Then again, this is my dream, so why not?” With the move of an athlete she pulled herself out of the water and sat on the large flat rock and leaned back, allowing the sun to kiss her skin and dry her.
Tongue-tied, Ben stared at her and slowly started to smile as his brain clicked back on and figured out just what was going on. Here he had been pushing to find his mate and, through pure luck, she was now here. “I’m Benedek, by the way,” he told her. “Figure the least I could do is introduce myself since you’re naked and all that.”
She shrugged and grinned. “It doesn’t matter, as much as I would like to have this dream more than once I can only do it once. I’ve never been able to have the same dream twice ever in my life.” She sighed and then grinned up at him. “But I am Evangeline, but everyone calls me Evan.”
Crouching down he eased to sit at her side. “A pleasure, Evangeline,” he said softly, enjoying the way her name rolled off his lips. “Pretty name for a delightfully lovely woman,” he told her with a smile. “Tell me about yourself, Evangeline, anything and everything will do for a start.”
“Not too much to tell.” Why she had given her name to her own figment of her imagination was beyond her. “I love to swim. This was the place I would swim as a child. I think I was ten maybe when I found this place a mile and half from my home in Tennessee. It was my sanctuary, my haven.”
Looking around, Ben smiled. “It’s a very lovely place, restful and serene,” he agreed closing his eyes to listen to the water and the birds in the distant trees. “I can see why you would want to come here,” he said as he looked back to her. “If I had a place such as this I doubt you’d get me to leave.” Leaning closer he winked. “Or you could try, but I’d kick and scream the whole way.”
She got a hooded look over her eyes, the pain was there and bright only a moment before she was able to tamp it down and nod. “Yeah, it is lovely.” And she hadn’t been there in far too long. Maybe it was time to go back, time to forget about the things that happened there and try to recapture the feeling of peace that she had now. “And what about you, Benedek, tell me about yourself?” She was curious what kind of man her mind would come up for her to dream about.
He’d seen the pain and reached out to gently stroke her dark hair gently. “Not much to tell,” he said softly. “I have four brothers, one older and three younger that are the bane of my existence,” he told her with a smile, his love for his family in his voice. “I run a small bookstore chain and am a onetime only published author, nothing too exciting really.” He chuckled. “But it gives me somewhere to go during the day at least,” he said with a shrug moving his hand over her hair once more enjoying the slight spring to it, and the smooth cool texture.
“It must be nice, having a family you could turn to in the time of crisis or need.” Her eyes closed as he stroked his hands along her hair, the feelings that he invoked making her feel more at ease and at peace than she ever had before. “I very much like this dream, Benedek. I wish that I would have it more than this once because I don’t think that one time will be enough for me.” Too bad really, because it would have to be.
“They are a boon when I need them,” he agreed with a smile. “They are annoying and they do drive me to wonder why I haven’t killed them all some days, but they are also amazing.” Moving his hand to the back of her neck, he gently massaged her tense muscles slowly. “If you think of me, maybe I’ll be here again,” he said with a smile leaning over to press a kiss to her shoulder. He really wished that he could tell her that he was her mate and she was his and that they’d have many more dreams together, but he couldn’t, he didn’t want to scare her off.
“Don’t leave me yet?” she asked as she shot her hand out to touch him. “I don’t want the dream to end yet, please?” She moved so that she could be closer to him and touching more of him than her hand. “I know that you are a figment of my imagination, but I want to keep you, if only for tonight, Benedek?” Because men simply weren’t as wonderful as this one was, fifteen years of marriage told her that clearly. Men simply weren’t sweet, kind, and giving like Ben Farkos seemed to be. They weren’t incredible and sweet, they weren’t open and loving. Right?
Pulling her into his lap to face him, he ran his hands up and down her bare back. Leaning in he kissed her cheek. “I’ll stay as long as you want me to, Evangeline,” he promised. Nibbling along her skin he licked at the shell of her ear before lightly blowing at it. Smiling as she shivered slightly, he stroked her spine with light fingers. “You can keep me forever if you want, honey,” he told her honestly.
“If only you were real,” she murmured as her hands moved over the strong muscles of his shoulders and arms. “I can’t believe that you are a bookstore owner.” Then again, it was her dream so he could be all nice and buff and drop dead gorgeous and still be a bookstore owner. “I would keep you for all time if I could, Benedek.” Her head fell back as his mouth moved along and down her neck. She shuddered in his arms as she gasped for air.
“And if I told you I was real?” he asked as he teased the curve of her breast with his teeth. “What would you do then, Evangeline?” he whispered, licking at her nipple as he bent her back, his hands on her shoulders and his arms supporting her back.
“No man could be this perfect, Benedek,” she whispered softly as she threaded her hands into his hair. “I have the scars to prove it.” In her dream her skin was perfection. However, in reality she had scars from knifings, beatings and various surgeries that saved her life at the end of her fifteen years of hell.
Freezing, Ben lifted his head slowly and looked into her exotic face, searching it and her eyes. “What do you mean, sweetheart?” he asked softly. Pulling her upright he held her close to him as he enjoyed her nails lightly scraping his skull, the touch much like a stroking he’d demand of her later.
Her breasts pressed neatly against his chest, her body molded to his and she felt the evident need as it pressed up between them. It touched her belly with its length and pulsing against her clitoris with its need. “I don’t want to talk about him in my dreams. I only want to be with you for now, Benedek. Please allow me to have just at least this one dream without reality intruding?” But her scars appeared on her body, the dream no longer allowing her to hold back the imperfections of her body from him.
“Oh, honey,” he breathed out his fingers tracing one of them even as he pulled her into a tight hug. The bastard that had done this would die. No one hurt a Wolf’s mate, or potential mate, and lived. Pressing a kiss to her shoulder, he nuzzled her neck. “No more pain for you, ever,” he promised and with a quick movement rolled her to lay under his weight. “You are mine and I won’t let you hurt again,” he whispered against her lips as he rubbed his cock against her clit gently, building both of their needs desperately. The blood rushed to his cock, making him ache and the wetness from her pussy was making it so easy for him to slide his cock over her labia.
She arched up into him and gasped at the feel of him against her wet pussy lips. The way that he was teasing her clit and cunt made her ache in need. “I would love that, Benedek, I would love to belong to you and never hurt again.” It would be a dream come true, too bad it wasn’t the reality of life. Her legs wrapped around him and the heels of her small feet pressed at the under curve of his ass. “Show me how good it can feel without the pain, Benedek?”
Taking her at her word, he slid his turgid cock deep into her pussy slowly letting himself
memorize each small sound, little movement and the feel of her body accepting his dick into her wet cunt. Rocking in and out of her at an agonizingly slow pace, he kissed her neck, breathing in her heady scent. “Dreams can come true, Evangeline,” Benedek told her, softly biting her neck. “If you truly believe and look around, you may just find your dream standing in front of you.” And he’d damn well do whatever it took to get there to make her believe. He slowly pulled back, and torturing himself slid his cock in just a bit deeper, just a bit harder and was determined that she come before he left their shared dreaming.
“I wish that you were right,” she begged with a smile and pulled his cock deeper and harder into her body. “Benedek,” she breathed quietly even as her hands pulled and tugged him closer. “More, fuck me harder, give me more.” She needed more. She wanted to be able to dream that he was real and one day, one day he would come to her, for her.
“I am always right,” he assured her softly. “Tell me where you are and I’ll come as soon as we leave here,” he promised kissing her cheek. “I will always come for you, Evangeline,” he said. Moving faster and harder he lifted her hips up so that he had a better angle to fuck her at and kissed her with everything inside of him, begging her silently to believe in him if only for long enough to tell him everything about her.
“Valley Stream,” she heard her dream-self saying to him and as he lifted her hips and adjusted the angle of his cock entering her pussy. She felt her nails biting into his arms, the short and blunt nails still digging deep lines into his skin as she shook from the release she felt building. She had never had an orgasm. The feelings were frightening and with eyes wide and filled with fear she watched him. “Please.” The one word was a plea. Don’t hurt her, please give her more, show her the skies, take her to heaven. So much was wrapped into that one single word. Her cunt tightened on his cock, she demanded everything from him with that one word, and begged it all the same.
“Just let it take you flying, Evangeline,” he whispered. “I’ll catch you on the way down.” He smiled. Shifting just a bit more he moved at a near frantic pace, his flesh meeting hers sharply, the slapping sounds loud even with the water of the dream. The sounds of the water, the wet sounds of his cock plunging her pussy, all of it. “Scream for me, Angel,” he asked as he bit her breast gently, his cock swelling as he came hard and fast inside of her body knowing that when they were together in reality it would be so much more intense and pleasurable.
She gasped, eyes went wide until her head fell back and she did just that, she screamed for him. She was panting. Nothing had ever felt the way that he was giving her had felt. It was amazing, intense, and surreal and somewhere in her mind, she wished it was real.
Collapsing over her Ben sucked in air, his body shaking from the explosive nature of their loving, even if it was only a dream. Kissing her neck lightly he nuzzled her flesh as he breathed her in. “Beautiful,” he whispered as he rolled over, taking her with him. Stroking his fingers down her back, he noted each mark on her skin but didn’t dwell on them. Later he’d find the bastard that had hurt her. Now was for her, to show her that there was beauty even in a dream that, when he found her, would become reality.
Her head lay on his chest and she sighed lightly. “That was amazing, Benedek.” He was a figment of her imagination but it had been the most wonderful of feelings. “I know that you are a part of me, a part of my psyche but I never dreamed that pleasure could be so intense, so perfect.”
Moving a hand up, he stroked his fingers gently through her hair. “Are you sure I’m just part of your psyche, Evangeline?” he asked her softly. “There are other ways for two souls to join in a dream.” He couldn’t tell her, not if she was one of those few people that just couldn’t accept wolves among the human race. God, wouldn’t that just be a kicker, if he had a mate that ignored what was all around them in the second species on the planet. If she ignored the wolves and all that they were.
She smiled and stroked her fingers over his chest softly. “I am not worthy of being a wolf’s mate, so yep, I’m pretty positive that you are simply a figment of my imagination, Benedek. As much as I would want you to be real, I know that I am not one of the few humans who would be compatible for a wolf.”
Frowning at her words he caught her chin to tip her face up to him. “You are perfectly compatible for a wolf, honey, why would you say you weren’t?” he asked in confusion. Well, at least she knew about the wolves, but this certainty she felt could be a complication.
“Because I am not pretty enough, womanly enough.” She shrugged. “I’m just not enough.” Words she had heard for far too long. “I am too boyish and rough.” She reached her hand up and stroked his cheek. “I hope to dream of you again, Benedek.” But for now she heard her alarm blaring and needed to get up, for what she didn’t know but she was never one to laze around in bed. “Rest well in my imagination,” she whispered before she was gone from under him and woke in her bed, alone and sated.
Sitting up in the dream as he did so in his bed Benedek cursed. “Damn it all to hell and back again,” he grumbled with a sigh. Scrubbing at his face slowly, he flopped back down on the bed. Growling, he had a moment of being just like a two year old and pounded out his frustration on the bed as he thrashed for a moment before laying still. “Well, that solved absolutely nothing.” But it had made him feel slightly better. Rolling from the bed he got up and headed for the kitchen. Today was his day off and he had a mate to find and he needed mass amounts of caffeine.
She rose from her bed and rubbed her hands over her body. She could see where his hands had been and that was so amazingly weird to her. She could smell him on her skin and she felt his fingers digging into her ass again and she had to lay back down to let the moment of surrealism pass her by. “God, that was amazing. I really want to have that dream again.”
Evan rose from the bed, her happiness from the dream spilling over into reality, and grinned. “I think that I need to find him.” She spoke to herself, always seemed to speak to herself when she was alone. With that thought in mind, she got cleaned up and headed for the city so she could start to look for the man that had filled her dreams.
Pouring himself a travel mug of coffee, Ben grabbed his jacket and his phone and headed for the garage. He knew the town where she lived, now all he had to do was find her. Good thing his brother had taught them some interesting tricks to tracking down prey he thought with a grin. And she was prey. Until he found her, she was in his sights as a target and after, after he was going to show her just what being mated to a Wolf was all about.
Out of her shower and hair dried, she walked around the house for the longest time and finally she couldn’t stand it anymore. “I’m losing my mind,” she grumbled but grabbed the keys to her old pick up and her purse and headed out toward New York. “Looking for a small bookstore.” There was one that she knew about and she could use the excuse of losing her hat there.
Walking through the town Benedek frowned. He could have sworn he had found her scent a half dozen times but it hadn’t led anywhere. Shaking his head he sighed even as he headed for the street once more. Pacing down the street he turned around when the faintest of her scent came at him. Stopping he focused on her scent and slowly began to track where it led. At the door of a small house he knocked and rang the bell. When there was no answer he sat down on the steps and shook his head. “Probably some friend of hers and they’re going to have a fit finding me sitting here.” Sighing he scraped his hands through his hair and checked his watch. He’d been at it for six hours and this was the closest he’d gotten. He wasn’t leaving until he found out one way or another.
Time seemed to move slowly. It seemed as if Ben met everyone in the neighborhood except for the woman he wanted to meet. Where the hell was she? Sipping on the coffee that he had brought along with him, he was finally sitting on the front stoop of the woman that he knew was his. Her scent was everywhere. Now he just simply had to wait.
She was in the
truck and turned into her driveway. It was no longer bright outside but late afternoon, and she was exhausted. A frown crossed her face and then she slammed on the brakes when she saw him. Throwing the truck into park, she turned it off and got out. “Benedek?” Her legs were shaking and she could have fallen over with the surprise that she had with knowing that her dream man was sitting on her front porch.
Looking up sharply he was on his feet and moving toward her before he really registered just who she was. “Evangeline,” he breathed out softly as he stared at her, stopping just one small foot from her. “Hi,” he said with a half-smile, wanting to reach out and pull her into his arms but resisting.
“Am I dreaming?” she whispered as her hand reached out and she touched his face. “Oh god, I’m not, am I?” So many things got clogged in her mind. It was an overload of everything and she simply looked at him. “I think I’m going to fall.” Her knees were weak as she looked at him and moved that last foot and tossed her arms around him.
Wrapping his arms around her, he hugged her tightly to him. “You’re not dreaming now, Angel,” he whispered softly against her ear. “I’m real and I’ve got you. I promised I’d catch you on the way down and I always keep my promises.” He knew that it was fast, knew that it was insane because all they had done thus far was share a dream, but those dreams were potent. Those dreams were what bound wolves and mates tightly. It was during those dreams that the most primal part of a being was accessed and changed. It was what tied mates so tightly together.
She felt herself going weak with relief. She couldn’t believe it. He was there and he was real. She felt him holding onto her as if she were the most precious thing alive and relished that feeling. “Thank you for keeping your promise,” she whispered against his chest and simply held onto him. She didn’t understand why she felt as much as she felt or as soon as she felt it but she did. She felt a great deal for him, honestly more than she ever dreamed was possible. It was. Perfect. In a word, it was perfect.