Sapphire Flame: A Paranormal Romance (The Flame Series Book 7)

by Caris Roane

  When she didn’t continue, he said, “Go on.”

  “I didn’t build the dreamglide. You did.”

  He snorted. “Like hell I did. I’m a wolf.”

  “Alpha Fergus can build them. Why not you?”

  “Well for one damn thing, I’m nowhere near his level of ability or power. He’s alpha of the second largest pack in Savage and I’m still beta in one of the middling packs. This makes no sense.”

  “Well, I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t have the dreamgliding gift. God knows I’ve tried, but I can’t do it. When I asked you to give me some time before our meeting, I went to Agnes and had her check me out again. You know Agnes, right? She has a locked-down shelter not far from here.”

  “I know Agnes.”

  She nodded, then continued. “Of course, I didn’t go into any of the details about what happened earlier today. But she’s a powerful fae that I trust implicitly. She said I haven’t got the gift. Earlier, in Mont St. Michel, I suspected the truth. I mean, everything about the dreamglide and where it was positioned, as in above my bed, spoke to the creator. If I’d been the one to build it, the craft would have hovered above your bed, not mine.”

  Grant felt as though a strong gust of wind kept hitting him in the chest. He even slid his right foot back a few inches to steady himself.

  He’d built the dreamglide?

  Impossible.

  Slowly, he crossed the room to the burgundy chair and all but fell into it. He’d been ready to arrest Natalie and haul her to the Tribunal offices in Elegance Territory.

  Now this.

  Natalie started to pace in front of a bunch of glass shelves but quickly stopped. She planted a hand against her forehead for a moment, then slid it to the nape of her neck and rubbed.

  “What’s wrong?” he called to her.

  She turned and headed the other direction so that he watched her move in profile. “I don’t know if it’s you, or us, or being in my studio, but a vision keeps wanting to come forward and I’m not having it.”

  “Why not? I thought you fae-types loved having this kind of power.” He was having his own problems, but it was clear she was as well.

  At that, with eyes pinched as though she was in pain, she paused in her steps and turned to face him. “This may come as a shock to you, but I don’t like knowing the future. I never have. It’s unsettling beyond words and it hurts.”

  “What do you mean? A physical kind of pain?”

  “Headaches, muscle cramps, sometimes nausea. It’s no picnic for me. I know plenty of fae women who love it, love the visions, love knowing the future, just as you said. They love telling everyone else the future. But for me, it’s a kind of burden I never expected to bear. Sometimes I come close to loathing it and don’t even get me started on the nightmares. Agnes says I have a different kind of gift, one that sees too much of the future, especially if the circumstances are dire. It’s hell.”

  This was the last thing he’d ever expected her to admit. Because of the Fae-Wolf Wars, he’d always thought fae reveled in their power, holding that kind of information over everyone else.

  He didn’t know what to think about himself or about her. He couldn’t believe that he could build dreamglides. Yet the one thing she’d said was very true: If she’d built it, she would have been above his bed not hers.

  “I’d like to try an experiment,” she said. “Would you be open to it?”

  He lifted his gaze to her. “What do you have in mind?”

  “Why don’t you try to build a dreamglide now, while we’re together and while you’re completely awake? Then you’ll know for sure what’s happening here and whether or not you have this gift.”

  Chapter Three

  Grant ground his jaw.

  He leaned forward in the tall, wingback chair and settled his forearms on his thighs. He shook his head back and forth. A host of words slid over his tongue, burning as they went, but he remained silent.

  Just when he thought he had his world figured out, he learned he could build dreamglides.

  Until this moment, his goal had been perfectly clear: One day, at the right time, he would challenge Kryder and take over the Meldorin Pack. He was ready to unseat the bastard and finally have the control he’d been seeking. To cement his power and position, he intended to take an alpha female as his mate as quickly as possible. His body was demanding it. But he also knew that a strong bond in a mated pair would further engage the entire pack and work to build their community in a positive way.

  But this? A fae gift? What the hell was he supposed to do with dreamglide-building? He was a wolf, for God’s sake.

  He supposed it would be good to have an additional weapon in his arsenal, especially facing a man like Kryder. The wolf’s general disregard for life, alter or otherwise, made him a menace anywhere he went. But building dreamglides?

  Even if it turned out he could, what the hell was he supposed to do with that?

  He glanced up at Natalie.

  She’d moved closer once more then huffed a sigh. “I don’t know the answer.”

  “You don’t know the question,” he said.

  “You’re wondering what you’re supposed to do with a gift like dreamgliding.”

  He rose slowly to his feet. He needed to get his head out of his ass. “You said I should try building one of these damn things. But how am I supposed to do it when I have no idea what it is?”

  She opened her mouth, ready no doubt to respond in kind with something like, ‘How the hell am I supposed to know.’ Instead, she clearly thought the better of it and clamped her lips together. They were alike in that way, both a bit impatient.

  He was grateful she’d kept her mouth shut. It wasn’t helping their situation that they were both in the same frame of mind, both equally frustrated. “And you’re sure you don’t have this gift?”

  She spread her hands wide. “Positive. Sorry I can’t be of more help.” She moved to stand a couple of feet from him.

  The scent of her, of lemonade and mint, washed over him. His nostrils flared. Her womanliness blended with the unusual aroma and a kind of peace descended on him. During the earlier dreamglide, how she smelled had aroused him and he could tell the same thing could happen now.

  But whatever this was, this peculiar scent she possessed, it also had the power to ease his mind. So, he let it work for him.

  “What do you remember,” she asked, “when you found yourself in the Cloister Garden? What’s the first thing that comes to mind?”

  He shifted his gaze away from her and focused on the earlier Mont St. Michel experience. One thing he knew about dreamglides, they were real, though they operated on a slightly different plane, which meant he and Natalie had actually been in the garden, in real time and space.

  He’d thought about little else from the time he’d awakened for the night. He was working a short shift between ten and two, which he thought a good thing given the circumstances.

  But what had he recalled when he came to a full-waking state? “I remember how sweet the air smelled. The grass must have been cut not long ago. It was real, wasn’t it? Not a dream, I mean.”

  “Very real. We were in France.”

  “Jesus.” He rubbed his forehead with his thumb. “A dreamglide.”

  He had to figure this out.

  He focused on how the grass felt beneath his bare feet then forced his mind backward. What had he been dreaming about?

  Natalie.

  The dream suddenly came back to him. “I’d been dreaming about you. We were flying together in the cool night air, side by side.” He could remember it as plain as anything. He’d been flying beside her and taking pleasure in her smile. He hadn’t known her very long, but he could tell she had a naturally joyous nature, something she rarely showed in Five Bridges.

  “Where do you want to go?” he’d asked her. “I’ll take you anywhere.”

  She’d responded immediately, “The Cloister Garden at Mont St. Michel in Normandie. I
n France. You know the painting in the foyer at the shelter?”

  “I know the one. It’s of that place that gets surrounded by water at certain high tides, so it sometimes looks like an island.”

  “Yes. That’s the place.”

  She’d looked away from him as he’d slid his arm around her within the dream.

  That’s when he’d built the dreamglide. He could feel it now, how the dreamglide had formed around him.

  She’d disappeared because the actual dream had faded. But the dreamglide had become a living thing. He’d been back in his burrow then he’d pictured the tidal-island monastery.

  He’d felt the grass next.

  Somehow, he’d known that before he drew her into the dreamglide, he had to be at the destination. It had something to do with flight times. He could maneuver or fly the dreamglide, but a trip to France across one continent then the Atlantic Ocean would take time. Maybe. Hell, he wasn’t sure about any of it.

  “I see the sequence now,” he said aloud. “I built it when I pictured the destination. Then I found you in your bed and brought you to the monastery.”

  She cocked her head.

  “What?”

  “How did you know I wanted to go there?”

  Right. Their conversation had taken place in his dream. He said as much.

  “Grant?” No question followed.

  “Yes?” He felt himself frowning again.

  She gave herself a shake. “Nothing. I mean this whole thing is so strange. Anyway, would you be willing to build one now?”

  “I thought I had to be asleep.”

  “I don’t know the ins and outs, obviously. But Agnes said the gift is peculiar to each person. You, it would seem, can travel thousands of miles with just a thought.”

  “That’s not normal?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Right. I had the sense that while we were flying, within my real dream, that I couldn’t take you directly from there and bring you into the dreamglide. I had to go to the destination first, then find you.”

  “I was asleep,” she said. “As I came awake, I saw you above me. But I thought I was still dreaming. I don’t know if I have to be asleep or not to join you. But we could try getting relaxed. Maybe sit down?”

  “All right.” He gestured for her to take the tall chair, but she quickly planted herself in the smaller one opposite.

  He didn’t argue. Instead, he took his seat once more.

  She closed her eyes and settled her hands on her lap, palms up.

  It was odd how he could feel her beginning to let go as though he had a connection to her though he barely knew her.

  The more she relaxed, the more he could as well. It helped a lot to be focused on the issue at hand. He was a man of focus, of direction, of purpose. Being here felt like a waste of time. He needed to figure out the right time to challenge Kryder. The Meldorin Pack needed him to set things right.

  Grant, try to focus on the dreamglide.

  Her voice in his head brought him back to the studio. Sorry. I have other concerns. Big ones.

  I know. But it’s possible that the dreamglide has come to you at this point in your life to help resolve those concerns.

  He’d lived in Five Bridges as an alter wolf for six years. He knew she was right.

  He released a heavy sigh. I’m here. I’m ready.

  Then do it.

  He forced his mind to slow down. He let go of his wolf-pack, at least for the moment. He focused exclusively on his new, bizarre circumstances.

  As he began to breathe more deeply and to sink into the chair, he let his head rest against the upper part of the cushions. The concept of the dreamglide floated through his mind.

  The moment he reached a certain level of relaxation, just like that, the dreamglide materialized all around him. He opened his eyes and he was in two places at the same time. He could see himself sitting in the chair with his eyes closed, yet he was suspended in the same setting but ten feet higher. The edges of the dreamglide faded to a smoky darkness and he could see through the floor of the strange conveyance.

  Natalie was watching him in his chair.

  Natalie?

  Yes?

  Look up.

  She lifted her gaze and her brows rose as she saw him in the dreamglide. You did it.

  Come up here. Join me.

  He watched in astonishment as she split into two different people. One remained watching him in the chair, the other rose swiftly to enter the dreamglide.

  Once she was opposite him, he mentally closed off the space below. His consciousness was now fully in the dreamglide.

  Natalie’s lips curved then spread into a grin. “You did it. Way to go, Wolf.”

  He chuckled because of the way she spoke. But his faint amusement dimmed as he stared at her. The unease he felt ran bone deep. Half his instincts kept drawing him to this unusual fae woman with glittering hazel eyes. But the other half pounded warning bells inside his head.

  Natalie was trouble for him. For reasons he didn’t understand yet, she threatened the straight-and-narrow of his life, the one that demanded he care for the Meldorin Pack. Yet here was this fae woman who seemed to have triggered an alter fae response within his wolf body. He wanted to blame her, but Five Bridges was full of anomalies and right now he’d become one of them.

  His doubts about this new gift began to subside. He could build dreamglides. The gift, if it could be called that, was like breathing air, as though his alter genes had always run this direction but had simply needed the right impetus to get going. Apparently, he’d needed Natalie to offer a jumpstart.

  For a powerful moment, he was caught yet again by her beauty, by her exquisite hazel eyes and thick, dark lashes, by the airy swirl of her light brown curls around her shoulders and down her back, and by her strong cheekbones and her full, kissable lips.

  As he held her gaze, he wasn’t surprised that her womanly scent rose, the one he’d caught before. Do you know you smell like lemons and mint?”

  “I do?”

  “Yep, and it’s getting to me.”

  She leaned close and sniffed near his neck, then drew back to meet his gaze once more. “Do you know what you smell like?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “My father used to build things all the time. He had a workshop in our garage with every tool arranged on peg boards just so. Even as a little girl, I would sit on a tall stool by his work table while he built some project or other. I didn’t mind that high-pitched grinding of the saw or the dust in the air. I just loved being around so much industry.

  “But that smell, of wood being cut, that’s what I’m getting from you. Is it a type of cologne or aftershave?”

  He smiled slightly. “You’re smelling me, Natalie. You’re smelling my wolf.”

  Her hand was on his cheek. “So other women have told you this before?”

  He shook his head slowly. “No, I just know it to be true at least where you’re concerned.”

  He caught her hair with both hands just below the shoulder then lifted slightly. “I like your hair. It’s softer than I thought it would be.”

  “It gets a little wild when it rains.”

  At that, he smiled. “Which isn’t often.”

  “No. Not here in the desert.”

  He wanted to kiss her. Hell, he wanted to do a lot more than that. But how wise would it be to get involved?

  She was fae and he was reaching alpha status. He wanted a female wolf to be his alpha-mate. Even though Fergus’s mate, Mary, was fae, he wanted what Renee would have given him: a wolf pairing.

  He let go of her hair.

  Fae.

  Jesus. He couldn’t believe he had fae abilities. He could build a dreamglide, but what else could he do? Could he see the future?

  “What’s wrong?” She reached up and pressed a forefinger between his brows.

  He could feel the tension there as well. As he forced himself to relax, she slid her hand away. “I’m wo
ndering if I have anything close to the gift you have to see the future. What’s it like? I mean how do you access it?”

  She turned away from him slightly, her gaze fixed elsewhere. The dreamglide had taken on her studio surroundings. She moved slowly in the direction of the wall of objects.

  He sensed she’d collected them over a long period of time. There were several bronze pieces, one of a dragon, another a wolf. She had objects carved out of wood and assembled from driftwood. There were old photos in frames, a couple of antique clocks, several pairs of glasses in then metal, round frames. A sense of the ancient lived in this room, of things from dreams, even nightmares.

  “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t get why a fae woman has shown up smelling like something I want to drink.”

  He caught up with her then fingered her hair once more. So why had a fae woman come into his life? Would it be different if a female wolf had assisted him in the Graveyard instead of Natalie? Or was this about Natalie herself?

  “If this were any other situation,” she said, “if you weren’t a wolf, and if what’s going on here didn’t feel as though the world suddenly depended on these bizarre fae gifts of yours, well, I’d invite you into my bed.”

  Something inside him relaxed. He even chuckled. “All I’m thinking about right now is sex.”

  Her smile widened. “I know. You smell like an entire lumberyard, one that goes on for acres. It’s getting to me.” She shook her head. “What’s worse, I like you even though you’re a wolf.”

  As he searched her eyes, he felt a tremor inside his mind, though it seemed to vibrate through his chest as well. Instinctively, he knew it was something very fae, but it felt different from the dreamglide.

  “What is it?” She asked. “I can tell something’s going on.”

  “It is.”

  “The dreamglide?”

  “Not sure. It feels fae but it’s not the dreamglide exactly.”

  “Very cryptic,” she said.

  “This is new to me.”

  She shrugged, a roll of her shoulders. Her curls rose and fell with this small movement. “Maybe I can help.”

  For whatever reason, he was surprised. A fae would help a wolf? “How?”