CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
Is murder really that bad? Wouldn’t the world be better off without a creep like Tom? I bet he doesn’t have any friends. Ada wouldn’t care. She’d probably be grateful to not have a predator lurking around so close by.
My claws dig into the arm of the divan, the velvet fabric beneath them giving way like butter.
“Hey, cut it out!” Rhys snaps, clapping his hands at me and sucking my attention back to my surroundings. “I get that you’re agitated, but leave my poor furniture alone. Gods, I’m going to have to get a spray bottle for the next time you come and visit if you keep that nonsense up.”
Embarrassment cuts through my bloodlust, and I pull my hands back into my lap like they’ve been burned. “Shit. Sorry.”
He narrows his violet eyes, peering down his delicately sloped nose at me. “I take it the efforts to woo your mortal aren’t going well?”
I glare back at him, though there’s little point with the mask hiding my eyes. “I’m not trying towooher.”
Rhys waves his hand dismissively at me. “Well, maybe that’s your problem then. If you’d give in to your lustfulobsession with the little human instead of fighting it, I bet she’d be having happy dreams again in no time.”
“I’m not the problem! Not everyone cares about love like you do.” I huff. “It’s that fucking creep Tom.”
My annoying cupid friend blinks at me, setting down his glass of wine. “I’m missing something. Who is Tom?”
My fingers itch with the need to wrap around the slimy human’s neck like they did in his dream. I ball my hands into tight fists so I don’t get yelled at for clawing the furniture again like a naughty cat.
“Tom is her neighbor who’s been harassing her and keeping her from enjoying my efforts to put her into the holiday spirit,” I say, my voice growing rougher as my anger builds again. “I went into his dream to scare him off, and it turns out he’s more of a monster than I am.”
“You’re not a monster at all,” Rhys says softly, latching onto the one part of what I said that doesn’t matter right now. Still, the reminder helps cool my violent thoughts.
I’m not a monster. If I kill Tom, I will be. Therefore, I can’t kill Tom, even though I really, really want to.
“How do you know he’s a creep?” Rhys asks, brow furrowing slightly. “Please tell me you didn’t go to the mortal realm in person and follow him around. You’re already testing the limits of what is safe by showing up to decorate your girlfriend’s house and online shop for her.”
“She’snotmy girlfriend, and I didn’t,” I snap, the reminder of the risks I’ve been taking unwelcome. Especially after I spent yet another night physically at Ada’s house, making her snowmen. I’ve heard the cautionary tales. I know the more I go there, the more I take a chance of severing my connection with the dream realm permanently.
“Like I said, I went into his dream, and it was set in Ada’s cabin. A picture-perfect replica that only someone who’d been in there would be able to conjure up. The bastard snuck intoher bedroom and was going to take advantage of her. He’s disgusting. I taught him a lesson, but how can I know it’s enough? It’d be better for him to be gone entirely just to be sure he doesn’t hurt Ada.” My voice gets more gravelly the more I speak and I clear my throat when there’s a flicker of alarm in Rhys’s eyes. “I know I can’t do anything to him. I know I’m not a monster. But if anything were to happen to her…”
I’d never forgive myself.
I’d truly transform into the nightmare she has me play.
I’d make Tom pray for a quick death as I tore him apart, piece by piece.
The divan dips beside me, startling me. Rhys’s hand rests lightly on my arm. “Sweet, tender-hearted, darling Seth. You, of all creatures, should know that dreaming something doesn’t mean someone wants it to happen in reality. I doubt this Tom is an actual predator. People have fucked up dreams. It’s more likely he’s visited her home before to help out with something, and maybe has a little crush on her. You can’t cast judgement on someone for the way their mind contorts in slumber.”
“Yes, I can,” I grumble. His logic is sound, but he wasn’t there. He didn’t experience the visceral sense of malice like I did.
Rhys sighs and pats my arm. “Think about it this way. Your Ada doesn’t want to be attacked. At least not unless it’s in a sexy, consensual way.” He winks, and I shrug his hand off me, my skin heating at the reminder. “So stop growling about this Tom fellow and focus on what’s important—making your woman happy.”
I know he’s right, but she hasn’t pulled me into her dreams the past few nights, and I’ve been so worked up that I was worried I’d kill Tom if I manifested back in the mortal realm again.
“Trust me, murdering peopleis messy if you’re not experienced in it. If Tom ends up being a real issue, tell me and I’ll have someone else take him out.”
I laugh, the first genuine sensation of humor I’ve felt that wasn’t tinged with darkness in I don’t know how long. “Right. You can go shoot an arrow at him or something.”
Rhys laughs along with me. “You’d be surprised at the damage a well-placed one can do. Not that we use them anymore. You’d know that if you paid any attention to the things I say,” he says drolly.
“I pay attention.” Sometimes. When I’m not dealing with a personal crisis that might result in me being a nightmare monster forever.
“Oh? Then what was I telling you about Gloria?” He sits back and crosses his arms as he waits for my answer, a sharp grin on his face.
