Jewel nudged her, bringing her back to the present from her thoughts. Anna blinked several times and realized the door next to her was open, and Sly and Z were waiting for her to slide out so that Jewel could exitaswell.
By the time they were tucked away in their beds, bathroom routines completed and pajamas donned, Anna was running on empty. The sun hadn’t even begun to set, but her body didn’t care. All it wanted was a warm bed and blankets to wrap around herself. A small part of her wanted to get lost in those blankets and never be found, but a larger part wanted a chance at the life she’d been offered. A life with a man who would give her his full devotion, a life surrounded with friends who loved her. These were things she’d never had before, and she didn’t want Volcan to get to take those things from her. Regardless of how tired and scared she was, she refused to turn belly up andsurrender.
Jewel pulledthe comforter up so high that it practically covered her head. She was almost positive she was suffering from post-traumatic stress. How could she not be after having helped kill two women? Not that they’d set out to kill them, but that did not change the fact that they were dead. Anna seemed to be holding herself together pretty well, but then some people were just better at covering up theirwounds.
Only a week had passed, and already the outcome of their assignment seemed bleak. Jewel had thought all they would have to do was find women—specifically, women who wouldn’t be missed by anyone—and use Volcan’s magic they way she had on Anna. The dark fae hadn’t given her any further guidance. Considering how eager he was to create this witch army, she would think he would be forthcoming about any and all information they might need in order to be successful. But then that would be logical, and she didn’t know if the psychopathic fae was logical in any way. Or maybe he just didn’t know what sort of special qualities the women needed to have. When sleep finally took her under, Jewel found herself in a dream that she so desperately wanted tobereal.
“Are you actually here?” she asked Dalton. He was dressed in a pair of well-worn jeans, a grey T-shirt, and black work boots. His broad shoulders filled out the shirt nicely, and he looked strong and virile. His face was relaxed, his eyes glowing only slightly, indicating that his wolf was near to thesurface.
“It is your dream,” heanswered.
She nodded. “Yes, but are you only in my subconscious, or are you doing that dream-connection thing?” She wanted him to say yes. She needed it to be him. She was weak and so desperately needed hisstrength.
“Does it matter?” Dalton asked her, his deep voice like a soothing balm to herbatteredsoul.
“It would be nice if it was really you and not just a figment of myimagination.”
“Why? You obviously needed to see me, to spend time with me, and here I am. Does it really matter whichIam?”
Jewel laughed. “I suppose not, but I’m almost a hundred percent positive you’re simply my dream. If you were really here, you’d be on me like iron on a red blood cell. And you’d be growling at me to tell you where I am and what I’mdoing.”
“That is not what you need right now,” dream Dalton said. His eyes were soft and full ofunderstanding.
“No.” She shook her head. “Itisn’t.”
“Tell me what you need. It must be great if you are dreamingofme.”
Jewel felt the tears welling up in her eyes as her chest grew tight. She moved toward him without thought, and once she was in front of her dream Dalton, she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheek against his hard chest. Jewel’s arms tightened, afraid that if she didn’t hold fast, he woulddisappear.
“I need you to hold me,” she told him, her words coming through the hiccups from her tears. “I need to feel safe and loved because when you find out the truth, you won’t want to hold meanymore.”
Speaking her fears out loud seemed to be the catalyst for the storm that had been raging inside of her since taking Amy’s life. There were so many tears that she couldn’t even see. They soaked Dalton’s shirt and showed no signs ofstopping.
Jewel felt as though she wanted to climb out of her own skin. The pain, fear, doubt, and self-loathing were attempting to claw their way out of her throat until she could no longer hold it back. She screamed, her hands clenching tightly around Dalton’s shirt, her body shaking, and her mind a mess of chaos andconfusion.
“WHY?” She yelled as she pressed her forehead forcefully into his chest. She stomped her right foot over and over, landing on the ground in time with her rant, “why, why, why,whyyyyyyy?”
Jewel’s body shook as she let the anguish overcome her. Dalton wrapped his arms securely around her and crooned inherear.
“Whatever it is, you will survive. You will come back to me. I will still love you, still adore you, still long for you, and want you. Nothing will change that, Little Dove.Nothing.”
His words should have given her comfort, she knew that was why she was having him say them to her, since he was just her dream Dalton, but all they did was make her cry harder. Because she knew they were only the words she wanted to hear, nottruth.
“You’re not real,” she moaned against him. “You’re only saying things my brain is telling you to say. You are not real!” She roared the last part and pounded her fist against hischest.
She felt his arms tighten even more. “Regardless of whether I am real, Jewel Stone, if you did not believe the words and trust me, your mind would not have conjured them from my lips. You know they are truth. You know me. You know I will never, ever give you up. Come back to me. I don’t care if you’re whole or broken. Come back to me, and I will help put you backtogether.”
Dream Dalton tilted her head up with a finger so that she was looking into his very glowing eyes. She could see his love for her. it was the exact same look he’d given her just before he’d bitten her. It was a look that she longed to see again in real life, not just adream.
He lowered his head and pressed his soft lips to hers. It felt as real as if she were awake. She could smell him and taste him as though he was not just a dream. Jewel pressed her body closer and reached her arms up, wrapping them around his neck. Her tears still fell, and her body still shook, but for a different reason than it had minutes ago. The coldness that had filled her was quickly being replaced by Dalton’s warmth. The darkness that was beginning to seep into the cracks of her armor was temporarily rebuffed by the light of his love in which shebasked.
She could feel the pressure of his fingers in her back as he pulled her impossibly closer. She gasped, and Dalton deepened the kiss. His taste flooded her senses. He was ambrosia, heady and sensual. Jewel never wanted it to end. She wanted to stay asleep with her dream mate forever. No pain could touch them, and no evil could pursue them. There would be no fear, only the joy of beingwithhim.
“I love you, Little Dove,” hewhispered.
Before she could respond, he was gone, and she was left standing alone in her dream, aching for his presence and longing to be back at his side and far from Volcan and his wickedschemes.
“I love you, Dalton Black,” she whispered, wishing he couldhearher.
