“Stop delaying the inevitable, Amy. You need to learn to put up a shield that doesn’t drop. It could be the difference between life and death. If a vampire can read your next move before you take it, you are dead.”
The last line stole the playfulness from my mood. I fiddled with the empty space my ring used to be. “I don’t want you to dig into my mind.”
“Why, do you have something to hide?”
“No.” I shook my head. Swallowed. “It’s just …”What if you hate me?“Would you like me knowing all your thoughts?”
A flicker of something uncomfortable, a blend of something like anguish and guilt, crossed his face. He let out a breath. “I will only look at what you show me, and you can choose to show me only what you want me to see. You will see everything I can see as it comes up. So, if anything starts to rise you don’tfeel comfortable with, pull away or say and I will release you immediately. Once you have the vision in place and you know I have viewed it, then I need you to put up a shield and block me.”
My hands gripped the side of the desk. But I needed to distract myself from what was about to happen. “Okay, but if I show you mine, you show me yours.”
He chuckled. “If you block me before I see what you are thinking of, then I will allow you to try.”
I closed my eyes and thought of a white rabbit I had seen once in the forest.
“Open your eyes. You won’t fight with them closed.”
I opened them. He moved closer and I was staring at his fitted black top. It swept over the outline of his sleek, muscular chest. I shoved the image away and replaced it with the picture of the rabbit behind my eyes. Her little pink nose and snow-white silken fur. He placed his hands on the sides of my head. Muscles rippled on his chest and arms. Warmth embraced my mind like a cocoon, and my skin quivered from the top of my head to the bottom of my toes.
“I’m pleased you appreciate my chest,” he purred.
I went beetroot red and yanked my head back out of his touch, muttering an oath.
He smiled. Bastard.
“Let’s try again, shall we. Think of the image.”
He placed his hands over my head. The warmth bubbled again. My mind dulled to a blissful state, my eyes wanting to close under his touch. I felt them sail down …
“Amy,” he growled.
I snapped them open and pictured her cotton-wool body sitting amongst the green tufts of grass.
He removed his hands. “Rabbit stew.”
“Funny.”
“Again, this time show me and block me straight after. Think of something else.” He placed his hands on either side of my head.
I sorted a memory with Wolf. His glossy coat shimmering in the sun’s light as he loped beside me through the forest, his knowing amber eyes meeting mine.
“The mutt. Now block me out, think of a shield rising or a brick wall, whichever feels easier for you.”
Brick crumbled, but iron was tough. I urged a shield made of iron to rise. Imagined it sliding over my brain, over my skull. The heat soared and pulsed in my head, and my brain felt like a vise was pressing in. My fingers dug into the side of the desk.
He slammed against it. An arrow shot through my skull. I winced and the shield disintegrated.
“Amy.” A deep rumble came from the bottom of his stomach. “Block me.”
I clenched my teeth and threw it back up. My head felt like it was going to burst. Sweat beaded on the nape of my neck. Nausea curled in my stomach.
A hand smothering my mouth, blocking the scream from leaving my lips, his blacked-out figure …
I snapped my hands up and jerked his down. I couldn’t meet his eyes. I dropped my head, a horrible ache clawing at my chest.
“Breathe,” he said, his tone gentle. “Just breathe, in for two, out for four.”
I drew in heaping breaths until the ache eased. Reluctantly, I raised my head.
