“I have got to wake up,” she muttered to herself as Eclipse guided her down the line of vehicles.
“You’re not asleep, Orianna.”
When he stopped in front of a fancy foreign sports car, she laughed. “Yeah. Right.”
The next thing she knew, Orianna was buckled into the passenger seat, Eclipse behind the wheel. He steered the car out of the lot and down the winding path while she tried to wrap her head around everything. Not only had she been immersed with vampires—and angels, if Kaj was to be believed—now she was riding in a car that cost upwards of three million. She only knew this because she’d been fascinated with sports cars since she was little. It was one of the few things she’d ever had in common with her father.
When they finally hit the main road, Orianna turned her attention to Eclipse. Part of her wondered if this was some elaborate scheme to kidnap her. Would she wind up in some dark dungeon, that evil woman waiting for her?
“You’re safe,” Eclipse said, his voice firm.
“Are you reading my mind?” she asked.
“Not intentionally.”
She stared at him, jaw unhinged. No way was this really happening. Vampires didn’t exist. Nor did angels. Although she would believe the angel thing was probably more likely.
No.
They didn’t exist.
“What the hell is going on?”
Eclipse exhaled slowly. “Do you seriously need a recap? Or is that rhetorical?”
Orianna frowned, then stared out the windshield. “No way is this really happening. I’m gonna wake up.”
She would. Any second now, she would open her eyes and see her shitty apartment.
One…
Two…
“You’re not asleep,” Eclipse said softly, his hand sliding over to hers.
Orianna watched as he linked their fingers, felt the warmth of his skin. Oddly, the gesture soothed her, and she got the strange sense that she could take him at his word. He wouldn’t hurt her.
Or was he making her feel that way? Could he project the way the vampire did?
She shook her head, not giving those absurd thoughts a chance to take root. This was not real.
“I have to be asleep,” she mused, unable to look away from his big hand. “I’ve dreamed about you enough these past few weeks. Plus, I’m under a lot of stress. So it makes sense I’d have some fucked-up nightmare about fanged creatures. Definitely stress.”
“Those weren’t dreams,sezari.”
Her eyes shot to his face. “What does that even mean? That word?Sezari.”
“It’s lost in translation,” he said simply.
“Translation? So what? It’s Spanish or something?”
He chuckled. “Or something.”
Yeah, okay.
It really was time for her to wake up.
Chapter Nine
