Page 86 of River & Rue

Halfway across the porch, I glance into the clearing and come to an abrupt stop.

Lenny stares back at me.

The coyote sits in the middle of the path, her face and chest silver in the moonlight. I’m not sure what it says about me that the sight of her is reassuring rather than alarming.

She lifts her snout and sniffs, then rises to her feet with a yawn. After a final, pointed look in my direction, she lopes into the woods.

I drag myself inside.

Despite the turmoil in my heart and head, when I crawl into bed a few minutes later, I fall asleep quickly.

I dream of a storm and Rue calling for me from far away. “I’m right here, River! Right here!” Gale-force winds blind me. Blade-like hail slices my skin into bloody ribbons. Lightning slams into the ground, opening steaming fissures, while concussive thunder brings me repeatedly to my knees. I can’t control any of it, can’t fight it or escape it.

I can’t find Rue.

No matter how hard I try, how loudly I scream her name or how many times I drag myself back up, her calls grow more and more faint. Until there’s nothing left but nature’s fury.

Alone, I come undone.

“River! Wake up, damn you.”

My eyes snap open, the shout trapped in my throat coming out as a cough. Rue leans over me, one hand braced on the mattress near my shoulder. Sunlight spills through the window behind her, turning her hair into a flaming halo.

I blink until her features come into focus. Her eyes are pinched with worry as they scan my face, her bottom lip white beneath the press of her teeth. For a moment, I think she’ll reach for me. But she straightens and steps back, and the fingers I want on my skin tug instead at the hem of her T-shirt.

“You were shouting my name, and your door was unlocked, so…” She smiles faintly. “Glad to see my doppelgänger wasn’t murdering you after all.”

I drag a hand down my face. “Sorry.”

“Sounded like a bad nightmare.”

I sit up, tugging the sheet to keep my junk covered, and swallow the bitter remnants of terror.

“Yeah.”

When I don’t offer anything else, a veil falls over her expression. I hate it, but what’s the alternative? Telling her I had a heavily symbolic dream that may or may not have been a premonition thanks to some witchy Welsh bloodline on my mother’s side of the family?

Maybe Rue sees or senses my inner conflict because as suddenly as it rose, the veil falls. Her eyes soften.

“Was I plucking your nut hairs or something?”

I grunt a laugh. “Ah, no. You were in danger, and I… I couldn’t find you.”

“Ew. Like I’d ever need a man to save me.”

My laugh finds less resistance this time, and Rue grins.

“Now that you’re awake, you might as well get dressed and walk with me to breakfast. I’ll buy you a free omelet.”

The last of my nightmare’s claws retract, and I finally see her without the distortion of dread. She’s not looking at me like she hates me. There’s no regret or disgust. Just sparkling eyes and a familiar wry smile.

My heart skips a beat that my cock makes up for by twitching.

“I was afraid you’d want nothing to do with me after last night.”

Freckles converge as she wrinkles her nose. “I’m going to pretend you’re not implying I’m either an immature loser or horrible at blow jobs. If it’s the second, I’d like to see you deep throat a ginormous wiener for the first time.”

I’m on my feet before I decide to stand. Rue’s eyes round, dragging a line of fire down my body before she squeaks and covers her face with her hands.