Chapter 22 Dreamwalking #2
With Zeke’s meltdown, the mind-blowing orgasm I thought I had, and now this complete mind-fuck, I hadn’t considered how long we’d been stuck here.
“I’m sorry,” Zeke said, burying his face in my hair.
“For what?”
“I didn’t intend to enter your dream. I don’t like to dreamwalk… It’s just…” He lifted his head. “Do you remember how I said I can sometimes sense someone’s dreams if they’re open to me?”
I nodded.
“I could feel your emotions,” he said, swallowing hard. He squeezed his eyes shut. “This is hard. Fuck, I’m sorry.” He braced an elbow on his knee at my side, burying his face in his palm.
I placed a hand on his forearm, and he turned his head, still clutching the top of his hair. “You don’t have to say anything.” I hated seeing him stress over a dream.
“I promised I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“But you’re not.”
He licked his lips, dragging his upper teeth over the lower one. Sitting up, he shook his head. “No. It’s only fair. I sensed your dream was sexual, and curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to see what someone like you desired. I just… I didn’t realize it’d be…”
I looked down at Ash’s hands massaging my calf. He hadn’t commented, but I suspected he understood.
“When I saw you—legs draped over mine, lost in pleasure with my… my fingers inside you…” He lifted his hand, staring at his fingers as a flush crept up his neck.
“You growled,” I whispered.
His bewildered eyes met mine. “You actually heard it?”
I cleared my throat. “Yeah.” I squirmed, pressing my thighs together, drawing Ash’s attention.
His grip tightened on my calf, and my breath caught.
“You trust me,” Zeke said, distracting me from Ash’s heated stare. “And I violated that by dreamwalking into something so intimate.”
I twisted and faced Zeke. “You didn’t violate me. What makes you say I trust you? How do you know? I mean… I do. I do trust both of you.” My gaze shifted between the two men who’d shown me kindness since the night we met.
“I couldn’t have set foot in your dream without your trust. If someone is open to me, I can see into their mind but never step into the space.”
“Does that mean you could have interacted with me?”
“Yes,” he whispered, his voice raspy.
I wanted to ask him why he didn’t—why he’d let his dream-self touch me instead. But I was also a coward.
“So it wasn’t you,” I said with a weak laugh. “Wow, I’m so sorry. That must have been awkward to witness.”
“Awkward isn’t exactly the word I’d use.”
People fantasized about others often, but the subject of their fantasies rarely knew.
Zeke said he wanted to know what I desired sexually, but I doubted he’d have entered my dream had he known I dreamed of him. It surprised me to realize he’d been the subject of my fantasy—especially when I already felt drawn to Ash last night.
Was it proximity? I’d fallen asleep in Zeke’s arms after sharing an emotionally raw moment with him. Maybe it influenced my dreams.
While I found Zeke attractive, I wasn’t sure I wanted him to know. I didn’t think it went beyond appreciation of his appearance, but after a dream like that… I still felt the phantom brush of his fingers ghosting over my skin.
I shifted to ease the ache, my core clenching around nothing. My gaze flicked between Ash and Zeke when they inhaled sharply.
Ash made a low, rumbling sound.
I frowned. “What is it?”
He rose and crossed to the opposite wall, bracing a hand against it.
“We shouldn’t be able to smell that,” Zeke said, looking at Ash. “Unless… But how? She’s human.”
“Smell what?”
Ash narrowed his eyes. “Let it go, Zeke.”
Before Zeke could say anything more, a heavy bang echoed overhead when something crashed onto the elevator roof, vibrating the metal box, making me jump with a yelp.
Zeke pulled me close, shielding me as debris rained down and the roof buckled. Metal shrieked, then a heavy thud shook the floor as something dropped inside.
“It’s all right,” Ash said.
I lifted my head from Zeke’s chest to see Cyn staring down at us in his infernal form, chest heaving.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his black gaze fixed on Zeke.
I still hadn’t gotten used to his voice changing in this form. The deep, smooth cadence stirred the same feelings as before—ones I shoved down and tried to ignore.
My inner hussy needed to calm the hell down and read the room.
“Rae helped me,” Zeke said, squeezing me a bit. “She got me through it.”
Cyn’s black eyes snapped to mine. I couldn’t tell if he was angry or not with how his perpetual scowl looked harsher in this form. “I asked if you’re okay.”
“I thought you were asking Zeke,” I mumbled.
“Both of you.”
I looked at Ash when he chuckled. Warmth crept up my neck. “Oh.”
“Spit it out then.” He scanned the elevator. “And why the fuck does it reek of sex and her blood in here? I can’t think straight.”
My eyes widened, and heat seared my cheeks.
“She’s injured,” Ash said. “I’m not sure what cut her, but the venom is the gonthek type. She needs Ezra now.”
Cyn stomped over pieces of the broken roof and crouched in front of me. His gaze dropped to my thigh.
Dried crimson slashes striped my skin, blood trailing to my knee.
His clawed hand hovered over my thigh, trembling with restraint.
“Cyn,” Ash warned.
“Why do you want my blood?”
I couldn’t stop the whispered question. Since I saw his reaction to my blood, it never left my mind. None of the others seemed fazed by my blood.
“Don’t ask dangerous questions,” he said, voice low and deadly.
“You won’t kill me, will you?”
His brows drew tight. “What kind of question is that?”
“For my blood. You won’t kill me for it, will you?”
“I’m not that desperate.” He stood.
Ash stepped forward. “Where’s Ezra?”
“Waiting above. He’s finished the cleanup and dismantled the security system and cameras.” Cyn glanced at me. “Humans wouldn’t catch the other infernals on camera, but they’d see everything happening in here,” he added.
I’d never have considered that.
Zeke kept me steady while he helped me to my feet. “Why’d you come through the roof?”
“The elevator’s stuck about a foot below the next floor. We’ll have to climb up onto the roof.”
Ash vaulted up, surprisingly agile for his size. His muscles flexed as he hauled himself through the opening Cyn created. He popped his head back through and extended his hand.
“Zeke, go ahead,” Cyn said.
“What about Rae?”
“I’ll get her.”
I shivered. His words felt like a promise. Down hussy. I needed to get a grip. Between sexy dreams about Zeke, heated glances from Ash, and the sound of Cyn’s voice, I didn’t think I’d survive another twenty-four hours without a long shower.
Zeke grabbed Ash’s hand, hauling himself through the hole.
“Time to go,” Cyn said, stepping close.
I gulped as cedarwood and jasmine assaulted my senses when he crowded me.
A predatory grin stretched across his face, fangs flashing as if pleased by my reaction. I started to wonder if he got off on scaring me.
His lips brushed my ear as he bent his head beside mine. “Thank you,” he whispered before withdrawing.
I stared up into his fathomless black eyes. “For what?”
He angled his head toward the hole where Zeke peered down at us.
“Only Cyn can reach him when he’s like this.” The memory of Ash’s words struck me, and I met Cyn’s gaze again. I didn’t know what to say, so I just nodded.
“Enough of this.” He walked around me and crouched. I squealed when his horns grazed my legs and he hoisted me onto his broad shoulders. “Up you go.”
I grabbed his horns to steady myself, and he stumbled, grip tightening on my shins, claws tearing my tights without breaking skin.
“Don’t drop her.” Ash peered through the hole. “Zeke’s already with Ezra, so there’s space for one more.”
“She’s the one grabbing my horns,” Cyn said, a growl in his voice.
“I need something to hold on to!”
Ash chuckled. “Did you forget our talk?”
I gasped, letting go of Cyn’s horns as if they were on fire. The sudden move threw me off balance, and I tipped backward, catching his forehead to steady myself.
“Grab the horns,” Cyn barked, trying to keep himself upright while I flailed. “It’s fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Just grab them and shut up,” he grumbled, bracing his feet.
I wrapped my hands around his warm horns, the rough ridges sliding under my palms as I secured my hold. My face flamed when Cyn groaned low.
He stepped across the debris, positioning us beneath the hole in the roof.
“Reach for Ash,” he said.
I released his horns, and Ash grabbed my arms, hauling me up like I weighed nothing. Moments later, Cyn pulled himself through the gap.
Ezra stood in the doorway, staring down at us. “What happened to her?”
“Gonthek venom.” Ash hauled himself out of the elevator shaft, pulling me out when Cyn lifted me by the waist.
Ezra cursed, surprising me.
Zeke asked, “Can you fix her?”
“I don’t know if it even works on a human.”
“You have to try.” Zeke looked at my thigh. “We can’t just leave her like this.”
“Right now, we need to get her home. Then I’ll see what I can do.”
Ash looked at Cyn. “You need to shift back.”
Cyn’s lip curled, gaze moving around the empty parking garage.
“The rift is closed,” Ezra said.
I didn’t need to ask why Cyn stayed in his infernal form. Zeke said Cyn hated feeling threatened. And what greater threat was there than other infernals?
Ash looked down at the purse strapped across my chest. “You don’t have a change of clothes in that little bag, do you?”
I shook my head, glancing at my torn, bloody tights. “No. But I can carry my purse in front. The dark tights should hide most of the blood.”
“Good idea.” Ash looked down into the elevator shaft. “There’s no footage of this?”
“I took care of it,” Ezra said. “We need to go. We’ve left her too long. She’s already sweating.”
“I’m not hot, though. I’m actually cold now that we’re outside.”
The breeze passing through the open-air parking garage and the gaping holes in my tights left my skin chilled and pebbled with goose bumps. I didn’t understand why I was sweating when I felt so cold.
The guys shared a look.
Ash touched my forehead, then my cheeks and neck. “She’s already feverish.”