Chapter Seven
Lulu
“One more time, slowly now,” I said patiently, watching my grandfather pace across the kitchen. “You want me to do what?”
“I want you to find out everything you know about the ETA. There’s got to be a reason they came here,” his words are garbled, difficult to understand as he shook his head slowly, “especially, after all this time.”
“After all this time? What?”
“Nothing,” Grandfather snapped, then his posture softened and he turned slowly to face me. “I’m sorry, Lu. I’m getting grumpy in my old age.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. We’d been at this for hours.
First, last night after I got home from my date and now, since the crack of dawn, when Grandfather had all but dragged me into the kitchen for a ‘quick conversation’.
Quick conversation my ass. He wasn’t making a bit of sense and had been talking in circles so long that my coffee had to be ice cold by now.
I pressed my hand against the mug, frowning the instant I felt the cool temperature.
“You really don’t think they just came here for business? I met with them and the business is sound. Everything I looked up last night was right in line,” I stood, moving to press a hand against Grandfather’s forearm. “Maybe they are exactly what they seem.”
To my surprise, Grandfather ripped his arm away, a dark hiss of anger escaping as he growled, “Nothing is as it seems.”
I stared in shock, my feet rooted to the floor as he turned away and stormed to the back door. A moment later the door slammed in the frame, jolting me from my state.
“What the fuck?” I said aloud, staring at the door, half-expecting my grandfather to come walking back in. He would apologize for lashing out and then pour me another cup while we laughed off the awkwardness of the whole thing.
But, nothing happened.
He wasn’t coming back to apologize.
A lump settled in my throat, making it hard to focus as I quickly set my dishes in the sink, poured out my horrible coffee and went to the door. I didn’t realize until I was in the driveway that Grandfather would have the car.
Moaning, my head tilted back and I began to head back inside.
Passing by a pile of landscaping rock Gigi had delivered yesterday, a flash of something bright white caught my eye.
I twisted, not watching where I stepped, and a moment later I became a victim to gravity, my elbow crashing into the concrete a moment before my head hit a landscaping stone.
And everything went dark.
I sat up with a gasp, my hand flying instinctively to my head. But, there was no bump, not even a hint of blood from the impact that I’d predicted as I tripped.
But then, I wasn’t at my grandparents’ house anymore either. This was somewhere familiar. I squinted, the room was dimmed with cool grey lighting coming in through cheap white blinds over the single window.
But, there were two beds.
I stared, looking down at the colorful blanket under me.
Oh my gosh, I was back in my college dorm.
I slapped my hands against the bedding, preparing to throw myself off the bed.
“Oh my God, I cannot be dead. I cannot be dead. This is the worst idea of heaven I’ve ever seen…
” I knew the words were falling fast and wild from my lips, but I couldn't tell.
I was across the room, yanking hard on the door to the hallway of the dorm.
“You can’t go out there.”
I shrieked, leaping up and banging my knees against the door as I turned fast to stare at the male who stood in the shadows at the other end of the room. He was tall for a man, but then, I could see the curl of dark horns rising above his head.
Not a man at all.
Something in the back of my mind moved, shifted. A memory coming to life, rising through muddled thoughts as if it were a wave slowly settling.
“You,” I said, my body still plastered against the door.
“I know you. Or I did.” Because I had dreamed about this male before.
Or some version of him. First, the dreams had been packed with tension and way too many romantic implications.
But, over time, my dreams had turned more studious.
As if this kind-voiced male was sent by my brain to help me study and sort out my life during my dreaming hours.
I’d grown attached to those dreams; accustomed to seeing that familiar ruby-toned male who appeared whenever I needed him. I frowned. I couldn’t remember the last item I’d dreamed of him. I must’ve really whacked my head.
His head moved, his voice was soft, dark, familiar. “Both, perhaps.”
There was a darkness in his words. Fear tingles down my spine. He sounded upset. He sounded worried, which instantly triggered my own anxiety.
“What does that mean?” I pressed a hand against, “Oh my God, was I right? Am I dead?”
He chuckled, the sound coaxing me from my hiding place, “No, Lulu, you aren’t dead. I’m not sure what happened. I haven’t been pulled into your dreams in some time.”
I was listening to him but couldn’t stop looking around. I noted the bulletin board, complete with my next semester’s class list. And in the corner, my old laptop whirled loudly from the top of my desk.
“This is a dream? You’re sure?”
“An odd one,” the male said. I blinked rapidly. He sounded so familiar, but those horns. Was he simply a figment of my imagination? An amalgamation of too many late night fantasy books blended with too much stress and not enough good men in my life.
But, wait. I did have a good man in my life. Zaldi. That’s who he sounded like. That’s why he was so interesting to me. I was sure of it.
“You sound like someone I know.”
“Do I?” His voice changed now, a flirtatious edge. “Does he know you dream about me?”
I laughed, “No. Is my subconscious trying to make my boyfriend jealous?”
The male pushed off the dresser he’d been leaning on and then wandered over to sit on the edge of my bed. His face was downcast, expression hidden from my view. I didn’t like that, but I couldn’t explain why it was suddenly so important for me to see what he looked like.
He was attractive, of course, my imagination wasn’t a slouch. But, I hadn’t had a clear look at this dream man for years. And now, I wanted a new one.
“Boyfriend, huh?” He spread his legs out, leaning forward on thighs currently encased in simple black pants.
I stepped closer. “Yeah, I mean, if he wants the job.”
A could see the corner of his mouth lift, “Oh, he will. Don’t worry about that.”
There was a tiny throb at the side of my head. I raised my hand, pressing my palm there with a soft whimper. “God, that hurts.”
When I opened my eyes, I was staring straight at the chest of my dream man. “Whoa, what are you doing?”
His fingers were in my hair, feeling around gently. “What hurts?” His voice has lost all traces of flirtation and I could feel the worry swirling around the male against me.
“I think I fell.”
His body stiffened, his fingers pausing, “You fell, when?”
I shrugged, looking up and staring into the handsome face I’d been craving earlier. It appeared that I’d shocked him enough to allow me a good look at him. Sharp cheekbones, bold jawline and soft looking lips that are currently pursed and angry looking.
I smiled, feeling lighter than before, my eyes focusing on those lips. I wanted to touch them, my hand began to move but quickly stopped. It was so heavy now.
“Lulu, where are you?’
My head lolled backwards. “I’m in my dorm circa four years ago?”
Warm, calloused hands found the sides of my face, tilting it back, steadying my neck, which was just so loose now. I was forced to look up into those inhuman glowing eyes. “No, I mean right now. In Salus Glen. Where are you?”
His voice. I knew that voice. I frowned at him, feeling intoxicated at the closeness of him. “I’m at home. I was…. I was talking to Grandpa.”
“Good girl, that’s good. Are you inside?”
I wrinkled my nose, “Why does it matter? I’m dreaming?”
“Tell me, baby. Where are you?”
Shrugging, I smiled up at him. “I went outside, I wanted to see if he was really mad at me.”
“Did something happen?”
I frowned, “I don’t know.”
“You’ve got to focus, okay?” His thumbs stroked my skin, “Try for me.”
But, I couldn’t anymore. I was so tired. Too tired to focus on his words. But, he wasn’t giving up. He leaned in, careful to only gently bump my forehead with his own. “Come on, Lulu, you need to remember. What happened?”
“I fell,” I whispered, my hands finally cooperating and climbing up his body to wrap a weak grip around his shirt. “I fell in the driveaway.”
“Fuck, okay.”
Cool air rushed over my skin and I shivered as he stepped closer, crowding up against me as he continued to murmur soft things. But, I couldn’t focus on his words anymore. Everything was blurring.
“Wait, I don’t want to.”
“You have to, baby. Wake up for me. I’ll be right there?”
I looked up, his handsome face blurring. I squinted at him, feeling faint. “Zaldi?”
“I’ll be right there.”
***
Zaldi
She’d unknowingly pulled me into her dream.
Lulu had pulled me in. At first, I’d been so surprised to see the Underworld shrink away from me, my family disappearing right before my eyes, that I had merely stared at the complicated structure of her dream.
But, I’d recognized it after a breath, seen every inch of it years ago.
It was her old college dorm room. The place I’d first met her years ago.
The palace that had cemented my feelings for her, long before she ever would’ve guessed that I was real.
Somehow we've ended up right back there, at the beginning of our relationship.
Yet, that wasn’t what was distracting me now as I suddenly was thrown back into my living space in the Underworld. It was the fact that Lulu hadn’t known she was dreaming. Or rather, it hadn’t been a dream she merely dozed her way into.
No, she was hurt.
My mate was hurt.
And I was fucking furious about it.