Emeline woke in a bed in her home. She was dressed in a soft gown, red with red roses embossed throughout the material. Before she opened her eyes, she realized she felt no pain. None. She inhaled and drew the scent of Dragomir into her lungs. He always smelled wild. Dangerous. Delicious. She would recognize that scent anywhere. Sliding both hands protectively over her unborn child, she smiled without opening her eyes.
“You’re here with me.”
“Where else would I be?” The deep timbre of his voice slid over her skin like a caress. “Open your eyes for me.” He always spoke softly. She loved the way he did that. His soft was commanding yet gentle.
She lifted her lashes, her gaze moving over him a little anxiously. She knew every wound on his body. She’d seen them in her vision. She’d experienced the battle with the vampires as if she’d been there. That world was so far removed from the one she’d been born into. She thought she was tough being a street kid, but Carpathians were on an entirely different playing field. She would never have had the courage to go there if it hadn’t been for Dragomir.
He laid his hand over hers. “Gary checked the baby, and she’s doing fine. I’m going to feed you. She needs blood every bit as much as you do.”
She winced at the word. Blood. She didn’t like the image, and she knew he used the word deliberately to get her used to the idea. She took a deep breath and sat up, looking down at the gown. “Did you do this for me?” She smoothed her hand over the silky material. “It’s beautiful. It feels beautiful.” She reached up to touch her hair. It fell in a thick braid down to her waist. “You thought of everything.”
“You’ll get used to taking my blood, sívamet. It will feel… erotic… to you.”
Her stomach did a slow somersault and a flutter started somewhere deep. Everything about Dragomir was erotic to her. His scars, the raw line across his eyes that told her he’d nearly had them taken out. The long salt-and-pepper hair that fell like a waterfall, every bit as soft as her own hair. That chest of his and his back with the tattoos drifting across muscle.
She found her courage. “Tell me what to do.” She wasn’t certain she could do it, but for him and her daughter, she would try.
He rewarded her with a smile. “You don’t have to do anything. I’m going to help you.”
“Does Maksim help Blaze?”
“I don’t know. I don’t care, either. We make our own rules. We do what we’re comfortable with. Come to me, hän ku kuulua sívamet.” He pulled her gently into his lap.
In all her imaginings, even her wildest, she never had considered she would like sitting in a man’s lap. She couldn’t remember ever sitting on anyone’s lap, even as a child, but Dragomir made her feel safe and secure.
He drew the side of his nose down her neck, a long slow sweep, skin against skin. For some reason, that small gesture made tension coil in the pit of her stomach and flutters grow in her sex. She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. His lips followed the same path as his nose, a long, slow caress that started at her earlobe and continued down to the pulse pounding in her neck. Her heart beat faster in anticipation.
As much as she wanted to be afraid of what he was doing, it was erotic. The way he held her. The way his mouth moved over her skin. His tongue sliding over her pulse. Lingering. His teeth scraping back and forth so gently. Barely there. Back and forth until she couldn’t focus on anything but that movement. The feeling. Her stomach did another slow roll. Her sex clenched. Her breasts reacted, nipples hardening beneath the gown.
She closed her eyes in anticipation. Waited. His hands slipped over her gown, slid to the back and then she felt the gown glide over her breasts. Cool air hit skin. She looked down and saw her breasts exposed, the gown under the soft mounds, pooling around her waist. All the while his teeth continued that teasing, tugging, nipping. Each sting sent liquid fire arrowing straight to her sex.
Her breath came in ragged pants. With every pant her breasts lifted and fell. One hand cupped her chin, the other her left breast. The feel of his palm cupping her soft flesh was exquisite. His thumb, brushing back and forth over her nipple, sent invisible sparks leaping over her skin. She felt boneless, her body melting into his.
He trailed kisses both openmouthed and closed from her neck to her throat. His teeth nipped and scraped, keeping her body on edge. His mouth moved down her throat to the curve of her breast. She hadn’t expected that to feel so sexy. Every nerve ending flared into life, came alive and centered entirely on him.
The hand at her breast tightened possessively. He tugged at her nipple roughly. She was sensitive and the little bite of pain shocked her. Teeth sank deep, right at the top of the curve of her right breast. That was more than a sting, more than a bite of pain. It was a flash that took her breath, immediately giving way to something altogether different. Pure pleasure. Sinful pleasure. So erotic she couldn’t think beyond giving herself to him.
Her arms cradled his head and she stroked his hair. He drank, pushing into her mind to share how taking her blood felt to him. His cock hard and full. Pulsing for her. Throbbing. Jerking with each strong pull of her essence into his mouth. She tasted better than the finest wine ever could to him. He was addicted to her taste. Obsessed with it. His body was on fire for hers. The wicked things in his head he wanted to do were right there, easy for her to see.
Emeline wanted to try all of it with him. The more he shared the way his body reacted, the more her body needed. His hands stroked her curves, traced her ribs over and over down to her waist. Then his tongue swept across her breast, closing the two puncture wounds. His hand anchored in her hair, pulling her head back and his mouth was on her, tongue slipping in, sharing her taste.
The craving was there instantly. She knew part of it was his craving for her blood, but it was also hers. She wanted blood. Needed it. It might be abhorrent to think about, but the hunger was there. She shifted in his arms, her hands locking at the nape of his neck. She kissed him over and over. Hot, delicious kisses. Sexy. Wild. A little out of control. She wanted to be out of control with him. She wanted him that way – so into her he couldn’t think – because she was that way about him.
She was the one leading the kisses now, her mouth moving over his, her tongue dancing with his. Her hands pushed at his shirt, wishing it was gone, and it was. Just like that. There was bare skin beneath her palms. She kissed her way along his jaw, feeling that shadowy bristle. That made her thighs tingle. She’d seen that image in his head, his mouth between her legs, those bristles inflaming her nerve endings even more. She wanted that. She wanted everything from him.
She nipped his chin with her teeth, scraped them down his throat. She paused for a moment over his pulse, feeling it in her mouth. Feeling the answering beat in her sex. She was dripping for him now. Feeling empty. Needing him to fill her. Complete her. She kissed along the fierce lacerations on his chest. Nipped the heavy muscles of his chest.
His cock was raging now, and she wanted to feel that. She turned to straddle him, the silken gown bunched up around her waist. She wore no panties and her bare bottom slid along his thighs as she leaned forward to keep her mouth pressed to his chest. The lengthening of her teeth shocked her just a little, but the call was too strong.
Tell me what to do. I need you right now.
His hand came up to cradle her head. Your instincts are just fine. I’m going to lift you up. You’re so ready for me.
She was. She wanted him with every breath she took. She wanted his blood. She wanted his mind. She wanted his body. Mine. He gave himself to her. He’d said the words. His heart and soul. His body. She was claiming every square inch of him.
She licked along the heavy muscle of his chest, right over the pounding pulse. She heard it so clear, that beckoning sound. Strong. Comforting. Arousing. His hands went to her hips and he lifted her, held her so that his cock nudged her entrance in demand. She licked a second time, hunger beating at her. Did she need his blood? She craved the wild flavor of him. She remembered exactly what he tasted like.
Dragomir’s fingers bit into her hips, but it was Emeline who impaled herself on his cock. She drove down hard, unable to stop herself. Her breath left her lungs as he filled her, pushing through tight muscles, stretching and burning her feminine sheath. She flung her head back, gasping for breath as pain and pleasure mixed together.
There is so much more.
The devil tempting her. The sound of his voice trigged a hard clenching of her sex around his thick cock. Just that little movement bathed his shaft in liquid heat. She felt his pleasure, the way her sheath surrounded him, grasped at him like a scorching-hot silken fist. He held her still, when she needed to move.
Let your body adjust to me, to my size. Concentrate on other things.
Again, his voice triggered a spasm, her body clenching his hard, dragging him deeper when he wanted to be still. She nearly sobbed with her need to move, but one hand was back cradling her head, pushing her toward his chest.
That heartbeat was there like a beacon, calling to her. A summons. She couldn’t resist. She leaned forward, rocking her hips on his cock as she sank her teeth into his chest, right over that steady drumbeat. His taste exploded in her mouth. So perfect. Addicting.
All for you, sívamet.
That whisper in her mind was as intimate as his cock stretching her body. She had never felt so much pleasure. There was a sting, too, a burn, but that added to the heightening of her passion. She felt his love, so dark, and his lust, so sharp and terrible, mixed together like some forbidden aphrodisiac. That was his blood. That was the taste of him. Dark and forbidden. What he was doing to her body felt wicked and sinful. She rode him, his hands forcing her to move the way he wanted, the way she needed. Her breasts mashed against his chest, nipples rubbing his muscles with every movement of her hips.
She couldn’t stop feeding, or moving. She ground down on him, made tight circles as she went up and down, riding him as if he was some wild horse. She lost herself in the feeling, in the need and hunger. The feeling was beautiful. Terrible. Glorious. She would never get enough. His hand slid between his chest and her mouth. A silent command. For a moment she thought to resist him, but his cock swelled, stretching and burning the tight muscles of her sheath, and she couldn’t think straight. She let him take over by sliding her tongue instinctively over the small punctures on his chest.
Immediately she threw her head back, grinding down, rising and sinking on him. She didn’t want that to end, either. She wanted to live there with him, sharing the same skin, the pleasure spilling through her like a diamond comet streaming across the night sky. Pure and perfect.
You’re so beautiful you make me cry. She whispered the truth into his mind. So intimate. She knew he saw her. Every sin. Every fantasy. Everything she was. She wanted him to know because he’d given her so much. He’d believed in her when others might have thrown her out for carrying the child of a Malinov. He had made that impossible. He had tied himself irrevocably to her, when she claimed to be the lifemate of a vampire. I’m so ashamed I didn’t know the truth. I just couldn’t believe someone like you would ever be for someone like me.
It would still take her time to believe it. She felt vulnerable and terrified at the same time. She was given a miracle. She didn’t get those. People like her were lucky to get through life with food in their bellies and a roof over their heads. She had Dragomir now, but she felt that at any moment he could be ripped away from her.
I’m not the beautiful one, Emeline. You are. I look at you and can barely breathe. He moved then, tipping her back on the couch so that she lay on the cushions, and he was over her, her legs on either side of his hips, spread wide for him. He was exquisitely gentle as he moved in her, going deep, over and over, settling them both back to a slower burn.
I need more. She felt helpless under his weight. She ran her palms down his back to his buttocks, digging her fingers in to try to force him to go faster and harder. She slid her legs around him, hooking her ankles, taking him even deeper.
He smiled down at her. Slow is good. You’ll like this.
She was so close. That force gathering in her. So tight. The tension coiled and coiled until she wanted to scream and claw at him for more. Still, looking up at him, at his face, so scarred, so beautiful, so hers. She hadn’t known she was capable of so much feeling. The strength of her emotions shook her. Scared her. No, terrified her.
Emeline had always relied on herself. She didn’t trust others easily. In her life, there had been Blaze and her father. No one else. Now, her world had narrowed to this one man. She barely knew him…
His mouth brushed kisses over her eyes. Trailed more kisses along her cheekbone to the corner of her mouth. His tongue traced her lower lip, teased at the seam, and when she parted her lips for him, he kissed her again. Over and over.
You know me, Emeline. You know me better than any woman can know a man. I give you everything. I trust when you look into my mind, that you will see the good with the bad.
He kept kissing her until she couldn’t think. Fire burned through her. His body was still in hers. He just lay over her, his hips cradled by hers, his mouth wreaking havoc with her senses, his cock a steel piston, stationary, stretching her tight muscles until she felt every breath, every beat of his heart right through his shaft.
That look doesn’t belong on your face. You have no need to fear, Emeline. You’re in good hands.
As he spoke so intimately in her mind, his hips slowly pulled back. She gasped and caught at him, trying to keep him close. He surged forward, filling her, taking her breath, blurring the edges of her mind. He knelt up slowly, his cock shifting inside of her, so that her muscles clamped down hard around him. The friction was incredible, taking away her ability to think clearly. She could only feel. Only need more. He was right, her body was in good hands. It wasn’t her body taken over by his that alarmed her. She could give him her body, and would, as many times as he wanted her. The pleasure was too intense, unlike anything she could have imagined. It was her heart in jeopardy.
Your heart is just fine, Emeline. I am its keeper. I have given you mine and trust you to take the utmost care of it. Do you think I could do less for the woman who matters more to me than life itself?
There it was. She could see into his mind, read him as easily, in that moment, as she might a book. He meant what he said. Her heart was safe. Now she just had to convince herself she was worthy of him – and that was going to be the difficult part when it had been drilled into her since childhood that she was worthless.
Feel, Emeline, don’t think.
His hips moved again and a streak of fire raced through her body, leaving her gasping. It was impossible to think when he moved, and she gave herself up to the moment, letting him sweep her into another realm.
Fire burned. Flames spread through her veins, rushing to every part of her body. He caught her hips in a firm grasp and began to move faster, harder. Just what she craved. Needed. Hungered for. That terrible coil inside her gathered tighter and tighter. His face was a mask of sensual carnality.
The tension in her built and built until she was thrashing under him, her hips rising to meet his every thrust. Her lungs burned for air. Every cell in her body was alive and focused on him, on the way their bodies came together, and that coiling tension terrified her. It had to stop.
Emeline was beautiful. Utterly beautiful. Dragomir stared down into her eyes. Dazed. Long lashes fluttering, her breasts jolting, stomach muscles rippling with every hard thrust of his cock. That raw sensuality that colored her features a soft rose. Her lips a dark red. He breathed out and watched her lungs take in that breath. That small action sent more heat flashing through him. His cock swelled. Lightning struck as her eyes dilated, sizzling through his body, a fiery whip of shocking pleasure.
Her lips parted on his name and there was another strike. Every move of her hips, the way her muscles rippled around his shaft, gripping hard with scorching heat, the friction as they came together. Her breath came in ragged pants; there was panic in the beauty of her gaze. She was skating so close to the edge but wasn’t going over, not surrendering to him, to their passion, to the inevitable loss of control.
Every move of her body produced more lightning strikes until there was no holding back. Now, sívamet. Let go and give yourself to me. Surrender, Emeline. I will never let you fall without catching you.
Her helpless gaze clung to his as he shifted his angle and rode along that sweet spot, hard, heavy strokes. Her eyes widened. She expelled her breath and he breathed in his name. Soft. Reverent. So beautiful, that whispered name. Dragomir. On her breath. In his lungs. Binding them together. All the threads between them, soul to soul, mind to mind, body to body and now breath to breath.
The music of her ragged breaths rose, a crescendo. Her body clamped down like a vise on his, surrounding him with scorching fire. So tight it was strangling him. His own breath hissed out of his lungs, a harsh accompaniment to the melody of hers. He felt a dark force gathering in him, the pleasure so intense it bordered on pain. Gathering, moving, rushing. A hot, explosive release. All the while her tight muscles clamped down, gripped and stroked. It was a kind of sweet but brutal harmony, dark and forbidden, perfect and terrible. He never wanted it to end.
Emeline clutched at Dragomir’s arms, those hard, defined muscles that seemed to be everywhere. His body didn’t have an ounce of fat. She was a mess and he was… perfect. Everything he did or said was perfection. She’d just jumped him. She’d been so out of control. She hadn’t been able to stop touching him. Stop making demands. She’d all but forced him…
Dragomir burst out laughing. He blanketed her body with his, letting her take his weight as he framed her face with both hands. He was heavy, and she couldn’t quite catch her breath, but she didn’t care. She loved him lying over top of her. She couldn’t help her reaction. His hands, holding her face with such exquisite gentleness, allowed her to look up, to meet his gaze when she really wanted to hide from sheer embarrassment.
He was beautiful. That face. All male. All perfection. She was lost without him. She knew that. She had no idea what she could bring him in return for giving her him, for his making her his choice, but she was determined to find a way to even their relationship.
“Forced me? I’m still in your mind, sívamet. You can’t think things like that with a straight face. I want you every moment of the night, or day. There is no forcing me. I will have to remember there are certain rules in place in society or I would be pushing you up against the trees outside, the front verandah, the play yard. Wherever we were walking together.”
He allowed his heavy cock to slide from her body and she wanted to protest. He filled her body the way he filled her heart. Without him, she felt empty and alone.
“Never alone, Emeline. Never again. You are in my mind, the way I’m in yours. Whenever you have need of me, in any way, even if it is just to touch me lightly, to know I’m always here, you have the capacity to do so.”
“I drank blood. It was the most beautiful, erotic thing I’ve ever done.” The confession slipped out of her, her darkest shame. Her gaze slipped from his because she couldn’t let anyone see what was in her soul, how she wanted to repeat the experience over and over. The craving was there. The insatiable hunger.
“Look at me, sívamet.”
His voice was so gentle it turned her heart over. How did he manage that particular tone? It didn’t just sound that way to her ears, his voice caressed her skin, moved over her body, inflaming her senses. She loved the way he sounded. She wished his cock was still in her, stretching and burning and bringing that intense fire.
“I don’t think I can.”
“You need to breathe and I’m heavy. I’m going to sit up and put you on my lap.” Even as he said it, he didn’t give her a chance to protest. She worried about their combined cream spilling out of her body, ruining the couch, but it was gone as he lifted her and put her on his lap. She was naked in his arms, and she felt more exposed and vulnerable in her mind and heart than with her body unclothed.
“Now, Emeline, look at me.”
This time his gentle voice included that note of command. Sometimes, when she heard it, like now, she wanted to disobey just to see what he would do.
Dragomir laughed softly. “I see I am going to have an eternity of my woman challenging me. Do not worry, sívamet, I welcome the skirmishes.”
The notes of joy and happiness in his voice allowed her to look at him. She couldn’t help smiling. It didn’t matter that she had taken his blood and enjoyed it or that she had been the sexual aggressor in the beginning, he was happy. She wanted him that way. The lines in his face had softened and he had laughed. Laughed. He barely smiled, almost as if his mouth didn’t know how to form that upward curve, but he was laughing. She felt the way he was happy. Deep inside, she felt that and knew she’d given that to him. Everything else melted away for her and she hugged that tightly to herself.
“I can’t believe I have you here with me,” she whispered and turned her face into his throat, nuzzling him. Inhaling. Tasting his skin with her tongue. “My life was pain and terror. You took away his voice. You gave me hope that my daughter would survive and others wouldn’t shun her. I was terrified and alone, and you changed all that. You brought beauty and hope back into my life. Thank you for that, Dragomir. I swear I will spend every minute making you happy.”
He bunched her hair at the nape of her neck in his fist and gently tugged until her head went back and she found herself looking into his golden eyes. “You gave me back my soul, Emeline. You gave me life. The scales are more than even. Much more. Still, having you make me happy sounds good, especially since I am very aware I am not an easy man.”
A frisson of alarm slid down her spine. Small. A cautioning. An awareness. She frowned. He’d warned her before. He looked scary. Outside, around others, he acted scary, but he’d never been anything but gentle with her. “You’ve said that before. What do you mean?”
Slowly, she sat up on his lap, pulling herself reluctantly out of his arms. If they were going to talk, she was going to have the armor of clothes. She looked around for her gown. It was a beautiful gown. Dragomir had given it to her.
“I made it for you.”
Her eyebrow shot up. The gown was beautiful, in material and design. “How? Are you telling me you can manufacture clothing along with everything else you can do?”
He nodded. “I wish I didn’t have to tell you the truth because I like the way you look at me, as if I can do anything, but actually, Emeline, you can manufacture clothing for yourself or anyone else. When you rise with the sinking sun, you think about being clean and what clothes you want to wear for the night.”
She felt a small smile welling up. “What? No shower? I was looking forward to showering with you. That can be… sexy.”
“Show me.”
The growling demand sent another shiver down her spine, but this one was delicious. Fun. Sensual. She did her best, picturing the fantasy she’d had more than once. Maybe a few too many times. Him lifting her, her legs wrapped around his hips. The water running down over both of them. Her mouth on his cock. His mouth between her legs. It was embarrassing, yet she wanted him to see the things she’d thought about long before he claimed her.
While the scenes played out in her head and he saw them in detail, more, he felt them, his cock grew hard and thick. She felt the hot pulsing against her bare buttocks. If they kept this up, neither was going to be able to resist the other. They wouldn’t dare go out in public. She moved deliberately, sliding her body over him in a slow, sensual massage.
“I see the benefits of a shower,” he said.
“Good.” She slid off his lap, down to the floor. “I’m glad you’re wise enough to see some of the things humans do can be very beneficial.” She caught his knees and tugged.
Dragomir obeyed her silent urging, allowing her to widen his thighs so her body could fit between them. “I have seen, over the centuries, many men sitting while their women knelt on the floor at their feet. I always thought it was strange, but I can see there is advantage in that as well.”
She smirked at him. “It’s good you’re willing to learn, Dragomir.”
“Very willing.”
He circled the base of his cock with his fist and did a slow, sexy slide. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. He leaned back just slightly, and the tension he always carried in his shoulders and face was gone. Those scars on his face were softer and his jaw wasn’t so strong. He was beautiful to her, just like that. All male, his cock in his fist, so sexy her heart pounded and her sex clenched hard.
She couldn’t help herself – the temptation was irresistible. She leaned forward, her hands on his knees, and licked at the flared head. A shudder went through his body and pleasure flooded her mind. She loved that she could feel what she was doing to him. She saw herself in his eyes. He found her the sexiest creature on the face of the earth. He loved watching her body, the sway of her breasts, the hardness of her nipples telling him she loved what she was doing.
He watched intently as his cock disappeared, engulfed by her mouth. He loved the way her lips stretched over his girth. He liked watching her tongue lick up his shaft and dance under the crown of the head. Every movement of her mouth brought scorching heat rushing through his body, centering in his groin.
She felt everything he felt, and her body reacted. She was giving him paradise. She liked that she could take everything from his mind and replace it with – her. With heat and flames. With passion and fire. With sheer pleasure. It was an indulgence, something he’d never experienced. She loved that she could give that to him. She loved the moment he couldn’t think clearly, yet he was still gentle, even while his hips moved just that bit out of control.
She knew she was giving him a kind of ecstasy he never expected from her. Complete giving. All for him. Everything for him. She loved the way her image was in his mind, branded there, her kneeling on the floor, hands on his knees, her lips around his cock, eyes on his while her breasts swayed and brushed his body with every movement. She was burned into his mind. That picture. That feeling.
The picture of him above her, the look on his face and the feeling in his mind were burned in her memories for all time. She knew she was just as addicted to this moment as she was to taking his blood or having him in her. She would always crave giving him this, the feeling, the image. She felt him swell, grow hotter. Then she was tasting that wild Dragomir flavor that was unique to him. All for her.
His groan was deep, and one hand went to the back of her head, holding her there, her mouth gentle on him now, her tongue lapping up every drop that had leaked. His breathing had gone ragged and his entire body shuddered with pleasure. She’d given him that. Satisfaction was a beautiful thing.
She stayed there on the floor, looking up at him. Her man. When had that happened? How? She might never feel she deserved him, but she did know, just by the way he saw her in his mind, that he would always be happy with her.
“We were talking about something but I can’t remember what it was,” she said. “I got distracted. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.” He watched her tongue lick at her lips as she sank back onto her heels. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Throughout the centuries, I’ve seen quite a few women, but none of them compared with you.”
The wonderful thing was, being in his mind, she knew the compliment was sincere. He honestly felt she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He was nuts, but that was all right with her. She smiled up at him, because he made her happy. She couldn’t believe how he had changed her life in such a short time.
“I had dreams of you, Dragomir. First, daytime fantasies like the shower, and then I was horrified when I began to dream that you died trying to save me. I dreamt of Vadim coming and you were lying on the floor of my living room, wounds everywhere, so much blood gone, and I thought you were dead.”
Her heart hurt just thinking about it. There was a huge knot in her throat, one she couldn’t swallow. The idea of his death because of her had weighed on her.
“I didn’t want to ever meet you, and I went into my house the moment night came so there was no chance that you would try to save me – and yet you still did.”
“You ended the dream with me lying on your floor.” He reached out and caught her hair in his hand, tugging gently.
She nodded. “I couldn’t go past that moment, with you lying without a heartbeat, no air in your lungs and your blood soaking into my floor. Because of me.”
“Had you forced yourself to keep going —”
“No.” She shook her head, uncaring that the action caused her hair to pull at her scalp. “I couldn’t. I tried to save you, Dragomir, but you just wouldn’t let me.”
“Good thing, too.” He leaned down to brush a kiss on top of her head. “Your dreams interest me. Tell me about them.”
“I’ve always had them.” She nuzzled his thigh because she couldn’t help herself. His body was warm and hard. It was hers. He’d given himself to her. All that he was. She liked sitting on the floor, her body between his legs, surrounded by him. There was safety in it. There was also the heady realization that this man was hers and anything she did, any way she touched him, he was fine with.
“I started having dreams when I was fairly young. I really didn’t notice at first, but somewhere along the line I realized that some of the places I went to I’d already dreamt about. Once I was paying attention, it wasn’t only places, but what was happening in my dreams, taking place in reality days or weeks after. That was terrifying to a child. I thought maybe my imagination was causing things to happen. When you’re alone and scared and hungry, people can be cruel. In retaliation, I would think bad thoughts about them and if I dreamt about it later, I was so terrified I was making bad things happen to those I didn’t like.”
“Sívamet.” He murmured it softly. The hand in her hair was soothing and gentle, stroking caresses down the silk of her hair.
She wasn’t used to compassion, and tears burned behind her eyes. Joyful tears. She’d never known what that was until that moment. Dragomir changed her perspective on everything.
“I would dream something bad, and if it hadn’t happened, I would treat the dream as if it would happen. I’d call it up every night, changing little details. I found I couldn’t change what happened, but I could modify it. I could change the way I reacted. So I’d play the dream over and over in my head and change little things until I could change the outcome of the dream. Most of the time, the dream didn’t spill over into reality, but the times it did, I was ready and I knew exactly what to do.”
“Tell me about having the dream where you went down into Vadim’s underground city.”
She felt her brain shut down. She didn’t want to relive that nightmare ever again. Not even for Dragomir. She shook her head.
His palm cupped the side of her face, his thumb trailing over her high cheekbone. “I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t important, sívamet. I am here with you. He can’t get to you or our daughter. You’re safe now. Detach yourself and just tell me the dream. Tell it as if it remained a dream.”
For him. Emeline knew she would do anything for him, even things that were difficult for her. If he wanted or needed this from her, she would tell him. He hadn’t offered to help distance her from the dream, so she knew he wanted her complete version.
“The dreams started years before it actually occurred. My dreams don’t always happen in real life, even the recurring ones, so I never know what is real or not. I wasn’t certain, at first, if that particular dream would happen, although it was vivid and night after night I dreamt it. One day I came across vampires killing in an alleyway and I knew they were real despite everyone I told wanting to lock me up.”
She looked down at her hands. They were shaking. “The dream reoccurred over and over. The girls were taken down into the city. Liv was eaten alive night after night by Vadim’s puppets. Blaze and I couldn’t stop it. We couldn’t save her in time. Amelia was taken by the vampires and they drained her of blood and left her dying in a corner. Bella…” She broke off, pressing a trembling hand to her mouth. “They eventually fed her to the same puppets that ate her sister. And Danny was used for days as food for the vampires. Blaze and I went into the tunnels nightly to try to change the course of what happened. We did little things at first and found what tools we needed. How fast we had to run, what would be behind a door when we got to it. I repeated the dream night after night and shared it with Blaze.”
“How did you share it with Blaze?”
Emeline frowned. She hadn’t thought about trying to explain that. “I can do it easily. I could do it with you. I think it’s the same way we get into each other’s minds.”
Dragomir sat straight abruptly, the action causing her heart to jump. His eyes went from lazy and languid to sharp and demanding, the gold going bright and hot, glittering with intelligence. “You can get into people’s minds? Anyone’s? You could do that before you were converted?”
She chewed on her lower lip until his finger rubbed along it, easing the bite, making her conscious of what she was doing. “I don’t think I get into people’s minds. It’s when I’m dreaming. I can reach out to anyone around me.”
“If I were connected at that time to others, all those in this compound, could you share your dream with them all?”
“Of course. It isn’t like it requires tremendous effort on my part. I reach out, just the way I do when I want to connect with you. If Blaze was a distance away, it would be more difficult, but if you were connected to her, or Maksim, and I shared with either one of you, the dream would be easy to give her as well.” Her voice rang with confidence because she was confident.
He nodded. “How would Vadim know this about you? He did, didn’t he? When he had you prisoner, he had to have mentioned it.”
She nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on his mouth. She hadn’t told any of them, not even Blaze. No one. She had been terrified that whatever Vadim wanted her to do, the Carpathians would either kill her to keep her from doing, or want it for themselves. She had told herself numerous times that was a leftover fear from her childhood – that no one wanted her, the woman, only what she could do for them.
“He did ask me. I refused to answer.”
“Even when he tortured you and tried to get the answer out of you. How did he know?”
“I went to the Morrison Psychic Center for testing. I put down that I could share my dreams. It was so stupid of me. I thought it was for fun, like those psychics at fairs. I kind of thought it would be funny to have a real ability but to pretend I didn’t. It was the worst mistake of my life and started everything.”
“I’m grateful for your mistake. I wouldn’t have you had you not made it.”