Her first night in Lost Creek was filled with dreams of savage beasts, and hot and heavy kisses. As she slept underneath her thick blankets and tossed and turned in the motel bed, her imagination ran wild through snowcapped mountains and into deep, lush forests.

She lay back and sank down into the mattress, her whole body feeling relaxed and warm, as, in her mind, she was being chased by a force she couldn’t see, and one she didn’t know.

All she was aware of, was that she wanted it to catch her.

The woodland was cold underfoot and she was running through the snow in her nightgown, with her hair flowing out freely behind her. Even though her feet were bare, she could still stand to move, and she felt as if she had a heat raging inside her, a power that was so prominent which she had never felt it before.

As she reached a clearing in the forest, she stopped and looked down over the rocks that were tumbling forward in front of her, and down to an ice blue lake in the center. She gasped as she took in how stunningly beautiful it was, and then she reached forward and tried to lower herself down onto the rocks, so she could continue to climb right down to the water’s edge.

She was aware the whole time of a pair of eyes watching her, but everything was muddled, and she didn’t know where in the forest they were hiding. She turned from left to right, and she found herself smiling.

I want him to watch me, she was thinking. I want him to see me. 

The closer she got to the lake, the clearer everything became, and she realized that steam was rising from it. It wasn’t just a lake in the middle of the forest, it was a hot spring, and she breathed out an excited gasp as she knelt down on the ground to dip her fingers into it to touch it.

It was warm and welcoming, and as she started to remove her nightdress, delicate snow began to fall overhead.

She reached up and let the snowflakes dance across her fingers, and as she kicked her nightdress off the end of her foot and stepped into the heat of the water, she sighed and allowed herself to be fully submerged.

She knew the eyes were on her. She could feel them. And her nipples stood hard and pronounced as she tried not to let herself get too carried away.

Where is he? she thought as she looked up toward the trees.

The steam was rising more and more, and it was causing a fog in front of her. She squinted her eyes to try and see further into the forest, but it was all too blurred and she couldn’t focus. The steam was getting thicker by the minute, and with the snow, it was causing the air around her to almost be completely whited out.

She allowed herself to relax back into the water, but she kept her gaze fixed firmly ahead.

She could feel him.

He was close by.

She closed her eyes for a moment and allowed the warmth to wash over her entire body. She was naked and completely free, she was ready for anything and she wanted it more than she could ever dream possible.

When she opened her eyes again and tried to focus through the mass of white in front of her, she was stopped still and her heart began to pound. The intense green was piercing through the fog and snow to reach her, but she was sure they weren’t from a man… they were attached to the body of a big, black, majestic wolf.

She squinted and tried to focus, her heart beating rapidly in her chest, and she tried not to let herself become afraid.

The wolf was circling the hot spring, and it was daring her, she could feel it.

Was she imaging it all? Or was it real?

He’s playing with you… she thought.

She closed her eyes again and tried to breathe in and out deeply to calm herself down. When she finally built up the courage to open them again, the wolf had gone, but she was still not alone.

The green of his eyes held her in place, and she smiled as she held out her hand for him.

She wanted him to come to her.

She wanted to hold him.

A smile curled across his lips and he too was stepping down into the water. He had no clothes and was just as naked as she was, and as he slid down beside her, she wrapped her arms around him and he pulled her close.

“I’ve been dreaming of you,” he whispered. “And I’ve been waiting.”

Their lips grazed each other’s, and she knew this was right. Whatever they had between them, it was meant to be. It was real and true and fated beyond measure.

He kissed her deeply, and as their mouths and tongues entwined, so did their hearts. She let him sweep her up and pull her onto his lap, and in all the craze around them, she felt light as air and as if they were both floating along on the clouds.

“I’ve been waiting for you too,” she whispered. “I just didn’t know how much I needed you.”

“Well, now you do,” he smiled, as their lips broke apart and they looked deep into each other’s eyes. “It always should have been this way.”

Esme was so turned on, her whole body was on fire and her pussy was aching for him, but she knew she had to be strong. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close, feeling every inch of him slick against her….

And then, almost as quickly as it had all happened, the intense white around them started to go dark.

“Never leave me again,” he whispered into her neck. “We won’t find each other a third time…”

And then the darkness enveloped them, and the whole world turned black.

 

The sunlight shone through the cracks in the curtains, and Esme rolled onto her side and yawned as she pulled the blankets up around her. Her mind was spinning and as she was pulling herself back into the world of awake, she was also confused and muddled.

The dream…

It had been intense and wild and passionate.

It had been like no other dream she had ever experienced before.

She bit her bottom lip nervously and sat up in bed, leaning against the headboard.

“What a dream,” she whispered to herself.

She felt groggy, as if she had spent the entire night awake and that she had barely rested at all. Her whole body ached and her feet were cold and numb, even though the room was warm.

If she didn’t know any better, she could almost think the dream had been real, and she had spent the majority of the night running wild in the forest being chased by the wolves.

She shook her head.

“There goes your imagination again,” she told herself off with an eyeroll.

She climbed out of bed and moved toward the adjoining bathroom where she turned on the light and the shower. She had been looking forward to a long, hot soak since she had flopped into bed the night before, and so she was determined to make the most of every second.

As she stepped into the hot stream of water and let it cascade down her body, she thought about the day ahead. She had no plans until six thirty when she had to head back to the bar and work her shift, so the best thing she could think to do was head out onto Main Street and take in more sights and sounds of Lost Creek.

She wanted to see it all, she even wanted to go skiing up on the mountain. But after her incredibly realistic dreams, she just didn’t know if she dared. And she was having trouble making herself wake up. Everything felt confused.

She had known since the moment she had arrived that it was different, but now her mind was as foggy as her dream had been, and she had the distinct feeling that Lost Creek meant something to her. Something that no one else would know.

She had such a habit of letting herself get carried away with her wild imagination that she didn’t know if she even dared admit it to herself yet. Maybe she was just looking for things that weren’t even there, or maybe she was experiencing some kind of epiphany.

All she knew for sure was that something had been awakened in her and she was now craving something.

She had been drawn to The Nowhere Bar.

She had been drawn to Zeke.

She reached up and turned off the shower before she grabbed her towel and wrapped it around herself.

Something was at work around them both, and although she couldn’t see it, she could feel it.

“But he’s your boss,” she whispered to herself as she began to dry herself and then reached for a smaller towel to wrap around her hair and head. “You need to stop thinking about him and imagining what could be. Nothing can happen.”

She rolled out her shoulders and took a deep breath.

Her mind was confused and she felt as if she needed to sleep all over again.

She had no idea what had happened to her, but she didn’t even pull on any clothes. She just climbed back into bed with the towels wrapped around her, and she fell soundly asleep.  

 

She awoke with a start and sat up in bed and gasped. The sun had gone down, and the streetlamps were on outside and were shining in through her window. She blinked and reached up to touch her head. She felt warm and finally awake, as if she had been released from her daze.

She looked down at herself and realized that she was still wearing the towel, but the one she had wrapped around her head had fallen off and her hair had dried naturally in long, curly waves.

She forced herself up and out of bed, and then she moved over to the window so she could look out onto Main Street. Snow was falling, and it looked fresh and alive out there.

She smiled.

Maybe she had just been so exhausted after everything that had happened that she had crashed and burned. She had slept but not soundly, and so it had made her even more tired and dazed. Now that she had used the day to sleep it off, she felt much better, and she was ready to go.

She reached onto the nightstand for her cellphone and checked the time. It was only just past five, so she had over an hour before she had to be back at the bar. She reached into one of her bags and pulled out a packet of chips and ate them quickly as she danced around on the spot and turned the heat up on the thermostat on the wall. The room was beginning to get cold, and she didn’t want to come back after her shift to a freezing bed.

She flicked on the TV and some of the smaller lamps on the dresser and side tables, before she opened up the closet and looked inside. The dress she had worn the night before was still clean, she had only worn it for a few hours, but she hadn’t felt as sexy or as alive as she wanted to feel when she stepped into that bar and began to work.

She wanted to command the room. She wanted everyone to notice her.

Or more specifically, she wanted Zeke to notice her.

She bit her lip and grinned as she reached into the closet and started to swipe through the hangers. She knew she had some vampy clothes in there somewhere, and she was determined to make the most of them.

She was working in a rock bar, why wouldn’t she want to look like she kicked ass?

Her hands stopped when she felt the familiar sheen of the fabric and she pulled the hanger out to reveal the top she had been keeping for a special occasion. She had only worn it once before and remembered the reaction she had stirred in some of the men that night too.

Her and her old friend had been out at a bar in the city, and she had worn the top because she had been feeling wild and free. It was black and slinky and it exposed her whole back. It was silky and demure and it made her feel like a real woman, the kind who was strong and empowered and who could take on the world. If she teamed it with a pair of her tight leather pants, and some killer heels, she knew she would be onto a winning look. Especially, with her hair acting so wild and untamed after she had let it dry naturally.

She grinned at herself as she slid into the outfit and stood back and looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror. She almost looked like another person, and she knew she was bound to inspire a reaction.

She fluffed up her hair with her fingers and applied some foundation, lip gloss, blush, and mascara, and then she packed her purse tight with her things before she slid in her cell phone and stepped toward the door. She pulled on her coat and her snow boots, while she tucked the heels into her purse, so she could slip into them once she arrived at work. She was going to grab coffee and muffins on the way from one of the vendors on the street, and she was going to soak up the nighttime atmosphere in the town. She didn’t know how she had managed to miss the entire day, but it wasn’t over yet… and she sure had enough energy now to make sure she made the most of the night ahead.