That and the fact he’d been able tocause her a bit of pain when he scratched her. He hated doing that,hated causing her even an ounce of pain, but he’d felt compelled toprove the truth. He could see in her pretty sapphire eyes that shestill thought she was dreaming.
She was wearing clothes, but he didn’trecognize them. Whenever she visited him in his dreams, she waseither blissfully naked or wearing hide clothing. She had on somekind of soft shorts and a sleeveless top. The mating tattoo wasidentical to his except the strokes and swirls were thinner andmore delicate on hers. Anyone who saw them would know they weremates.
They wouldn’t officially be mates—withher as his alpha counterpart—until he marked her with his fangs inher neck on the full moon before the ceremonial fire. Then they’dmake love and be bound together.
His cock went hard as he thought aboutbeing with her in the flesh. Finally! After so many years of piningfor her, she was here.
“Come back to bed. Lay withme, let me love you. For real this time.”
She wrenched her hands in her top andshook her head. “This is a dream. I’m going to wake up in thehotel. I’m going to wake up.”
She looked past him to the doorway,and he could see the wheels turning in her head. She was thinkingabout running.
“Don’t do it,Trin.”
She sucked in a breath at thenickname. She’d told him in one of their dreams that she never letanyone call her that, just him. He’d cherished thatknowledge.
“I’m dreaming,” she said,but the conviction was gone.
He could scent her fear, acrid andbitter, and his wolf snarled angrily. She wasn’t supposed to beafraid; she was supposed to be happy they were finallytogether.
He slipped from the bed slowly,attempting to position himself between her and the door. He wasfast, but she was faster, racing past him, her dark hair flying. Hechased her, marveling at how she knew exactly how to get to themain tunnel. She lost her footing on the soft sandy dirt at theentrance to the tunnel, but her determination was a thing of beautyand she charged up and out into the early morning.
“Trinity!” heroared.
She stopped so abruptly that shetoppled forward, landing on one knee. She hissed as she rose to herfeet and put her hand on her bleeding knee. “Damn it. I’m dreaming.Wake the hell up!” She shouted to the sky, as if the rising sun wasmysteriously in charge of bringing her to Wrath.
He stalked to her. “You’re hurt. Letme help you.”
She swallowed audibly. “No. Don’ttouch me. This is a dream.”
“You keep saying that, butI can scent you’ve lost your conviction. Now you just smell scared.There’s no way in hell you should feel that way around me.” He tookher hands. “It’s me, Trin. I’ve waited twelve years for you. Twelvefucking long years. I don’t know why you’re here or how ithappened, but you are, and I’ve never been happier.”
Tears slipped over her cheeks. “Why amI here?”
“I don’t know, but I’llthank whatever magic brought you here.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, andthen she lurched away from him, racing off into thewoods.
“No, Trinity! You can’tleave our territory, it’s too dangerous!” He lunged after her,surprised at how she dodged and ducked around the trees as if she’dplanted the forest herself. It wasn’t just that there werepurebreds on the hunt for him and his people who could harm her.The forest was guarded by the most dangerous monster evercreated—the Mytan. The fearsome beast was built like a huge horseand covered with white, black, and gray fur. His howl struck fearinto everyone who heard it.
And she was heading toward themountain range where his lair was.
“Trinity!” Wrath felt themagic of the forest descend on him, separating her from his view.She’d crossed through a magical path and it had distorted what hesaw. People who lived near the woods knew to avoid the magicalpaths, but Trinity was running in a panic and clearly didn’t knowwhere she was.
Wrath let out a deep howl, calling herback to him.
“Trinity!”
Chapter Six
Trinity heard Wrath following her, andshe knew the only way to get some distance between them and wakeherself up was to trip one of the magical paths that were strewnabout the forest. She ducked and dodged around the trees,instinctively knowing exactly where to go. She saw the glitterypale dirt of a magical path and stepped right on it, twisting herbare foot to dislodge the magic. She continued on her way, glancingover her shoulder. She couldn’t see Wrath, but she could see themagic that distorted everything behind her, and she knew she was onher own now.
Slowing her steps so she could catchher breath, she glanced overhead through the majestic trees to thesky. The night sky was slowly disappearing, pulled away by therising sun and changing the midnight blue to a medley of reds,oranges, and ambers. She stopped walking entirely and put her handson her hips, the slowly increasing light giving her an opportunityto fully look around. The forest was as beautiful as she’d imaginedwhen she wrote about it.
Dropping her head, she exhaled andtried to force herself to wake up.
The strange thing was thatshe felt like she was awake. Since she’d woken in bed with Wrath,everything had felt real and not at all like a dream. It wasimpossible, though. She hadto be dreaming. There was just no otherexplanation. It wasn’t like dreams just suddenly came to life, oras if she’d fallen into the pages of her books.
She slapped her cheek a few times, thesting making her eyes water.
“Damn it.”
This wasn’t possible. She wasn’t inher dream world; she was just exhausted from theconference.
She turned in a slow circle and sawnothing but trees. This was the first time she’d ever had a dreamwhere she ran away from Wrath. She’d always been happy to be by hisside, excited for their time together.
She ordered her subconscious to wakeup and let out a grunt when nothing changed. She wasn’t suddenly inthe hotel room with earbuds in her ears, Gloria snoring in the nextbed. The thought crossed her mind that she could maybe find a placeto sleep, and then
