Quicksilver Dreams (Dreamwalkers) (10 page)

He was coming! He was going to kill me!

All I heard was the ferocious pounding of my heart in my ears. It roared a freight train through my skull until all I was aware of was the sound of my own screams.

“Wake up.” A hand shook my shoulder roughly. I came to in a fetal position and sat up with a gasp to see Ryder’s angry face inches from my own.

“No!” I scuttled back, stopping only when I hit the wall behind me, clutching the sheet to my body as though for protection. I looked around, not recognizing where I was. There were no furnishings, the walls were bare and the closet was open, with men’s clothing folded inside. I squinted my eyes against the early-morning light that fell through the window. Ryder stood up, looked down at me with impatience.

A dream? Yeah. A dream. Okay. I released pent-up breath slowly, still breathing roughly, trying to get my bearings. Pretty fucked-up dream. The fear started to fade, and my breath grew less tremulous. Pushing the hair off my forehead, I noticed my hands were trembling and had the absurd urge to giggle. If he only knew what I’d just dreamed. Shit. He made for a scary monster.

Ryder was wearing his pants from the previous night, but they weren’t completely buttoned and hung precariously on his lean hips. They hung open just enough to leave an interesting V shape over his exposed skin. He obviously worked out to get the hard ridge of muscles. Lord. Even as my heart calmed and my breathing became more even, I couldn’t help but be intrigued by the sight. The man was out and out too sexy by far.

“You’re at my place.”

“I am.” I agreed, somewhat foggily. “Why?”

“Your place was robbed.”

“It was?” It was. Now I remembered. He saw the resignation on my face and must have correctly interpreted it, because he didn’t respond to my question. Shoving my face into my hands, I groaned. “This has been a creepy couple of days.”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet.” His expression was unreadable. “So who do you work for?”

I looked up at him, wide-eyed, trying to comprehend what he was saying with a suddenly eerie tingling over my body. Wasn’t I awake? Was this going to be one of those screwy you-thought-you-were-awake-but-you’re-not dreams? “What did you say?”

“I’m taking up where I left off. Who do you work for?”

Fear swamped my body like a heavy blanket. “But that’s impossible.”

“You dreamwalked.”

“What
is
that? You keep
saying
that!” I could hear my voice getting louder as, once again, alarm set in. I stood quickly, my back to the wall, dragging the sheet with me like armor.

“Where’s the fucking mylunate, Taylor? You have no idea the power you hold!”

“Oh, my God. You were really in my dream. You had those demon eyes.” I watched him at the same time I wrapped the sheet around me, tucking the ends in front of me. I could feel my panic mounting.

“Correction,” he snapped. “
You
were in
my
dream.”

“That’s not possible! People can’t just do that! And you became a
monster!
You were going to
kill
me!” I could feel myself losing it. Horror was setting in. My eyes whipped around the room looking for a weapon, a window, anything. I started edging along the wall toward the door. Only quick breaths were coming in and going out. My body was screaming for flight.

“You can do anything in dreams.” He flared his nostrils, his face set in fierce lines.

“I don’t understand this! Any of it. I don’t know who you are or what you want, but I’m going home!”

I dashed for the door.

Ryder caught me around my ribs. His powerful arms halted my forward motion midstride, my breath exiting in a sudden hiss. He pulled me back against the rock wall of his chest, and then it was on! I fought for my life. I elbowed his gut and heard a deep grunt. I reached backward to scratch at his eyes, but his arms repositioned to bind mine to my sides. I tried to head-butt him in the chin and kicked at his shins, which had him growling deep in his chest but did little if any damage, because the damn sheet hampered me!

“You’re going to hurt yourself,” he snarled in my ear. He was just too big and too strong. He was nearly wrapped around me, and I could feel him overpowering me with sheer strength.

“Let me go.” I bent over and tried to bite his arm.

“Dammit!” he thundered, and he loosened his grip. I stomped his bare toes with my heel and lunged for the door as he hollered, but he was standing on my sheet, which thwarted me again. During my moment of hesitation, he tackled me to the bed and pinned me with his body.

“Get off me. You are absolutely crazy. This is kidnapping. You’re holding me against my will.” The weight of his chest alone had me pinned helplessly to the mattress, but I still tried to kick him off.

“Hush up.”

“I want to go home.” We were both breathing heavily as he wrestled my legs between his own, binding them tightly so I couldn’t move.

“Not until we settle this.”

“Settle what? What is there to settle? You’re some weird superhuman freak, and I want you to leave me alone.” But he wasn’t even listening. He was talking to himself.

“A ring, piercing... I need to find it,” he muttered. Putting both of my wrists into one of his large hands, he held them down above my head with little effort, though I struggled to get them free.

With his free hand he gently checked my lobes, my fingers, my neck, my wrists, but found nothing. He even went so far as to check my mother’s charm bracelet carefully. Then he pulled the sheet aside and in a single motion yanked my T-shirt up and away from my breasts. I gasped, shocked motionless, staring down at them, bare to the sunlight slanting through the window.

“What the hell are you doing? You goddamn perv!” My nipples puckered with sudden exposure, but missing whatever he was looking for, his eyes continued south. Mortified, I snarled, “Is this how you get your kicks? Get off me! Let me go!”

“It has to be here,” he said in a steely voice.

He looked down at my belly button, just above my floral cotton thong. I was lacking whatever item was on his scavenger-hunt list and his eyes traveled back up.

“Where is it?” he growled.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” I yanked on my wrists angrily, which only made my breasts sway under his sharp eyes.

That’s when things changed.

Caught by the movement of my breasts, his eyes dropped to them. They lingered reluctantly. Heated against his will. He wanted to fight his attraction to me but couldn’t, which suddenly had that absurd heat curling in my lower abdomen again. What was that? Was that my own heart fluttering in response? Was he going to touch me?

The thought was making my blood thicken, which was really confusing, considering I thought he’d been trying to kill me in my dream. My sense of helplessness and naïveté infused the strange energy swirling between us. Reluctantly, Ryder pulled the T-shirt back down over my breasts and took a deep breath.

As I thought about it, he’d only been trying to contain me in this physical scuffle. He’d been trying
not
to hurt me.

His eyes turned angrily impatient, as though he’d caught himself doing something he wasn’t supposed to. He looked into my eyes searchingly and snarled, “Open your mind.”

“What? What does that even mean?”

“You built a wall in your mind. A brick wall. Tear it down.”

“A wall?” I flashed back to the previous night, when I’d been at the club with all the voices swarming in my brain. I’d looked at the wall and imagined it containing the noise. I could see the wall in my mind when I shut my eyes. Holy cow! That was some serious
Twilight Zone
shit. But how could he see it?

“Make it go away,” he commanded. “I need to trust you again.”

“Trust me? Really? Why should I care if you trust me?” I was untrustworthy? Why? What had I ever done but work my ass off just to stay afloat? The insults were just adding up to one big hurt, and I glared up at him, fighting tears. I couldn’t find a guy who was normal. Noooo. I had to find a guy who could read minds or go into people’s dreams or some shit like that. I had to find the guy who thought I was some kind of...I didn’t even know. I had really liked him too. It hurt to feel stupid. I had no idea who he thought I was or what he thought I was doing, except that it was somehow really bad.

“Do it!” he said harshly, his lips set in a severe line.

I stared at him a moment, wondering when my world was going to right itself again. Then I closed my eyes, feeling deep sadness, and imagined a stick of dynamite in the wall. Might as well break it down in style, right? It went off and the bricks blew satisfyingly into smithereens. I opened my eyes again and met his intense green stare. He looked searchingly at me, and I suddenly thought about how Cynthia had done that every so often over the last year. Was she able to read minds too?

That cold feeling of dread poured through me. I suddenly just...knew. She’d had access to my mind and never said anything to me. Did she think I was a criminal of some sort too? Why had she become my “friend”? What the hell was going on here? Nick, Cynthia and Ryder were all in this together.

I felt like such a fool: embarrassed that perfect, straight-as-an-arrow Cynthia had possibly been rolling her eyes at my naïveté when I had truly considered her my friend, sorrowful that my insulated world was cracked and no longer a place of comfort and well-being, hurt that I’d been so dumb as to believe things could all work out for a girl like me with a guy like Ryder. Not that I was picking out china patterns or anything, but just some normal dating kind of stuff with a guy I was attracted to would’ve been nice. Stupid, stupid, stupid. When could I go lick my wounds?

She had probably been pretending, just like lover boy here. Boy, I could really pick the people in my life, couldn’t I? Were they some hidden sect of society that was all secretive that we regular, stupid humans weren’t even aware of? Were they the all-powerful mind-reading sect who would one day take over the world?

“No, we aren’t going to take over the world,” Ryder said. He sounded tired. His body seemed drained of energy, and he rested his head on my forehead with his eyes closed, as though the act of delving into my mind had sapped some of his energy. “I had to know.”

“Am I in the clear?” I asked sarcastically.

“I still don’t know how you did it, but you’re in the clear.”

“I’ve never even heard of that stuff, of course, being from the trailer park. We don’t get no book learnin’ ’bout no scientifical stuff.”

“I’m so tired of this war,” he murmured, more to himself. “Mylunate has been the source of our growth as a culture, but it’s also been the cause of so many of my people dying in war.”

“Yeah. Whatever. I don’t even know what you’re talking about. Next you’re going to tell me you’re from another planet.” I tugged at my wrists. He still wouldn’t let them loose.

“Taylor—” His deep voice was like sandpaper. Remorse and confusion tinged his proud features, along with lines of strain around his eyes and by his mouth. “I thought you were one of them. Betrayal and treason have become part of the water I swim in. You don’t understand what’s going on, but in time I’ll be able to explain.”

His eyes were suddenly so soulful and...sad. No, no, no. I couldn’t let him do this to me. I wanted to stay mad. I couldn’t be vulnerable to him. I needed to strengthen my resolve.

“Just, please...trust me? There are lives at stake. Please know that there are reasons beyond what you understand. This isn’t about you.” He watched for my reaction as though it somehow mattered. I squeezed my eyes shut, frustration washing over me. Against my will, my brain latched on to his request.

Trust. He wanted me to trust him. Was he trustworthy? He’d helped me at the club the other night with the guy and the roving hand, and he’d gone into my apartment for me, not even knowing if he was going into a dangerous situation. When I really looked up into his eyes, there was pain there. It wasn’t just that I saw the pain, but somehow I could feel it, and it was deep and dark. He seemed lost.

There it went. Done. My heart softened. I released a quivery breath and looked at him again.

Just like that, I felt the need to soothe those lines of worry, kiss them away and tell him I wasn’t one of the ones who would betray him. The sigh came from deep within my soul, filled with resignation.

And so began the stupid melting process.

Anyone can do anything to me, and if they’re sorry for it, I let them have another go at hurting me some more. Pretty sick, isn’t it? Always looking for approval from someone. It’s part of what makes me so dysfunctional and pathetic.

“It’s part of what makes you beautiful,” he said in his deep, growly voice, reading my surrender. My startled eyes flew to his.

Oh, yeah. He could read my mind now.

And it was kind of sexy how he just did that.

An awareness of his body pressed against mine started the butterflies in my lower regions. The sweetest desire settled over me with gentle shivers and a slow simmer in private places. I breathed in the newness of it, unable to break from his pale eyes. The veins of gold that braided through the green grew darker. They flared with heat. They turned hungry as he inhaled sharply, his nostrils flaring.

Gone was the evil, frightening man, and in his place, with a sexy morning shadow across his cheeks and chin, was Ryder the predator, looking as though he was going to devour me. Tingling warmth rushed through my veins in anticipation.

“Ryder,” I whispered, feeling helpless against my physical reactions. My body was at odds with itself. I wanted to be angry, but I also wanted to rub naked against him, like a cat in heat, taste his skin and lose myself in sensations I’d never before experienced.

He bent to my neck and took a nibbling bite that had me gasping as his rough whiskers moved gently against my skin, setting off little bombs of sensation as he went.

“Smell so good,” he rasped softly.

“Ryder...” I whispered, having trouble speaking.

“So soft,” he murmured in his deep voice. “I often dream of this.” His whiskers tickled my neck more, sending shivers down to my breasts. My nipples were suddenly stiff and aching to be touched.
Touch me.