Which might be me right now. I didn’t know I was so popular that even pickup artist groups have heard of me.
Next time, I won’t fall for the bait, and I’ll make sure I’m not caught off guard.
Dane moves the gun to my neck, giving me a look of warning. His thin black hair is swept off his sweaty forehead, and his eyes rake my body.
“I can’t wait to teach her a lesson.” He grins at his companions.
My eyes widen. I need more time to react, and the others are holding my legs as the guy with the gun slowly moves to kneel over my torso. I buck against him out of habit but feel the cold steel against my neck.
A part of me wonders if it could kill me since I’ve always been so strong and durable. More than the average human. I heal faster too.
But I’ve never wanted to try it. You can’t come back when something goes wrong with a gun.
I swallow nervously, trying to pull my hands and arms away, seeing if there’s any way to get the gun without alerting him and making it go off.
“You struggle anymore and I’m going to shoot you,” Dane says. His face is wild with hate and anticipation. “Ben’s my friend. You fucking bankrupted him. You deserve this, bitch.”
Then he leans down, his hand still over my mouth. “You are going to take this and you’re going to like it, and you’re not going to utter a fucking word, or I’m going to kill you, you hear me?” He slowly removes his hand. “Not one word.”
“Lorien,” I say, the word shooting out of me as if from nowhere. But am I crazy? There’s no fucking way he’ll hear me. If he even exists.
Shame is already rushing through me at my own stupidity as Dane covers my mouth again, then begins to fiddle with my zipper, urging the others to hold me down tighter as I start to fight.
If I have to, I’ll risk that gunshot. I won’t just let them do what they want.
But then, with a flash that lights up the night kind of like the first time I saw him, Lorien is there in all of his flaming glory. Wings in bright arcs, shining armor.
He spins around, and I note the exact second his eyes fall on me. Auroras swirl for a moment as he takes in the situation, and my attackers loosen their grip slightly to look up at him in shock.
“Does that dude have purple hair?”
“Nah, rainbow. There’s blue and shit in it.”
“Shut up,” Dane says, sounding half hysterical but thankfully paused in his perfidy. “Who the fuck is this?”
Lorien is just frozen there as if he can’t breathe or think.
The next moment, he snaps his fingers and says two words I don’t recognize.
Two men appear next to him, and I only have a second to take in how beautiful and tall and like him they are before he waves at me.
“Take her back to her place. Keep her safe. I’ll deal with this.”
“But, highness—”
“I’ll deal with it,” Lorien says, oddly sharp for his usually gentle voice. “Now go.”
Then, with another flash, Lorien disappears from sight, and all the men attacking me are gone as well.
It’s not as though I saw them get yanked away. They were simply there, and then they weren’t.
I blink as I start to sit up, heart pounding. There’s a gun on the ground. The alley still smells of fear.
I’d almost think none of this actually happened, but two men who are the weirdest I’ve seen since Lorien are looking down at me as if I’m some kind of alien frog.
“Uh…” I push myself to standing, ignoring one of their outstretched hands. “What’s going on right now?”
“You called Lorien,” the one with gorgeous, mermaid-teal hair says. His teal eyes match. He’s beautiful, maybe even more serenely beautiful than Lorien who leans more handsome, but they’re both so perfect it’s hard to compare.
Then again, the other guy is pretty perfect as well. He has hair that’s a dark reddish-maroon shade and wicked dark-red eyes that are still oddly kind. He has the hardest, most masculine features.
I’ve truly lost my mind. I was probably shot, and—
“Come,” the teal-haired one says. “We don’t have much time. Lorien will return soon.”
“So he can just hear me, like, wherever I am?” I ask, still dazed to not be murdered. I don’t know where everyone has gone.
“I’m Reve. This is Jerrek.” The teal-haired one nods to his friend who gives a wave.
“Nice to meet you,” Jerrek says, extending a hand, which I shake, feeling like I’m dreaming.
“So your place?” Jerrek asks, staring at me.
“Where is Lorien?” I ask. “Should we wait?”
“We were given orders,” Reve says. “Please let us escort you home.”
“Orders?” I stand, doing my zipper back up and still feeling dazed by everything that happened. “Lorien gives you orders?” I look around. “Where did those guys go? Where’s Lorien?”
“As king, it’s Lorien’s job to deal out punishment. Don’t worry, he’ll be back soon.”
I take a step back from them. “That’s not even close to what I’m worried about.” I put a hand to my head. “I’m guessing if I tell you to disappear, you aren’t going to listen.”
The one with mermaid hair shakes his head solemnly, then snaps his fingers, and the next thing I know, I’m back in my apartment, looking around my living room.
“You can go dress, clean up,” the one with red hair says, glancing awkwardly at my clothing.
“We’ll wait right here until Lorien comes.”
I shake my head. “No. I think I’m going to stay right here too.” I put my hands on my hips. Adrenaline is surging, my heart is still pounding, and even now, I can’t understand what made me call Lorien’s name.
He shouldn’t exist.
But ever since I saw him in that dream, there’s a part of me that couldn’t help but wonder.
I stare at the two tall, sparkling men in front of me and put up a hand to shield the glare from their armor. “Can you two, um, look more human or something?”
The mermaid one nods and turns into a man with short ash-brown hair, albeit the same teal eyes. He’s wearing a teal shirt and jeans. “How is this?” He gives me a sparkling smile, and his beauty is dazzling.
Wherever these guys come from produces very pretty men.
The other man still retains his maroon hair around his shoulders but is at least wearing normal clothing. A red tee shirt and jeans.
My heart feels like it’s about to explode. My stomach feels queasy. My mind can’t really comprehend this. But I can’t really brush this off as a hallucination anymore.
And they did save me.
It’s almost a relief to know I haven’t been crazy this whole time.
Unless I am, and I’m now seeing three of them.
“I’m Reve.” The one with teal eyes reintroduces himself, extending his hand. His entire bearing is polite and restrained, as if he’s a good person but holding something back.
“I’m Jerrek,” the one with red hair says. “Lorien’s second-in-command.”
Reve snorts. “That’s what you think.”
Jerrek just raises his chin haughtily.
“Second-in-command of what?”
“Our mission here,” Jerrek says, walking around me in a circle. “Hm, you don’t look like a dream fae.” He reaches to lift a lock of hair as Reve begins to circle also. “What an odd hair color.”
I bat his hand away, but they continue to circle. It doesn’t feel so much like being circled by wolves as it does by fairy godmothers.
Godfathers?
They step back, and Jerrek cocks his head curiously. “Is this your true form?”
“Excuse me?” I step back and slump down on the couch because I have no earthly idea what is going on right now.
“She doesn’t know anything, stupid,” Reve says gently, pulling over a chair to sit in front of me to look into my face. “Interesting eye color too.”
I put a hand up to bl
ock his view. “I’m not an animal in a zoo, guys.”
“Right,” Reve says, sitting back with folded arms. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too,” Jerrek says.
Then they both just continue to stare.
“What do you think was happening back there?” Reve asks. “What were those humans doing?”
Jerrek nods. “I’m interested as well. It’s odd how they just let warriors run around here, doing whatever they want. Apparently, stealing.”
“Stealing?”
“Yes,” Jerrek says. “Weren’t they trying to steal something?”
Reve goes a deep red. “Well, there’s one other option. But surely not. Something that barbaric couldn’t just… happen.”
“As barbaric as what? Sorry, I’m just so lost here,” I say.
Reve is violently red now. “Uh. That.” He looks at Jerrek for help. “You know what I mean.”
“Violation,” Jerrek says. “But that’s crazy. Who would do that in plain sight? Aren’t men punished?”
“Oh, you mean because they were trying to rape me?” I ask.
Both of them go pale as eggshells and totally still.
“She said it,” Jerrek says. “I’ve only seen that word in our history books.”
“What?” I ask. “Where on earth do you guys come from?”
“Not Earth,” Reve says. “Hasn’t Lorien told you anything?”
“No.”
Reve sighs, leaning back. “I wish he was here to do this.”
“It’s not really his fault,” Jerrek says. “Didn’t you keep trying to banish him?”
My turn to flush. “Yeah, because I thought I was crazy.”
“What’s crazy is this room,” Jerrek says, looking around. “Damn, the human realm is grosser than I thought.”
“Excuse me?” I ask, standing.
“No clouds anywhere,” Jerrek says. “That carpet is old and has dust mites. And that window there isn’t totally locked.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’m a dream fae,” Jerrek says. “I manipulate reality. To do that, I have to see it.”
“Dream fae? Fae like fairies?”
“All of us are,” Reve says, glancing at the window and waving a hand. I hear a crinkling noise and see the window sealant, which was worn and brown, renew and become white and fresh, sealing up the window.
“What? How did you do that?”
“Training,” Reve says. “All three of us were top in our training in restoration and repair.”
“Training? To seal windows?”
“To make things right,” Reve says, staring at me calmly. “I can see Lorien is going to have a hard time with you.” He smiles. “Not really a problem. He likes a challenge.”
“I hope my dream mate isn’t this stubborn,” Jerrek says, still glancing around my apartment dubiously. “I’d be offended if she really wanted to choose this over me.”
“I’m not choosing—wait, what? That stuff about Lorien loving only me, or me being his mate or whatever, that was real?”
They look at me like I’m speaking French.
“Of course it’s real,” Reve says. “Why else would we leave our realm to find you?”
Jerrek nods. “Lorien is made for you and you for him. He saw you a long time ago in our realm. All of us saw our mates there, but we couldn’t find them anywhere in the dream realm or the fae world.”
“And now you’re here.” I stare at them flatly, thinking that it’s a lot harder to think I’m hallucinating or banish these men when there are two of them.
And when Lorien just saved me.
My front door bursts open in that moment, and Lorien walks in, waving his hand to repair the broken hinges of the door as he goes by. It easily swings back into place as if commanded.
Now I’m standing across from this man who haunts my dreams and nightmares, and I have no idea what to say.
7
Tess
Lorien looks unlike I’ve ever seen him. His blue and rainbow-oil-slick hair is mussed and tangled, and his face looks a little more haggard. Lines under his eyes and an open, panting mouth complete the picture.
He looks at me, and his aurora eyes trace my entire body, only satisfied when he sees I’m safe.
“Lorien!” Jerrek hisses at him in a whisper. “Your illusions!”
Lorien straightens, turns away, and when he turns back, he looks as he always does. Smooth, glowing skin, gorgeous eyes, a face with calm composure.
“There,” he says. “Sorry you had to see that.” He brushes his hands off, looking tall and regal and so gorgeous I just want to run to him.
Especially after what just happened.
I have fought and hated men throughout my entire life.
But this one… this one fought the bad ones. And it doesn’t make me instantly like him. My heart is too hard for that. But it does make me think and makes it a little bit harder for me to brush him off.
“You’re okay, dream mate?” He cocks his head at me, then turns to the others. “Where is your armor?”
“We decided to try out human clothes!” Reve says, spinning in a circle and holding out his tee shirt. “They’re comfortable.”
“Indeed,” Jerrek says. “Your mate required that we change.” He smirks, and a lock of red hair falls over his face. “I suppose we are a bit intimidating in our armor.” He looks at me with a playful smile. “Three fae warriors in your living room. Lucky you.”
Lorien lets out a small growl as he looks at Jerrek. “What in the name of the Great Connector do you mean by that?”
Jerrek grins. “Hush, Lor. We’re helping you win your dream mate.”
“Don’t worry,” Reve says, making himself comfy as he plops on the couch. “We have mates of our own to pursue once Lorien’s mate pursuit is over.”
“Mate pursuit?” I raise my eyebrows, but just then, my couch makes an awful cracking noise, and Reve sinks into the seat, his expression startled.
He jumps up and looks behind him. “Tricks. What is this? A trap?”
I stifle a giggle but am distracted by Jerrek picking up an old pizza box off the table, then a crumpled napkin off the ground.
“What kind of decorations are these?” Jerrek asks. His nose wrinkles. “They are stinky.”
I run forward and grab the trash out of his hands, embarrassed to be caught in my apartment at the best of moments.
But right now is far from the best of moments.
Dang it, why don’t I clean more often? Somehow, I’ve just gotten used to working, eating, leaving the trash, and going to bed.
I don’t think my heart has energy for more. It hasn’t for a long time.
Lorien walks forward and waves a hand, and all trash and containers lift off of the floor and table and move into a ball, rotating in the air as he studies it. Then he walks to the trash can, hits the lever with his foot, and lets the rubbish fall into it.
He sends me a cocky grin as the lid slams shut.
“Well done, your majesty!” Reve says, clapping eagerly.
“As expected of our king,” Jerrek says, nodding sagely. “You located the correct receptacle and—”
“I can pick up my own trash!” I blurt out, frustrated and embarrassed.
Lorien straightens slowly, and as his eyes narrow on me, there’s a fire I have never seen before. “Now you listen to me. I have tried to respect your wishes, dream mate. I have tried to keep my distance and give you time. I have tried to let you wallow in the misery you insist on, but I won’t any longer—”
“But why—”
“Because I had to walk in on you and find you nearly raped!” he yells, his hands clenching into fists. “Had I known your world was this savage, I never could have left you at all, not from the moment I found you. I will not watch that again. I will not stand the pain of knowing it could happen.”
“But—”
He puts up a hand. “So here is my offer. I will stay here. I will sleep on the floor i
f I have to. I will clean and cook and make your life go smoothly if that is all you will let me do. But I will not, I repeat, not leave you alone again.”
My heart is thrashing. I don’t want this man in my home. I don’t want to depend on anyone. I don’t want—
“I will never hurt you, soul bond,” he says. “Never, I swear on my life.”
“It would be opposite to everything we have trained to do,” Reve says. “You will not find Lorien an imposition.”
“Trained?” I ask.
Jerrek laughs. “Wow, you really don’t know anything.” He looks at Lorien. “Are you sure this is her?”
The look Lorien sends him is harsh enough to make a shark turn around mid-charge.
“Right, right,” Jerrek says. “So should we leave you two alone?”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “No. Look, I get that you were scared, Lorien, and—”
“Not scared, furious,” Lorien says, folding his impressive arms, which clink since he’s still wearing armor. “Scared is what I would be if you forced me to leave.”
“I mean, if you’re that worried, can’t I just agree to call your name again?”
Lorien shakes his head. “Not now that I know the darker secrets of your world.”
“Secrets?”
“That warriors are committing acts like rape unpunished,” Lorien says.
I put my hands on my hips. “Well, not always unpunished. But yeah, unpunished a lot. But that happens everywhere.”
All three dream fae audibly gasp. Jerrek has a hand on his chest, looking utterly offended.
“Not in the dream realm,” Reve says firmly, stepping forward. He looks at Lorien. “At least honor her request for all of us to look more normal. This is hard for her, after all. As shocked as we are by her world, she is shocked by ours as well.”
“Good point,” Jerrek says.
Lorien glowers but then shakes his head, and in a puff of sparkling dust, he appears in a new form.
His hair is coal black and falls over his forehead. His face is the same, handsome and sharp. His shirt is blue, and he’s wearing black jeans.
He looks even more devastatingly handsome this way, his hard muscles outlined so well by the soft clothing that he could almost be naked.
Sweet Dreams Page 6
