by Meg Xuemei X
A smile floated to my lips. “That’s flattering, but I think this is the first time I’ve met you. Uh, do you have a name?”
Maybe I should also ask for his number and then get a phone.
“You don’t remember me?” he asked.
My face sank a little. I would curse the universe if it had created such an utterly gorgeous man but made him a loony or a creep or something worse.
“Maybe you’ve mistaken me for someone else?” I asked before a new swirl of dismay swelled in my chest. If he mistook me for another girl, then I wasn’t the one he was waiting for and eager to see. Then I had no business here.
He laughed sensually. “Come here, lamb. Last time we didn’t get to talk.” His laugh dropped, and his voice turned into dark silk. “Some force pulled you out of my dream too fast, and I wasn’t pleased.”
What he said didn’t make sense. But then this was a dream, as he’d announced.
My body urged me to go to him, but I stood my ground and narrowed my eyes, still surreptitiously ogling him. “I’m not a lamb. You need to correct your mistake.”
He sighed. “Fine, Marigold.”
I sucked in a breath, happy that I wasn’t the wrong girl who crashed this party.
The beautiful man rose from his chair as if impatient that I didn’t move to him as fast as he’d demanded. Before I made another step, he’d reached my side. His arm lashed out and snuck around my waist.
The next moment, we were on the balcony with me in his lap and my shirt nowhere to be found.
This relationship had developed super fast. Before I even knew his name, I was already cuddled with him, topless.
“I can’t wait to touch you again,” he said, snuggling his nose against my neck as he inhaled my scent.
He smelled of clean male and dirty sex mixed with cinder and night. His scent caressed me, arousing me out of my mind.
I traced my fingers along the ridge of his defined muscles before I pressed my breasts against his hard chest.
I wanted to know how it felt to be skin on skin with him.
He chuckled in lustful amusement, his massive erection throbbing against my butt through his trousers. The uncontrollable desire to tear his pants off and have his large, hard cock inside my heat assaulted me so hard I almost reached for his pants.
Wait a second!
I blinked, trying to regain some control. I didn’t want to be perceived as a savage by this lovely man. Maybe I should slow down. But what if the dream ended abruptly before I could enjoy this man?
Yet I shouldn’t be so willing and eager to get it on with a stranger like this, even in a dream, right?
“What’s the matter, lamb?” he asked, genuine concern in his eyes. “You get this pouty look when you’re worried. What’s bothering you? You know you can talk to me.”
My chest warmed. He wanted to talk instead of having his way with me right away, and he wanted to know my problems.
“I got into this new school by accident,” I said, twirling his silky hair around my finger. “Everyone there knows their place and which house they belong to, except me. No one knows what I am or what kind of power I have. Everyone got their powers upgraded but I just got burned. I’m a freak.”
I thought of all the runes dancing across my body, then disappearing under my skin, never to surface again, like golden coins falling to the bottom of the deep sea.
“Nonsense,” he said, his sapphire eyes warm and loving. “You aren’t any sort of freak. You’re the woman of my dreams.”
I gave him a bright smile with a genuine ease I never felt with anyone else.
“You have the best smile in the universe,” he said, his thumb tracing my lower lip indulgently.
“I know,” I said. “It’s only for you.”
He was the nicest dream man, and it was so easy to talk to him. If everyone in reality was even a little like him, the world would have more peace and less violence and death.
“I won’t share you,” he said. “You’re mine.”
Aha, my dream man was possessive, which wasn’t going to work well since he couldn’t have me outside of this dream. However, I didn’t want to say anything that might upset him and spoil our beautiful moment.
“I don’t even know if I have magic or not,” I said. “Maybe I do, but it doesn’t seem like it wants to be discovered. I don’t blame it. I don’t trust those people in the school either. They only want to turn me into a killer. That’s all we are to them—killing machines.” I untangled my finger from his hair and pressed my palm against his face.
He leaned into my touch, cherishing it.
His skin felt so warm, and his stubble pricked against the heel of my palm. This dream was amazingly realistic with all its scents and textures.
“The three big assholes who rule the school and half of the world can’t figure out me or my powers,” I babbled, grateful that he was still listening attentively. “I love how it frustrates them. They don’t like mystery. They don’t like the unknown. Yet I’ll remain one, and that’s my poetic justice.”
“However,” my grin waned, “I’m a bit concerned that if my power doesn’t manifest soon, or if I’m really a dud, they’ll have no use for me. They’ll get tired of me and my attitude, and then they’ll snap their thick, rude fingers and dispose of me. I bet one of them has already imagined erasing me from the face of Earth. I irked him pretty hardcore.”
“No one will touch you,” he snarled. “You’re mine. I won’t allow anyone to hurt you, even in a dream. I’ll slay them all.”
His wings whooshed out aggressively.
“Uh, thank you,” I said. It felt nice that he was so protective of me, even it was in a dream. When it ended, he would disappear.
But then how come we both realized that this was a dream?
Wasn’t that a bit bizarre?
Or maybe it wasn’t a dream after all, but we’d met in an alternative universe?
Man, I didn’t want to leave this reality. I didn’t want to wake up from it.
“Thank you for listening to me,” I said. “I’ve been whining a lot lately, which isn’t my usual style. From now on, I won’t bitch. Ever. I’ll stay positive for you.”
Mostly for my own sanity.
“That’s my lamb,” he said in approval as his eyes grew hooded from desire.
His mouth slanted onto mine.
He’d held back for so long to listen to my problems. A good man was rare these days, so I needed to cherish him.
But at this point, we both needed some hot, naked action.
His large hands roved over my sides, moving up my chest. I moaned against his lips when his palm cupped my swelling breast.
His tongue thrust through my parted lips, sweeping over my hard palate.
Pleasure buzzed all over me in tingling sensations.
My tongue caught his, tangling in an elegant, intriguing dance.
It felt so natural being with this gorgeous, winged being this way. Like we were meant to be together.
He let out a low groan, tearing his lips from me. His sapphire eyes shone brightly, filled with starlight. “You’re the only woman I can touch, even in a dream,” he said gently yet full of awe. “But even if I could touch another, I’d rather have you here in my dreams than any other woman in real life.”
How could he have a real life? He was a fabricated character in my fantasy. But I had no time to dwell on logic while I was busy pulling him back toward me as I threaded my fingers into his lush hair.
I didn’t want him to escape.
“Aren’t you possessive and impatient tonight, lamb?” he chuckled, his voice husky and so sexy it sent liquid fire licking between my thighs.
“I want to touch you everywhere at once, lamb, and I don’t even know where to begin,” he said, his French accent thickening with lust. “You set my cock on fire.”
Hell have mercy!
I crushed my lips against his.
Our tongues entwined, dueled, and danced.
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A firestorm burned through us both, connecting us.
His hand moved down, tracing my warm skin. Pleasure stoked more flames within me at his every hungry stroke.
I rocked my ass against his erection.
A rough groan sounded from the back of his throat.
“I never knew touching a woman could be so delicious and addictive,” he said. “You’ll be my woman forever, lamb.”
He heaved me up with one hand, and his finger rubbed my sex back and forth before sliding between my folds.
I leaned back to give him more room to play with me. Here in this beautiful dreamscape, I’d let him do anything to me.
His finger thrust slowly into me as he studied my reaction intently, like I was his new addiction—his whole world.
My inner walls clenched around his finger.
“It feels so good.” I threw my head back and moaned. “And don’t stop. Never stop.”
He thrust deeper into me.
In and out and in with a smooth rhythm.
It didn’t take long for him to insert a second finger into my tight channel and thrust more urgently.
I cried out as pleasure blasted through me, lighting up my every cell.
I wanted this mystical man more than anything.
I wanted his cock to replace his fingers so I could ride every inch of its hard length.
I propelled my hips forward to ride his fingers first, and he let out a string of lustful curses.
Unable to rein himself in any longer, the sexy hunk dropped his trousers, and I looked down at his cock—smooth, tanned, and huge. It was the most striking sight.
For a second, I hesitated. Would it fit? He was so big and I was tight.
I shook my head, determined not to worry about his size. We could make anything happen because everything could work in a dream.
I planted my hands on his shoulders and rubbed my sex along his hard length.
“Do you want my cock, lamb?” he asked.
He’d observed my every move in fascination, but the hungry way I stared at his manhood brought a smile of utter male satisfaction to his gorgeous face.
“More than anything,” I purred breathlessly.
I hadn’t known that I had this sultry side in me. I could be full of surprises, and this time it was in a good way.
An animalistic groan rumbled from his chest, arousing me even more.
His hands gripped my hips, lifting me up as if I were feather light. He placed his steel rod between my thighs and pushed me down.
I glided down and he thrust up, until we completely joined.
We then remained still, savoring and celebrating this incredible feeling of intimacy and connection.
He started moving slowly, letting me adjust to his size.
I lost patience first. I wanted more of him—all of him. I heaved my hips up and down, sliding along his rock-hard length. I wasn’t sure if I was doing it right, but it felt right, and we both panted in pleasure.
Bliss darkened his sapphire eyes, and unbridled lust twisted his face.
He gripped my hip with one hand as he thrust into me, faster and faster; his other hand buried into my lavender hair.
“Let me do the work and pleasure you, lamb.” He breathed into my lips. “You just enjoy. I need to take care of you.”
He bucked his powerful hips up and thrust deeper into me, his raw sexual need slamming into me, grinding me.
His every inch filled my heated channel, and my depths swallowed every part of his manhood.
My breasts bounced up and down as we joined, parted for a second, and slammed back together.
A knot slowly unwound in me, and I only now realized that I’d been so tense for so long.
His lust, warmth, and scent wrapped around me like a melody from the sky, the ocean, and the depths of Earth.
He thrust into me, harder and faster, sending waves of pleasure washing over every part of my body. I wanted to cling to this sensation forever.
Another series of hard thrusts, and his cock grew even larger and harder inside me.
I moaned. He let out a low, guttural sound, his rhythm growing blindingly fast.
For a long moment, we didn’t speak as he pounded into me relentlessly and I plunged from the tip to the hilt of him with equally bruising force.
“My woman, my lamb,” he murmured, lust changing him, making him an erotic god. “You were made for me to find and pleasure in this pure ecstasy of my dreams.”
“This is actually my dream,” I said between breathless moans.
He ignored my correction and commanded. “Come to me in my dreams every night, lamb, and let me fuck you until dawn.”
I squeezed him. My inner walls clenched every inch of his shaft.
He hissed in pleasure.
His velvet black wings came forward and wrapped around me in protectiveness and possessiveness as our rhythm became erratic with his accelerated thrusts.
Pleasure tossed me to the heavens, and something inside me completely loosened or snapped.
The glowing runes—all twelve of them, symbolizing the powers of the twelve major gods—swirled on my torso like a star chart of the galaxies.
I felt everything inside me—ice, wind, firestorms, lightning, harvest, death, birth, and darkness—racing to the surface.
It was chaos, then order, then chaos again.
I threw my head back as I pounded against him mercilessly.
Claim me. Take all I have.
I felt new. I felt like a whole new universe.
He stared at me in utter shock with his remarkable, sapphire eyes.
His sensual lips parted. “Marigold, what—”
A magical wind swept by, tearing me off him right before I climaxed in waves of wild passion.
“Marigold, wake up,” someone called urgently.
~
“What the fuck?” I flashed open my eyes and pushed down my flying fist before it rammed into Yelena’s worried, kind face.
I groaned. “Damn, girl.”
She’d just dragged me away from the sexiest man and hottest action with her terribly timed wakeup, and I’d been one breath away from having the first and best orgasm of my life.
Yelena’s gray eyes stared down at me. “Class starts in twenty minutes, Marigold! You need to get up.”
I sighed. She cared. She was a good friend.
“You go, pip,” I told her. “I’ll sleep just a little longer.”
“Are you crazy?” she squirmed and flashed the class schedule in front of my one squinted eye.
8:00 AM: Cardio and weight training
9:30 AM: Olympian glory and history
10:30 AM: Combat techniques
12:00 PM: Lunch
1:30 PM: Weapons training
3:00 PM: Magic training
I was so not looking forward to any of those classes, especially after the dream I’d had. And for crying out loud, why should I give a damn about the Olympian gods’ glory? Weren’t they full of themselves?
“Our first class starts at eight,” Yelena repeated. “It’s seven-forty now. You don’t want to leave a bad impression and start off on the wrong foot in a military academy, believe me.”
What if I just missed a few classes? What was the big deal?
What could they do to me?
Kick me out of the Academy?
Peachy! That would be like a dream come true.
Thinking of dreams, I wanted more than anything to return to the one I’d been torn away from.
“Don’t worry, pip.” I lied. “You go, and I’ll catch up with you. I’ll get up in ten minutes, and I’ll run all the way to class.”
“Do you even know where the class is?”
“Like a map on the back of my hand.”
She gave me one last uncertain, worried look. “Your face is all flushed. Are you okay?”
I pulled the blanket over my cheeks.
Yelena’s footsteps retreated, and I glanced around to find that all the o
ther girls had left before her.
Please, let me go back to that dream, I prayed to an imaginary higher force. Let my dream lover wrap his black, silky wings around me one more time, and I’ll promise to be on my best behavior for a week.
I snuggled my nose deeper into the pillow.
Dream now, I commanded and hoped for the best.
I’d try anything to go back to him, to finish what we’d started, even though we’d have to say goodbye eventually.
I didn’t find him.
I don’t know how much time had passed when an icy dampness sank into my bones. Chunks of ice floated above my face, and the air was cut off from my water-filled lungs.
This wasn’t the dream I sought.
I fought to breathe, to wake up, only to have more cold water pour into my mouth and down my throat.
Shit! Shit!
I snapped open my eyes, and to my horror, water flooded my bunk, encasing me like an ice coffin. This wasn’t merely a bad dream.
Ice cubes floated above my face.
How could this happen in reality?
Was this an aftereffect of the ritual? I’d experienced the burn of the fire. Now must I freeze to death to finish the cycle? That ritual was a bitch!
I yelped for strength, threw the drenched covers off me, and leapt out of the soaked bed.
Then I realized I was completely naked, standing on my bare feet on the wet, cold ground.
I usually slept naked. Clothes irritated my skin.
“Now you’re swift,” Paxton said lazily, savoring the moment.
It all clicked.
Only the Demigod of Sea could pull this amount of water out of nowhere and force the currents to fly through the air like that.
I swept my furious gaze around the room and spotted him leaning against the column of a bunk. He wasn’t wearing armor but dressed in a gray button-up shirt with black pants.
The Demigod of Sea might be sexy as fuck in the early morning, but I saw red, even though lust still lingered in my veins from the erotic dream. My anger spiraled higher when I registered that he enjoyed watching me shudder with cold.
He gave my nudity an intentionally slow once-over, meant to insult and irk me, yet he couldn’t hide the heat in his violet eyes.
