Chapter Thirty-One
“SOOOO...” FRANK CLICKED HIS PEN BEFORE tapping it against his clipboard. “I have good news and bad news.”
The video of what happened when Rook and I kissed and fell into the dreamscape played for the fourth time. Turned out, they hadn’t cut the feed and...I was glad.
I’d been curious about what happened and now, I knew.
“What’s the good news?” Dillon slouched against the wall with Whisper sprawled by his feet. It seemed Whisper had officially accepted the damn man into our little pack, and I didn’t know how I felt about that.
Most of me was jealous. But...the other less selfish part was grateful.
I didn’t want Whisper to be lonely. And the reality was, my cat would soon be very lonely if we couldn’t figure out how to stop dying.
Stop it.Rook’s voice blared into my head.If you keep thinking about Whisper being left behind, I’m going to burst into tears and freak everyone out.
A tragic smile twitched my lips as I reached for her hand where she sat beside me on the black leather couch in Frank’s office.
We’d only woken an hour or so ago, and according to Frank, who sat on the edge of a matching black chair—jiggling his leg and pressing rewind on the remote like it was hiding secrets he desperately needed to know—we’d been unable to be roused forover thirty-seven hours.
The moment we’d returned from the dreamscape, he’d dragged us to his personal office where he’d ordered us to have a shower, change into a spare set of clothes, and had presented trays and trays of food—trying to find something to entice us—only for it to make us retch.
It was official.
The thought of puttinganythingin my mouth that wasn’t Rook made my stomach twist violently with disgust.
“The good news is...” Frank sniffed and stopped jiggling his leg. “The good news is there is clear evidence that whatever you’re doing in the dream world is affecting you in the real world. See?” He pressed play, watching as I dragged Rook to the bed, cupped her cheek and kissed her.
The second our lips connected, we collapsed into two unmovable corpses.
For a couple of minutes, nothing happened. We just looked dead. But then...frost slowly glimmered over Rook and fire smoked over me. Our skin began to glow from within, icy blue and cherry red, making the room brighter and brighter.
The entire space was engulfed in light as silver and gold erupted from our hearts, wrapping around each other like vines. The vines continued to weave around us until it trapped us in a chrysalis, pulsing with energy and light.
The camera feed hissed with static.
It continued recording, but...we only grew lighter and brighter. The camera broke with a loud pop. The screen went black.
Frank paused the recording yet again and leaned back in the chair. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Dillon cleared his throat. “So...you just slept for almost two full days? You didn’t actually do anything?”
Rook’s cheeks went pink as a highlight reel unspooled in my head, remembering how many times I’d fucked her. Missionary and doggy-style, cowgirl and sixty-nine. We’d stopped counting at eight...
Her eyes met mine, heated with that delicious silver ring.
If you keep looking at me like that, Rook, I’ll have you back on your knees again.
She shifted on the couch.
Whisper went to her, no doubt smelling her arousal just like I could.
Yet another ‘gift’ from my rapidly changing body. Her scent had always been strong to me, but now...now I could smell the fluctuations of her mood and heart just as easily as Ifelther.
“You’re doing it again,” Dillon muttered. “Stop talking like that. It’s rude.”
Rook laughed quietly. “You were the one who asked a stupid question. We can tell you exactly what we got up to if you want.”
“God, spare me.” Heading to the desk in the corner, he flung himself onto the computer chair. “I’ll just pretend you had a good long nap.”
