I threw up my hands and shouted, “Stop!”
To my surprise, he did.
Emboldened, I added, “That’s close enough. We’re not doing this again.”
Frost wafted from his enormous muzzle, chilling the air between us.
Are you ready to surrender then?he asked, his voice thundering in my head.
Anger coursed through my veins. I was tired and wanted restful sleep, not more of this bullshit. The gleam in his silver eyes promised a fight, and I couldn’t do it tonight.
I bit my hand.
The dragon roared.
Either pain, terror, or the taste of blood woke me. Trembling, I gasped for breath. Having a dragon roar in my face was a new and terrifying experience, one I never wanted to have again. Like before, it hadn’t felt like a dream, and I wanted to throat-punch my subconscious for summoning that asshole twice in a row.
Maybe I was going crazy.
The smell of copper focused my attention on my hand. I was bleeding. From my teeth marks. Which wasn’t at all how dreams were supposed to work. Was something else going on?
No, everything is fine. He must have cursed my dreams or something.
Could dragons do that? I had no idea. I’d just… never sleep again.
No big deal.
No, that was crazy. I cleaned up my already healing hand and returned to bed because I was a whole-ass adult. Whatever this was, I had to deal with it if it didn’t go away. I already had insomnia. I couldn’t fear sleep. I needed to be sharp to help my people through whatever came.
I lay down, closed my eyes, and meditated.
Darkness.
“This is bullshit,” I muttered, reaching for my daggers only to find that I was unarmed once again. “And unoriginal. God forbid you do anything to level the playing field.”
In answer, cold prickled my skin, and a thin layer of ice froze around me.
“That’s a dick move.”
This time, he appeared in his human form, shirtless and flawless. His muscles rippled, and I could only stare. If this bastard was about to kill me, at least I could enjoy the view.
Guilt pierced me, and I dropped my gaze. He was the enemy of my people. The dragon who promised to hunt me to the ends of the earth. I couldn’t lust after him; I needed to cut off his head. Which would prove difficult to do since he’d taken my daggers and trapped me in ice.
Pins and needles stabbed at my toes and fingers as they started going numb.
“Only a dream. Not real,” I muttered, searching for any cracks in the dragon’s reality that would help me distinguish truth from nightmare.
Dark, sensuous laughter rumbled from his chest. “Let me assure you, I am very real. My presence is no mere trick of the mind. I warned you that your theft would carry consequences, and here I am. Here I will stay until you throw yourself at my mercy.”
He could stay here as long as he wanted, because I sure wasn’t. I met his silver eyes and didn’t look away as I chomped down on my tongue.
Blood flooded my mouth, and the bizarre, dark world disappeared.
Waking up in my room, with the taste of copper on my tongue, I decided I’d had enough of dreams for the night. Giving up on sleep, I pulled off Mack’s T-shirt long enough to put on a sports bra, then added shorts and sneakers and headed to the gym.
I needed to get that damn dragon out of my head.
The pack had two gyms. The first was near the den's main entrance and was used by my packmates on a rotating schedule to prepare them for the upcoming war. The second, much smaller gym was located at the back of our underground city and held a single treadmill, a boxing bag, free weights, and balance beams. Rust had built it for my training, but I sometimes used it to coach Tali or spar with Mack.
