Page 3 of Awakened By Her Guardian

Her gaze flicked to the street behind him and to her night’s work of good dreams, destroyed in an instant. Damn, he was powerful.

“What do you want?” she asked, full of ire and wishing she had a taser or some bear mace. Or pointy boots she could kick him with before making a quick getaway.

“I’ve come with an offer.”

“I don’t think so.”

“You haven’t even heard it,” he said, his lips curling at the corner in a slow smirk.

“Not interested.” She prepared to open a portal to get the heck away from him, but where could she go that he couldn’t follow? How did you flee someone who could simply open a portal and follow you?

He hummed. “Let me tell you a story.”

“If the story ends with you asking me on a date, forget it. Not only are you evil, but I’m waiting for my truemate, and fate is not so fickle as to give me the sort of forever guy who haunts people’s good dreams for fun.”

His purple gaze narrowed. He lifted a hand, and the nightmares oozing from the homes intensified, followed by the kind of screams uttered only by people trapped in a loop of terror while still asleep.

Fury rose in her like a tidal wave, and she turned her power toward the slumbering people and fought their nightmares for them, her slumber magic cutting off the terror. She knew he could continue to send waves of nightmares, and she’d eventually run out of magic and have to flee to find another good dream walker to help replenish her magic.

“You are powerful,” Nightmare said. He eased his magic back, and she inhaled sharply as she was able to withdraw her own magic from the fight.

“What do you want?” she asked. She took a step back, thinking she could run far enough from him to open a portal to Sandman, who at least was powerful enough to battle Nightmare on his own.

But then Nightmare grabbed her arm.

His fingers were cold and she could feel them through her sleeve.

“Let me show you a future,” he whispered, sending a shiver down her spine.

Her vision went dark, then brightened suddenly, and she saw herself standing in the center of a snow-covered field. Only when she looked around did she realize she was at the North Pole with the Northern Lights overhead. But where was Northernmost?

She turned around and saw the ruins of Northernmost, the Well of Magic oozing with dark, evil corruption. She took another step back and bumped into Nightmare. Spinning with a gasp, she looked up into his face and saw him for what he truly was: evil through and through.

“What do you want with me?” she demanded.

“I want you to forsake your good magic and join forces with me. You have a magic I can use to help vanquish my enemies. I can give you anything you desire.” He touched her jaw lightly, and she shook her head. “Imagine all the power in the world at your fingertips. I can make it happen. Just take my hand and pledge yourself to me. Stand by my side, and I will give you everything you ever wanted and more.”

She caught the lecherous tone and knew he wanted more than her power. But to what end? Her magic eradicated his. If she turned evil, would her magic take away the good magic from others?

“Yes,” he whispered, as if he knew her train of thought and was agreeing with the outcome.

“I won’t join with you,” she said.

“If you won’t join me, then you’ll watch me destroy everyone you love.”

Something snapped inside her, and she reached deep into her magic, drawing the most power she could summon. With a shove forward, she pushed her magic at him and shouted “No!” at the top of her lungs.

The vision shattered like glass around her as he grunted from the force of the blow. She opened a portal to Sandman and leaped through, closing it before Nightmare could follow. He could still find her if he wanted, but at least she was where she needed to be.

“Ana?” Sandman asked.

“He’s coming for me,” she said, rising to her feet and brushing off the dirt from where she’d landed after tumbling through the portal in her haste.

“Who?” He looked around, stepping in front of her protectively.

“Nightmare.” She grimaced, thinking of the ruin of Northernmost. “I think he’s working with Jack Frost.”

Sandman covered them both in his powerful slumber magic and opened a portal, taking them away from his post, where he’d been casting good dreams for those in his territory. Morning light made her blink, and she realized he’d brought them to a place where people weren’t asleep, so Nightmare wouldn’t readily be able to harm those they helped.