Page 49 of Scorned

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Nothing was the same about you coming into my dreams tonight. First of all, you were carrying the same aggression and disapproval from the real world—the same sneer that you had after I’d majorly fucked up with my attempted mind meld. Second, there was no flirting or teasing, no foreplay at all. You were straight to business. Thirdly, I didn’t call you. In fact, I purposely avoided calling you, as much as I could, anyway, because I had no interest in reliving the soul stripping you gave me after I woke up out in the forest.

I told myself before falling into an exhausted sleep that the last person I’d want to meet in dreamland was you. In the past, I’d had some control. On nights I didn’t want company, none came…and yet, here you were, your face a mask of rage, eyes molten lava, scorching me as you approached.

“On your knees!” Your voice was feral, a baritone that rumbled with each step you took.

I dared not disobey. My knees hit the pillowy floor soundlessly, forcing me to look up at you through my bangs and eyelashes. You circled me—a predator taking stock of its prey.

“What you did today was reckless.”

You had already said as much the second I opened my eyes after passing out, thanks to Johnny’s carotid hold.

The bruises on your face, courtesy of my werebeast’s aggression, had faded to almost nothing, a credit to your werewolf physiology. All the same, the fact that I could see the bruises at all was even more proof that you’d come here on your own, without my coaxing. I would never have imagined you looking as battered as you did.

This was as real as it could get while in dreamland.

I should have been excited by the new development. It was technically another breakthrough in understanding how my dreaming mind worked, that someone with an established connection could, apparently, come to me without an explicit invitation, but there was nothing to celebrate here.

I wished I could lose this ability to welcome werewolves into my subconscious. I wished I hadn’t tried experimenting out there in the forest, linking to fifty males who were unprepared for my intrusion. It had been reckless, cocky, stupid, and I was prepared to take the consequences. But I wasn’t going to tell you that…not yet, anyway.

I figured my punishment would be a swift kick to the ass on my way out of the door, but that hadn’t happened. Instead, you’d ordered me to bed, and since I’d been so exhausted that I could barely walk, I hadn’t argued.

Now I saw that you had other plans for my discipline.

“You put the pack at risk.” You tightened your circle as you moved around me, your fists clenching and unclenching. “One meditation lesson with Levi doesn’t equal expertise.”

I opened my mouth to explain, but you flicked my chin with a quick swipe of your fingers, snapping the skin enough to sting and forcing me to close my mouth, nearly biting my tongue in the process.

“You will not speak unless I ask you a direct question.” You leaned close, your face inches from mine. Your eyes burned holes into my soul. “Understand?”

I gulped, nodded. “Yes.”

“Sir,” you added.

“Yes, Sir.”

You pulled away, seemingly satisfied. “I don’t remember our times together over the last three years, and I don’t know if I’ll remember tonight, either, but I’m here with my own agenda. You’re not the one in control.”

I decided not to argue that I was always in control in my dreams. They were my dreams! If I wanted you gone, you’d be gone. That was how lucid dreaming worked—which, admittedly, I hadn’t known I was doing until meeting you and your brothers. I saw it now, though, and it all made sense. I’d always had the power to conjure you three and to banish you, as well. I had no reason to believe that wasn’t the case right now, too.

But you weren’t talking about right here, right now. You were talking about back then, in the forest, when my beast had been doing her damnedest to take you all out. It had been you in my head, fighting to hold her down, telling me to let go, to step back, to follow you into the darkness.

I hadn’t been in control in that fight, but I also hadn’t been alone, I realized. You were there, and I was so shocked that I could only look up at you in awe.

You were there, trying to help me.

Holy. Shit.

There had been times over the years that you had asserted dominance, walked out of dreams leaving me unsatisfied—like you had control too, like this thread connecting us went both ways.

Puzzle pieces snapped together. Right now, you had some power over me, somehow. Right now, you were playing the game, too. That must have been a by-product of our connection. I’d invited you in, so you had some level of control. That alone should have scared me.

It didn’t. Not even close.

It gave me comfort, and I was curious to see where this would go, what you’d do. I wouldn’t let my imagination run wild tonight and change the game. I’d stay focused on you so you could decide how this would play out.

So, yeah, you were right. I was not the one in control right now and that suited me just fine, as long as you grumbled and growled your way to a suitable punishment.

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