Excerpt:
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
Alex froze at the gentle sound of his voice and when he turned to glance over his shoulder at her, her breath caught in her chest. She knew him. The half of his handsome face she could see was darkened by shadows but still, she immediately recognized him from somewhere…
“Who are you?”
“Come sit with me.”
Well, there weren’t any signs of the monsters that were normally here in her dreams. Sitting at the fire with him seemed safe enough. Since she didn’t know who or what she was dealing with, she sat on the other side of the fire from him. The only trouble was that put him between her and the exit.
This is only a dream. Remember that.
“Who are you?” Alex tried again. “And why have you been waiting for me?”
Damn, he was nice looking. He was clearly a native judging by his looks and his heavy accent. His eyes appeared black in the darkness of the cave, the flames reflecting in them like unholy light. The features of his face were strong and could have been carved from stone. His black hair just touched his shoulder in thick waves that made her fingers itch to sink into it. The man’s shoulders were broad and the black robe he wore parted just enough in the front for her to see the hard, muscular expanse of his chest and the small golden amulet he wore around his neck.
Wow, she had to wonder if Hunter Storme could kick this man’s ass.
“You are mine.”
The way he stated that as a fact unnerved her. He’d said it with as much certainty as one would say that the sky was blue or water was wet.
“Excuse me?”
“You are mine,” he said, slower this time, emphasizing each word for her. “Do you not remember?”
Remember what? Her heart started racing at the intensity building in those dark eyes. What was he talking about?
Reaching through the flames he grabbed her hand and the instant he touched her images flashed through her mind of the night in the cave.
The creatures that had held her captive were closing in around her. She had no idea what they said in their dark speech but she sensed their patience with her was nearing its end. Alex had known in that moment her time was running out.
When three new beings entered the cave, the scene had erupted into chaos and great violence. Flashes of a creature with a man’s head and a lion’s body and two other men doing battle with the faceless ones tore through her memory. Alex remembered being paralyzed by fear, standing in the center of the terrible battle unable to do anything else but watch in horror.
Then someone grabbed her, just as this man had grabbed her. A glimpse of his face filled her mind. His face, the man on the other side of the fire. She remembered glancing down to see his hand clutching her wrist, a stream of blood running down his strong arm and seeping into one of the many cuts they’d made on her skin.
As quickly as he’d grabbed her, the man released her. There were no signs that the flames had touched his skin though his arm had extended through the blaze for several seconds. All at once, she was returned to the peace of the cave and the tranquility surrounding the fire.
Only she was far from tranquil. The strange man who sat watching her just showed her through a vision that he had been the one who had saved her that night in the cave. He’d been the one to spirit her out though she was pretty certain he wasn’t the one who delivered her to the hospital.
“You saved me,” Alex whispered.
The man nodded, a muscle at his jaw twitching.
“And you think because of that I belong to you?”
“No.”
Even though it was ridiculous because it was just a dream, Alex found it comforting that he had been there in that madness with her. Someone knew it wasn’t just some grand hallucination of hers.
It wasn’t until that moment Alex realized how angry she was that no one paid any real attention to the cuts and wounds all over her body. The Egyptian authorities hadn’t asked many questions. They wrote it all off as some little American girl wandering through their country in shock. No one had cared to take a closer look, to see if she needed help dealing with any of it. Even the university had merely wished her well, conveyed their sympathy for her experience, and then sent her on her way.
“My blood mingled with yours. I am a part of you now and have been since that night,” he spoke calmly. Again, certainty was heavy in his voice.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Alex demanded.
A corner of his sensual mouth tipped up as he rose from his spot and moved toward her. Alex instinctively began to move away from him, back in the direction of the cave’s entrance.
“It means, fair one, that you will know no respite from me, ever. You can choose to come to Egypt, to me, where you belong. Or you can continue to take your potions to hide from your dreams.”
It’s a dream. Waking up now would be a good thing. Come on.
Just as Alex was about to dart away from him, his hand snaked forward to grab her ankle. She yelped, trying in vain to yank her ankle from his grasp. Yet it was nothing for him to drag her back to him through the sand. She was as helpless as a mouse caught by a cat’s paw.
In the filmy fabric of her nightgown, Alex felt incredibly vulnerable as he hauled her into his arms. His breath was warm against her face, the hot ridge of his cock much hotter against her ass as he settled her in his lap.
“You will never be free of me, fair one.”
