Page 36 of Her Blood Revenge

A hand rests on my shoulder. The rain is gone, and silence replaces the thunderstorm. I’m on my back, sinking into the softest green grass with a clear blue sky filled with wonderous bird song above me.

I struggle to breathe, wheezing and gasping as I lie here.

A figure blocks out the sun.

A man.

‘Dream Walker,’ I gasp.

‘Pain in the arse,’ he replies.

Shaw crouches over me and presses his hands over mine, pushing my palms into the deep, thick grass. His face rests over mine, and he looks stern yet calm.

‘Feel the earth, Pixie. And breathe.’

All I can do is shake my head. I can’t breathe!

The rope. I feel it. The roots. Their invasion.

‘It’s gone,’ he insists, making sure that as he leans over me, his front and mine don’t touch. ‘There’s no rope. No Cole. No roots. Just us and the earth you love.’ He blinks, never looking away from me. ‘It’s a dream now. Not a nightmare. I’ve made you a dream.’

‘I thought… you were more of a nightmare,’ I reply, recalling the first words he spoke when he dream walked with me for the first time.

He smiles and lets out a deep laugh.

‘I can still be a nightmare. Believe me.’ He takes in a deep breath. ‘In,’ he says, watching for me to copy. I manage a little jagged inhale. ‘Out.’ He exhales,and I follow his command. ‘Good girl. Again. In.’

He repeats this several times until I finally get control of myself. Every second, every minute, I look at nothing but his eyes. And I’m all he sees. All that matters. I feel that, even in his dream world.

‘Archie and Sinthia were never like that, by the way. How you imagine them is far from the truth. That touchy-feely couple all giggles and smiles. That’s your imagination. He was scared. In pain. And miserable. Just so you know. We weren’t some happy and love struck group. More tormenters and tormented.’

He steps back.

‘Rest. Things will be safe by the time you wake up.’

‘Safe?’

He fades from sight, leaving me alone in an endless field and the softest breeze.

My pride refuses to ask him to stay. My pain and deep-rooted sense of betrayal hold back the words I long to say.

Stay with me. Lie with me. I don’t want to be alone.

Instead, I lie on my side and pull my knees up to my chest.

He may have put me in a dream, but all I am inside is a nightmare.

Iwake with my face buried in wolf fur, feeling his warmth and the deep and powerful breaths he takes in his wolf form. We’re still walking, and the rain has turned into a storm as real as the one in the dream about that bone arch.

I press my fingers into my thumb and count over and over, just as the Dream Walker taught me.

I’m unsure how long I’ve been on his back or how long I’ve been in the Dream Walker’s dream world. Or how long it’s been since Cole’s attack. I shift. There’s no pain between my legs, and my arm has recovered after being ripped from its socket.

The Shadow Master’s blood healed the wounds, but I will feel that blade between my legs forever.

The forest thins and the ground becomes stone as we walk up the path. We’re back inside the boundary, safe from any attacks. But I smell blood.

We pass a body. An unseelie left gutted in the grass.

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