Page 21 of The Erion Triad

She was working just as hard as she did during the night. A pang of guilt hit him. There were so many things he didn’t know about her. The fact she worked herself to the bone at several jobs. The fact she liked small, furry creatures. The fact she lived in poverty. How many more things didn’t they know about? She hadn’t mentioned a word about herself, but he’d never asked. He thought of all the times he’d spoken about their lives and what they did and told her what he thought she would like without taking the time to learn about her. He made a promise to himself to rectify that once they were back in reality.

There was one glimmer of hope. She’d brought them back to her. They were at least in her subconsciousness if she had conjured them here.

Juliran smiled. “It seems she is at least thinking of us on some level. Come, brothers. It is time to make Lucie fall in love with us as a true mate should. We have a second chance. Now we have to use it.”

* * *

Lucie

“Luce. You must get up. You’ll be late.” Grant shook her shoulder, a little rougher than was comfortable.

She’d already slept? It felt as though she’d just put her head down seconds before. Lucie forced open her eyes to see the muted pre-dawn grays seep into the room. A glance at the clock told her she’d been asleep for four hours.

She groaned, turning on her side. “I had this… dream. Nightmare, actually.” Her voice was gritty from sleep. She clung to the last vestiges of the dream, before waking would throw it off completely. A part of her realized this was important, even though her logical mind knew it couldn’t possibly be true. “It was awful. There were these… creatures. A cross between an iguana and a crocodile. They walked upright and had a poison stinger on their tails. I was locked in a cage so small I couldn’t stand up.” She shuddered. “They… did things to me. Tortured me. Hit me. Burned me. Nothing I did made them stop.”

She blinked back tears. Now that she started thinking about it, she couldn’t stop. She didn’t know how long she might have been in that cage. It could have been days. Weeks. It felt like years. A nightmare beyond her worst imaginings.

“They laughed at me. I think they enjoyed hurting us. There were other women there too. They took a bunch of us, but I don’t know what they wanted. I couldn’t understand them. Then they made me hold this crystal and it lit up with blue and green lights. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful…”

There was something else after that. Something really important. Shadowy figures hedged her consciousness. Men. Safety. There was a great pull towards them, but something held her back from seeing them clearly. Something stained and malevolent.

Grant flopped back onto his pillow next to her. “Lucie. It was just a dream. Let it go. You need to get up and go to work. I need your energy.”

“Huh?” The air became freezing cold in an instant and she was chilled from the inside out. He needed herenergy? That sounded... odd.

She peered at him through slitted eyelids, checking to see that it was actually him. He sent her a lopsided smile. “I mean, you need to get to the pet shop. Remember, I just got that extra shift for you? You don’t want to be late.”

She remembered now. She had to clean the cages of the animals before the Monday morning open hours. It wasn’t the nicest job, but at least the owners paid her in cash when they came in the morning. And it dovetailed nicely into her shift at the diner. What else would she be doing with her Monday morning?

The extra money had come in handy. Grant had to dress a certain way. He couldn’t do business if he looked scruffy. When he secured her gigs, then they could afford to work on her wardrobe.

Her gaze drifted down to Grant. He was dressed in the same clothes as yesterday. “You’re just getting home now?”

Grant kicked off his shoes and fell onto the bed, groaning. “Don’t complain. It’s all for you. I’m exhausted.”

Sympathy washed through her. She shouldn’t complain. At least she’d gotten some sleep whereas he’d been awake all this time. She forced herself to sit, ignoring straining muscles. Maybe she should take a vitamin supplement to get her through the day. It was going to be a struggle. She was just so tired. More tired than usual.

She swung her legs to the floor making herself sit up so she wouldn’t fall asleep again. “How did it go? Did you get a gig for me?”

Grant opened one blood-shot eye. “It takes time, Luce. There’s a lot of competition out there, you know. I’m meeting with him again tonight so I need to sleep and be fresh. Did you do the laundry I asked you to do?”

She glanced at the full basket in the bathroom. Dirty clothes spilled out of the top. How had that gotten so full so fast? “I didn’t get a chance.”

“How do you expect me to look my best if I don’t have clean clothes?” Grant spoke into the pillow.

“I have to be at the pet shop in an hour. Perhaps you could put a load on?”

She swore black clouds swirled in his eyes before he blinked and they disappeared. His face stretched tight in a flash of anger before he schooled it into his usual charm. He sent her a tired smile.

“Luckily I woke you in time. Throw it on now, take a shower—you stink like burgers—and hang it out before you go. You’ll have heaps of time to get there. The cycle only takes forty minutes.” He threw the blankets over his head and turned on his side. Snoring wafted from beneath the covers.

It was amazing how fast he could fall asleep. He really was exhausted. She needed to rein in her frustration. Things like developing her career needed time. Business relationships needed time to develop. Trust took time and hard work. Grant had explained that to her once. Beyoncé didn’t just appear on the charts one day. It took years of hard work before people started to take notice of her, and look at her now. It had all paid off.

The morning flew past in a flurry of clothes washing, showering, ironing her work uniform, and slugging it to the pet shop. Luckily it was on the way to the diner, so she could walk there first, and then continue to the diner. Grant could take the car. He had much farther to go than she did.

She met the owner when she came in at nine. All the cages were cleaned and Lucie even had time to fill their feed bowls before the shop opened.

“Lucie. What a wonderful job as usual.” Margery frowned at Lucie, her eye filling with concern. “You look tired, dear. Are you sure you’re getting enough rest? You know, you don’t have to come in so early to clean the cages. You can come later. It won’t matter to me.”

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