Jeaniene Frost - Destined for an Early Grave

I crossed the space and let Gregor enfold me in his arms. Something that might have been his lips brushed my neck, but aside from that…

“Nothing’s happening.”

I said it into his chest, him being so damn tall. That blurry dreamlike feeling didn’t cease even though the air around us seemed to electrify.

“I don’t understand,” he muttered.

“Of all the luck, now you’re having performance issues?” I hissed, growing agitated over the thought of what was happening to Bones. “Come on, Gregor. Get your Dreamsnatcher on.”

He held me tighter. “It must be you,” he whispered. “You’re blocking me.”

Shit. Dropping my defenses was about the hardest thing for me to do, especially with a stranger I didn’t trust.

“I’m trying not to.”

His eyes blazed. “Your delay could be costly.”

Damn him, he was right. I had to get into this. Fast.

I wound my arms around his neck and pulled his head down. When his mouth slanted over mine, I kissed him, slightly surprised that it felt familiar. With the distraction of him kissing me with a rough hungriness, I felt my shields waver and crack. Let go, Cat. Just ease up and relax…

A roaring pain swamped over me, like I was being pulled inside out. Amidst the white noise and confusion, I would have screamed, but I didn’t have a throat, a voice, or a body. I felt the indescribable terror of being stripped from my own skin and flung into nothingness. It was the worst feeling of falling, only at sonic speed.

When it culminated, I wasn’t reunited with my body; I was splattered back into it. The sensation of being blood, flesh, and bone again had me transfixed by the sound of my own heartbeat, a numbing cadence that was the sweetest thing I’d heard.

“Catherine.”

Only then did the rest of my senses kick into gear. Guess a molecular transport will knock the ever-living shit out of anyone unlucky enough to experience it. It occurred to me that I wasn’t standing anymore, though I was still wrapped up in Gregor’s arms. In slow motion, my mind began to take inventory. Two arms, two legs, check. Wiggle fingers and toes, check. Ribs still hurt, okay. Heart pounding like a jackhammer, right. But something was missing.

Large hands slid down my bare back. Gregor, solid and very much not a dream, wore a triumphant smile on his face.

And just like me, it was the only thing he had on.

WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES?”

It was a furious demand that earned me a reproving frown. “Don’t snarl so, Catherine. I can only transport the organic.”

Maybe that was true, but it didn’t explain why he was also au naturel. I doubted it was an accident. His caressing me sure wasn’t accidental.

“Get your hands off me, Gregor, and go call off your men like you promised. Right now.”

I didn’t say it in the same angry tone. No, this was with a cold, flat insistence.

He stared at me in a way that made me think he was going to refuse. Then, with deliberate slowness, he uncurled himself from me.

“Don’t try to get up yet, you’ll need time to recover.”

I was in a bed. Oh, sure, like this wasn’t specifically orchestrated. “I’ll be fine as long as you stick to your word.”

He didn’t respond, just strode to the door and yanked it open. I had enough instinctive modesty to flop onto my stomach, but there was still no coordination to my limbs.

Someone was right outside the room, and Gregor stepped back to let that person in.

“Lucius, observe.”

Lucius, a tall blond who might have been Nordic, observed, all right. He caught an eyeful of me glaring daggers at both of them.

“I have my wife. She came of her own volition, so you can instruct Simon to pull back his forces.”

“I have yet to learn that I’m your wife, and I came because you blackmailed me,” I replied, giving him a look that said I didn’t appreciate his play on words.

“Be sure to detail her exact condition for Simon to report,” Gregor said, ignoring that. “And do be sure to include mine as well.”

God in heaven, Bones was going to flip out. I felt a stirring of unease. Maybe I should have thought this over more.

“Oui, monsieur.”

Lucius left without a backward glance, and Gregor shut the door. I didn’t care for that, since he was still on the inside.

“Is he going to call this Simon? How close are we to there?” I asked, able to grasp some of the blanket and roll myself into it.

“He’ll call.” A light gleamed in his eyes. “But we’re very far from Bavaria, Catherine.”

“Bavaria?” Jeez, no wonder it had seemed remote. “Where are we now? Or I suppose you won’t tell me.”

It was very awkward having a conversation with a naked stranger. Gregor didn’t make any attempt to cover himself, either. I wasn’t looking, but I wasn’t blind. He was built like a football player, with a whole lot of muscle and intermittent scars on his skin.

“I’ll tell you. I’m not like that scavenger who shuttled you back and forth while keeping you sightless and witless.”

That last sentence told it all. It had been me after all.

I gave Gregor a level look. “I might not be dreaming of you, but you’re still in my head poking around. You must have been doing a pretty thorough job to know details like that.”

Gregor sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out to stop me from rolling away. The lack of synchronization in my movements frightened me. I wanted to jump out of the bed, but all I could do was twitch.

“I know what you know,” he said, tracing his hand down my arm. “I cannot transport someone, or invade their mind, without their blood having been inside me. Even though it was many years ago, your blood is still a part of me, Catherine.”

Another tidbit no one had mentioned before. “If you know what I do, then you’re aware I love Bones,” I answered.

“You think you do.” His hand slid lower, to the bottom of the blanket and slowly up inside it.

Feeling his fingers climb up my calf didn’t arouse me. It pissed me off.

“What kind of piece of shit would fondle a woman who can’t move to stop him?”

His hand froze on my leg. I managed to flop back around and keep the blanket over me with a shaky grip. At least now I was facing him instead of craning my neck around.

“The only reason I agreed to withdraw my men in exchange for your compliance is because Bones has saved you from death several times,” Gregor ground out. “But now, he gets no more passes from me.”

“Is that what you call not murdering him, my mother, and my friends in a dirty ambush at dawn? A pass ? How’d you find us, anyway? It wasn’t from me this time.

Gregor’s jaw clenched. “I found you because of Bones’s stupidity, and if he’d had me and my men in a similar circumstance, he’d have acted with the same ruthlessness.”

I opened my mouth to respond when there was an urgent knock.

“I said no interruptions,” Gregor barked, streaking to the door and flinging it open.

It was Lucius again. He almost hopped up and down in nervousness. “Master, you must come with me. I-I have…news.”

The way his eyes kept flicking to me had me swinging my rubbery legs out of bed and managing to stand.

“What happened? Did what’s-his-name not get the message?” I asked, fighting dizziness.

“You need me to come with you now?” Gregor repeated, gesturing to me. “This is the first I’ve spent with my wife in a dozen years. This can’t wait?”

“No, monsieur, ” Lucius whispered, lowering his head.

“Is it Bones?” I demanded, staggering and falling when my legs wouldn’t hold. “If he’s dead, Gregor—”