Sherrilyn Kenyon: The Dream-Hunter

If only he could be real…

"They won't give us our permits," she whispered, tracing the outline of his nipple and watching while it drew taut. "And I could kill them for it. I know we've found Atlantis. I know it. I'm so close I can taste it and now… Now it's hopeless."

She ground her teeth in frustration, grateful that she had someone she could trust without having to put on her "game" face. Her staff expected her to be calm and collected at all times when what she really wanted to do was shake the official until he gave her what she needed.

Damn them for it.

"I'm going to fail," she said, her voice catching. "At the rate we're going, Tory's right. We'll be too old to even remember what it was we were looking for."

Arikos cupped her face in his large hands and stared at her with a frown. "I don't understand why this is important to you."

"Because my father died a broken alcoholic. I want everyone who ever laughed at him to have to eat their words. I want to prove to the world that my father wasn't a fool racing against windmills. I want to keep my promise to him. I owe it to him."

Arikos tilted his head and stared into her eyes as if he could see straight into her soul. "Finding it would make you happy?"

"More than anything."

"Then it is done. I will take you to Atlantis."

She laughed at the absurdity. Boy, when her subconscious went off into outer space, it really went off into outer space.

Even so, it meant a lot to her to have at least one person's faith. It didn't matter that he wasn't real. She needed his hypothetical support and she was grateful for it.

Arikos dipped his head down then and captured her lips with his. Geary moaned at the sweet taste of him. There was no one on this earth who tasted the way he did. No one who felt better in her arms, which was probably why he was relegated to her dreams.

But she was so glad to have him here. To feel the heat of his skin sliding against hers.

Oh, she could eat this man alive.

His hands deftly slid the white, flowing dress off her shoulders until she was naked before him while he nibbled and teased her mouth with his lips and tongue. It amazed her that she was so at ease with him, even in her dreams. In real life, Geary had never been the kind of woman to let any man whisk her off her feet. To let her passions rule her.

She was a woman of cold, hard logic and restricted emotions.

It was why she loved her dreams so much. Here she was free to have her way with Arikos without worry. There was no risk of pregnancy or disease. No worry about having to face him in the morning.

No risk of disappointment or cruel laughter. She was in control of her dreams and him. Her times with him were safe and warm and the best moments of her day.

He laid her down carefully on the sandy ground and covered her body with his. Oh, the feel of him like this was incredible. The leather of his pants caressed her legs as he separated her thighs with his knee.

He moved his mouth from hers, down toward her swollen breast that ached for his kiss.

Breathless and weak, she cupped his head to her as he flicked his tongue back and forth over her taut nipple. His breath was scorching against her flushed skin.

"That's it," he breathed as he dipped his hand down to ease the ache that wanted him inside her. His warm fingers stroked and teased her until she was cresting an orgasm. "Give me all of your passion, Megeara. Let me feel your pleasure. Let me taste it."

Kissing him wildly, she thrust her hips against his hand, seeking even more pleasure from him. "I want more," she demanded, reaching for his zipper.

He laughed wickedly. "And you will have it."

"Geary!"

The loud shout jolted her from her dream and left her heart racing even faster than Arikos had. Geary opened her eyes to find herself lying facedown on her bed.

Tory burst into the room. "You better come quick. Thia is about to drown Teddy. And I'm not kidding."

ARIK PULLED OUT OF THE DREAM WITH A CURSE AS HE hovered in the strobilos that gave him no form or substance while he spied on the human realm. Whenever a person awoke from their dream, it left a dream god in a vast nothingness. There was no sound, no color, nothing but blackness.

All he could feel was her fleeting emotions, and he was desperate to keep those.

"Megeara…" Arik called, wanting to return to what they'd been sharing. But he knew it was too late. His little fixation was stronger than the average human and didn't always come to him when he called for her.

Not even the Lotus serum could induce her to sleep until she was ready and agreeable. All it did was give her a headache as she fought against it.

Damn it. He wanted her back!

His body was aching with unsated need, but more than that he felt something strange in his chest.

Grief.

He craved her and he was angry at her loss. Never once in all the history of the human world had he felt anything like this. Dream gods were supposed to be devoid of emotions… at least all except for pain. That emotion alone had been left for them so that the other gods could control and punish them.

Only he didn't feel pain in his chest. He could still feel Megeara's emotions as his own, which told just how powerful her repressed passion and anger were.

She'd started out as a passing curiosity for him. Her dreams had been vivid and colorful. Two things most were not. The average person dreamed in black-and-white with a lot of mist.

Most dream gods avoided those, especially the erotic Skoti like him who were ever questing for the more daring humans. Why dance in the dreams of an unimaginative person when the point was to experience feelings and senses through the sleeper?

So his kind skipped through dreams, seeking those who could create beauty and give to the Skoti what they needed.

Megeara's dreams had been awash in clever sensations. He'd first come upon her while she was bathing in a river of chocolate.

Rolling over on the misty ground that made up one of the dream chambers, Arik closed his eyes to summon the memory. There were still the remnants of Megeara's passion inside him even though their dream connection was severed, and that allowed him to remember the pleasure of finding her that first night.

Even now he could taste the dream chocolate on his tongue as he'd licked it from her naked body. Feel the warm sensation of it sliding over his skin as they made love in it. He wondered now as he'd wondered then what that chocolate would really taste like on the mortal plane.

Why had it given Megeara so much pleasure?

Most of all, he burned to know what she would really taste like. How she would smell.

His cock twitched in sweet expectation.

"Arikos?"

He turned his head away as a bright light burst into his darkness. "Fuck off, M'Ordant," he snarled, recognizing the voice of his older half brother.

"Is that anger?"

Arik pushed himself up and moved to stand beside the god who was equal to his height. Like him, M'Ordant had black hair and translucent blue eyes. All of their race were marked by those colorings, along with an unearthly beauty.

This time when Arik spoke his tone was flat and level, as was befitting one of his cursed species. "How would I know? I have no emotions."

M'Ordant narrowed his gaze and if Arik didn't know better, he'd swear his brother was puzzled. Even though they couldn't truly feel, they'd learned to mock expressions. It made the other gods less nervous around them. "You've been spending too much time with the human. You need to move on to another."

That was the way of it. A Skotos such as Arik was only tolerated to help drain humans of excess emotions. If Skoti spent too long with one person, they could, in theory, make that person go mad or even kill them.