Goddess in the Middle (24 page)

At the same time, Remy shifted beneath her, pressing his cock higher and hitting that internal spot that lit her on fire.

Her orgasm broke inside her, beginning at her clit and sinking deeper until her pussy tightened around Remy and her ass clenched on Rom.

Crying out, she melted against Remy as convulsion after convulsion racked her. As her womb tightened almost to the point of pain.

Rom was next to break. She heard his harsh shout and then felt the heated pulse of his seed flooding out of him and into her. He froze, his hips plastered to her ass as his cock throbbed.

And still Remy continued to thrust. Once, twice, again and again. Drawing out her climax until she was so drained, she felt light-headed.

When she thought she might actually pass out from the pleasure, Remy arched, sinking as deep as he could then released with a guttural groan.

Then the magic they created together broke over her with the force of a hurricane, sinking into her skin, into her bones and her blood and filling her with strength.

Left her feeling like she could heal every sick and injured person in the hospital. After she had taken a nap, of course.

With a groan, Rom pulled away first, going slowly. She gasped at his cock moving again through those now ultra-sensitive tissues.

The bed shook as he stood, but not before he brushed the hair from her face and gave her the gentlest kiss he’d ever given her.

His fingers trailed over her cheek before he walked away. She was too tired to ask where he was going but she could only hope he would return soon.

Then Remy shifted her up his body until he slipped from her sheath and rolled until they both lay on their sides.

Drowsily, she opened her eyes and stared into his beautiful blue eyes.

“You should get some sleep.” Remy smiled at her, looking pretty sleepy himself.

Snuggling closer, she tucked her head under his chin. “I will. If you two do.”

“We plan to.” Rom walked back into the room at that moment. She felt the bed dip, and a large hand moved her leg before Rom began to clean her. “Let’s just make you a little more comfortable first.”

“I’m comfortable right here.”

She refused to think about how many more times she would get to lie here with them.

“Pick her up,” she heard Remy say. “I’ll change these sheets.”

There was a pause before Rom slid his arms around her and when he lifted her against his chest, she felt his sudden reluctance. And the briefest flash of regret.

She struggled against the lethargy that was taking her under, wanted to know what had made him feel like this.

“Rom?”

She wanted to see him but he pressed his hand against her head to keep her from moving.

“Everything’s fine, Amity. Go to sleep now.”

Whatever emotion he’d felt was gone now and she sighed because she really couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore.

Perrin knew as soon as she opened her eyes that she was back in that dream. The one where she’d met Karn.

She’d been so tired after her session with Amity that she’d wanted to go straight home to bed. But she’d forced herself to stop for takeout at the Chinese place in West Reading. She was a regular there and the teenage girl behind the counter smiled at her as she walked in.

“Wow, you’re looking much better today.” Su handed her a menu over the counter, unabashedly checking out Perrin’s scars. “I guess you started the treatments with that medical atheist, huh?”

Perrin stifled a laugh. Though her parents’ accents were hard to understand, Su spoke perfect English. But she was still an American teenager who hated school and would rather be at the mall shopping with her friends than working in a takeout restaurant.

“She’s a medical aesthetician and yes, I did.” She reached self-consciously for her cheek then forced herself not to attempt to hide her scars.

“Well, she must work miracles.”

Perrin had wanted to smile for the girl because she knew Su must be exaggerating. Not that Perrin had looked in a mirror after leaving the hospital. Amity had warned her she might not see an immediate change in her appearance. But over time, she’d promised that the severity of the scars would reduce.

Today had been only her third treatment. Of course the healing would have been minimal, if it’d affected her scars at all.

The only reason she’d agreed to let Amity try this treatment was because she’d told her it was experimental. How she reacted to the treatment could be useful in how it was applied to others.

So really, Perrin was doing Amity a favor.

Yeah, right.

Deep inside, where her hope had gone into hibernation, Perrin knew she was hoping for a miracle. That one day, she’d no longer look like Frankenstein’s monster after the villagers had torched him.

Which was why she hadn’t looked in the mirror yet. She didn’t want to be disappointed.

“I don’t believe you will be. Your scars are noticeably better today.”

She gasped and turned toward the sound of the voice coming from behind her.

He was there, in the shadows on the trees. No, not trees this time. Pillars.

Karn leaned against a marble pillar, one of several that sprouted from a cracked marble floor. Vegetation spread across the floor, flowering plants she’d never seen before growing over the ruins of what looked like an ancient temple. Like one you’d see in a History Channel program on Rome or Greece.

“Where am I?” She heard the demand in her tone and wasn’t surprised when he didn’t respond right away. She had the feeling he wasn’t used to people demanding things from him.

His head cocked to the side and she sucked in another breath. She hadn’t let herself dwell on how handsome he was. He was a figment of her imagination. A creation of her mind.

Although, if she’d actually thought about coming up with the perfect man to dream about, he wouldn’t have been it.

His eyebrows lifted and the look he gave her was filled with arrogant disbelief.

As if he’d read her mind.

Which was so stupid. Of course he knew what she thought. He was her.

“You’re in my domain.” He spoke suddenly, pushing away from the column against which he’d stood, and began walking toward her. “This is where I live. I wanted you to see.”

She forced herself to hold her ground and was absurdly proud when she looked up into his eyes when only inches separated them.

“Of course you did,” she said. “It has nothing to do with the fact that this is my dream and
I
wanted to see where
you
lived.”

Those unrelentingly straight eyebrows rose above his black eyes, and the corners of his lips twitched as if he might smile. She wanted him to smile.
Smile, damn it.

Her mouth set in stubborn lines when he refused to obey her silent command. Christ, this was her dream. She couldn’t even get her dream man to do what she wanted.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Are you in pain?”

Out of habit, she took a moment to assess herself and found, to her complete shock, that she didn’t hurt at all.

“No, I’m feeling no pain. Guess this really is a dream.”

“Or maybe I took it away.”

Now she laughed and the sound was so rusty, it sounded strange to her.

“Wouldn’t that be wonderful if you could?”

“Who says I can’t?”

“Since it’s a dream, I guess anything’s possible.”

“Ah.” Karn nodded, as if she’d confirmed something for him. “So if this is your dream, where are we exactly?”

She looked around again, trying to place the setting. Had she seen it on TV? In a movie? A book? It really didn’t look familiar at all.

“Since you’re having such a hard time figuring this all out,” Karn waved a hand out to his side, “why don’t you let me show you around a little?”

What could it hurt? “Sure. Why not?” With a wide smile that didn’t hurt at all, she curved her hand around his arm just above his elbow. “Maybe I’ll find out some deep dark secret about myself while we’re wandering around down here. Maybe I’ll have something to tell Amity at our next session. She’s always asking me to talk about my feelings. Maybe I’ll ask her to interpret this dream.”

Karn’s arm tensed beneath her hand. “Amity. How do you know Amity?”

“She’s the medical aesthetician the hospital assigned to me. She’s…”

Someone she trusted. And Perrin no longer trusted many people. But Amity had worked her way into that very small circle.

“I guess you could call her my friend.”

Karn fell silent as they walked, staring off into the distance, allowing Perrin to stare at him. “And what hospital does she work at?”

“The Reading Hospital.”

“So she’s in the States, too.” Karn’s voice fell to a murmur, one she had to strain to hear.

Perrin shook her head as they stopped at the door of the temple. This was the weirdest freaking dream she’d ever had, more because it really didn’t feel like a dream. It felt absolutely real.

“So where are we?” They’d stopped to look out over a vast plain covered by ruins as far as she could see. In the distance, she thought she saw a river and possibly mountains, but the sun had set so she couldn’t really be sure. “Ancient Rome? Greece? Tunisia? I heard there are beautiful ruins in Tunisia.”

“Do you like it here?” Karn stared down at her, the intensity in his gaze soon making her uncomfortable. And had his eyes actually begun to glow? How freaky was that?

She pulled her hand away from his arm and looked out over the beautiful, but desolate, landscape.

“It seems lonely.”

“It has been. For far longer than you can imagine.”

Was this her subconscious talking? If so, she already knew this about herself. She’d admitted it, spoken the words aloud to her therapist, cried herself to sleep thinking about it.

Why was she rehashing all this in her dreams?

Maybe
because
this
isn’t a dream.

The voice in her head wasn’t hers.

With a gasp, she sat straight up in bed in the little home she rented down the street from her real home, where a work crew continued to rebuild the charred shell.

Glancing at the clock, she realized it was almost 7:30 in the morning.

Too early to call Amity at the office.

But she had to warn Amity. Had to warn her about… Karn? What about Karn?

That she’d dreamed about a man who made her feel something other than abject horror for the first time since Ralph had tried to kill her? That she thought the man wanted to harm Amity?

Amity would think she’d finally gone off the deep end. Dragging herself out of bed, she headed for the bathroom.

And nearly fell on the floor in shock as she caught sight of her face in the mirror.

Her mouth hung open, and her eyes were the size of dinner plates, which was a really stupid saying but the only one that fit at the moment.

What the hell? Was she still sleeping? Was this a dream? And if it wasn’t, she really needed to talk to Amity. Right now.

***

“I still think this is a monumentally bad idea.”

Remy snorted at the growl in Rom’s voice as he strapped a blade to his side. He checked and rechecked the binding. It’d been a while since he’d used his dad’s short sword. “Yeah, well, you think any plan you didn’t come up with is a monumentally bad idea. At least we’re going with her.”

“That was never under discussion. Of course we’re going with her. I wouldn’t have given a flying fuck if Cole had ordered us to stay home.”

Yeah, Remy agreed silently. He would’ve fought Cole and his entire army tooth and nail if he’d tried to keep them from going with Amity. But Cole hadn’t and that moved the guy up in Remy’s estimation.

Still… “What about the other stuff, Rom? The prophecy? Have you thought about that at all?”

Remy had. Sure, he’d practically passed out last night after he’d come so damn hard he thought he might have shaken a few teeth loose. But he’d woken around 5:00 a.m., after only a few hours of sleep, and couldn’t fall back to sleep because all he’d been able to do was think about that damn prophecy.

The one where they were supposed to be the guardians of the brand-spanking-new Goddess of the Moon, who just happened to be a beautiful twenty-year-old girl, who could control their ability to shift and who didn’t seem to be all that hyped about her new position in life.

Couldn’t say he blamed her. Seemed like the perks might be great, but the actual job required a whole hell of a lot more than they revealed during the interview process.

“No, I haven’t had time to think about it.”

Remy let his gaze catch Rom’s and just lifted his eyebrows. Rom immediately shot him the finger.

“And now’s not the time.” Rom yanked a T-shirt over his head before strapping matching dagger sheathes to his forearms. “We don’t have any idea what we’re gonna find in this dream plane. We should talk about what the hell we’re going to do if Charun actually shows up for this little powwow.”

“According to Amity, he can’t leave the dream plane because he isn’t really there. The
Involuti
made sure he couldn’t leave Aitás.”

Rom loaded blades into the arm sheaths then started strapping another to his thigh. Apparently, they couldn’t take guns into the dream plane, something about the chemicals being incompatible with crossing between planes.

X had told them bad things happened when you broke that rule.

Actually X had said, “You go naked. Something about the field generated by a living organism. Nothing dead will go.”

Rom had just stared at the guy like he was nuts, but Remy had realized X was quoting
The Terminator
and couldn’t stop laughing. Damn, he liked X. The guy was pure smart-ass.

“I still don’t like it.” Rom shoved another blade into his left boot. Good thing they didn’t have to go through a frigging metal detector. They’d be in for a TSA cavity search.

“I know you don’t. But I appreciate the fact that you’re going regardless.”

They both turned. Amity stood in the doorway dressed in hiking boots, well-worn jeans, and a plain gray T-shirt that managed to cling to every one of her luscious curves. She’d gathered her hair into a ponytail, revealing the fine bones of her face and emphasizing the pale cast of her skin. She looked frightened and Remy hated that.

Walking over to her, he wrapped his arms around her and dropped his mouth over hers for a hard kiss. She responded immediately, her arms circling his waist and holding tight.

He loved the way she tasted, the way she felt in his arms. The way she’d melted into them last night. The way she managed to temper Rom’s morose moods. Damn it, he hated not knowing what the future would bring.

Before, he and Rom had had a purpose in life. A single goal. Kill the demon.

What
the
hell
do
we
do
now?

Breaking the kiss, Amity laid her head on his chest and sighed against his skin. His gaze caught Rom’s and they exchanged a silent message. They didn’t need to speak. They knew what the other was thinking.

Rom tried hard to control his fear for Amity, but Remy felt it eating him from the inside out. He also felt the emotions Rom tried to cast aside. The hopeful ones. The ones that revealed emotion. The ones he thought made him vulnerable.

Remy understood. He did. He just didn’t agree with Rom trying to submerge his emotions, rather than dealing with them.

Remy was sick of living day to day, on the run and always looking over his shoulder.

He wanted a home. He wanted to be part of the
lucani
community, to fight for something other than vengeance. Wanted to come home at night and share a bed with Amity. And he wanted Rom to be there with them.

A subtle vibration against his hip caught his attention and Amity shifted against him, pulling her cell phone from her back pocket.

She frowned as she noted the name on the screen.

“Perrin, is that you? Is everything okay?”

Rom’s stress level spiked and Remy shot him a look before the name registered. Perrin was Amity’s burn patient.

“Perrin, slow down, honey. I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to say.”

Amity fell silent and Remy was able to hear the other woman’s frightened voice coming through the cell.

“I had a dream last night that I’m not sure was a dream. I know how that sounds but I— Something happened and I don’t know how to explain it and I don’t know who else I can talk to. Because… Because something happened yesterday. Something happened after our session. Or during it. I just… I think we need to talk. In person. So you can see for yourself.”

Amity’s face continued to pale until her skin looked like the color of milk. But her voice remained calm when she spoke. “Of course. We can meet. I can be in my office—”

“I don’t think we should meet in your office. I think there might be too many questions. Is there somewhere else?”

“Yes. Absolutely. Let me give you the address.”