“That makes sense, in a way,” Romero said, still looking at the ceiling. “An incubus in control of their powers should be able to control many aspects of the dream they enter. You’re not able to control your powers yet, but perhaps your mere presence was enough to shape the dream into something familiar to you.”
“But I didn’t—I mean, what we did—what he made me do—”
Romero’s eyes snapped down to me in an instant.
“He made you do something?” he asked sharply.
“Well, I…” I trailed off.
“As I understand it, an incubus can never bemadeto do anything they don’t want, no matter whose dream they’re in. The same way that you can only bring a dreamer to do things they’re willing to do, they shouldn’t be able to make you act against your will either.” He gave me a worried look. “Perhaps we should call Dean Mansur.”
“No, no, it’s fine.” My stomach twisted. The last thing I wanted was to discuss this night with anyone else. “I…misspoke. He didn’t make me do anything. I—I liked it. I wanted to.”
In fact, I’d asked Chad to stop several times, and he had. It wasmewho kept pushing, who kept things moving. I had no one to blame but myself.
“If you’re sure…” Romero said.
“I am.” I nodded, my face still hot. “Very.”
Romero looked unconvinced, but all he said was, “Well, now that you’re awake, I can say that you look better. Your color has come back, and the circles under your eyes aren’t quite so deep.”
I blinked, startled. Some of the color might be from humiliation, but forty-five minutes of sleep wasn’t enough to change the circles under my eyes. At least, not forty-five minutes of normal sleep. And now that I thought about it, the tugging in my core was gone.
“Does that mean it worked?” I asked again.
“Did you and your partner achieve orgasm in the dream?”
It was such a clinical phrase, but it made it easier to answer, somehow. I swallowed and nodded. I had evidence of that orgasm drying in my boxers.
“Then I think we can assume—cautiously—that it did. You’ll need to keep me or the dean apprised of any changes over the next day, though. If you start to feel worse again—”
“Yeah, yeah,” I interrupted. “I’ll let you know.”
I popped up off the couch, suddenly desperate to get out of there. It had to have worked, because I didn’t want to have to go through this again tomorrow. If I had forty-eight hours before I needed to enter the dreamworld again, I was going to put this as far out of my mind as I could until then.
“Alright, then.” Romero stood up and walked me to the door. “In that case, I’ll see you back here in two days. Same time, alright?”
“Got it.” I bobbed my head and ducked out into the hall.
“Sweet dreams, Cory,” he called out behind me.
I shivered as I walked away. Sweet dreams? Not likely. Not until I could get this under control. And maybe not even then.
I clenched my hands into fists as I made my way down the corridor. Iwouldget control of this, and once I had control, I’d find a way out of it.
There had to be one.
There had to be.
18
NOAH
The fire crackled in the evening’s chill, sending sparks up to the midnight blue sky.
It was cold, but being cooped up in my cabin was making me antsy. I’d decided to make a fire outside instead, and was drawing my third-favorite knife across a whetstone. The soft rasp of metal on stone blended with the hiss and crackle of the fire, then swirled away in a plume of smoke.
I pulled the knife away and ran a thumb along the edge to check its sharpness. Then I held it up, looking for the edge to disappear into the air as I sighted along the blade. Almost there. I lowered it to the stone and resumed my task. Quiet and controlled. That was all it took.
