She recognized him. The Dragon from the park. And with that revealing outfit, he definitely fit into the “testicle” category.
Why was he in her dream?
He walked straight up to her. Her heart pounded, and her legs twitched as though her brain believed she should run, but her body refused to obey. His weird, oversized irises pulsed turquoise.
Then he reached out a hand, as though to touch her face.
Dani flinched away. It was instinctive, done without thought. Too many hands had come at her, usually folded into fists. No male had ever touched her with anything other than aggression.
His hand froze, and his arched brows drew down.
“I will not hurt you.” His voice, so deep it rumbled straight through her, was sexy as hell.
“I’ve heard that before,” Dani stated, although she was having trouble breathing. “And it was always a lie.”
He pulled himself up, as though affronted that she thought he would hit her. Maybe he was. Or more likely, he just didn’t appreciate being called on it.
It’s a dream, Dani, she reminded herself. He’s only your brain farting out ideas.
But he seemed so damned real.
His eyes sparked blue-green fire, and his hand dropped to his side. “You have known many monsters. I am sorry for that.”
“Yeah. Me too.” Dani retreated. It was hard to force her legs to do so, as if he had a hold on them. The thought disturbed her. She’d been a slave to Remy. She didn’t want to go there, ever again.
He took a step after her, and she snapped. “Stay away from me.”
He froze—which was when she realized she could see the glowing flowers of the meadow grasses clear through him. As she stared, he faded completely.
Leaving her alone in the meadow.
3
Tyrez jerked awake when the Phoenix blazed into existence above his desk.
The Phoenix wasn’t likely here on official trade business, though. Tyrez tugged his tablet safely away and regarded the creature with bleary eyes. He’d fallen asleep at his desk. Dim images of his dream drifted through his mind—the woman again. It had to be the fourth dream he’d had of her over the last three days. Every time he fell asleep, in fact.
Weird how his subconscious wasn’t letting him touch her. Most of his dreams involved a lot of touching. But they were with Dragons. Why was the Mover in them? If his subconscious was trying to tell him something, he had no idea what the message was.
The Phoenix shook, sending ash and feathers all over his desk. Messy things, Phoenixes. At first glance, it looked like an exotic bird, sort of a cross between a peacock and a hawk. It was only the size of a crow, but with ornate tail feathers that trailed behind it. It had a long neck, a hooked beak, and a heavy crest of bright red feathers.
Phoenixs’ colors varied, but Tyrez recognized the color pattern on this one. Its neck and chest were deep blue, and its wings and back gold. The tail started blue and ended in gold.
Her name was Sparkle. Not a name he would have given, but she didn’t belong to him.
Teleporting Phoenixes were useful for sending messages both within and across realms. So long as they’d been trained to find the right people and locations. Their tendency to materialize with little spurts of flame had both lent credence to the “Phoenix reborn” myth and caused its fair share of scorched destinations.
Sparkle landed on his desk and made a “chirruping” noise at him as her crest feathers steamed. It took a moment for the message cylinder strapped to her chest to cool. Tyrez scratched behind her crest—loosening more ash—as he extracted the message.
It read, “I have news. Meet me at Cara’s. Jacques.”
Tyrez rooted around for a pen and wrote “coming now” on the blank bit at the bottom before returning it to the cylinder. Then he said, “Jacques,” to the Phoenix.
With a puff of displaced air, the creature vanished. Motes of ash drifted onto his desk.
Tyrez brushed them away. His paperwork would have to wait. Nothing was as important as what was going on with the Warlock. Jacques was a valuable informant, and Tyrez, acting on behalf of the Emperor, had sent him to sniff out information.
The Satyr was annoying but also useful—no one was better at ferreting tidbits out of dark corners. His ability to travel the realms also meant he had an interconnected information network second to none.
