I stood on my tiptoes and touched my lips to his. At first rigid, but then they softened beneath mine. Their mere touch set me aflame.
A low groan tore from him, and he pulled away.
“Anna. Let me go.” He swallowed. “Please.”
Let him go? This was a dream, wasn’t it? Yet nothing about this seemed surreal. And I didn’t think he was the type to plead.
My body clamored for more. But gazing into his eyes, what I wanted no longer mattered.
He needed to be set free.
I released his hair. “Go, Talakai,” I whispered.
He transformed so fast I couldn’t follow it, and with a crack of air against wing, he was airborne. And then gone, a shadow flitting against the moon...
A loud bang woke me up. I lay in bed and blinked at the ceiling. Who slams doors in a dorm in the middle of the night?
With images of a flying Dragon soaring through my mind, I pushed out from beneath Trix, padded out of the room, and down the hall to the washroom. Still fogged with sleep, I let nature take its course. On my way back, I paused, leaning against the large window at the end of the main aisle. A part of it swung open, letting in the cooler night breeze.
The moons shone down onto the meadow below, and when they flickered, I looked up. And saw the Dragon silhouetted against them. For just an instant.
So powerful. So strong.
So why had I dreamed of him as, also, vulnerable? Weird.
Why had I dreamed of him at all? I was so attracted to Matt, and it was mutual. The Dragon was, at best, a reluctant paramour. When had I turned into such a whore? It seemed I couldn’t keep men out of my mind.
Certain men, anyway.
The Dragon was there, and then gone. From far out in the forest, a Dire howled. Usually a lonely melody, this one instead sounded frustrated. Tormented.
Was both my dream, and my interpretation of the howl, colored by my own inner turmoil?
I shivered, turned away from the window, and headed back to bed.
33
Anna
Between my restless thoughts about a certain Dragon and Mari’s snoring serenade, I barely slept the rest of the night. Which pretty much left me a walking zombie by morning.
In typical canine fashion, Trix woke up bouncing and ready for the day. I whipped her outside for her day-breaking ablutions and was back up in time to rejoin Mari at the buffet counter.
The focus among the students this morning was definitely breakfast over showers. The lineup was long. Mari and I stood beside Cody and Ryan, who both balanced trays heaped with food.
“Can you grab a few of those?” Ryan asked his bond mate, pointing to the selection of dumplings. “Alyssa loves ’em.”
Cody hesitated. “Kitani told me not to. She says they have too much fat in them.”
Ryan waved a serving spoon in the air. “Alyssa will whine if there are no dumplings.”
Cody added dumplings to his tray.
Mari and I exchanged an amused glance. Seemed like there was more than one strong-minded female in that family.
The two big Sabres finished loading up the trays and carried their precariously balanced treasures out the door, no doubt on their way back to their quarters. I noticed that quite a few instructors preferred to do that rather than eat with the students.
How could I blame them? I’d probably do that, too. Although at least at breakfast, we didn’t smell bad.
