Heavy hands on my shoulders, shaking me. I blinked up into Mari’s concerned face.
Muddled, my body still hyperaware, I pushed her hands back. It was a struggle not to snap at her. “I’m okay, Mari.”
As she took a step back, the warty, reddish-skinned face was wrinkled in worry. “You were having a nightmare.”
My cheeks flushed. I suppose having a phenomenal sex dream might resemble a nightmare to the casual observer. At least, I hope she’d been a casual observer. So much for my fireworks theory—she was a lighter sleeper than I’d assumed.
Trix had moved to the end of the bed—I had a sinking sensation that I’d been thrashing and moaning.Oh, man.I pushed my hair off my face. This is what I got for not rubbing one off in the shower—an ogress shaking me awake for having an orgasm.
It had been one heck of an earth-shattering orgasm...
I was sure my skin was now as red as Mari’s. I flung back the covers. “Did I wake you? I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “You did not wake me. The storm did.”
As my mind grappled with the embarrassing dynamics associated with her being awake for my entire dream, I blurted, “What storm?” We lacked a window, so I couldn’t tell what was going on outside.
“My people are really sensitive to pressure changes,” she explained. “There is a storm over us right now.”
I’d have to take her word for it. I’d also have to escape in order to regain a modicum of dignity. “Think I’ll go for a shower.”
“It is the middle of the night,” she murmured.
“Yeah. At least they’ll be deserted.”
She sat back down on her bed and yawned. “Have fun.”
Trix rose, turned around, and curled up with her back to me. Who said animals couldn’t talk?
I gathered my bathing stuff and escaped out the door.
The hall vibrated with the residents’ snores, but none were as impressive as my roommate’s. Did she keep anyone else awake at night? I glanced at Matt’s room as I passed, and a tingle swept through me.
Would the real thing be half as good as the dream?
I grimaced. If I really wanted to succeed in this endeavor, I’d better get my head out of the clouds. I couldn’t deny that there was something between Matt and me. But for the next three months, my focus should be on training. Only if I got through that, should I be entertaining any other thoughts.
If I entertained them at all. Messy romantic relationship was not on my to-do list.
As I approached the end hall with the washrooms, two Dires rounded the corner.
So much for deserted. Darius and Aaron. Both dripping wet. And naked as the day they’d been born.
The alpha’s eyes lit immediately. And Aaron said, “Nothing like a bit of tail after a good run.”
My team-building skills were not at max in the middle of the night when faced with a couple of rude naked men. “Dream on,” I replied, hugging the wall as I stalked by them.
“Your loss, Babydoll,” Darius chided as he turned away from me. Aaron made kissing noises behind my back.
I rolled my eyes just as another, much taller figure appeared from the main hall. Talakai.
I froze. He was also wet—had he been out with Darius and Aaron? Or was it a coincidence that all three had come in at the same time?
He was in human form, his torso naked, and dark scales hugged every contour from the waist down. He might as well have been naked there, too—his strange chainmail sweatpants didn’t hide much. And man, was he ripped. Shoulders as broad as a barn, with clear striations in the big pectoral muscles, and tapering abruptly with a rippling of abs to slim hips and powerful thighs...
All of which combined to excuse, perhaps, me standing there in the hall with my mouth hanging open. But what yanked my gaze away from the drool-worthy body was what arched up around and above him.
Wings.
