The dream left me restless as hell.
After tossing and turning with my thoughts running in circles about a certain Dragon shifter, I decided that a trip to the bathroom was in order. Trix shot me a look as I pulled on my boots and crept out of the bedroom, but she wasn’t inclined to follow. Apparently, loyalty had its limits when one’s human kept one awake.
I didn’t blame her. She’d had a hard time of it too, my little warrior dog.
I padded down the hall and to the washroom without having to communicate with anyone. Once I was done, going back to the room lacked appeal. So I sat on the wide window ledge at the end of the hall and looked out over the academy grounds as the sun rose.
From here, I could see the front edge of the forest, a good chunk of meadow, and a bit of the lake. It looked like it was shaping up to be a perfect summer day.
The hall was far from quiet—it was early. Students came and went, but no one bothered me. I slipped into a daze, staring out at the sunlight reflecting off the shallow waves moving across the lake.
“I thought you were in dreamland, Angel.”
Matt stood over me. I’d been so fogged I hadn’t even heard him approach. He wore the same grungy cloak, and by the bare skin showing at his throat, feet, and lower legs, he wasn’t any more clothed than he’d been before. But as he gazed at me, I saw that he’d lost the dark circles around his eyes. They gleamed at me with an energy I hadn’t seen since I’d drained him.
In fact, as his lips cocked into a grin, he radiated an abundance of good health that had my heart doing cartwheels in my chest.
“That must have been some run,” I commented.
“Well, funny that. I was so stonkered I curled up in the trees as a beast, and dreamed my way to paradise.”
His eyes never left mine as he spoke, and on the last word, his eyes fired.
I swallowed. “A good dream, then?”
“The best kind of good,” he said, his grin widening, revealing that his canines were far from human. “How about you?”
My damned face flushed. To hide my discomfort, I rose from the window ledge. “I’m just heading back to bed,” I stated.
He stepped aside for me, and then fell in alongside as I walked down the hall. “Did you sleep for a while?”
Why all this sudden interest in my sleeping patterns? “I did. Then I woke up.”
He sighed. “Ah, well. I guess we can’t all have seriously epic dreams about rooting.”
My stride hitched. Surely it was a coincidence that he’d had a steamy dream, too? “Does rooting mean—”
“Yep. Much better to use ‘root’ than the f-word, I figure. Aussies have class.”
“Well, you have something, anyway.” I reached to rub my shoulder and then froze. Yanked my tee shirt aside...
The skin was whole, unmarked. Why did I think it wouldn’t be? It had been just a dream. Yet it ached...
I looked up to see Matt staring at my shoulder. Did I imagine the disappointment in his expression?
Before I could think it through, my mouth opened and inserted my foot. “Do Dires bite each other during sex?”
If I thought his eyes had glowed before, it was nothing compared to what they did now. So brilliant a green that emerald didn’t do them justice.
“They only bite their mates.” A growl ran right through the words.
Suddenly I wasn’t sure I wanted to know whether he meant “mate” as in friend, or the other possible meaning.
I didn’t realize my feet had frozen as effectively as my thoughts until someone cleared their throat. Matt and I had both stopped dead in the middle of the narrow side hall. Another student, who looked human, but no doubt was not, waited for us to step out of the way.
I moved aside for him and then continued on without looking at Matt. My heart pounded as we reached our rooms.
Mari’s snoring carried clearly through the door as I searched for a less awkward topic than steamy dreams and the possible interpretations of the word “mate”. My gaze landed on the door across the hall and found it.
