Falling for Angels - Hazel Hunter Page 0,15

is Lacey.”

“Laaayessee.” He lifted my fingers to his chest. “Veh. Vehelhet.”

And that was the first word I taught him: the name we’d chosen for him. “Velvet. Your name is Velvet.”

Chapter 13

Dreamwalker

Besides avocados, chewing gum and tomatoes, do you know what fourteenth-century Scotland doesn’t have? Coffee. No coffee. At. All. The McGillean Clan drinks “brew” made out of herbs and flowers. It tastes like potpourri smells, but has no kick.

At breakfast I asked Coach if we could somehow sneak coffee into this century. I swore I wouldn’t tell anyone local so we wouldn’t screw up the Folger’s timeline or whatever.

“Coffee won’t even exist for another two hundred years.” She frowned. “What’s going on, Jessie?”

If I told her how much I’d been sleeping, she’d freak. “Just can’t wake up in the morning.”

“Andrea is riding over to see Kendric,” Coach said, and handed me a bowl of berry-topped oatmeal. “Why don’t you tag along? He might have a solution.”

I glanced at Doc Ivers, who had been splitting her time between Dun Dorchas and training at the druid settlement. “Okay.”

After the meal the doc and I went to the stables, where the only McGillean I didn’t like stood waiting. He scowled at me, too, making the swan tattoo on the left side of his face arch its wings.

No way was I riding with him. “Hey, Doc, I just remembered something I need to do. You and Birdbrain go on without me.”

“Sorley,” Andrea corrected gently, and then said to the big jerk, “War Master, thanks for escorting us.”

He nodded and helped her up on the smallest horse, and then turned to me. I breezed past him and swung up into the saddle myself, but he came after me.

“Don’t need help,” I said with my teeth clenched.

“You’re on my destrier, Mistress.” He grabbed me by the waist and plonked me on the other horse.

From there we rode to the big glen beyond the castle. Along the way Sorley chatted with the doc like they were BFFs. All I got were the usual nasty looks, but the war master and I had hated each other at first sight. Then a herd of deer burst out of the woods, spooking the doc’s mare, which shot off toward a cliff. Sorley shouted as I went after her.

Andrea gave me a terrified look as I came alongside her mare. I slung an arm around her and yanked her across my saddle, reining in my mount at the same time. The war master rode directly into the doc’s horse, forcing it to veer away from the cliff. He chased her to a safe distance while I eased Andrea down on her feet.

“Didnae you hear me, you daft twit?” Sorley demanded as he led the mare back to us, and swung off his destrier.

“You mean over the sounds of the stampeding deer?” I dismounted and walked right up to him. “No, you moron, I didn’t.”

Andrea held up her hands. “I’m okay, guys. Stop fighting.”

“I didn’t start it.” I rammed my finger into the center of Sorley’s tunic. “Birdbrain did.”

The war master grabbed my hand, and then we both froze as the sunlight vanished and we stood under the stars. I looked down at the shift I wore for sleeping, and Sorley did the same to the only thing he was wearing, a pair of really old trousers.

“Jess, love.” He caught my face between his hands and kissed me. “Thank the Gods, we’re asleep again.”

That was the bizarre thing: when we were awake we hated each other, but it was a whole different thing in our dreams. Every night we met, and fell even deeper in love—but woke up as strangers.

“I hope I never wake up again.” I threw my arms around him. “How can we stop forgetting this?”

“Mayhap one of the druids shall see us.” He took my hand, and we walked toward the settlement.

The little village was dead quiet, and in every cottage we checked we found all the druids asleep. We didn’t want to leave each other, so we stayed there, and talked about how to solve our impossible problem.

Okay, and we got busy, too. Super busy. What? We were in love.

Many wonderful, sexy nights passed, until two glowing figures appeared and called to us.

“It’s K-pop and the doc,” I told Sorley.

Kendric and Andrea stopped a short distance from us, and the druid headman said, “Jessica, Sorley, you’ve been dreamwalking together for nigh on a week now.”

“We can’t wake you up,” the doc added. “You’ve got to come back to