Dreamwalker (Stormwalker #5) - Allyson James Page 0,71

his eyes smoky black. “Even if Emmett can protect his body from my fire, I’ll destroy every single thing he enjoys until he leaves you the hell alone.”

I shivered, suddenly cold though the September day was plenty warm. “If you irritate him enough, he’ll come after you.”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass. I will make his life a misery. Wherever he turns, there I’ll be, ready to—how did I put it?—rain down hell. I want him out of your life.”

Mick’s smile had vanished, his anger taking over. Mick rarely lost his temper in a big way, but when he did, continents took cover.

I clasped his hands in mine, closing over his hot fingers. “I don’t want him taking you away from me, Mick. When I thought you were dying in my dream, it was …” Empty, terrifying, a dark hole in my life. “I never want to feel like that again. I was ready to make a deal with the devil to keep you alive.”

I had told him everything about the dream as I recovered in the hospital, though some of the details had gone. Mick squeezed my hands.

“Maybe that’s what the dream was telling you—that you’d go to Emmett if you were desperate. That you’d give him anything.”

I shook my head. “I think it was telling me I’d do anything to keep you safe.”

Mick’s voice went quiet. “I’m supposed to be keeping you safe. From dragons, Beneath goddesses, powerful mages, and your own magic.” He took a step closer, right into my personal space, his body heat warming me. “You’re my mate. I live to keep you safe and next to me.”

I liked the way my heartbeat quickened. “Yeah? Well, you’re my mate. It goes both ways. Either lock me on your island lair or let me protect you.”

Mick growled low in his throat. “Don’t tempt me.”

I knew damn well he’d fly me out to the atoll in the middle of the Pacific and make sure I couldn’t get away if he thought I’d be safer.

To keep him from deciding to go there right now, I pressed myself against him. While I’d been in the hospital, there had been no way to be completely intimate, and last night in the hotel room, Mick had insisted I sleep, not that I hadn’t passed out as soon as my head touched the pillow.

I still wasn’t quite at my normal strength today, and the impromptu flight home had drained me a bit. It was also broad daylight, the sun shining on Mick’s bare skin, and the hotel was full of guests.

Even so, I gave his hands a little tug, indicating we should go inside. I was ready to show him how much I appreciated him springing to my defense.

Mick gave me a brief kiss on the lips before he gently pushed me away, but not to reject me. He moved a few steps down the railroad bed to the clothes he’d hidden there, pulling on a pair of jeans over his nakedness.

Then he took my hand, led me up and over the railroad bed and across the open space to the back door of my hotel. He was barefoot, but rocks and thorns never bothered Mick.

He kissed me again on the doorstep, the kiss holding all of his fire and plenty of promise. Then he took me inside and down the short hall to my bedroom, where he closed the door, shutting out the world.

Only an old crow, perched high in the juniper tree, watched us go in, and she said nothing at all.

***

I woke in darkness, the moon high, clouds dragging across it to dim its light. Mick was gone, but the pillow beside me was warm, and I knew he hadn’t gone far.

I rolled out of bed to my feet, my body sore from my recovery and Mick’s exuberant welcome. I was grateful for the dreamless sleep I’d plunged into, I guessed courtesy of Mick, whose healing magic included sending the hurt person to cozy oblivion.

I dragged on some clothes and went to check out the quiet hotel. Tomorrow I’d go see Maya and find Drake. While I’d been in the hospital, Fremont had called to tell me Maya was better and had gone home, to her old house, he’d stressed.

We’d had no word from Drake, and Mick was worried, though he said nothing. Drake hadn’t been at the jail when it had fallen—as far as I knew—but that didn’t mean Emmett hadn’t found some way to hurt him too.