stay with you, I’ll expect you to do the same. But that’s my requirement—she gets to choose where she goes.”
24
Willow
Mint. My nose twitched. Mmm, Ryder. His scent was strong, which meant he was nearby. I rolled onto my side to reach for him, only to hit air. No mattress. No pillows. Just air. Frowning, I rotated to my opposite side and found a solid block of fluffed leather instead.
I peeled one eye open to see the back of a couch.
That would have been fine had I not seen my paw against the black leather. I shrieked, and it came out as a wolfish whine that had me scrambling off the couch and onto the ground. On four legs.
Fuck!
I started to spin, bumping into the coffee table with my rump, my snout hitting the end table, and my nails clawing at the white carpet. The same color as my fur.
Oh, Goddess. Oh, Goddess!
This had to be a nightmare. Some sort of cognizance designed to help me get over my trauma from the breeding camp.
Which I could fully remember now.
My heart began to race with the onslaught of horrors, the growls, the mid-shift rutting. Oh, oh, oh, I didn’t want to go there. No, no, no!
I released another of those shriek-whines and began to run, only my legs didn’t know how to work. They spun beneath me, and I went face-first into the floor.
A male voice told me to stop. I snapped in response, trying futilely to escape the cage of my mind. I needed to wake up. This couldn’t be happening. I didn’t want to walk down memory lane again!
“Willow.”
Ryder’s voice. I jumped up, searching for him, begging him to release me from this insanity. Wake me up! Wake me up! I begged him. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to know this. I don’t want to remember. Please!
The bellows and commands continued to riot in my mind, the door wide open on a series of events I never wanted to live through again. I shook my head, refusing to let them take me.
Oh, but the one with green eyes, he always haunted me.
He visited me daily.
My punisher.
My captor.
My aggressor.
I hated him, loathed him, wanted to attack him, to bite him, to slaughter him, to hurt him like he did me. The coward used restraints. How sad for him that a poor, defenseless, little human female could put up such a fight that he needed to chain me to the wall to fuck me.
I laughed at him.
He hated that.
He wanted me to fight.
Fuck you, I thought. You pansy-ass mother—
“Willow.” Ryder was closer now, his minty aftershave heaven to my senses.
Yes, yes, I thought, scrambling to my feet again. Wake me up. Please wake me up.
I could see him now, approaching me slowly from around the sofa. He had a hand out as if to calm me. I cocked my head to the side, confused. Why had he entered this strange dream?
Then I realized he wasn’t alone. Another vampire stood with him. One with icy blue eyes and a jawline that struck me as severely acute. I sniffed at him, noting his woodsy aftershave.
Then another approached.
A lycan.
Bulky.
Dark hair, dark eyes, dominant and terrifying.
I backed up at his presence, not wanting to play with his kind. He was too masculine. Too predatory. Too alarmingly beautiful and cruelly so.
“Willow,” another voice said, drawing my gaze right to a blond male I never thought I’d see again. Except he was all wrong. Not human like I remembered him, but lycan, too. And alpha. Strong. Just like the other.
I whimpered again, confused. That wasn’t my Silas.
Wake me up, I begged, looking at Ryder again. Wake me up.
He began to murmur words in a foreign language, one I didn’t understand, but the melody struck me as familiar. He’d sung this to me once before, after the elevator incident. It was soothing and warm, making me feel safe.
I started toward him, only to notice yet another lycan in the room. This one female. Alpha, too.
It caused my fur to twitch, my instincts flaring to life. I snarled at her, keeping her away from Ryder as I approached him. Dream or no, this bitch was not touching him.
“Did she just snarl at me?” the female demanded.
“She’s territorial when it comes to me,” Ryder explained, his tone amused. I glanced at him, and he began to hum again, luring me closer until my head met his palm. He sat in his chair, bringing us closer, and drew