Page 35 of Wake the Dream

He adjusted the set of his jacket in an attempt to hide his nipples. “We haven’t had the actual location until now. For some reason, whenever we had a tip called in, we were unable to get an address.”

“Sounds like hoodoo to me.”

“Hoodoo or not, I want you to be careful. There could be a whole lot of shit going on and I’m not going to call in backup unless we’re absolutely screwed.”

“I can handle my own, don’t you worry. Just don’t give away our covers. Act natural.”

“I like that you’re worried about me.”

His voice held a smile. Worried about him? No. Worried about whatever might happen to her or her sister if he gave away their real intentions? Yes.

She followed the directions on his GPS until they drove straight into the woods surrounding the town and the little voice went haywire. The satellites must be crossing paths or something. They lost the signal with five minutes to spare and spent the rest of the time crawling along the road slower than a blue-haired retiree on a Florida highway.

Even talking became taxing. Which made Kieran a less than perfect companion. He refused to quiet down, insisting on conversation.

Twilight fell as the road brought them through a dense forest that spread into and over the mountains, the trees turning from cypress to oak, from narrow to tall and proud, full of thickets and scattered mossy boulders. Even in the growing dark, the forest seemed to be breathing. The warm air hummed, leaving a metallic taste coating her tongue. Far behind them, thunder grumbled.

“Are you sure we’re going in the right direction?” Her fingers gripped the steering wheel until a frigid breeze caressed her legs and she had to, for the umpteenth time, peel her dress lower to cover herself.

Kieran slapped at the screen of his cell phone and growled, “No, I have no idea where we are going. How many times do I need to tell you? You’re the magical one here! Can’t you snap your fingers and get us there faster? Give it a little push?”

“Do I look like I belong on the damn StarshipEnterprise?” she responded. “I can’t snap my fingers and go anywhere, thank you very much. And my magic is a little iffy since my connection to the source got cut off. I can fly, I can do a little air magic, and I can look like a million bucks. That about covers the extent of my abilities. What canyoudo?”

“I can read people and know things about them.” Just as she opened her mouth to ask him about that, he pointed. “Turn left here.”

“How do you know?”

“Just turn!”

“Fine. Jackass.”

She jerked the wheel hard to the left and turned down a dirt road. The tires bounced along the gravel and over bumps and potholes. Around them, the woods were a never-ending sea of darkness, with yellow eyes staring out at them as they passed. “You better be right about this, Mr. I-See-and-Know-Things.”

Illaria wondered what he meant. He could read people? Could he read her?

The car bumped along. If this kept up, she’d need to take it straight to the auto shop for an alignment. In the distance, she could make out the bobbing of a light on a pole. It had gotten windy and the breeze pushed the car back and forth. Not her doing.

Either they were on the right road or they were about to get attacked by a maniac wearing a mask. She had a feeling the evening could go either way.

She pulled to a stop beside several other cars haphazardly parked in a clearing, dead grass crunching beneath the tires. Ahead of her stood an old building with bars over the windows. The door, marked by a sign warning the general public to keep out, looked like it hadn’t been opened in years. Where had the owners of the cars gone?

The building must have been a personal residence at some point. A little one-story ranch, the front porch sagged and the shutters were crumbling under the elements. Tall pines rose toward the cloudy sky overhead and shook in the stormy wind.

Illaria shut off the car, the howling of the wind through the trees filling the silence. Her dress left no room for the keys, and she’d left her purse at home. Kieran took the keys from her and pocketed them in his jacket without a second thought. Almost as though he’d read her mind?

No, impossible!

“You follow my lead,” he reminded her.

She glanced over, noting the intentional darkening beneath his eyes. Club denizen out of New York City—that must be what he’d gone for because she could swear he’d used eyeliner on himself. “What’s our story?” she asked.

“Excuse me?”

“Us, numbnuts. Tell me about our relationship.”

“We’ve been going out for a year,” he said, stowing his weapon near his lower back. Safety on. “Decided we wanted to spice it up because things just aren’t what they used to be. A mutual friend told us about this place.”

“Do we need to come up with a code name for said friend?”

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