Page 83 of Baseball and Shifters

I can feel Rachel’s storm of emotions in our bond. Anxiety, fear, grief, and white hot rage war inside of her. All I want to do is take her back to the dorm and lock the world away so she can decompress.

“Do you think he’ll come after me again?” she asks.

Demi’s expression darkens. “I don’t think so. Not right now. After yesterday, I had enough evidence to bring before the Eternal Council. They opened a formal investigation and that should be enough to keep him on his best behavior. But we all know he’s unstable, so stay safe and protect each other.”

Bas growls low in his throat. “If he comes near her again, he won’t make it out alive.”

“We’ll keep her safe,” Derrick agrees, a ring of smoke circling his head.

“Always,” Lucas and I say in unison.

Rachel lifts her chin, straightening her spine. “He won’t break me. Not this time. Never again.”

“That’s my girl,” Demi says, pride shining in his eyes.

With the answers we found, came even more questions. We’re still not sure for certain what happened to Rachel’s mom or her mate, but the information Dad found is more than she ever had. It’s not over, it feels like it’s only just begun. But we’re together, we’re aware, and we’re ready.

Let him come. He won’t walk away.

Derrick

Soft moonlight spills through tall windows, the warm flicker of the fire’s light dancing across the walls. We’re alone, just Rachel and me, tucked away in a cabin that doesn’t exist anywhere other than our minds. The smell of cedar, the soft scratch of the wool blankets, and the hitch in her breath when I touch her, makes it feel so real that it’s hard to remember this is just a dream.

She straddles my lap, her fingers buried in my hair, her soft lips swollen and kiss bruised. Her dark hair tumbles messily over her shoulders, and her flushed cheeks glow in the firelight.

“I think I like it here,” she murmurs. “Can we stay?”

I run my hands up her thighs, slowly, savoring every inch. “We can stay as long as you want, Emerald. Time doesn’t matter here.”

She leans in, brushing her lips against mine in a kiss that's more tease than contact. Bringing one hand up, I cup her cheekand deepen our kiss. She melts into me, soft sounds escaping her as my hands wander. We don’t rush. We never do in our dreams. It’s slow touches and whispered promises. Shared breath and the feeling that the rest of the world ceases to exist if only just for a moment.

“I feel safe here,” she whispers.

“You are safe,” I whisper back. “Always. I will protect you with everything I have.”

The dream begins to fade, softly like a candle flickering out. I blink awake to the soft morning light bleeding through the curtains. For a moment I'm still in that dream, that cabin. But then I feel her. Warm and curled into my side with a leg thrown over mine.

I shift slightly, brushing her hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear. She stirs slightly, lashes fluttering, eyes peeking open. Her hair is sleep-tousled, one strap of her shirt slipping off her shoulder, and her voice still thick with sleep.

“Mmm,” she hums. “Was that you… in the dream? Or was that all me this time?”

I grin, shifting my hips slightly so she can feel how hard that shared dream made me. “What do you think, Emerald?”

She blinks up at me, a smile tugging at her lips.

“I think,” she says. “That your subconscious is a little too good at foreplay.”

I chuckle and dip down to plant a kiss on her forehead. “What can I say? Dream me knows just what you need.”

She hums her agreement. “Only dream you? What about real you?”

Sliding my hand along the curve of her waist, I pull her closer. “Real me has a few tricks of his own.”

She lets out a happy squeak as I grab her hips positioning her on top of me. Her legs straddle my hips mirroring how we were in the dream. She shifts slightly, the hem of her oversized sleepshirt rising with the motion, revealing a teasing sliver of bare thigh. The way she looks at me with those emerald eyes has my pulse picking up and my breath hitching.

“Feeling a little déjà vu?” I ask, running my hands up her thighs to her hips.

“Mmm… this is better than a dream,” she whispers, bracing her hands on my chest and rocking her hips subtly. “Because now I get to make you moan too.”

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