Page 68 of Venomous Lies
“Just that.” Isla shrugged before she took baby steps toward the work bench, her hands held out to keep herself from running into something. She stopped when she was right across from me. “It was as if the entire place was watching me. Most forests, I can feel them sensing me, welcoming me in. This place… It was wary. And then there was something else… They wouldn’t come out of the trees, but they were stalking me.”
That must have been the power I sensed.
“It didn’t feel like a dream.” Her head turned back and forth like she was trying to figure out where I was standing. “It felt real, and it was… The pain was awful. It turned small aches into burning pain untilsomethingwas pouring out of me. When I collapsed, I ended up here.”
“There’s blood on your face along with the bruises that were all there from before,” I told her gently. “And a dried blue substance from whatever came out of your mouth. Besides those things, though, I don’t see any new injuries… at least for what you’re manifesting here.”
“But where ishere?”
“The room that I live in inside your mind,” I replied, watching her closely.
I looked around the small room constructed of soft-gray stone, trying to see it with new eyes. We stood in the middle where a long, solid, darkwood work bench stood, covered inall manner of books, papers, flasks, and plants. On the other side were bookshelves filled to the brim with old leatherbound books. More books were piled up on the floor beside a small chair close to the bed Isla had just laid on.
“It’s not much to look at, so don’t worry. You aren’t missing much,” I told her with forced humor.
“Good to know my mind is a hovel just like my room,” she joked.
“You have to get back, Isla,” I told her seriously, making sure to impress the urgency of the matter in my tone. “You can’t stay this far inside of your mind without consequences.”
“I don’t know how I got here! How am I supposed to leave?”
“You need to wake up,” I told her firmly, projecting way more confidence than I actually felt.
“And how am I supposed to do that?” she asked exasperatedly. “Just snap my fingers and appear back on the couch?”
“You could try reaching out for your mate again,” I told her calmly. “That might be enough to pull you out.”
“When I’m injured and have zero idea where he might be? The others said they would get him, but?—”
“But you could wake up,” I shot back.
“Are you guys always like this?”
My head snapped to the side, shock filling me. The incubus was standing there, every line of his body tense. His gaze was what captured my attention first. His gold and green eyes were filled with concern, confusion, and sharp jealousy as he carefully studied us.
A hint of amusement flowed through me, though I carefully kept that hidden. No need to set off the loose canonthat had somehow joined us. I’d seen him during the rut, not to mention the people he had killed.
Becoming blood splatter on the wall wasn’t on my to do list for the day.
“Echo?!” Isla’s voice cracked.
“So far, I’ve gathered that I’m in your head,” Echo said, “and that somehow this… person lives in it as well.”
“It’s complicated—” I started.
“That’s a pretty good summary actually,” Isla said at the same time.
I rolled my eyes as she grinned widely, likely knowing my reaction.
“How did you get here?” Isla asked, her head tilted to the side.
“Dreamwalking is one of my brother’s abilities, not mine, so I have no idea,” Echo replied with a shrug. “But if we could refocus… Who the hell areyou, and why have I seen you before?”
“Wait… What?” Isla asked, her head moving to search the space for both of us.
Well, that was certainly curious. When, exactly, he had seen me? Had it been in a reflective surface around Isla, or did he recall more of the rut than I thought? Gods, that had been intoxicating.
It had been centuries since I’d had a release like that.
