Dream-Hunter (Dark-Hunter #11)(3)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

A light smile toyed on the edges of her lips. She could hear muffled voices overhead as the boat rocked

softly under her, lulling her into a bit of a stupor. She really did need some rest. Her sleep had been fitful lately. Probably a result of having too much on her mind.

Toeing off her shoes, she pulled back her spread and tucked herself into the narrow bed.

She fell asleep almost immediately.

The noises of the boat faded as she drifted through her dream darkness that was laced with white mist and a cooling breeze. Ever since she’d been a child, Geary had been able to rapidly fall into REM

sleep… usually within five minutes, which was virtually unheard of. It was a strange sleeping disorder that no doctor had ever been able to explain.

Her dreams flowing, she found herself standing on a dark beach where the snowcapped waves crashed against a foreign shore. The sound echoed in her ears as she curled her bare toes into the wet, black sand.

"Megeara." The deeply masculine voice was warm and erotic as it rolled with an accent so exotic and strange that it whispered through Geary like brandy-laced hot chocolate. Rich. Smooth.

Intoxicating.

She groaned in her dreams as her mysterious lover appeared behind her. As always, he was breathtakingly handsome, with long black hair that tangled in the wind and with eyes so clear and blue, they seemed to glow, Every angle of his face was perfectly sculpted, and those mesmerizing eyes were set off by a pair of black brows that slashed above them. He wrapped his tanned arms around her and pulled her back against his wickedly bare chest that dipped and curved with perfect muscles.

He was divinity.

Absolute seduction.

And for the moment, he was all hers…

Closing her eyes, she allowed the scent of his raw, earthy maleness to seep into her until it made her completely drunk with pleasure. She leaned her head to the left as his hot lips brushed against her neck so that he could tenderly lick and caress her skin until her entire body burned.

She didn’t know why she kept having these wildly erotic dreams. Why this incredibly sexy man haunted her. After all, Geary Kafieri wasn’t known for her sensuality or femininity. Geary was as tough as nails.

She’d spent her entire life fighting for her own beliefs, fighting to be her own person, and those battles hadn’t left her time to cultivate the more girlie pastimes of makeup, hair, and feminine wiles.

From the moment she’d started down this path of restoring her father’s reputation, she’d been trying to prove to herself to her colleagues and investors. That she could not only compete in a male-dominated field but also rule it.

And she’d succeeded admirably. So what if she wasn’t the most ladylike of women? She had her accolades and had taken her father’s failing company and turned it around in less than three years after his death. Kafieri Salvage was now one of the top companies inGreece , and while she’d rebuilt her father’s company she’d managed to carry on his private research.

That had always been enough for her.

Or so she’d thought until that sultry night two months ago when Arikos had first appeared in her dreams.

From the moment she’d laid her unconscious eyes on him, she’d been captivated.

He turned her around in his arms to face him. Biting her lip, Geary looked up into his searing blue eyes.

He wore a pair of black leather pants and boots with nothing else. His wavy hair flowed around his face as the gentle breeze teased it, and strands of it became caught in the whiskers of his cheeks.

"What has you upset today, agamenapee ?" he asked in that tone that never failed to send a shiver over her.

Geary leaned her head against the hollow of his muscular shoulder so that she could just breathe in his scent and let it soothe her.

If only he could be real…

"They won’t give us our permits," she whispered, tracing the outline of his nipple and watching while it drew taut. "And I could kill them for it. I know we’ve found Atlantis. I know it. I’m so close I can taste it and now… Now it’s hopeless."

She ground her teeth in frustration, grateful that she had someone she could trust without having to put on her "game" face. Her staff expected her to be calm and collected at all times when what she really wanted to do was shake the official until he gave her what she needed.

Damn them for it.

"I’m going to fail," she said, her voice catching. "At the rate we’re going, Tory’s right. We’ll be too old to even remember what it was we were looking for."

Arikos cupped her face in his large hands and stared at her with a frown. "I don’t understand why this is important to you."

"Because my father died a broken alcoholic. I want everyone who ever laughed at him to have to eat their words. I want to prove to the world that my father wasn’t a fool racing against windmills. I want to keep my promise to him. I owe it to him."

Arikos tilted his head and stared into her eyes as if he could see straight into her soul. "Finding it would make you happy?"

"More than anything."

"Then it is done. I will take you to Atlantis."

She laughed at the absurdity. Boy, when her subconscious went off into outer space, it really went off into outer space.

Even so, it meant a lot to her to have at least one person’s faith. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t real. She needed his hypothetical support and she was grateful for it.

Arikos dipped his head down then and captured her lips with his. Geary moaned at the sweet taste of him. There was no one on this earth who tasted the way he did. No one who felt better in her arms, which was probably why he was relegated to her dreams.

But she was so glad to have him here. To feel the heat of his skin sliding against hers.

Oh, she could eat this man alive.

His hands deftly slid the white, flowing dress off her shoulders until she was nak*d before him while he nibbled and teased her mouth with his lips and tongue. It amazed her that she was so at ease with him, even in her dreams. In real life, Geary had never been the kind of woman to let any man whisk her off her feet. To let her passions rule her.

She was a woman of cold, hard logic and restricted emotions.

It was why she loved her dreams so much. Here she was free to have her way with Arikos without worry. There was no risk of pregnancy or disease. No worry about having to face him in the morning.

No risk of disappointment or cruel laughter. She was in control of her dreams and him. Her times with him were safe and warm and the best moments of her day.

He laid her down carefully on the sandy ground and covered her body with his. Oh, the feel of him like this was incredible. The leather of his pants caressed her legs as he separated her thighs with his knee.

He moved his mouth from hers, down toward her swollen breast that ached for his kiss.

Breathless and weak, she cupped his head to her as he flicked his tongue back and forth over her taut nipple. His breath was scorching against her flushed skin.

"That’s it," he breathed as he dipped his hand down to ease the ache that wanted him inside her. His warm fingers stroked and teased her until she was cresting an orgasm. "Give me all of your passion, Megeara. Let me feel your pleasure. Let me taste it."

Kissing him wildly, she thrust her h*ps against his hand, seeking even more pleasure from him. "I want more," she demanded, reaching for his zipper.

He laughed wickedly. "And you will have it."

"Geary!"

The loud shout jolted her from her dream and left her heart racing even faster than Arikos had. Geary opened her eyes to find herself lying facedown on her bed.

Tory burst into the room. "You better come quick. Thia is about to drown Teddy. And I’m not kidding."

ARIK PULLED OUT OF THE DREAM WITH A CURSE AS HE hovered in the strobilos that gave him no form or substance while he spied on the human realm. Whenever a person awoke from their dream, it left a dream god in a vast nothingness. There was no sound, no color, nothing but blackness.

All he could feel was her fleeting emotions, and he was desperate to keep those.

"Megeara…" Arik called, wanting to return to what they’d been sharing. But he knew it was too late. His little fixation was stronger than the average human and didn’t always come to him when he called for her.

Not even the Lotus serum could induce her to sleep until she was ready and agreeable. All it did was give her a headache as she fought against it.

Damn it. He wanted her back!

His body was aching with unsated need, but more than that he felt something strange in his chest.

Grief.

He craved her and he was angry at her loss. Never once in all the history of the human world had he felt anything like this. Dream gods were supposed to be devoid of emotions… at least all except for pain.

That emotion alone had been left for them so that the other gods could control and punish them.

Only he didn’t feel pain in his chest. He could still feel Megeara’s emotions as his own, which told just how powerful her repressed passion and anger were.

She’d started out as a passing curiosity for him. Her dreams had been vivid and colorful. Two things most were not. The average person dreamed in black-and-white with a lot of mist.

Most dream gods avoided those, especially the erotic Skoti like him who were ever questing for the more daring humans. Why dance in the dreams of an unimaginative person when the point was to experience feelings and senses through the sleeper?

So his kind skipped through dreams, seeking those who could create beauty and give to the Skoti what they needed.

Megeara’s dreams had been awash in clever sensations. He’d first come upon her while she was bathing in a river of chocolate.

Rolling over on the misty ground that made up one of the dream chambers, Arik closed his eyes to summon the memory. There were still the remnants of Megeara’s passion inside him even though their dream connection was severed, and that allowed him to remember the pleasure of finding her that first night.

Even now he could taste the dream chocolate on his tongue as he’d licked it from her nak*d body. Feel the warm sensation of it sliding over his skin as they made love in it. He wondered now as he’d wondered then what that chocolate would really taste like on the mortal plane.

Why had it given Megeara so much pleasure?

Most of all, he burned to know what she would really taste like. How she would smell.

His c**k twitched in sweet expectation.

"Arikos?"

He turned his head away as a bright light burst into his darkness. "Fuck off, M’Ordant," he snarled, recognizing the voice of his older half brother.

"Is that anger?"

Arik pushed himself up and moved to stand beside the god who was equal to his height. Like him, M’Ordant had black hair and translucent blue eyes. All of their race were marked by those colorings, along with an unearthly beauty.

This time when Arik spoke his tone was flat and level, as was befitting one of his cursed species. "How would I know? I have no emotions."

M’Ordant narrowed his gaze and if Arik didn’t know better, he’d swear his brother was puzzled. Even though they couldn’t truly feel, they’d learned to mock expressions. It made the other gods less nervous around them. "You’ve been spending too much time with the human. You need to move on to another."

That was the way of it. A Skotos such as Arik was only tolerated to help drain humans of excess emotions. If Skoti spent too long with one person, they could, in theory, make that person go mad or even kill them.

The Skoti were normally given a single warning and if they failed to heed it, an Oneroi would be selected to either punish or eliminate them from existence. M’Ordant was one of many who monitored human sleep and who kept the Skoti in line.

"And if I don’t want to leave her?"

"Are you being argumentative?"

Arik gave him an arch stare. "How could I be?"

"Then you are done with her." M’Ordant vanished.

The wisest course of action would be to heed his warning. But Arik was too drawn to his human to pay attention to M’Ordant’s words. After all, that would require fear… something Arik knew nothing about.

Closing his eyes, Arik could still smell the scent of Megeara’s flesh. Still taste the salty sweetness of her body on his hungry tongue. Feel her touch on his skin.

No, he wasn’t done with her. He was only beginning.

CHAPTER 2

LEANING AGAINST THE SIDE OF THE BOAT SO THAT SHE could watch the nearby sailboats gliding over the clear blue water, Geary didn’t know what was wrong with her. She was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open, and that wasn’t like her.

"I think I have narcolepsy."

Tory paused by Geary’s side before looking her up and down. "Possibly. Did you know that seventy percent of people with narcolepsy also suffer cataleptic attacks?" Before Geary could open her mouth to comment, Tory refuted her own theory. "That’s not you, though. I’ve seen you angry enough times to know that that lovely symptom doesn’t affect you. Of course, narcoleptics also have vivid hallucinations either while asleep or even while awake. And, of course, sleepwalking. I know you don’t sleepwalk.

Have you become delusional lately?"

Yes, but discussing vivid sexual fantasies with a fifteen-year-old bookworm wasn’t something Geary intended to do.

Geary scowled at her. "How do you know all this? Jeez, Tory, you’re a kid. Act like it." Before she could even blink, Tory reached out and punched her on the arm. Hard. "Ow!" She rubbed her biceps where Tory had hit her. "What was that for?"