Chapter 1

‘Shit, I’m awake!’ Sitting straight up in bed from a dream about Lucas. Since I met him, I can’t seem to dream about anyone or anything else. I run my hands up and down my face before racking them through my hair, slowly bringing my breathing back to normal and giving myself one last mental shake before throwing myself back onto my pillow with a “groan”.

That was one hell of a dream, but I think I should focus on what to do about him, not on what to do on or with him. These dreams are getting more intense every night.

The dream was even more intense than the last one. Who goes on a picnic with a guy who isn’t wearing a shirt. Not to mention when said picnic is all deserts that can be eaten off that exposed chiseled chest and abs.

The small amount of drool on my pillow speaks for itself.

Yep, it definitely does. I have the hots for a Vampire.

Taking one of Tori’s signature deep breaths, I slowly shift to my side to see what time of day it is.

Thank the Gods it is only 6 am.

I roll back over, listening for any movement from my two friends. I know Tori can’t possibly be awake, but Chloe might be. She likes to tend to her plants early in the morning. Something about them puts her right with the world every day. Another is she could be a little bit anal about getting things done earlier in the day.

 As the saying goes, The early bird gets the worm.

It’s fine either way. I want Chloe to be happy.

On the plus side, sometimes it leads her to clean. When I say clean, it is more along the line of deep cleaning the bathroom or organizing the garage, which is always fantastic in my book. Tori and I tend to clutter things up or forget that soap is a thing. Chloe keeps threatening to hire a maid or set the place on fire.

Every once in a while, I think she means it.

A shiver goes down my back at the thought of someone else in our space.

Mentally I shrug. The fire I can put out, so that doesn’t worry me.

Sitting up with a ”groan”. I didn’t hear anything, so I checked Chloe’s room before heading up to the roof, where I was sure to find her.

Walking down the hall, past Tori’s closed door to Chloe’s. I see that it’s open, a good sign that she is up. Turning on my heels, I backtracked to go down the stairs to the kitchen. In my hast, I take them at a faster pace than needed.

An added perk to my day was not falling or tripping over my feet on the stairs.

Mental high five!

Going to the fridge, I grab a cold breakfast burrito. Tearing open the tin foil and wax paper, I bite into the burrito with a “moan” escaping from my lips after my first bite. Bacon is the best discovery in human history. I swear I would kiss the person who discovered it.

Some days I have the idea to be a vegetarian or at least have meatless days, but then I come down for breakfast and bite into one of these. There is no way I can give these up, and no matter how hard they try, tofu is not bacon.

I am heading back up, two stairs at a time to get to the next set of stairs that leads to the roof. I love the old spiral stairs that lead up to the roof and greenhouse. The ting of my slippers paddling their way up was a kind of music and alarm that someone was coming up.

Pushing through the door at the top, I inhale the soil, flowers, and magic that comes from the plants my friend has grown. Turning to the speaker system next to the door, I turn it down a few notches while rolling my eyes to the heavens. I don’t know how she can stand loud music this early.

I hear a “Hey!” from Chloe across the roof. Going around a couple of tables to reach the potting area she has set up for her young seedlings. Thankfully she is distracted, so her annoyance isn’t top level.

 Her long red auburn hair is swiftly braided down her back, hanging over her shoulder to one side. She cocks her hip to the right as she turns around to see that it is just me. I don’t know who else it would be, but she is very protective of her space and plants.

I shot an ice spear through the open window yesterday, hitting one of her hanging tomato plants. She still has not forgiven me. If I were anyone else, I would be dead or missing a part of my body.

…….More than likely the arm that threw the spear but let’s not dwell on that nasty image.

Chloe sells plants for high prices. She can inhibit the plants to do things that they usually can’t or even enhance their natural abilities. The clientele that she has I only help with some of the time. For the most part, I don’t know what, how or who buys them.

I try a wave, but she will not give in that easily. So I do the next best thing, I silently offer her the rest of my breakfast burrito.

 She nods and swipes it out of my hand, taking a massive bite out of it before she says. “Ok, but bring me one without your germs on it next time.” After another taste, she adds. “You are halfway forgiven. Now, what brings you up here and out of bed so early?” She turns back to her seedlings, so I jump up on the counter next to her work. “I had another dream about him, and they seem to become more and more intense each night.” Not going into detail on what the dream entailed, though.

This girl is cruelly honest and will not hesitate with her opinion.

Which I am sure would be ‘Jump his bones’ or something along that line of thinking.

I can tell from the gleam in her eye what she was imagining. Yep, definitely not going to tell her. I roll my eyes at her eyebrow waggle. “I think we need to come up with what to do soon. I know that we need to protect ourselves, but I can’t ignore the fact that he is my mate or that his brothers know what we are.” I tilt my head back, taking in another deep breath.

Tori’s yoga breathing isn’t helping. “Damn it.” I say under my breath.

Chloe reaches over to me, squeezing my leg, taking pity on me, which is easier for her than it would have been for Tori. That girl liked to lay into the sarcasm and jokes.

Chloe puts the seedlings to the side and jumps up next to me. “I know you; with us getting closer to your birthday and these people after you. I am worried that things may worsen, not to mention Kyros Industries, which are still a problem. With the information that I found on them. I think that we need to find out what this experiment is. I don’t think they should have it back, and I may have a way for you to find it using your gift of vision.” She held up her hand, causing me to stop what I was about to say. “If we can get into the place that it was stolen from, we can have you go back in time to see who took it or even what it is capable of.” Chloe finishes and puts her hand down.

I contemplated this for a second before speaking. “That is a good idea.” Then Tori’s reaction to Chloe’s ideas. Not to mention some of them have landed us in a pickle.

 “What do you think of Tori going along with it?” This gets her attention back on me for the moment. “And how do we do this, with all of the guards Lucas has put on us? We can’t just stroll out of this place without them noticing.” She looks over her shoulder out the window. We all know there are guards out on the neighboring roofs and positioned around the building on the ground.

Annoying as this is, you have to admit it is sort of sweet.

“I think that it would be impossible to do that. We will have to rope Lucas in on this. Now that we all have had a few days to talk amongst ourselves, we should get back together to discuss everything. Even if they want to know more about us, we don’t have to tell them.” Chloe jumps down, brushing her hands on her overalls.

She makes dirt look so good and cute.

Like an accessor…..

She is also correct. Shit, Tori will not be pleased with this, but we have to face it.

Lucas is my mate……. That he and his brothers know about us. “Ok, let’s do this. I will text Lucas. He has been calling and texting me non-stop….. It might be a good idea either way to call him. If I don’t, I think my time is up on ignoring him. His last text indicated he may storm the gates.” Laughing, I jump down, swiping some dirt from my butt.

We head to the door to go down together. “I think we should fill the Lucas and his brothers in more about what we are and about my upcoming birthday.” This has her faltering some on the stairs, but she catches herself on the rail. “He is my mate, and I better start trusting him.” Sighing, I feel better just thinking about being with him again. “Oooo…kay…” Chloe’s agreement is one of a person caving into the situation rather than one of enthusiasm.

The knot in my chest loosens some.

At the bottom of the stairs, I pause at Chloe’s door and look toward Tori’s still shut door. Looking back at Chloe, we both yell. “Not it!” While putting a pointer finger on our nose. I got mine there first. ‘Sweet!’ Chloe…. ”groans”. Looking to the ceiling uttering the word. “Fuck...”

I run down the hall to my room to throw some clothes on before calling Lucas, snagging a cold coffee from the fridge before going to my closet. No one should have to face what I am without caffeine.

Though maybe a shot of tequila would be better.

What does one wear when having a serious conversation with your mate...