Page 6 of Against the Veil (Endangered Fae #3)

At first, the fantasy carried over into his dreams. Lugh seized his mouth in a ravenous kiss, his tongue plunging hard into Zack’s mouth. Huge hands slid down to cup his butt. Zack moaned into the erotic assault, grinding his painfully hard erection against Lugh’s stomach.

Fear stiffened Zack’s spine when the dream shifted suddenly.

Lugh’s tender murmurs deteriorated into snarls.

The face trying to kiss him no longer belonged to the prince, its features distorted by rage or madness.

Zack tried to shove the stranger away but now claws dug into his back.

His heart raced and he cried out as the thing holding him snapped at him with jagged, dagger-long teeth.

Heat surged through him. His skin burned and itched as if a thousand electrified spiders raced over his body.

He roared and slammed his fist into the thing’s chest. His knuckles tore through skin.

Bone cracked as its sternum splintered. Zack reached inside and an unholy triumph gripped him as he ripped its heart from its chest. It beat against his hand, the heat searing his palm.

He stared at it, watching each chamber pulse in succession, the scent of blood filling his head.

A sudden hunger raced through him. He would have his enemy’s strength if he ate his heart.

His jaws ached as he opened his mouth to sink his teeth into the pulsating muscle.

“Zack?”

The soft voice jerked his gaze up to the face across from him. It wasn’t the stranger and it wasn’t the beast. It was the girl from the park. He had ripped her heart out.

He dropped the heart and screamed.

“Zack? Zack!”

Something had him in its grip, shaking him. The clinging tendrils of the nightmare finally fell away to reveal Diego hovering over him.

“Zack, bud, it’s all right.” Diego perched beside him on the bed. “Just a bad dream. You’re safe.”

He ran a hand over his eyes, trying to get his heaving breaths under control. “Sorry, Mr. S. Did I wake you up?”

“No, no. It’s just after six. I finished up in the office and was coming to check on Finn and heard you, ah, in distress.”

“Oh. Was I screaming like a little girl?”

Diego chuckled. “More like whimpering like a puppy.”

Something about that comment disturbed him, something just out of reach that he couldn’t remember. He shifted uncomfortably, tugging at his T-shirt. “Could you open the window? I’m so hot.”

“I’m not going to say anything about you being conceited,” Diego teased softly, his expression concerned. He put his hands to either side of Zack’s face. “You’re fevered, hon. Hold on a sec.”

Those hands felt wonderfully cool. Zack relaxed back against the pillow as Diego’s eyes unfocused, soothing coolness flowing from his hands in lapping waves.

“Better?”

“Yeah.” A year ago, Zack would have given anything to have Diego’s hands on him like that. Now, it simply felt good and the magic he shared so unstintingly was amazing, but the terrible longing for the man himself had faded.

“I’ll get you some aspirin and hopefully it won’t come back. But you yell if it does, you hear me?”

“That’s my line,” Zack said with a little smile. He’d been a medic and a nurse for long enough that it felt strange to have someone else saying those things to him. “Diego? Eithne wouldn’t tell me much. What happened out there? Do we know?”

Diego shook his head. “Not really. I know I have conflicting information in the police report, but given the time of day and the panic of those involved, I’d say that’s expected. I know… Well, maybe know is a strong word.”

“What?”

“When you’re better, I have a set of files I want to go through with you that the staff have been compiling for me.

It’s probably because my brain wants connections and maybe neither your incident nor any of these other things are actually related.

But I have a nagging feeling that it’s all part of the same whole. ”

“You know my head hurts, right?” Zack said on a heavy sigh. “So why’s everybody talking in circles?”

“Let’s call it the File of Strange Happenings for now.” Diego patted his leg. “If I knew anything concrete, I’d tell you. You know that.”

“’K. FOSH it is, then.”

Diego laughed. “Get better, Sergeant. We need you back at work.”

A fit of sneezes came from across the hall, followed by a low, pitiful moan.

“And I need to go before someone thinks I’ve abandoned him.”

“ Tu esposo es enfermo ,” Zack got out, concentrating on one word at a time.

“ Está enfermo ,” Diego corrected, beaming. “But that was good. Your Spanish is—”

Whatever else he said was lost when a vision appeared in the doorway. Lugh stood there in his royal best, so like Zack’s earlier fantasy that his breath caught. His coal-black hair fell loose down his back in a midnight cataract. His smile went straight to Zack’s core.

“Hi.” Oh, yeah, good one, Morrison. You sound like a breathless teenybopper.

“My sergeant is awake at last,” Lugh said as he strode into the room. “How long do you propose to continue this malingering? I expect you back by my side soon.”

Zack couldn’t help a grin at his mock-imperial tone. “Sorry, Highness. Not up to me. Gotta ask the docs.”

Lugh rolled his eyes and took the spot on the bed Diego had ceded to him. “Wonderful. My mother will keep you on bedrest for the remainder of the year just to annoy me.”

Diego bent to kiss his cheek and Lugh’s on his way out. “Glad you’re home, big guy. Zack, I’ll be right across the hall if you need anything.”

Long fingers twined with Zack’s. Lugh’s need for physical contact was familiar by now, but the simple act of holding hands still made giant moths flutter in his stomach.

“Everything go okay, Highness? You have one of the boys with you out there?”

“Kevin and Marcus accompanied me to the ball at the Austrian Embassy.” Lugh stroked the back of his hand with his thumb. “It was an elaborate affair. One of the Foreign Service officers taught me to waltz. I wish you had been there, though.”

“I know. I’ll feel better when I can watch your back myself, too.”

Lugh’s smile slipped a hair. “Yes, yes, of course. I always feel more secure when it’s you by my side.”

“What’s wrong, Highness? Did I say something stupid again?”

“No, no.” Lugh stared at their joined hands. “I’ve been…worried for you, Zachary. When you were dying, I thought… It’s simply been an anxious time.”

Lugh’s eyes glittered, his thick lashes sticking together suspiciously. Fae males cried so much more openly than human males, but the prince knew it made Zack uncomfortable, so he generally tried hard not to.

“It’s okay, Highness.” Zack reached over to pat his hand. “I’m not as big as you Otherworld warriors, but I’m still pretty damn tough. You didn’t think I was giving up that easy, did you?”

“Of course not.” Lugh wiped his eyes on his jacket sleeve. “Not my brave sergeant.” He managed a soft smile. “Are you warm enough? Do you want me to stay with you tonight?”

The thought of Lugh lying down next to him made his heart stutter. Hell, he could even keep the uniform on, all those buttons pressing up against him…

“Yes… I mean, no! No. That is, it’s not necessary,” Zack fumbled on, his face growing hotter and hotter. “I mean, I’m warm now and I…I don’t need it anymore. Having someone in the bed with me. Not that it’s an awful thought or anything… Damn it.”

He turned his face away, feeling like a complete fool. A gentle hand cupped his cheek and turned his face back.

“Zachary, when you are well and we can converse on equal footing again, you and I need to discuss some things.”

“Okay. I guess… Yeah, probably.”

Lugh patted his shoulder and went to the door, Zack’s eyes wandering down to where the pants clung to his prince’s rounded, muscular ass. God, if he blushed any more, his head would explode.

“Lugh?” He waited until the sidhe prince turned to him. “I’m glad I got to see you again.”

Lugh’s only answer was a wink and a grin before he eased the door shut.