Page 59 of Covert Affections (Shadow Agents/PSI-Ops #5)

Chapter Forty-Five

Lindy

The tears dried on Lindy’s cheeks as she lay in bed, curled in the fetal position, hugging her knees to her chest. The fact she was crying over a mountain lion that shouldn’t have been in her house at all, or anywhere near her for that matter, and an ex-boyfriend she vowed to keep an emotional distance from for fear of sucking the life out of him—again—was not lost on her.

Exhaustion finally won out, ushering her into a deep sleep.

One that brought with it dreams. A little part of her hoped she’d have another sex dream with Jesse in it.

While she’d never dare touch the real thing while awake for fear of what her darkness might do to him, she could touch him all she wanted in her dreams.

At first, the dreams were peaceful and welcomed, although absent of sexy times. Her dreamscape shifted from tranquil into something else entirely.

Something darker.

Something that had haunted her for as long as she could remember. The labs she had nightmares about. The ones she saw herself in as a child.

The temperature seemed to plummet. It was a clinical coldness that seemed to freeze her very soul, the sensation permeating every cell of her body.

She saw herself there, shivering uncontrollably in a metal crib as a small child.

The bars pressed against her as men in white lab coats loomed over her, their faces blurring and shifting in the harsh fluorescent lighting.

One reached for her with hands that seemed impossibly large, and she tried to shrink away, but there was nowhere to go.

Some part of her knew this wasn’t real, that she was a grown woman trapped in a nightmare. She wasn’t a helpless child at the mercy of madmen. She knew this wasn’t real, yet the fear was.

"You’re one of my crowning achievements," a man said, his expression downright diabolical, making her think of movies with mad scientists in them. “When they see what you’ll be able to do, they’ll finally give me the recognition I deserve.

You’ll bring men to their knees. You’re the perfect weapon. ”

She strained to move, wanting to wake up, but it didn’t work. She was frozen in place, stuck watching memories she knew deep in her soul were true and from her past.

The man leaned over the crib more, holding a syringe, his face full of maniacal glee. “They don’t know the truth. That I mixed so much more into your cocktail than is in your chart.”

Fear slammed through her.

“And the stupid animals they pay to guard this place haven’t figured out the truth either.” He laughed, looking downright psychotic.

She wanted to run but was stuck in place, as if her feet had fused with the floor, her psyche wanting her to bear witness to the atrocities of the past.

“The other one who is like you—extra special.” He glanced toward the crib to the left.

Lindy instinctively knew there was a little girl there with brown hair and brown eyes, and the girl was her friend.

Charley.

It was Charley!

“The two of you were made from them ,” the man spat, as if the words were poison.

Them? Who in the hell was them ?

“You have animal DNA in you,” he said, venom coating his every word.

Animal DNA?

Teresa had been right when she’d said Lindy was a mix of many things.

“She was my first try,” the man bragged, motioning to the crib with Charley in it. “I should have used a bigger variety in her. When it worked with her, I knew I could make an even better version. I knew I could make you.”

Lindy tried to move, to run, to do anything, but her body wouldn’t respond. It was like she was suffering from sleep paralysis.

Suddenly, the man was before her—the adult version of herself—touching her forehead, pushing her hair back from her face. “One of the stupid coyote shifters thinks I created you for him—that you’re his Little Sweet Thing .”

Cigarette-Man popped into her head, and horror filled her. She tried to move again, wanting away from the crazy scientist’s words and his touch.

He leaned in closer, sniffing her hair. “He’s wrong, but I don’t correct him.

He does what I want because he thinks you’re the payout.

” He shrugged before laughing more and stepping back.

“I might gift you to him when I’m done running my tests on you.

Then again, I might keep you. If what I did works, you’re going to grow up to be beautiful, and men will line up for a chance to be with you. ”

Never before had her nightmares been this detailed, this full of information. It should have given her hope of cracking the code. Of figuring out what happened to her and Charley when they were little. It didn’t. It just scared her more.

The man chuckled again, but it became darker as the nightmare shifted. The crib and lab dissolved around her, replaced by the back of the grocery store. The smell of cigarette smoke filled her nose as rough hands gripped her arms, shoving her against a dumpster.

“I can’t believe you’re here, of all places,” Cigarette-Man said, his rank breath washing over her, his eyes glowing amber.

This time, there was no shadowy champion to save her.

No baseball bat-wielding Teresa. Just the bone-deep cold and the darkness beating against her consciousness like a caged animal desperate to be free.

She tried to draw upon her years of self-defense training and the fact she wasn’t seventeen years old anymore. She was a grown woman. But it didn’t work. She was trapped like a rabbit against the dumpster with Cigarette-Man breathing down her neck.

Her darkness clawed at her, wanting to be free. She tried to let it out, but something was blocking it. The cold increased, and Lindy’s teeth chattered.

"I'd recognize that smell anywhere, Little Sweet Thing. All grown up now?" His lips curved into that same sinister smile. " Mostly ."

Lindy screamed, wanting desperately to wake up. To be free from the nightmare.

Heat suddenly blossomed beside her, feeling like a lifeline in the frozen tundra of her nightmare.

The smell of clean mountain air and something that reminded her of cinnamon chased away the stench of Cigarette-Man and the dumpster.

Her darkness pushed through whatever barrier had been keeping it at bay, latching onto the warmth and the person providing it.

A sharp, deep gasp sounded near her ear, followed by a growl that wasn’t coming from Cigarette-Man.

The bastard began to fade before her eyes, ghosting away, only to return again before vanishing once more.

This continued, and she reached out with her darkness, desperate for anything that would keep him away for good.

The dumpster area, as well as Cigarette-Man dissolved like smoke in the wind. In their place was the same shadowy figure she’d seen the day of the grocery store attack. He was blurry now too. Around them was nothing but mist and darkness.

She wasn’t sure if the shadowy figure’s mouth moved or not. He was blurry, like when she wasn’t wearing her glasses. She blinked, and he became clearer and clearer. Confusion filled her as Jesse’s face came into focus in the dream.

Shock filled her, and the scene faded away, leaving her dreaming of standing in a grassy field with the sun starting to rise. She was alone.

The cold came rushing back, as did the stench of Cigarette-Man. It was so strong and so real it sent terror racing through her. Something touched her face, but nothing was there. Icy dread filled her entire body. She felt something lifting her hair, but still, no one was there.

“So beautiful,” Cigarette-Man’s voice said, filling the void around her. “So tempting.”

She stiffened, fear stealing any words that wanted to come from her.

She felt something touching her upper neck and then her shoulder. “You let him near you… in you! You let him bite you.”

She tried to wake up, wanting this nightmare to end.

It didn’t work.

“You let him claim you,” Cigarette-Man said harshly. The dream felt so real that she could have sworn spittle was on her cheek from his words. But he wasn’t there, wasn’t in the field with her.

Wake up! her darkness roared, surging through her, ripping her from sleep.

That did it.

That woke her.

Lindy’s eyes snapped open, and she touched her chest, her heart beating rapidly. She half-expected to find Cigarette-Man there, looming over her bed.

The room was empty; a harsh reminder of how her night had gone. It took a minute for her heart to stop racing and for her body to leave its heightened state of awareness. The dream had been so real, so vivid.

Her hand moved to her cheek, to where she could have sworn Cigarette-Man had touched her. She shivered and took in the state of her bedroom. Her bedding needed to be washed. It smelled strongly of wet animal and body spray. Not to mention it had muddy paw prints on it.

How long had she been asleep? It hadn’t felt like that much time had passed. She reached for her glasses and put them on. She let out a shaky breath and stood slowly. She stretched and froze when she noticed the floor, just inside of the open bedroom window. There were muddy footprints on it.

Not from a mountain lion.

From a man.

A man who hadn’t been wearing shoes.

Someone had been in her bedroom!

Gasping, Lindy ran toward the open window. She leaned out and looked down to see the paw prints were smashed by human ones. The heavy smell of cigarette smoke clung to the air, as did the smell of sickly-sweet pine.

Lindy jerked back and pushed the window down fast, thankful Robert had fixed the latch as she engaged it. Her hands trembled as she double-checked the lock, making sure it was fully secured.

She started for her cell phone, only to stop. Who would she call? Robert? The way things had ended between them last night, she didn’t dare. Charley? That would only put her in danger as well if what Lindy suspected was true.

She stared at the muddy footprints, horror churning in her gut.

Had Cigarette-Man found her again?

And if he had, how could she be sure the people she cared most about in her life were safe from him when she couldn’t even protect herself?