Page 17 of Dream Lost (The Fae Universe #12)

17

B y the time Bas had showered, made a tray of fresh coffee and snacks and carried it into the library, Bridget had already plotted out all the addresses onto a large map and was busy working through a pile of books.

“You are making me feel bad for not setting an alarm,” he joked and put the tray down on the table where it wouldn’t be in her way.

“I couldn’t sleep, and I’m bad at sitting still, so I thought it better to get to it. Your dad got me the map,” she said, looking up from the book she was going through. There was something shy and wary in her tone that hadn’t been there the night before, and Bas didn’t like it. Had Cosimo said something to upset her?

“Can I top up your coffee?” he asked.

Bridget took stock of the tray, and she bit back a laugh. “Did you bring me scones? Bas, has anyone told you that you are a bit of a feeder?”

“Yes, but I don’t like the idea of you being hungry. You were up early, and I wasn’t, and you didn’t eat breakfast,” he argued.

“I ate toast!” Bridget said, exasperated.

Bas made a frustrated sound. “That’s not real breakfast. Just try my scones, I’m sure you’ll like them.”

Bridget took one that was covered in strawberry jam. “Is the feeding obsession thing a dragon thing?”

No. It’s because someone had to be in charge of looking after the kitchen when my mother died, and now I can’t stop because trauma is a bitch, and I can’t handle the idea of you being hungry.

“Sure, we can go with that,” Bas said, trying to clear the spiraling thoughts in his head. “I just...want to take care of you.”

Bridget cocked her scarred brow. “Because you think I can’t take care of myself?”

Bas growled in frustration. This was coming out all wrong. “That’s not it. It pisses me off that no one has looked after you before. I like looking after people and making sure that they are fed and comfortable. I want you to feel full and safe, so I can think straight.”

Bridget put down her scone before going up on tiptoes and kissing his cheek. “You’re one of a kind, Greatdrakes.”

“And you like that?” he asked, a little uncertain.

“Hard not to like a magician who cooks and kisses like the devil,” Bridget said, picking up the scone again. “And now I’m going to go to this side of the table so I don’t kiss you and get distracted all over again.”

“I will take that as a compliment.” Bas wanted to climb over the table and kiss her anyway. “Tell me what you’ve learned while I have been sleeping. Really, you should have come in and woken me up.”

“Yeah. No. Going into your bedroom would have been a bad idea. For reasons,” Bridget said and then started going through her lists and locations with him before he could ask why it would have been a bad idea.

“All of the victims’ houses are close to the river,” Bas commented, staring at the red dots on the map.

“I noticed that too, and I have been going through books on types of sirens or other water creatures. Nothing seems to fit the pattern so far, but there is a lot of this library to get through, and I haven’t bothered with the internet either just yet,” Bridget said, her eyes bright.

Gods, she was so beautiful when she was talking about something she was excited or curious about. The prickly exterior she used to protect herself was momentarily gone in the heat of the moment.

“Are you listening?” she said sharply. “What are you staring at?”

My mate , his dragon purred, making Bas choke on his scone.

“Nothing, just thinking. Sorry,” he stammered. He needed to stop putting off that call to Taranis.

With uncanny timing, his phone started ringing in his back pocket. He quickly fished it out, and a nervous fist clenched his guts. “Kenna, twice in one week. What’s happened?”

“Nothing yet. I talked to one of the people who asked me to look into the dreamers case. John Beauchamp has agreed to let you come and look at his wife, Lily. She fell into a coma this morning, but the husband is waiting for you to check her before he takes her into the hospital,” Kenna replied, not bothering to ask if he was busy at all. “They are expecting you in the next hour.”

“I’m not sure if I can help, but I’ll try. Thanks, Kenna,” Bas said before hanging up. He smiled at Bridget. “Looks like we get to go on an outing this afternoon.”

The victim’s house was located between Trinity College and Dublin Castle, so Bas decided to walk rather than drive the short distance. He was restless and hoped it might wear him out and help clear his head. He needed to focus on the case and not on how he wanted to pin Bridget to the nearest surface and not let her up until he knew everything about her. If she was his mate, then his obsession with her would make sense.

Bas still wasn’t sure if his dragon was just hopeful she was because it was lonely. He needed to talk to Taranis, but if he did, the whole family would know his dragon was playing up because no one in the family could keep a secret for long. He didn’t want someone running their mouths in front of Bridget before he had a chance to talk to her about it either.

“I really like this part of the city,” Bridget said from beside him. “I thought about trying to get into Trinity College when I first moved here.”

“What made you change your mind?” Bas asked.

“I don’t think I would have the patience for all the boring stuff that the undergrad students need to do. I want to learn things I’m interested in. I’m not interested in regurgitating the same boring ideas back to teachers. I want my own ideas, and university, especially at that level, isn’t interested in original thought,” she said, stuffing her hands further into the pockets of her leather jacket.

Bas chuckled. “Gods, you are such a magician.”

“You all keep saying that, and I have no idea what you are talking about. I just like to research things. My ability to go into the astral plane is from dissociation and trauma. It’s not from magic.”

“It might have started that way, but if you want to, I can show you how to hone your magic. The power is there. If you don’t want me teaching you how to use it, my father is an excellent teacher.”

A smile lifted the corner of Bridget’s lips. “I don’t think I could keep my mind from wandering places it shouldn’t if I took you up on the offer of teaching.”

“Why? Do you have some naughty professor fantasies? Because I can be convinced to give you an A.”

Bridget threw her head back and laughed so loud that people walking past stared. Bas stared because he loved to see her face light up. He wanted to kiss her and feel those laughing lips against his.

“You wouldn’t be able to handle my naughty professor fantasies,” she teased.

“Won’t know until we try.” That made her laugh again, so Bas counted it as a win.

They found the victim’s apartment block without much difficulty. It was wedged between a Tesco’s and H&M. It looked like a cold block of gray stone and glass. Bas didn’t like modern architecture because it didn’t look like it had any soul. They rang the buzzer and waited.

“Who is it?” a tired-sounding man replied.

“My name is Bas Greatdrakes. Kenna Ironwood sent me.”

“Come on up.”

Bas didn’t like the feel of the lobby or the mirrored elevator. There was definitely an aura in the place that rubbed him the wrong way. He didn’t know if it had anything to do with the dream monster or not.

“God, I hate fluorescent lighting,” Bridget muttered beside him. “It feels like we are in a hospital.”

“Morgue,” Bas replied, glad he wasn’t the only one the place bothered.

John Beauchamp looked exhausted, with bags under his eyes and a gray pallor to his skin.

“Thanks for coming. Kenna said you were some kind of expert?” he said, letting them into the apartment.

“I am. This is my assistant, Bridget. Can you tell us how long your wife has been unwell?” Bas asked gently.

“The nightmares started about a month ago. I thought she was just working too hard. Her anxiety grew higher the less sleep she got. She was disorientated and restless. Wasn’t eating. Last night, she tried to jump off the balcony, and when I stopped her, she lost consciousness and hasn’t woken up.”

“Did she mention a shadow man at all?” Bridget asked him.

His bloodshot eyes went wide. “Yeah, she did. How did you know?”

Bas didn’t want to tell him that there had been other victims. “Can I see her?”

“Ah, yeah. This way,” John said and showed them into a bedroom. It smelled of unwashed sheets and stale sweat. A woman was in the bed, eyes closed and dark hair spread out in greasy ropes.

“I need to look at the back of her neck, would it be okay to move her on her side?” Bas asked.

“What does her neck have to do with it?” John demanded.

Bridget made a frustrated sound. “Do you want our help or not? Because we are wasting time.”

John seemed to pull himself together, but Bas could tell he didn’t like her tone. He would have waited a bit longer before going in forceful, but Bridget didn’t have his patience.

With John’s help, they rolled his wife onto her side, exposing her neck. A curving red line was like a raised welt, half hidden in her hairline.

“Bridget? Can I get you to hold her steady? John, you need to hold your wife’s feet.”

“Why…” he began and then shut his mouth when Bridget glared at him.

Bas hid his smile. “Bridget, bring me back if I drift too long.”

“How?”

“Use your imagination,” he said. He touched her mind. You can always kiss me.

Because this guy isn’t freaked out enough? If I start kissing you over his comatose wife, he’ll call the cops when I don’t stop.

You’re right. We will do all the kissing later. Just slap me or something instead.

Bad placed his fingers on the welt on the woman’s neck, and the stale room dropped away.

Lily’s mind was a mess of fog and dense black forest. The trees were like twisted fingers, and everything smelled of terror. The shadows between the trees condensed into the shape of a man. It was no man. Bas could feel it like a great kraken of multiple tentacles, all reaching out to another sleeper, feeding off all of them.

“You,” a voice echoed through the trees. “You took my favorite from me. The woman who is a hawk and so very sad.”

“She is mine ,” Bas said, his dragon rising so fast he didn’t have to think about shifting.

Like the creature’s true form was a tentacled parasite, Bas’s truest heart was that of a dragon. He was claws and fangs and flame.

“You can’t save them all,” the shadow man hissed.

“You should have stayed asleep,” Bas growled, and fire burst out of him. The shadow creature screamed as the light and heat surrounded it, burning the sticky black trees and the creeping fog. Bas felt the second it left her mind, like a clawed sucker pulling free. A dark-haired woman sat in the ashes, sobbing.

“Are you Lily?” Bas asked gently.

“Y-Yes,” she blubbed.

Bas held out his hand to her. “Come on, Lily. Let’s go home to John.”

The trembling hand took his, and the world spun. Bas hit his body, and he blinked hard. His eyes were watering, and his cheek stung. He caught Bridget’s hand as she readied it for another slap. Her eyes were wild and frightened.

“I heard it scream in my head when you attacked it,” she said, her whole body shaking.

Bas kissed her palm. “I’m here. Don’t smack me again. I’m okay.”

“J-John?” The woman in the bed beside them croaked.

“Baby! I got you, love. I got you,” John said, pulling Lily close.

Bas reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. He passed it to John, his whole body suddenly heavy with exhaustion.

“Draw this sigil under this bed, or the creature that was feeding off your wife will come back. I’ll make sure you get something more permanent soon,” Bas said, and got to shaky feet. Bridget slid an arm around his waist and helped him out of the apartment.

As soon as they were out of the building and under a clear sky, Bas began to feel better.

“You’re so not okay, Bas. Tell me what you need,” Bridget said, panicking just a little. The creature still wanted her, and Bas would burn Dublin to the ground before it let it enslave her again.

Bas wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in the crook of her neck like he had longed to do for days. He breathed her scent deep into his lungs and held her tight.

“Just need this,” he said, kissing the side of her neck. “Just you.”