Page 15 of WitchBorn

I blinked at him. He couldn’t have… there was no way he would have… how could he have been in my dreams with me? “What?”

He got up and picked up his blankets, carefully spreading them out on top of me. “You’re freezing. Take these.”

“Finn,” I said, clutching the edge of the blankets, terror still raw.

“Kitty friend has vanished,” he remarked as he sat on the edge of the bed. Heat projected off of him as it often did the Summer King. I longed to wrap myself in the warmth and let the bite of ice fade.

“Tell me about your dream,” I demanded.

“We were surrounded by dark goo that ate everything it touched. You stopped, sank to the ground and didn’t move. At first, I thought you were hurt.”

“You can’t have the same dream I did.”

“It’s not a fae thing?” he asked. He glanced around the room. “Because we’re in this place?”

Maybe. I hugged myself, pressing back in the bed until I touched the wall, unable to stop the shivering.

He lifted the blankets, making to slide in with me.

“What are you doing?” I demanded.

“You’re freezing. I run hot, remember? Let me get you warm. It’s the middle of the night. Your kitty friend isn’t here to keep you warm.”

“I can add more wood to the fire.” Except I’d used all the sticks I’d gathered. I stared at him, heat radiating even from where he sat. No kidding about running warm. “Fine. But keep your hands to yourself.”

He held up his hands in an ‘I’m-harmless gesture,’ then picked up the blanket edge and slid in. The warmth instantly soaked through the blankets and into me. I couldn’t help my sigh. The bed was far too small for two grown men.

My heart pounded, though as he settled in, keeping barely an inch between us on the tiny bed, my terror dripped away. The memory of our kiss made me want to roll over and sample him again. It was all too simple. Finn appearing in this world. The two of us shoved together by fate. It was like some sort of twisted fairytale.

“Who are you?” I asked again, wondering why he’d been chosen. “Did your friends get stuck here too and we haven’t found them?”

“I wandered for a while,” Finn said. “You’re the only other person I’ve seen.”

I chewed on that thought for a while. “Straight guys don’t sleep in the same bed,” I muttered more to myself than him, thinking that felt off. A lot of things did. How could Finn be so accepting of the fae world? Of learning I was fae? Why wasn’t he running terrified that maybe I was the ghost wolf in another form?

“Yeah? Guess that means you’re not straight, eh?” He didn’t open his eyes, and his heartbeat had returned to normal.

“I was talking about you.”

“Never said I was straight, andyoukissed me, remember?” Finn said. “Not like you asked. I consider myself an equal opportunity guy.” He let out a long breath. “What I am, right this minute, is really sleepy. Are you warm enough? I can feel a chill coming off you.” He scooted closer, but I pressed my hand to his stomach, keeping him away. His body radiated warmth I longed to soak up.

“You kissed me back,” I said, hating the idea that I’d forced him to kiss me, and I sort of had.

“I did. It was nice.”

“Nice…”

“More than nice. Not a lot of guys like to kiss. You kissed like you do.”

I took that as consent and let the guilt seep away as sleep tugged at me. “No more nightmares,” I whispered. Hoping for a break from the dark.

“I’m with you on that, Princess,” he muttered.

I’d have argued his pet name but fell asleep before a coherent thought formed.

Thirteen

WESLEY