Phantom Game (GhostWalkers 18)

“I don’t seem to feel those same tendencies around you,” he admitted. He figured he may as well just be up front with her. “I don’t like to touch or be touched, and yet that’s all I can think about when I’m close to you.”

Camellia glanced up at him again and then looked away, stopping there in the middle of the garden. He stopped too, mirroring her immediately, knowing if he didn’t, he could lose her in the mist.

“It’s too dangerous.” Her voice was low. Shaky. There was no hint of longing in the tone, or in her expression, but he felt the emotion running along his nerve endings.

“Why would it be dangerous, Camellia?” He kept his voice gentle, feeling as if he were dealing with a wild creature, one that would run at any moment.

She lifted her chin as if he’d issued a challenge to her. Her eyes met his without flinching. “We wouldn’t be able to stop with one touch, Jonas.”

Jonas’s lungs seized up as fiery need engulfed him. It was all he could do not to jump her then and there. If not for years of practicing absolute control, he might not have succeeded. Jonas managed to suck in a shaky breath and slow the savage pounding of his heart. Damn. If just talking about touching her had this effect on him, he couldn’t imagine what the real deal was going to do.

“I suppose that’s true,” he agreed, when he could speak again. “Would it really be such a bad thing?”

“It would be if we’re supposed to figure out where a very real threat is coming from and who it’s targeting.”

He gave an exaggerated sigh. “I won’t call you a coward, but I’m going to think it in my head. If I’m right about the dreamwalking nonsense, the most powerful dreamwalker I know is camped just down below in that circle of rocks being spied on by your wolf pack.”

Jonas watched her closely, paying strict attention to the smallest inflections the mycelium conveyed to him. He wasn’t a trusting man any more than she was a trusting woman, not when it came to the lives of his teammates. Jeff Hollister was a good man—one of the best—and he’d already been through hell. If, somehow, Jonas was being duped, and he couldn’t conceive of how that was happening, he would protect Jeff with his life.

Camellia laughed softly. “We’re a great pair, Jonas. Whitney knew what he was doing when he put us together. He didn’t consider our backgrounds or any emotional baggage either of us would carry, did he?”

He shook his head, his gaze never once leaving her face. He wasn’t a man to be distracted. He’d given her information that could harm his friend—a man he considered a brother. He couldn’t feel even a whisper of a threat emanating from her. If anything, she was in total solidarity with him.

The laughter faded from Camellia’s eyes. Her lips lost that sweet curve and her frown appeared, the one that told him she was thinking over something he’d said. She gave a little shake of her head. “If your friend is really guarding Lily’s data on her son, how would anyone know? She wouldn’t tell and neither would he. You didn’t even know and you’re his friend. No outsider would be in his dream, would they? Is it possible to spy in a dream?”

Jonas turned that idea over in his head. “I’m going to reach out to Jeff and ask him. He’s our resident expert on what’s possible in given talents. And then I’m going to take your hand.”

She actually stepped back, nearly stumbled and would have fallen if a branch hadn’t suddenly positioned itself under her bottom like a swing.

He grinned at her. “What a scaredy-cat. Hand-holding isn’t the same as kissing.”

Camellia gave him what she obviously considered to be a fierce scowl. He doubted if she could have intimidated a teddy bear with that look but refrained from saying so.

“Just ask him.”

Jonas reached out. Jeff, is it possible to send a spy into a dream?

There was a long moment of silence. It’s possible to do anything in a dream. Anything at all. It’s a dream. Why do you ask?

Not only did he catch the wariness in Jeff’s mind when he responded, he could feel his teammate’s uneasiness. I’m trying to figure out if you’re the target of the threat I feel. Don’t dreamwalk. Stay alert. How sick is Kyle?

He’s feeling a little better.

“Maybe I should have them move camp so Kyle isn’t so sick. He could help protect Jeff.”

Camellia shook her head. “They have more protection where they are. I can lessen the effects on both your friends, but if we want to keep everyone else out, we want the illusion and shields to stay strong.”

Jonas considered the possibility that Jeff was the target of that threat. “If someone is trying to get to Jeff, wouldn’t they do it in his dream? They wouldn’t have to kill him in reality. If they killed him in his dream, then his body would die.”