Blood Fever (The Watchers 3)

My body crackled to life. Thirst clawed me, and I rubbed my belly. Desire robbed my words. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came. I wasn’t good at this—not even in dreams.

“Do you know what your problem is, little flower?”

My problem? I pulled back to meet his eyes. “This is supposed to be my dream. ”

“Your problem is that you underestimate yourself. ”

“Oh, that. ” I sighed. “Some people think I overestimate myself. ”

“Those people are fools. ”

“You don’t mean it. This is just a dream. ”

He leaned closer until his face filled my vision. His eyes—they’d reminded me of honey, and in the daylight they looked golden. “Then we shouldn’t waste it talking. ” He fully cupped my chin and tilted up my face. He brought his mouth a whisper away from mine. “I’ve wanted to taste you again. If this were my dream, I’d not waste it talking. ”

I sank into the warmth of those eyes.

Carden was so close now, close enough to shelter me from the wind. Close enough to kiss. I could kiss him. I could fall into him, and what would it matter? After all, it was just a dream.

I wanted to kiss him. I’d wanted it ever since the moment our first kiss ended. This was just a dream, after all. It wouldn’t count.

“Just a dream,” I whispered. I closed the distance between us.

There was pounding. I gasped.

My heart?

Again, pounding. Was it the headache?

Carden faded. The rock disappeared.

Knocking. The sound was knocking.

Mei-Ling mumbled a complaint from the next bed. She was asleep, and we were in our dorm room. I was lying in bed, face crushed into my pillow.

I actually had been dreaming. Disappointment swamped me. Disappointment and need. If I ignored the knocking, could I fall asleep right back into the same moment? I needed to kiss him again, even if it was just in my dreams.

The person knocked again. That roused me. I quickly hopped from my bed. Whoever it was would wake the whole dorm and it’d be seen as my fault.

I swung open the door. “What the—”

A dark figure loomed in the doorway. The ambient moonlight made his eyes glow. Carden.

Stepping inside, he closed the door and pressed his body against mine. His voice was a hoarse rasp in the darkness. “You called me. ”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“What are you doing?” I shot a look at Mei, still sound asleep. I couldn’t risk her seeing us. “You’re going to get us in trouble. ”

He laughed quietly. It was a low, seductive sound. “Vampires don’t get in trouble. ”

Instantly, I became aware that all I wore was my nightgown. Granted, it was flannel and came below my knees, but still, I was braless, cold, and after that dream, feeling very, very vulnerable. “You were banging hard enough to wake the dead. ”

His eyes swept me from my head to my bare feet. “And you’re lovely enough to rouse them. ”

I hastily grabbed my fleece and zipped it up to my neck. “Well…it was too loud. ”

“I barely knocked at all. ” He raised a finger, pointing into the darkness. “Listen. ”