“Aefre, you cannot go after him.”
“I can and I am going to.”
“And what then?” CK asks, now losing the gentle, soothing voice in favor of his annoyed tone. “You bring him here and then what? You pick up where you, not he, left off? Which leaves the rest of us where, precisely?”
“Is that why you are trying to talk me out of this? Because you think I will run off with him and get our happily ever after?”
“Well, will you?” he asks, as the room descends into an eerie silence.
“No, of course not,” I say vehemently, much to the relief of everyone in the room. “But if there is even the slightest chance that he, any version of him, is alive and well, I want him here with me.”
“Liv,” Cole says quietly. “Don’t do this. I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t,” I say to him, taking his hand. “None of you will. There is a space here for him and he will fill it again.” As far as I am concerned this discussion is closed, so I pull my hand out of Cole’s and go to the bedroom. I close the door quietly and heave a sigh as I get undressed. “I will come for you, my love. I will not leave you at the hands of that woman,” I whisper as I sink to the bed and fall asleep before my head hits the pillow.
I stir when Cole joins me, but I am too tired to move. He sighs and drapes his arm around me. I want to give him comfort, so he knows that I won’t abandon him when Fraser gets here, but I am exhausted, and sleep pulls me under once again. I dream of Fraser. Regular dreams, not the fake ones. I must have hurt The Thirteen more than I thought. I thought it was going to come back at me with the remaining five, but they stay away from my dreams. Thankfully. Or at least up to a point.
I am lying in the bed in the hotel in Toronto when I open my eyes. I stare straight into the mossy green eyes of Fraser.
“Morning, lass,” he whispers, giving me that perfect smile I miss so much. My heart lurches. I know this is a dream, one of the fake ones, but I don’t care. I am going to go with it because it means I am with him.
“I have missed waking up with you,” I murmur as I lean forward to kiss him.
“I have missed you too. Every day. I didn’t get enough time with you, Emmie. I didn’t get to tell you how much I loved you. But we can be together now. As we should have been.”
“I love you too,” I whisper. He pulls me to him, and I can feel his muscles rippling under his shirt. I rip it off him, much to his delight and he pulls me onto his lap.
“Make love to me, Emmie. I want you so much.”
I know in the back of my head that this isn’t real, but he feels so real and I want to. Dream me wants to make love to him more than anything.
I kiss him tenderly and he kisses me back, desperately pushing his hands into my hair. I can feel him hard against me and I trail my hand in between us, eager to get my hands on him.
“Oh, yes,” he sighs as I touch him. “Just how I remembered.”
He brings his hands up to squeeze my breasts and I moan at his touch.
“Liv!” I hear Cole’s voice in the dream, but I ignore him as I kiss Fraser again, bringing my hands up to cup his face as he moves his down to my hips.
“Liv!” I hear Cole again this time, desperate. “Shit!” he yells. “Get here now.”
I have no idea what he is saying, I just want him to go away and leave me to my precious dream.
“Aefre!” Constantine barks at me.
Oh, for fuck's sake. Can’t a girl be left alone with her dreams in this place?
“Aefre, get away from him.”
I pull away from Fraser and turn, finally, to glare at my worried sire and Cole.
“Will you go away and leave me and my husband in peace, please?” I snap at them and Cole’s face drops as he hears my words.
“Aefre. Get away from him,” Constantine says again this time, stepping closer but not able to reach me.
“Do as the lady says,” Fraser says, looking smug. “Leave.”
“Get your hands off her right now,” Constantine hisses at him.