Luke’s head jerked up in surprise.  As he looked at me, a blush spread across my cheeks.

“Would you mind lying down with me?  I think you’re right.  I do seem to sleep better with you.”

I didn’t miss his quick glance at the door.  Frowning, I watched him slowly get to his feet.  He looked reluctant.

“Is something wrong?” I asked, truly confused.  Was I acting too nice again?  Maybe letting him hear my heart stutter hadn’t been a good move.

“I, uh, think you should try to sleep on your own for a bit,” he muttered.

“I just told you that I—” I rubbed my face and cut off my sharp words.  Affection.  Show him you care, not that he annoys the crap out of you, I reminded myself.  “Okay, fine,” I agreed with barely suppressed agitation.

He walked out the door, closing it softly behind him.

Annoyed, I marched to the bed.  I wasn’t tired, but a dream called.  Better to give into it on a bed than try to keep it at bay.

As soon as the blankets covered me, my eyes closed and another past pulled me down.

Perhaps it was still my emotions from before succumbing to the dream, but I felt angry.  Rage-filled really.  I wanted to rip someone’s head off with my own two hands and shove it up their...

“She’s awake,” a man sighed.

“Thank the skies,” someone said contentedly.  “I thought that last cut might have gone too deep.”

I looked down at myself.  I lay naked on a pile of blood-covered straw.  A cut ran along one of my lower ribs.  The glistening blood indicated its newness.  I felt the pain, but the rage overshadowed it.  I focused on the men crouched over me who eyed me with peaceful detachment, and I drew more emotion from them.  Every bit of anger, resentment, prejudice, fear...anything and everything other than an unresisting peace.  My wrath grew.  Blood started seeping from my various wounds as if my emotion filled me so much that I had no room to spare for the precious liquid.  Soon their eyes began to close.  Blood poured from me.  Rage consumed me as my last breath drifted from my body in a furious cry.

I woke sitting up wide-eyed and panting.  Anger shook my body.  A growl started growing until it was a shout of rage.  When I realized it came from me, I clamped my mouth shut.

“I’m sorry, Bethi,” Luke whispered as he stood up from the chair.  He peeled off his shirt and slid under the covers with me.

I barely noticed.  I wanted to hurt someone.  My hands shook with the need.

“Lay down,” he coaxed, leaning on an elbow.

Turning to look down at him, I struggled with my urge to punch him in the face.  He’d watched me suffer through that dream just as those men had watched one of my sisters bleed out.

“Let go of the dream,” he said.  His hazel eyes met mine steadily.  “I’m here.  I won’t leave you.  Ever.”  He reached up, wrapped an arm around me, and gently tugged me toward him.  “I’m sorry.”  His lips pressed against my forehead.

The swell of anger began to recede slightly.  The leftover emotions from that dream frightened me.  Shaking, I laid my head on his chest.

His fingers ran over my hair, soothing me until the shaking stopped and my eyes drifted closed.  I didn’t want to sleep ever again.  I wanted to stay awake and live forever.

Chapter Eight

The room was dark when I woke and for a few seconds I thought a dream still held me.  Then Luke’s fingers shifted in my hair.  I sighed against his skin.

“Had enough?” he whispered.

“I guess so,” I said lifting my head.  He had a nice chest.  Warm.  Firm.  Warm.  I started smiling stupidly and reminded myself to cut it out.  I needed to convince him of my affection, not myself.  “Thanks,” I mumbled turning away from his perceptive gaze.  Even in the dark, I knew he’d probably caught my grin.

Flipping back the covers, I escaped to the bathroom.  When I emerged dressed, everything was already packed and waiting.

“Think you can manage to stay awake for a while?”

I nodded.  The only pull I felt was my attraction to him.  I walked with him to the office to check out.  When we stood beside the bike, I remembered his comment about arranging for a car.

“No car yet?” I asked settling behind him.

“I told my contact we stopped along the way.  We’re still set to meet.”  He twisted in his seat to look at me.  “Are you trying to tell me you’re tired already?”

I shook my head with a smile.  He’d sounded almost panicked.  I wrapped my arms around him after he tightened the strap on the bag.  He wasn’t taking any chances.

*    *    *    *

We rode through the remainder of the night and watched the sun rise.  We stopped for a quick bite then continued, taking breaks often to stretch and walk so I didn’t get tired.  Before the sun started hugging the horizon, I could feel the tug of dreams again.

“I think we need to stop for the night,” I said tapping his shoulder.

He nodded and sped up.  “We’re almost there.”

We passed a sketchy looking roadside motel in the middle of nowhere to stop at a nicer small place in the next town.  By then, the dreams clung to me like water, coating me with a lethargy that gave me the head bobbles.

“Come on, luv,” Luke said lifting the strap and wrapping an arm around me so I wouldn’t fall off.  “Let’s get you to bed.”

His phrase made me giggle and he scowled in response.

All the rooms started to look the same to me.  I closed myself into the bathroom no longer caring.  When I emerged, I didn’t look for Luke.  The bed called to me.  I fell face-first into the mattress and a nightmare of one of our pasts.

A man knelt unflinchingly before another. The long grey hair hanging over his strong shoulders gave him a regal look.  Two sets of hands kept him on his knees.  He paid them little attention as his eyes held mine.  I stood to the side, held captive by someone I couldn’t see.  The tip of something sharp pressed into the pulse in my neck.

“Tell the Elders,” a man wearing a rough tunic and coarsely woven trousers demanded.  He towered before the kneeling man.  The ones holding the prisoner sank their nails into the man’s flesh at their leader’s words.  “Tell your leaders we have them all.”

I knew the leader lied.  He did not have all of my sisters.  But he did have me and four others, and I could see where the last one waited; her spark wasn’t far away.

“If you have them all, why do I need to tell the Elders?” the kneeling man questioned calmly.

“Do as I say or she dies.”  The leader waved his hand in my direction.

The captive threw his head back and laughed.  A growl rose from the man behind me.  No one else made a sound.

“You laugh?” Instead of looking angry, the leader appeared curious.

“You are still trying so hard,” the captive said with a pitying smile.  “The fight you started is coming.  I have told my people you have her, but we know you will not kill her.  Not until the balance is turned toward your favor.”  The man met my eyes, and I caught a glint of deep sorrow reflected back at me.  “But they won’t give you what you want.  They’ve discovered their purpose and will die protecting us.”

I didn’t understand everything the captive said.  What purpose?  But I did understand the rest of his message.  Help would not come in time.  I needed to choose.  With a sob, I pressed into the sharp object resting on my neck.  It pierced my skin with very little pain.  My captor grunted in surprise.  I quickly twisted around causing irreparable damage.  As I collapsed to my knees, the severed head of the man who’d warned me tumbled past.  A horrible cry went up through the gathered men, but it didn’t drown out their leaders words.