Screams pulled me from sleep and I realized they were my own, my fear so very real and pungent that the scent coated the inside of my room. Before I could blink or pull the sweaty shirt off my body, there were four men in my room in varying stages of undress, holding weapons. Tyson had magic energy gathered in his hands.
“Jessa,” Braxton said, as he lifted his head and scented the room. He moved in a blink across to me. In the same moment I was in his arms.
I struggled against him, tears pouring down my cheeks as I fought the fear overwhelming me.
Maximus was growling as he reached the side of the bed. “What the fuck? Is she crying? Who do I have to kill, Jess babe? Tell me what happened.”
I almost laughed, they’d die if they knew it was only a dream. Right now they were still talking over my head.
Braxton had started barking orders. “I can’t scent anyone else in here, but her fear is real. Check the perimeter and I’ll search inside.”
“Wait,” I stuttered out. “It was just a bad dream.”
Braxton’s arms tightened around me, his warmth helping to quell the final shudders of paralyzing fear. In the human world, this relationship the five of us had would probably be viewed as odd, but they were my pack. Supernatural packs always stayed close together. It calmed our souls.
“A dream?” Tyson sounded dubious. “You never dream, and even if you did you were reacting to something physical. That wasn’t just your mind, that was your entire body.”
He was right. Weirdly enough I’d reacted as if I’d really been there, not merely mentally creating the situation.
Braxton lowered me back onto my bed, and when I started to shake and hug my legs, the four of them crowded onto the soft surface and comforted me with touch.
“Tell us what happened.” Jacob held my hand tightly. I could feel soothing fey energy seeping into me.
I quickly detailed the dream. As I was putting it into words … well, it didn’t sound scary. But something within that event had created heart-racing fear. I just wish I knew what it was.
“Do you think it means anything?” I asked. “Or was it simply a by-product of Mischa mentioning her dreams of being a dragon.”
“So there was more than one female dragon?” Braxton asked.
I nodded. That’s why all the dragons had seemed so delicate, they’d all been female.
“There were three and … myself.” Because apparently I was also a dragon shifter.
I felt like such a moron. “I’m being stupid. It was just a dream,” I said, waving my hands agitatedly. “Just a dream.”
I forced myself to calm, but the moment the quads moved off the bed panic flooded through me again. I hadn’t realized how much their presence had been keeping it at bay. I bit the inside of my cheek. I wouldn’t ask them to stay. I’d shown enough weakness tonight.
“We’ll stay with you until you fall asleep,” Braxton and Maximus said together. Again it was as if these men could read my thoughts.
Jacob grazed my cheek with his fingertips. “Just close your eyes, the boys will keep you safe, even from your dreams.”
Tyson landed a kiss on my forehead and then those two left the room.
My vampire and dragon shifter sprawled out their large bodies on either side of me, and with a sigh I slithered down under the sheets and closed my eyes. Trust me when I tell you, nothing makes a girl feel safer than a Compass on either side of her. I challenged any scary dream to try to get me now.
The heat woke me. I was so … damn … hot. I tried to move out from under the boulders holding me to the bed. Not a chance in hell of that happening. My eyes opened. Small streams of light were filtering through the large single window. It was morning, and not that early judging by the light low on the wall. A thick arm rested across me, and that’s when I remembered the dream and falling asleep with Maximus and Braxton. No wonder I was so damn hot, those two threw off heat like the roar of a fire. Maximus had rolled away. Vampires didn’t sleep like a pack. But Braxton was all over me, one arm and leg thrown across my body, and his head buried in the crook of my neck.
“Ugh,” I groaned, “get off you hot, heavy-ass dragon.”
I tried shoving him, but by the lack of movement I’d have had more luck moving the house we were in.
“Go back to sleep, Jess, or I’ll bite you,” Maximus grumbled.
I used my free hand to pinch him. “You wouldn’t dare.”
I’d never shared blood with him, although he had tasted my blood when he’d healed a cut or two, but for feeding he used his vampire women or other volunteers. There was something quite intimate when a vampire fed from you. Apparently the feelings it spread were … well, inappropriate toward a friend. Even a best friend.
“What’s the time?” I tried to squirm free again. “I have to meet my father.”