Astrid leaned up. "When was the last time you had cotton candy?"
He frowned at her unexpected question. "What's cotton candy?"
She gaped in shock. "You don't even know what cotton candy is?"
He shook his head.
Smiling, she stood up and pulled him to his feet. "We're going to the boardwalk."
Okay, she really had lost her mind. "There's not a boardwalk."
"Oh, yes there is, just on the other side of those rocks."
Zarek looked over to see a pier that hadn't been there earlier.
How weird that it had popped into his dream at her bidding and not his. He eyed her suspiciously. "Are you a Dream-Hunter Skotos pretending to be Astrid?
"
"No," she said, smiling. "I'm not trying to take anything from you, Zarek. I'm only trying to give you a pleasant memory."
"Why?
"
Astrid sighed at the look on his face. Kindness was so far beyond his comprehension that he couldn't even understand why she wanted to make him smile.
"Because you deserve one.
"
"For what? I haven't done anything.
"
"You live, Zarek," she said, stressing the words, trying to make him understand. "For that alone, you deserve some happiness."
The doubt in his eyes stung her.
Determined to reach him, she "conjured" herself a pair of white shorts and a blue tank top, then helped
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She led him toward the "dream" crowd.
Zarek was silent as they walked up the stairs that led to the old-fashioned boardwalk. He tensed visibly as people brushed too close to him. She had the distinct feeling he was one step away from uttering a vicious putdown.
"It's okay, Zarek."
He sneered at a man who came too close. "I don't like for anyone to touch me."
And yet he didn't say anything about the fact that she had her arm hooked in his.
It made her melt.
Smiling to herself, she took him to a small stand where a lady was selling hot dogs and cotton candy.
She bought an extra large bag and dug out a handful of the light, fluffy pink sugar, then offered it to him.
"Here you go. One bite and you'll know what ambrosia tastes like."
Zarek reached for it, but she moved her hand out of his way. "I want to feed this to you."
Fury snapped in his eyes. "I'm not an animal to eat from your hand."
Her face fell at his words and her good humor was instantly dampened. "No, Zarek. You're not an animal. You're my lover and I want to care for you."
Zarek froze at her words as he stared at her lovely, sincere face.
Care for him?
A part of him snarled in anger at the idea, but another, alien part of himself jerked awake at her words.
It was a hungry part of him.
A yearning part. Needful.
A piece of him that he had sealed off and abandoned so long ago that he only vaguely recalled it.
Pull away.
He didn't.
Instead, he forced himself to lean down and open his lips.
She smiled a smile that burned him even as the strange sugar evaporated inside his mouth.
She placed her hand against his cheek. "You see, it doesn't hurt.
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"
No, it didn't. It felt warm and wonderful. Joyful, even.
But it was a dream.
He would wake up in a short while and he'd be cold again.
Alone.
The real Astrid wouldn't offer him cotton candy and she wouldn't hold him in the surf.
She would look at him with fear and suspicion on her precious face. She would be protected by a white wolf that hated him as much as he hated himself.
The real Astrid would never spend the time it took to tame him.
Not that it mattered. He had a death warrant out on him. He didn't have time for the real Astrid.
Didn't have time for anything other than basic survival. Which was why this dream meant so much to him.
For once in his life, he'd had a good day. He only hoped that when he woke up, he'd remember it.
Astrid led him around the arcade, playing games and eating junk food Zarek told her he'd only read about online. Even though he never smiled, he was like a child in his curiosity.
"Try this one," she said, handing him a candy apple.
Astrid quickly learned eating candy apples with fangs wasn't an easy thing to do.
When he finally managed a bite of it, she looked up expectantly. "Well?
"
He swallowed it before he answered. "It's good, but I don't think I'm willing to repeat that experience.
Not good enough to make up for all the work it takes to get to it.
"
She laughed as he tossed the apple into a large white garbage can.
She took him inside the arcade so that she could teach him to play Skee-Ball, one of her favorites. He was amazingly good at it.
"Where did you learn to throw like that?
"
"I live inAlaska , princess, land of ice and snow. There's not much difference between this and tossing a