Dream One, Chapter One

(Anything in asterisks is supposed to be italicized.)

I'd been dialing his number everyday for seven months. It'd been that long since I'd last seen him. He hadn't answered. I don't think he's resurrected with his phone. And if he is, he still hasn't answered. But he'd call me back if he was. Just like I know he'd come straight home. Especially if he'd eaten recently. He'd grab me and take me through the gauntlet of Silvers in his study to our underground lair. I'd laugh as he led me down stairs and through rooms, him flashing me a wolfish grin, until we reached the warmth and darkness of his bedroom.

We wouldn't leave his bed—or his shower or his kitchen—for days. Sometimes until near starvation.

Or I'd just take him on the floor of the bookstore.

That's sometimes what we end up doing. He can be surprisingly impatient for an immortal. Then again, so can I.

He either hasn't made it back to Dublin yet, or he has and he's ignoring my calls because he's pissed at me for also not being in Dublin myself.

It's not altogether that surprising. Barrons gets mad when I leave and don't tell him if I'm going to be gone for a while. He gets pissy when I don't tell him if I've gone somewhere when I'm waiting for him to come back, too, although he tries not to show it and never tries to restrict my freedom. He never says it—and he never will—but he worries. He's my protector, my motherfucking shield. The bookstore is one of the safest places in the world for me to be. He prefers I be there when he's not here to protect me. At first it was because I was his way of finding the *Sinsar Dubh*. Now it's because he loves me.

And because he's extremely territorial and possessive when it comes to what's his.

I used to hate that, him claiming that I was his and he owned me like a piece of property that can be bought and sold. I was in denial about how much I wanted to own him myself. I'm not anymore. That man is *mine*.

I didn't leave.

Not really.

At least, not for good.

I just couldn't sit in my bookstore and wait for him anymore. He himself once told me not to shape my life around him. Although I think that was so I wouldn't get too attached to him. That was back when he thought the rest of the Nine would take me away from him if he got too attached to me. That was before I became very difficult to kill.

I even left a note this time. Better than a note, actually. I wrote him a letter, outlining my reasons for not being there when he got home and where he could find me and that I would of course keep my phone on me at all times in case I was dying and needed him to come save me. The first thing he'd do is tattoo himself so it would actually work.

Then he'd probably kill Ryodan because I said that's who would know where I was.

I needed something to do so I asked Ryodan to put me to use. It was Dani's idea. He'd be mad at her, too. Good thing she's also immortal and would revel at the chance to fight Jericho Barrons, the biggest and baddest of the Nine. She had helped me pack before she and Ryodan flew me to Denver.

Ryodan had made all the arrangements. He hadn't liked it. He did it because Dani asked. Like, a lot. Girl's relentless. He thought it was too risky to send me back to the South, but Denver gets over 300 days of sun and I'm a sun worshipper, though I haven't seen it much lately. It's been overcast and cloudy like it's reflecting my mood.

Some of the Nine were out looking for Barrons because no one had heard from him in months. That wouldn't be highly unusual if I weren't in the picture, but he'd have contacted Ryodan or I if he wasn't going to be back for a while. I wanted to go look for him myself, but I don't know where the Nine are resurrected when they die and I never *want* to know. A lot of information has been taken from my head in the past.

One time even including my entire mind. But even though all four Unseelie Princes who raped me are dead and the Song of Making finally destroyed the *Sinsar Dubh*, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Besides, I think the Nine really would try to kill me then, even despite Barrons being my "second fucking skin," as I once heard him tell Ryodan when I was invisible and snooping.

Ryodan stayed at Chester's with Dani so he could coordinate, but he sent Lor and Fade with me as protection. Neither were thrilled with the idea, but Ryodan knew what would happen if Barrons found out he sent me without them. I still don't think he'll be thrilled Ryodan didn't stay to protect me himself, especially because I've successfully killed Lor. (Barrons was especially proud of that one.)

Neither Lor or Fade are my biggest fans. Most of the Nine aren't, including Ryodan even though he considers me a part of his family—and according to Dani, there is nothing more precious or important to Ryodan than family. Except for her, I've gladly realized. My girl deserves the best. Ryodan was second best to Barrons, but like I said, that man is mine and only mine.

Lor thought I had gone traitor back when the Book still had corporeal form as a book. He warmed up a little after that when he saw me naked (long story), so much so to proposition me if I ever got tired of Barrons. Then I found a way to actually permanently kill the Nine and put Barrons's long-suffering son to rest and the Nine begrudgingly granted me a stay of execution. I think Kasteo respects me for it but I can't be sure. He stared at me unblinkingly for hours afterwards and they had to drag him away.

Doesn't mean I can count on his support, though, since he hasn't spoken in a thousand years. (Still don't really know why.) Kat seems to have a connection with Kasteo ever since Ryodan locked her into a suite with him for a few weeks so Kasteo could train her. I might have to interrogate her a little.

Lor even came to me to talk about Jo once, a fellow *sidhe*-seer he'd been sleeping with. Said he couldn't "talk to those fucks about her." It wasn't an emotional talk. I was the queen of the Fae. He was really just there to tell me he was going to kill the Unseelie who killed her and to stay out of his way. Barrons moved her coffin and hid it so Lor couldn't get the scent of her killer because the Book killed her when it was possessing me.

No matter what way I look at it, it's still my fault. I'm the one who sent Jo to Lor when he was pretending to be *Pri-ya* to help her get over dumping Ryodan. I better than anyone know the Nine are addicting in bed and knew he wouldn't take her back if she back-slided. And I can still remember scrubbing her blood off my skin when the Book fell asleep.

I can also remember the images the book fed me as we fought each other for control. It ate her. Lor blames me. We argued at her grave. I wanted to talk it out. He wanted to kill me. The Nine can kill Fae so I killed him first. He was back a few days later. He doesn't want to start an eternal feud with Barrons and Dani would never forgive him (he calls her his "little honey") so it's just a little frosty between us now. One of these days, he and I are going to have a long conversation about it.

I like Lor. He was the quickest with a smile or a laugh out of all the Nine. He loves woman and children, he adores Dani, and I was under the impression he didn't have a cruel bone in his body. I was *so* wrong. He used to be called the Bonecrusher, and he was the brutalist of them all. Brunettes do that to him, apparently. Barrons told me it took half a century to calm him down from the last time he was the Bonecrusher.

Not really sure about Fade. He doesn't talk much. Like Barrons, he's really good at disappearing into the background until you forget he's even there. He's intelligent, I know that much. Besides Barrons, Kasteo, Ryodan, Lor, and the Scottish Keltar Druid-turned member of the Nine Dageus, he's the only other one of them I've met and know by name. I've seen the others around either in beast or human form. Thanks to Dani's alter ego Jada, I know one of them is named Daku and I know another is called X thanks to Barrons. But he also said, "X is half mad on a good day, and bugfuck crazy on a bad one." (Also overheard that when I was invisible and snooping. I learned SO much.)

Kasteo was also staying back at Chester's with Dani and Ryodan in case someone or something attacked the *sidhe*-seer abbey and Dageus was in Scotland. He hadn't asked to be turned. That was Ryodan's doing. I think they're making it up to him by leaving him alone and letting him be with his wife Chloe and their child. Kat told me they live in two cottages at the edge of the estate of the castle where his nephew-turned-Unseelie-Prince-of-Death Christian and Kat's lover-turned-Unseelie-Prince-of-Famine Sean O'Bannion have taken residence.

Ryodan sent two of the Nine to go looking for his missing half-brother after a month and a half. He was going to wait until two months had passed, but I wouldn't let it go. He did it to shut us up because I had won Dani to my side. Barrons can take care of himself, but they all remember the story of Barrons's son who, as a child, was captured, tortured, and killed every day for over a year. It drove him mad. They had had to hunt him down themselves when he was terrorizing the land in beast form. Barrons always comes home. He was just taking too long.

Two more were sent out after it had been three months and he still hadn't been found. Then he sent Kasteo, Lor, and Fade out after him, too, when four months had gone by without any sign of him. They take care of their own.

I could tell he and Dani were both itching to help search. Ryodan had followed his brother around the world for multiple millennia, Dani had always fervently admired Barrons and viewed him as one of the few constants in her life, and the four of us were a crew.

A family.

We'd fight to the bitter end for each other, do whatever it took to keep us together. That's why Ryodan and Dani had made me temporarily move into Chester's when he sent Lor, Fade, and Kasteo after Barrons. I wasn't allowed to leave unless either of them went with me.

Five and a half months had gone by when I finally convinced Ryodan to use me. He had some businesses back in the States and parts of the world were returning to something that somewhat resembled normalcy. He hadn't been satisfied with the reports he'd been getting and was going to send me over as a spy. Give me some training. I was looking forward to spending a lot of time around the Nine and decided I needed to get in their better graces by being viewed as someone who could be useful in case this happened again and they decided it was time to get rid of me for good.

The hypocrisy of it irritated me to no end. There's no way they'll ever take Dani from Ryodan; they'd been watching her since shortly after her mother died and Fade had first spotted her freeze-framing on the streets. Lor, Fade, Kasteo, and Barrons wouldn't let the others take her. Ryodan was slowly warming up to me. Luckily, none of them mess with Barrons.

Ryodan called Fade and Lor back and I was settled in at six months.

Seven months.

That's how long it'd now been. Everyday I called him, refusing to give up the hope that he'd pick up. I'm ashamed to admit that I'd given up on him before. More than once. History was not going to continue to repeat itself.

I was so shocked when the call went through that I nearly dropped the phone. My voice broke just the littlest bit when I said, "Jericho?"

"Ms. Lane."