Free Luke's Dream by Melissa Haag Page A

together.
Her moves were absent and tired.
    “Can you make it twenty minutes without
falling back to sleep?” I asked.
    “I don’t know,” she said, meeting my gaze.
“It seems worse with you.”
    “Worse? When I’m near you, you don’t cry out.
I thought your dreams calmed when I—”
    She probably wouldn’t like to hear that I
held her while she slept. And I couldn’t afford to think of what
had happened the last two times she’d fallen asleep on the
bike.
    She seemed to think things over for a minute.
I thought she was about to agree when her scent changed.
Determination clouded the air.
    “I changed my mind,” she said. “I will Claim
you.”
    Need slammed into me. Agreement bubbled up
inside.
    “No,” I said, rather loudly, before I could
stop myself. Claiming me now would be a very bad idea. I doubted I
would recall her age at the feel of her teeth sinking into my skin.
I glanced at her full lips and wanted to groan. I could imagine how
it would feel to have her at my neck.
    Her pulse picked up to match the rapid beat
of mine. I would have liked to think it was because the idea of
Claiming me excited her, but I knew better. In all the emotions I’d
scented from her, desire wasn’t one of them. She wasn’t ready for
that. She was too young.
    Unable to help myself, I brushed a loose
strand of hair from her face, giving into my need to touch her. She
turned her head, nuzzling my hand. Her trusting exhale had my
fingers shaking as I gently smoothed her hair back from her cheek.
It would be so easy to cradle the back of her head and lift her
closer. To my mouth or my neck? I couldn’t decide.
    The feel of her fingers on my arm interrupted
the direction of my thoughts, and I realized the dangerous lure of
our current position. Quickly boosting her off my lap, I set her on
her feet beside the bike.
    The strap didn’t give us much room, and her
face was entirely too close to my neck. My breathing hitched when
her exhale tickled my skin. I was already bringing my hand up to
protect my sensitive skin when I heard her pulse jump. Her scent
sharpened as she darted forward. Using speed, I brought my hand to
her face, blocking her attempt to Claim me. I hated myself.
    She pulled back angrily.
    “What’s your problem? I know you feel the
pull. This is what’s supposed to happen.”
    I slipped the strap over my head, freeing us
as she continued to glare at me.
    “No, it is not. Why did you change your
mind?” Claiming wasn’t something to be taken lightly.
    “I’m tired of dying. It hurts. What don’t you
understand? Every time I close my damn eyes, I feel every anguished
moment of one of our past lives. Claiming you will make the dreams
better.”
    She shuffled closer, and for a moment I
thought she’d raise her hands to my face. But she saved us both
from where that would lead and kept her arms loosely at her
side.
    “Please, Luke,” she said softly.
    I would do anything for her. Anything but
take more advantage than I already had.
    Glancing at the trees, I struggled to find a
way to put her off. Not forever. Just a little longer.
    “I promised I only wanted to help you. And I
will. The dreams are better when I sleep near you. We will keep
doing that,” I said without meeting her gaze. “Climb on.”
    She pouted at me for a few moments until an
almost-smile lifted her features.
    “Okay,” she said. “Let’s keep going.”
    She climbed onto the back of the bike, and
her pulse jumped as her scent intensified again. With speed, I
gently caught her face in the palm of my hand again.
    “Stop that,” I said, gruffly.
    My rejection didn’t seem to bother her. She
leaned back and slipped the strap over her head.
    “Tighten it up,” she said, sounding
triumphant. Without the strap, she would fall. Yet, we both knew
where the tight strap would put her. Far too close.
    My hand shook as I cinched the strap. She
didn’t make her move right away. She waited until my feet were off
the ground, and I was