Free Broken Wings: Genesis by A. J. Rand Page A

his
dream antics as the others. Interesting.
    An uncontrollable shiver shuddered
through my body at the unwelcome touch of his probing energy. It took every
ounce of the ability I had to not slam it shut on him, and at the same time, to
keep the look of revulsion off my face at the slimy trail his touch left
behind. Pietra was looking at me with concern.
    “Are you all right?”
    “Fine. I’m sorry, I just felt––” I
pretended to look around, confused. “Nothing. I’m sure it was nothing.”
    I emphasized it with a convincing
shake of my head while Pietra turned back to continue her introductions to two
of the women, sisters. What had she said their names were? Oh right––Jane and
Joan. I hoped that the generic words coming out of my mouth were as sincere as
I wanted them to be. My focus was back on the dream stalker.
    Amusement was the feeling I got
from him––all wrapped up tight in a bundle of unbelievable arrogance. He was a
lot stronger than I had anticipated. That wasn’t good. For the first time, I
started to take the warning Morpheus had given me to heart. The immortal was
right. There was more to this guy than what was on the surface. I was glad I
had made the promise not to tackle this guy tonight. After what I had expended
on trying to heal the mysterious Ke, I didn’t have the energy left to fight.
    More introductions floated through
my sub-conscious, the names flowing from one to the next. I tried to lock a
description for each one in my mind. Andrea the redhead, Philipa the skinny,
Bertie the not-so-skinny––who named their kid Bertha any more? Tammie the shy,
Simone the sultry. And this was it. Pietra was leading me over to the creep and
his mirrored bookends.
    “Yeshua, this is Jamie.”
    I nodded my head to the mousy
little dishwater blond on the left.
    “And Judith.”
    Bored, disinterested gray eyes
flashed my way from a pretty, blond with a fake-looking, rub-on tan sitting to
the right. She put a possessive hand on the arm of the dream stalker and went
back to ignoring me. That’s fine by me, lady. You can have him. He , on
the other hand was ignoring her, and the darkness of his almost black-colored
eyes turned his full focus on me. Oh yeah. This was the guy from the dreaming
all right.
    “And this is Mack Black Wolf, the
only male member of our group.”
    I held out my hand to shake his.
“How can you deal with so much female energy, Mr. Black Wolf? I don’t
think I know any man who would be willing to put himself in such a position.”
    A little laugh for emphasis, a
quick look in his eyes and then away. Had I been demure enough? Uncertain with
a little charm to cover the nervousness? Was he buying this?
    His laugh was deep and throaty as
he leaned in to take my hand and kiss the inside of the wrist. “I am at the
mercy of them all. And now at yours, as well.” His kiss burned my skin and it
was all I could do to hold my hand steady without tearing it away.
    “I see why they keep you around.”
I gave him my best flirting smile. Judith wasn’t happy. I could feel her
annoyance boring into me without even having to look. It didn’t matter to me. I
wasn’t here to mollify her. I was here to save her ass.
    “So I hear you will be taking
initiation rites with us tonight.”
    “Pardon me?”
    He looked at me with the smile of
a patient parent indulging a slow-witted child. “Initiation rites? Pietra had
indicated that you were to be joining our coven as a thirteenth member
tonight.”
    I looked to the High Priestess,
who was keeping careful control over her expression. “I thought it would take
time to see if I meshed with the rest of the group.”
    “Ordinarily, yes––”
    Mack interrupted her. “Pietra has
been telling the coven of the amount of time she has spent with you. She
indicated you would be a perfect fit, and the rest of us agreed.”
    “She is way too generous––” I
tried to argue and find a way out of this. The last thing I needed was to link
my