Wolf Dreams

Chapter 5

Once Erika said the words, she expected to feel relief. But the agitation, the restlessness, the sense that she was missing something... All of that remained.

She braced herself for Lazlo's response. If she were in his position she'd probably be furious and disbelieving. No one wanted to hear he was going to die in the near future.

Instead, Lazlo pulled her close and kissed her. The hunger in his lips shattered her, making her relive the past and long for a future with him. He kissed her with an urgency that demanded more, sending desire singing through her veins.

Quivering, she nearly succumbed, her arousal inflamed by the rising heat of his. But then she remembered her dream, the little girl who was still missing, and she pushed him away.

"We can't do this," she breathed. "Not with so much unsettled around us."

The dark wanting in his gaze made her entire body tingle. "You're right." He pushed to his feet, dragging a hand through his dark hair. "We can't ever let this happen again."

She stared at him, unable to believe his words. "Ever?"

Slowly, he nodded. "I can't explain right now. But once we've found Katya, we have a lot to discuss."

Though she wanted much more than talk, she agreed.

"We will find her," he said, sounding as though he had no doubt. "Alive."

"I hope so." She touched him, just once, to reassure herself he was real.

"I know so." His voice fierce, he glanced around them. "Once the king has been notified, he'll send his best Pack trackers out into the forest. I'm one of them. As wolves, our skills are unparalleled."

Odd that just an hour ago, she would have found the whole idea ludicrous—royal wolves searching for a missing child. Now, she believed they were Katya's best chance. "Please, be careful. And don't forget about my dream."

"I would never do that." His breath fanned her hair as he pulled her closer for a quick hug before releasing her.

"You seem awfully casual for a man who's been warned he's about to die."

"True. But there's something else I should mention," he said, sounding both confident and amused. "Full-blooded shape-shifters like me can only be killed by fire or silver bullets. Did you see either of those in your dream?"

"You were shot," she told him helplessly. "Whether or not the bullet was silver, I couldn't say. You fell and didn't move. So I'd say yes, I watched you die."

"I doubt that the man who abducted little Katya has silver bullets. You saw me get shot. I fell. But in your dream, did I actually die?"

Though she had to force the words up past the lump in her throat, she had to say them. "I believe so."

He continued to watch her. Their shared past had been bright, but the potential of their future seemed brighter, despite his earlier words. If only she hadn't dreamed of him. Her dreams were never wrong. And worse, she'd been responsible for getting him killed.

"Stop worrying about that," he said, caressing her with his gaze. "There's got to be a way around it."

"I want to believe you. But my dreams are never wrong."

"Never?" His eyes narrowed. "Rok said something like that, but I didn't believe him. You always have one hundred percent accuracy?"

Slowly, she nodded.

"How many dreams have you had of someone dying?"

"In the seven years since I turned twenty-one..." Swallowing hard, she forced herself to go on. "I've had the bad ones, the ones I consider a curse, exactly seven times."

"Once a year?"

She nodded. "I remember each and every one."

"I bet you do." His husky voice soothed her and made her want to rush to him and be held in his arms.

"You walked away from me once," she said, desperate to change the subject. "I need to know why. After graduation, why did you leave Teslinko?"

He stared into the distance, as if he was trying to see the past through the crowded underbrush and trees. "I could give you several reasons—that I wanted a change of scenery, a chance at a better job, the urge to start over. But the truth is, I left because of you."

Pain stabbed through her. Of anything she might have expected him to say, it wasn't that. They'd been so much in love. Or so she'd believed. "But that makes no sense."

He shot her a look full of equal parts pain and chagrin. "I knew if we were going to stay together, I'd have had to reveal to you what I was. I couldn't do that."

Aching, she closed her eyes. "You didn't think I could handle it."

He didn't answer. He didn't have to.

"I guess we'll never know how I would have reacted," she finally said, unable to keep a trace of bitterness from her voice. Though she'd opened her eyes, she couldn't bear to look at him. If she did, he'd see just how much his leaving had hurt her.

"We were children."

"True." Then, because she'd never been anything but honest with him, she offered up the truth like a gift, even though she wasn't certain what he'd do with her words. "I wept for you. I mourned what we had. No one else has ever measured up—and I tried, I promise you, I tried."

Suddenly he was there, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close. He smoothed her hair away from her face. "I know. I tried, too," he said, his voice a deep rumble against her ear. "There was another reason I left, but I don't want to go into it now. I'll explain later. Okay?"

Slowly, she nodded.

"Don't worry. I promise you, in this instance your dream is incorrect. We'll find Katya, catch the perp, and you'll see. For the first time ever, you've dreamed wrong."

His words brought reality crashing into her with the force of one of her horrible dreams. He didn't believe her. She'd dreamed his death, watched him be killed. And watching it happen again in real life would kill her, too.

Slowly she moved away from him, out of his embrace, as bereft and lost as she had been on that day ten years ago when Lazlo had vanished without a word of goodbye. Fear had driven him then, she understood that. Just as he'd have to come to terms with the fact that fear was compelling her now.

Because she'd be damned if she'd let him die.

"We've got to find Katya," she said, turning and eyeing the woods as though she expected to be given a sign. And maybe she did. She'd dreamed this, after all. She'd seen Lazlo's death, as well as the end of the man who'd taken Katya, but she hadn't seen the little girl die.

That meant they had more than a fighting chance of finding her alive.

"I've got to organize a Pack search before the police get permission to do their own," Lazlo said.

"When?" she asked, a little stunned at the idea of a group of werewolves searching right in front of her.

"Now. I've already left a message for the prince. The sooner, the better."

Trying to steady her erratic pulse, she took a step away. Now all she had to do was remove herself from the situation, thus ensuring she wouldn't be the cause of Lazlo's death. Maybe, as he'd said himself blithely, just this once she could cheat fate.