Phantom Lover Read online

He was a dream.

  A perfect, blissful moment worth savoring.

  She heard him growling like a wild beast as he trailed his lips down her jaw and buried them against her throat. Licking. Teasing. Inciting her desire.

  Every nerve ending in her body fired at his touch. She burned for him. Her breasts swelled, wanting to feel the strokes of his tongue across the taut peaks while his hands held her. Her core throbbed with an aching, demanding need.

  He lifted his head to gaze down at her and it was then that the rest of the scene filled itself in. The two of them stood outside on a bright, moonlit knoll.

  The peace of the moment comforted her. She smelled the damp pine around them, heard the bubbling of a nearby waterfall.

  Their clothes melted from their bodies as he laid her down on the ground, which, oddly, wasn’t hard. The moss under her was softer than a cloud, and it contrasted sharply with his hard muscles pressing down on her.

  She liked this dream much, much better.

  “You are gorgeous,” she whispered, staring at his sleek long dark hair falling around his face. His body was lean, meticulously defined, and flawless. Never had she seen a better-looking man.

  She reached up and traced the sharp arch of his dark brows over those silvery-blue eyes. The color of them was so intense, it took her breath.

  Then she trailed her fingers down the stubble of his cheeks to his hard, sculpted jaw. She was so grateful to him. So happy to have him hold her after the terror the monsters had put her through.

  For the first time in weeks, she felt safe. Protected.

  And she owed it all to him.

  V’Aidan captured her hand in his and studied her fingers as if he’d never seen anything like them. There was such a tender light in his gaze that she couldn’t understand what caused it.

  Moaning so deep in his throat that it vibrated through her, he led her hand to his mouth and ran his tongue over the lines on her palm. His tongue stroked her flesh with featherlike caresses while his teeth gently nipped her fingers and palm. His eyes shuttered, he seemed to savor the very essence of her skin, her touch. Her taste.

  Erin shivered at the hot look on his face as he kissed her again. His hands roamed her body, stroking and delving, seeking out every part of her, and stoking her inner fire until she worried it might completely consume her.

  He slid his mouth from her lips, down her body to her breast. Erin hissed in pleasure. His hand gently cupped her breast, holding the peak up so that he could take his time tasting it, rolling it over his tongue as he growled again. She’d never seen a man take such pleasure from simply tasting a woman before.

  V’Aidan was heaven. Pure and simple heaven. The perfect, attentive lover. It was as if he could read her mind and know exactly where and how she wanted to be touched.

  His erection pressed against her hip as his hand sought out the fire between her legs. Spreading her legs wider for him, Erin trailed her hands over the muscles of his back, muscles that rippled and flexed with every exquisite sensual move he made.

  She buried her lips against his throat, tasting the salt of his skin. Chills spread over his body, making her smile that she was giving him pleasure in turn.

  Never before in her dreams had she been this at ease with a man. It was the first time she’d made love without worrying if her lover would find fault with her body. If somehow she wasn’t good enough for him.

  Her dream lover made her feel special. Made her feel womanly and sexy. Hot. Desirable.

  She held her breath as he slid his fingers through her moist curls at the juncture of her thighs, separating the tender folds of her body until he could slide his long, tapered fingers deep inside her. Hot fire stabbed her middle.

  Groaning at the exquisiteness of his touch, she ran her hands through his silken hair and held him close.

  He stroked and teased her body with his fingers as his mouth worked magic on her breasts. The power of his touch, the feel of those hard, defined muscles pressing down on her …

  It was more than she could stand.

  Leaning her head back, she cried out as ribbons of ecstasy tore through her. Still he kept giving her pleasure. He didn’t slow down until the last deep shudder had been wrung from her.

  Breathless and weak, she wanted to please him the way he had pleased her. She wanted to look into his eyes and watch him climax, too.

  Rolling him over onto his back, Erin ran her hand down the perfect tawny muscles of his shoulders, his chest, his abdomen and hips and raked her fingers slowly through the dark curls between his legs. V’Aidan sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth as she trailed her lips over the hard muscles of his chest to his rock-hard abdomen.

  And as she laved his tawny flesh, she cupped his hard shaft in her hand. V’Aidan shuddered in her arms. The look of pleasure on his face thrilled her as he slowly rocked himself against her palm.

  She sheathed him with her hands, delighting in the velvety feel of him pulsing between her palms. He ran his fingers through her hair. The muscles in his jaw flexed as he gazed into her eyes while she tenderly milked his body.

  “I love your hands on me,” he breathed, his voice deep and ragged. “I love the way you smell. The way you feel.”

  He took her chin into his hand and stared at her with a look that told her he wanted her even more than the dragon had. It was primitive and hot, and it stole her breath.

  In that moment, she knew he was going to take her. Take her in a way she’d never been taken before.

  Burying her hands in his hair, she couldn’t wait for it. She wanted him to possess her.

  His eyes flashing and wild, he growled before seizing her lips with his. He kissed her so passionately that she came again as he rolled over with her in his arms and pressed her back once more against the cloudlike moss.

  He brought his knee up, between her thighs, and spread her legs wide as he placed his body over hers. She shivered in anticipation.

  “Yes, V’Aidan,” she breathed, arching her hips in invitation. “Please fill me.”

  His eyes feral and possessive, he drove himself into her.

  Erin moaned at his hardness inside her. She’d never felt anything better than all his strength and power surrounding her, filling her totally. As he moved against her, she feared she would pass out from the bliss of it.

  He touched her in ways no man had ever touched her before. As if he truly treasured her. As if she was the only woman who existed for him.

  His moves were untamed as he thrust into her. Slow. Deep. Hard.

  She wrapped her legs around his, sliding them up and down to feel his leg hairs caress her.

  He dipped his head and captured her breast in his mouth, teasing it mercilessly as he stroked her with his body. She moaned deep in her throat, cupping his head to her.

  Then, he leaned back on his legs so that he could stare down at her. Erin swallowed at the sight of him above her as she looked into his eerie silvery-blue eyes. He held her legs in his hands as he continued to drive himself even deeper into her.

  His sublime strokes were primitive and hot and tantalizing. And they tore through her, spiking pleasure so intense it went all the way up her back and down to her toes.

  V’Aidan licked his lips as he watched her watching him. Erin couldn’t move. His eyes held her paralyzed. All she could do was stare at him. Feel him, deep and hard inside her.

  She saw his pleasure mirrored in his eyes, saw him savoring her. And when he looked down to where they were joined, she shivered.

  “You are mine, Erin,” he said between clenched teeth, thrusting himself even harder and deeper into her to emphasize the words.

  He took her into his arms and cradled her to his chest as if she was unspeakably precious.

  Erin clung to him while she felt her pleasure building even higher. In white-hot sparks she came again in his arms. He buried his face into the crook of her neck and cried out as he joined her.

  She lay perfectly still while he shuddered a
round and in her. His breathing heavy, he didn’t move for several minutes.

  Pulling back, he looked down at her. “I am with you, akribos,” he whispered. “I will always be with you.”

  A strange wave of heaviness came over her. She closed her eyes. Even so, she could still feel and understand what was going on.

  V’Aidan draped her over his chest as he lay on his back. She could feel his hands gliding over her while she inhaled the warm, manly scent of his skin.

  Even asleep, she felt him near and knew he watched over her, protecting her from the others. And for the first time in weeks, she rested in total peace and comfort.

  “Sleep, Erin,” he said quietly. “The Skoti can’t reach you here. I won’t let them.”

  Erin smiled in her sleep. But as the darkness came for her again, an odd voice rang out in her head.

  Now who poses the greater threat to you, Erin? Krysti’Ana or V’Aidan?

  2

  Erin came awake slowly to find herself flat on her back, outside her cube. For a second she couldn’t move at all, then her body slowly began to function again.

  The first thing she saw was Chrissy’s worried frown.

  The second was the two EMTs sitting next to her. Her boss, along with several other co-workers, stood off to one side frowning down at her. John’s face told her the only thought in his mind was how much paperwork he’d have to fill out over this.

  “What happened?” Erin asked.

  “You passed out,” Chrissy said. “It was like you were frozen or something.”

  Erin covered her face with her hands as embarrassment filled her. Just her luck to have the most erotic dream of her life witnessed by half her office.

  Oh God, shoot her now!

  “How do you feel?” the paramedic on her right asked as he helped her sit up.

  “I feel…” Her voice trailed off. She felt incredible, actually. Better than she had ever felt before.

  “Ma’am?” the paramedic insisted. “Are you okay?”

  Erin nodded, trying desperately to hold on to the image of V’Aidan, but it faded and left her feeling oddly lonely. “I’m fine, really.”

  “I don’t know,” Chrissy said. “She’s been acting weird a lot lately. Hasn’t been sleeping. Maybe a short hospital stay where she can sleep—”

  “Chrissy!” Erin snapped. “What are you trying to do?”

  “Get you some help. Maybe they have something that can make you sleep through the night.”

  “I don’t need to sleep,” she said, amazed at the truth of those words. “I feel completely rested.”

  The paramedic looked at Chrissy. “Her vitals are normal. If she says she’s fine, she’s fine.” He handed Erin a release form. “Sign that and you’re on your own, but if I were you, I would go to my doctor just to be safe.”

  Chrissy gave her a doubtful look.

  “I’m fine, Chrissy,” Erin insisted, signing the release.

  Even so, John told her to go home and take the rest of the week off.

  Completely embarrassed, Erin didn’t argue as the EMTs left. She merely gathered her things then headed out of the building, to the parking lot.

  Chrissy followed her to the car. “Listen, what I was going to say before John went for coffee and you hit the floor is that my boyfriend is a psychologist who specializes in sleep disorders.”

  Erin paused at her green Escort. Strange that Chrissy hadn’t mentioned that before, but it explained why she had been so interested in Erin’s dreams since all this started. “Really?”

  “Yeah. His name is Rick Sword and I was telling him about you. He says he thinks he can help.” Chrissy handed her a crisp dark gray business card. “I really think you should give him a call.”

  Erin studied the card. At the moment, she’d never felt better in her life, but maybe she should give him a call just in case the nightmares returned.

  “Thanks,” Erin said, getting into her car. “I just might do that.”

  Chrissy stared at her from outside the car and mouthed the words, Call him.

  Erin waved to her then headed home, but as she drove through downtown traffic she really didn’t feel like going back to her apartment alone.

  In all honesty, she felt rather strange. She could almost sense V’Aidan’s presence. She swore she could still smell the masculine scent of sandalwood that had clung to his skin, sense him in her thoughts.

  “It was just a dream,” she said out loud.

  Still, it had been an incredible dream. So real. So vivid and erotic.

  So incredibly satisfying.

  She stopped at a red light and glanced down at the card on her passenger seat. Before she could talk herself out of it, she grabbed her cell phone and called Dr. Sword.

  His receptionist immediately put her through to him as she headed her car toward the expressway.

  “Ms. McDaniels,” he said eagerly. “Chrissy has told me so much about you. I would really like to speak to you if you have time.”

  Something compelled her to accept. “Okay, sure. When?”

  “What are you doing for lunch?”

  Erin gave a nervous laugh. “I guess ‘meeting you’ would be the correct answer.”

  His own laughter answered her. “Tell you what. Why don’t we meet out in public for the first time? I find it puts people more at ease. Do you like Thompson’s Restaurant at Five Points?”

  “Okay. What time?”

  “How about right now? It should be just opening up for the day.”

  “Sounds like a plan. I’ll be there in about half an hour.”

  “Good. I’ll be waiting.”

  Erin pulled onto the expressway and headed toward their rendezvous.

  Once she reached the mall, she parked her car outside the quaint restaurant that specialized in jazz music and Bohemian food then headed inside.

  There were only a handful of people in the dark interior, all of whom were seated at tables. It was only then she realized she’d forgotten to ask the doctor what he looked like.

  “Erin?”

  She turned to see a tall, distinguished-looking man in his early forties entering through the door behind her.

  “Yes?”

  “Rick Sword,” he said, extending his hand out to her.

  She shook it. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Yes,” he said with a cool smile. “Yes, it is.”

  He got them a table in the back of the restaurant, and once they were seated and had placed their orders, he listened as she explained her nightmares to him.

  Erin felt a little nervous at first, but as she explained it to him and he didn’t appear to judge her, she went into more details.

  “And then this guy, V’Aidan, was there and he called the snake monster a Skotos.” She paused as she trailed her straw around her Coke. “You probably think I’m nuts by now.”

  “Hardly,” he said, his blue eyes sincere. “In truth, I find you fascinating. Tell me, have you ever heard of the Skoti before?”

  “No, never.”

  “Hmmm, interesting.”

  She frowned as he made a few notes on the pad he’d carried inside with him. “Why?”

  “Well, they’re part of history. Tell me, did you ever take an ancient Greek civilization or mythology course in college?”

  “No, not really. I mean, we covered the basic Greek pantheon in high school and I had to read the Odyssey and Oedipus Rex in college, but that was it.”

  “Hmmm,” he said as if he found that interesting, too.

  “Why do you ask?”

  “I was just wondering how the idea of the Skoti got implanted into your subconscious.”

  There was a peculiar note in his voice that made her extremely apprehensive. “What are you saying, they’re real?”

  He laughed. “That depends on whether or not you believe in the ancient Greek gods. But they were part of that culture. They were, for lack of a better term, nightmare demons. They were said to infiltrate the dreams of humans so the
y could suck emotions and creativity. It made them high, if you will.”

  “Like energy vampires?”

  “Something like that. Anyway, the legend goes that they would visit a soul a few times during its lifetime and move on. It’s how the ancients explained away their nightmares. Supposedly, every so often a Skotos would latch on to a particular victim and go back over and over until the person became insane from the visits.”

  “Insane how?”

  He took a sip of his drink. “The scientific theory behind the legend would be that the visitations, whatever they really were, disrupted normal sleep patterns, causing the victim to never really rest or rejuvenate during the night, thereby causing mental duress. If it continued long enough, it would lead to mental instability.”

  A shiver went down her spine. This sounded just a little too much like what had been happening to her. “So, how does someone get rid of a Skotos?”

  “According to legend, you can’t.”

  “Can I fight them?”

  He shook his head. “No, but the ancient Greeks believed in perfect balance. As you have the evil Skotos, likewise you have the benevolent Oneroi who fight them for you.”

  “Oneroi?”

  “They were believed to be the children of the dream god Morpheus. They were champions of humans and gods alike. Incapable of feeling emotions, they spend eternity protecting humans in their sleep. Whenever the Skoti latch on to a human and begin to drain too much from that person, the Oneroi come in and save the human from their clutches.”

  “Like V’Aidan did me.”

  “So it would seem.”

  “And the Skoti, where do they come from?”

  “They were the children of Phobetor, the god of animal shapes. His name means ‘frightening,’ hence their dominion over nightmares.”

  “So the Skoti and Oneroi are related?”

  He nodded.

  “Fascinating,” she said, mulling over her new knowledge while thinking about her dreams.

  Vaguely she recalled the threats the Skoti had made against V’Aidan. Was it possible that somehow these demons had really infiltrated her sleep? Could V’Aidan and the others possibly be real?

  It was ludicrous and yet …

  Her face flamed. If they were real then she’d just had a one-night stand with a perfect stranger.