Read Online Body Temperature and Rising - Book One of the Lakeland Heatwave Trilogy by K. D. Grace - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: K. D. Grace
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like he’d been holding it too long, like even the relief that washed over him and eased him over the edge into sleep was somehow not enough, could somehow not ease the spreading darkness. The thought niggled its way into his consciousness just before he plunged into the dream world. Perhaps this was just a little bit of what the ghosts felt. Had Lisette made him feel that way? But before he could contemplate further, he slept like the dead.
Chapter 5
Briefly, Sky became aware of Anderson still nestled inside Tara, though his breathing was now the deep even drag of sleep, which he didn’t need but could enjoy at will. Sky lay snuggled close, her head on Tara’s shoulder, her hand cupped around a breast. She knew she was asleep. They were all asleep. Only Fiori stood sentinel in the waking world, as silent and unmoving as the stone on which she sat.
Then Sky was under again, back in the cave with Marie, only this time it was through Tara’s eyes she viewed the woman, and in spite of the carefree enthusiasm Tara presented, Sky could feel the doubt, the tension, the clench of fear deep in the coven leader’s belly all overlaid by way more sorrow than one person should ever have to bear. But waking up from her lovemaking with Anderson, Marie Warren was blissfully ignorant of all of that.
Then there was the good-bye kiss in front of Lacewing Cottage, and the dream flared with heat and passion, all on little butterfly wings. It wasn’t entirely sexual. There was a heavy dose of excitement and nerves, the kind associated with that very first kiss. The energy of the memory crackled and buzzed with exhilaration that could only be felt in the presence of magic, and for a moment, Sky wasn’t sure if it was her own excitement or the excitement of Anderson and Tara in the dream world that she felt. But it was there. It was clear, much more clear than most dream magic tended to be. She floated along on the feeling until it dissipated and flattened and cooled.
Then it chilled, like the first hard breath of winter in Cumbria. Her eyes fluttered open to the grey half-light that might have been dawn, but the sunlight couldn’t reach them inside the cave. Fiori’s candles had bathed the chamber in shades of orange and rose, not this dull flat grey. She stirred to find Tara and Anderson gone. The smell of sex thinned around her, and she was cold, so cold that her teeth chattered. Fiori still sat sentinel on the rise of stone casting a dark, hulking shadow across the dream bed.
Shivering, Sky grabbed for a blanket. She was about to ask Fiori why she had let the others leave before the magic had run its course, but her words died in her throat as the shadow rose around Fiori until she was completely eclipsed in the enormity of it. Sky’s stomach knotted and threatened to rebel as the owner of the shadow, now standing directly behind the unaware Fiori, rested a huge palm along one side of her pale face. He hunched just enough that with the other he could grope Fiori’s bare breasts none too gently. Fiori’s eyelids fluttered and she stretched upward and backward like a cat into his embrace.
At last he spoke. ‘I paid a visit to Lacewing Farm this morning. Afraid your friends, the sodomite farmers took the blame for upsetting Mr Meriwether’s exquisite mare.’ The man tisk-tisked. ‘Such filthy wretches. Your Marie is lovely, by the way. That’s right, I had a good look at her after I sent her landlord and his Mountain Rescue friends off on a wild goose-chase for a missing walker.’ He shook his head sadly, all the while his hand roamed over Fiori’s body like a rodent searching for food. ‘Yes, Marie Warren is very lovely, indeed, but weak. Disappointingly weak, really. I had so hoped for more of a challenge.’ And with a sigh that was almost sensual, he raised both hands to the sides of Fiori’s face, tightened his grasp and twisted until there was a sickening snap.
‘Sky, Sky!’
It was hard to hear
Chapter 5
Briefly, Sky became aware of Anderson still nestled inside Tara, though his breathing was now the deep even drag of sleep, which he didn’t need but could enjoy at will. Sky lay snuggled close, her head on Tara’s shoulder, her hand cupped around a breast. She knew she was asleep. They were all asleep. Only Fiori stood sentinel in the waking world, as silent and unmoving as the stone on which she sat.
Then Sky was under again, back in the cave with Marie, only this time it was through Tara’s eyes she viewed the woman, and in spite of the carefree enthusiasm Tara presented, Sky could feel the doubt, the tension, the clench of fear deep in the coven leader’s belly all overlaid by way more sorrow than one person should ever have to bear. But waking up from her lovemaking with Anderson, Marie Warren was blissfully ignorant of all of that.
Then there was the good-bye kiss in front of Lacewing Cottage, and the dream flared with heat and passion, all on little butterfly wings. It wasn’t entirely sexual. There was a heavy dose of excitement and nerves, the kind associated with that very first kiss. The energy of the memory crackled and buzzed with exhilaration that could only be felt in the presence of magic, and for a moment, Sky wasn’t sure if it was her own excitement or the excitement of Anderson and Tara in the dream world that she felt. But it was there. It was clear, much more clear than most dream magic tended to be. She floated along on the feeling until it dissipated and flattened and cooled.
Then it chilled, like the first hard breath of winter in Cumbria. Her eyes fluttered open to the grey half-light that might have been dawn, but the sunlight couldn’t reach them inside the cave. Fiori’s candles had bathed the chamber in shades of orange and rose, not this dull flat grey. She stirred to find Tara and Anderson gone. The smell of sex thinned around her, and she was cold, so cold that her teeth chattered. Fiori still sat sentinel on the rise of stone casting a dark, hulking shadow across the dream bed.
Shivering, Sky grabbed for a blanket. She was about to ask Fiori why she had let the others leave before the magic had run its course, but her words died in her throat as the shadow rose around Fiori until she was completely eclipsed in the enormity of it. Sky’s stomach knotted and threatened to rebel as the owner of the shadow, now standing directly behind the unaware Fiori, rested a huge palm along one side of her pale face. He hunched just enough that with the other he could grope Fiori’s bare breasts none too gently. Fiori’s eyelids fluttered and she stretched upward and backward like a cat into his embrace.
At last he spoke. ‘I paid a visit to Lacewing Farm this morning. Afraid your friends, the sodomite farmers took the blame for upsetting Mr Meriwether’s exquisite mare.’ The man tisk-tisked. ‘Such filthy wretches. Your Marie is lovely, by the way. That’s right, I had a good look at her after I sent her landlord and his Mountain Rescue friends off on a wild goose-chase for a missing walker.’ He shook his head sadly, all the while his hand roamed over Fiori’s body like a rodent searching for food. ‘Yes, Marie Warren is very lovely, indeed, but weak. Disappointingly weak, really. I had so hoped for more of a challenge.’ And with a sigh that was almost sensual, he raised both hands to the sides of Fiori’s face, tightened his grasp and twisted until there was a sickening snap.
‘Sky, Sky!’
It was hard to hear
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