Read Online Nobody's Dream by Kallypso Masters - Free Book Online Page A

removed her boots and wet poncho, hanging the latter on two hooks to dry. Her socks grew wet from the melting snow on the floor so she stripped those off, too, and started toward the fireplace to warm up.
    An anguished shout from the bedroom stopped her dead in her tracks.
    “Noooo!”
    Not again . Her heart pounded at the fear and horror in his voice. She could not stand to let him remain lost in the dark world of his nightmare, knowing that place quite well herself. She inched toward the bedroom door with dread. He had overpowered her before, triggering her flashback. Light from the living room shone on Lucas as he lay in her bed. His feet thrashed, apparently trying to kick off the blankets. Still, Cassie hesitated, afraid he might lash out at her again if she came too close.
    But she remembered her training. If she could not fight off a man in Lucas’s weakened state, her self-defense training had been for nothing. That assurance did not make this situation any easier.
    “Lucas, wake up! You are dreaming!”
    His arm thrust outward, extending over the edge of the bed. But he remained asleep. She banged on the headboard, hoping to awaken him, but nothing.
    Goddess, why me?
    Climbing onto the bed, she straddled him, grabbing his hand as he swung it toward her face. She pressed it into the pillow above his head. “Lucas, you are only dreaming.”
    “Oh, God. Take me, not them!” The gravelly sound of his voice broke her heart.
    Perhaps he would answer to his nickname. “Luke, wake up. Now!”
    He blinked his eyes open and squinted in the dim light spilling in from the living room. She had kept the light off so he could sleep. His body needed rest more than anything else, but he would not recover quickly enough if his sleep continued to be plagued with nightmares. Did he dream like this all the time? If so, how could he function on so little sleep? Her nightmares had lessened over the years, but when they came, they were just as fierce as if she were back in that cantina.
    He furrowed his brows as he searched her face. Did he recognize her? She released his hands and sat up to break contact with him.
    “Do you remember where you are?”
    He nodded. “In your cabin, Cassie. There was another avalanche.”
    “Well, only the one this year.”
    He nodded. “Right. I was following you home to make sure you were safe.”
    At least the delirium had not returned.
    He reached up and tucked her hair behind her left ear before stroking her cheek as if uncertain she was real. “Last year, I dreamed of an angel. Got confused about who it was at first until you…”
    Clearly, he was still confused. “What are you talking about?” I am in nobody’s dreams, much less as an angel. Maybe the delirium had returned after all.
    “I dreamed you were…well, it’s a little complicated. First, Maggie said she was sending me an angel. In my sleep, I saw you in a meadow working on a painting of quaking aspens. It was autumn.” He reached up and ran a strand of her hair between the side of his index finger and his thumb, setting her stomach on edge. “You had long dark hair…” His knuckle brushed against her breast and robbed her of her next breath. “…and soft, olive skin.”
    Dreaming about an angel, though? Had his wife reached out from the other side to deliver some kind of prophetic message from the Universe? As if Cassie could be any man’s angel. Then it dawned on her.
    “Your wife must have been predicting that I would be the one to rescue you from your truck after the avalanche.” Yes, of course. That was it. She relaxed and pulled farther away so that her hair was no longer being touched, and he rested his hand on the mattress. She could see how he might have misinterpreted the dreamed message to mean she was his angel.
    Lucas seemed to mull over her explanation, and the light left his eyes. He nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I didn’t put two and two together, but that makes more sense than…”
    He