Soul Seers Complete Set (24 page)

My body warmed with
the feel of the sun’s rays touching my skin. A fresh, springtime smell overtook
my senses and I inhaled through my nose, enjoying the crisp, floral scent.
Looking around, I noticed a never-ending field of lavender flowers surrounding
me.

A small hand gently
shoved me from behind, catching me by surprise and causing me to stumble a few
steps before regaining my balance amongst the thigh-high stalks of lavender. A
beautiful giggle left her mouth as I looked back to see who had nearly pushed
me over.

Her purple eyes were
even more impressive when surrounded by a huge field of deep lavender blooms.
She wore a smile that stretched from ear to ear as she laughed and began to
walk away, looking over her shoulder to see if I would follow.

Well, of course I
would follow.

Trailing behind her,
I watched her dainty fingers tenderly float along the top of the blossoms,
caressing each one as if they were soft down feathers on a field of baby
ducklings. Her sundress swayed back and forth as she glided through the
flowers, causing them to brush past her hips in rhythm with each step she took.
Small waves rippled through the blossoms from her gentle touch as she continued
to walk further away.

When she turned to
look at me once more, I noticed she carried a small bushel of lavender blooms
draped over the crook of her arm. Her smile was infectious and I had no choice
but to return a grin, happy to enjoy this lovely view… and I’m not talking
about the flowers.

Continuing to follow
the wake of blooms she left behind, I noticed the right strap of her dress
slipped from her creamy shoulder and draped lightly along the side of her arm.
Quickening my pace slightly, I closed the distance between us and came up
behind her. She stopped once she heard me approach, but never turned around.

Needing to feel her
soft skin against my lips, I bent over marginally and pressed a tender kiss on
top of her exposed shoulder. As I continued to cover her silky skin with my
lips, I trailed my fingertips up her arm and caught the stray strap that still
hung lazily against her bicep. Slowly, I put the strap back where it belonged
as I made my way towards her neck. I wrapped my arms around her waist and
watched as she tilted her head, exposing the long column of tender skin to my
impatient caress. I could feel her pulse radiating through my lips like balls
of fire. The feeling was so real, so intimate—I knew we could never deny
our strong connection to each other.

Leisurely, she
turned in my arms. Dropping her bushel of lavender, she wrapped her hands
behind my neck, and gazed into my eyes. Ella looked at me with such amazement,
as if she had been waiting for centuries to see my face.

“Jonah, kiss me,”
she pleaded in a soft, compassionate tone, tightening her grip on my neck and
pulling my head down to her waiting lips.

I didn’t need words to
respond to her command. Securing my arms around her waist and lifting her
slightly, I dove into her like a vulture capturing its prey. Our lips, hot as
fire, melded together in a passionate, no-holds-barred kiss. Hungrily
searching, I didn’t hesitate to explore her mouth with my tongue. Her taste was
like a drug to me, exploding into my mouth and causing me to sigh with pure
relief as I got my fix.

As our passions
increased and our kiss deepened further, I lowered her to the soft ground,
never breaking my hold on her lips. Lavender blooms surrounded us, blocking us
from the public eye. Not like there was anyone else around anyway.

With the knowledge
that she and I could read one another’s dreams, I only hoped she was sharing
this dream with me. I wanted her to shiver as my teeth lightly dug into her
ear. I wanted her to feel my heavy weight pressing between her legs as I
devoured the sensitive, pulsating section of her throat. I wanted her to hear
the pleasure she gave me as I moaned through our passionate kisses.

Clawing at my back,
she gripped my t-shirt and began pulling at it with eagerness. I broke our kiss
just long enough to sit up and pull it over my head. Her hands grasped
feverishly at my chest, lightly digging her fingernails into my muscles. Looking
down at her, I watched a smile play at her face as the sun lit the fire in her
amethyst eyes.

I growled as I dove
down, spreading my hands into the soft ground near her head and making my way
straight to her waiting lips. Right before our mouths melded together, Ella
pushed at one of my shoulders, effectively twisting me and rolling us over in
one easy move.

Within moments, a
beautiful, amethyst-eyed goddess straddled over my body, causing the soft glow
of the sun to cascade around her golden hair. My hardness jumped at the look of
her above me. She bit her lip, obviously stifling a smile, as she trailed her
fingertips up and down my torso.

Bringing her soft
hands up to my face, I turned my head slightly and planted a gentle peck along
the side of her thumb as I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feel of her touch.
Her exploring fingers grazed back down my jaw and neck, to my chest, and down
my abdomen, sending shivers through my body at the exquisite sensation.

Her fingers lifting
from my body had me opening my eyes, wondering why she stopped touching me so
intricately. The smoldering look in her eyes told me more than words could
express.

Ella closed her eyes
and arched her back. Crossing her arms around her torso and bunching the hem of
her dress in her hands, she slowly began lifting, the soft fabric inching its
way up her soft skin, until successfully pulling her hair free. With a slight
shake of her head and a small smile, she opened her eyelids and watched me
explore her body with my gaze.

I nearly convulsed
at the sight of her braless figure straddled over my hips. My eyes explored
every inch of her as rays of sun continued to stream all around.

Reaching out with my
fingertips, I touched the deep scar that ran along her front. Lightly, and
without a word, I ran my finger from the top of her scar just below her left
rib all the way down until the jagged edges disappeared beneath her panties.

Her expression
morphed to sadness and I immediately regretted making her feel that way. Within
moments, she brought her arms around herself in an attempt to shield her upper
body from me.

Grabbing her wrists,
I said, “No, Ella. Please. I want to see you. Don’t cover yourself.” After a
moment, she nodded and brought her arms to her sides.

Placing my hands on
her thighs, I gently squeezed and continued to stare at this beautiful and
brave woman.

“It’s ugly,” she
said matter-of-factly.

Unsure of what she
was talking about, I asked, “What is?”

“The scar, silly. My
nightmare scar. Along with a severe concussion, it was one of the worst
injuries I sustained in the accident,” she explained as she looked down and
touched it with a single fingertip.

“Nothing could ever
be ugly on you, Ella,” I affirmed. I was rewarded with her beautiful smile once
again.

We stayed in that
position for a while—just staring at each other as if nothing else in the
world existed but us. I was longing to touch her, but the worry I would go too
far held me back.

After a few moments,
Ella reached down and grabbed my hands from her legs. Tentatively, she guided
both my hands up to her face, placing a light kiss in my palm. Both my hands
held her for an instant before she continued to use my wrists to guide my
fingers down her body.

“Ella, are you
sure?” I asked, worried she was only doing this because she thought I wanted
it. Well, not that I didn’t want to touch her. I wanted nothing more than to
touch every inch of her. But, I needed her to want this too.

“Yes, Jonah. Touch
me, please? I need you to touch me,” she begged.

Her guided body
exploration continued as she led my hands down toward her breasts. Perky
nipples passed below my palms and I sucked in a ragged breath as I felt her
tremble slightly beneath my touch. She let go of my wrists and brought her
hands up behind her head, running her fingernails through the hair at the nape
of her neck and effectively thrusting her breasts further into my touch.

“God, you’re
beautiful,” I whispered as I teased her nipples. They were perfect in every
way, fitting effortlessly in my hands. As I continued to pass my thumbs over
her in a provocative rhythm, I watched her face contort in expressions of
pleasure.

Needing to taste
her, I removed my hands from her breasts and wrapped them around her waist,
sitting up in the process. She still stayed straddled across my lap and a
delightful chuckle left her mouth at my quick movements.

Dipping my head
slightly, I cupped her right breast and covered her nipple with my mouth.

“Oh, Jonah!” Ella
cried. My tongue quickly teased her as I sucked her into my mouth in a
desperate attempt to get her to cry out my name again. Her fingers laced behind
my head and pulled at my hair while she thrust her chest out even further.

Without missing a
beat, I switched to the other side and was rewarded with more of her
enthralling moans. Christ, her nipples were like warm butter melting in my
mouth. I couldn’t get enough.

As I continued
paying attention to her delicious breasts, she began moving her hips slightly
in rhythm. Our hearts were going a mile a minute and her pulse was like title
waves coursing through my veins.

Without warning,
Ella pushed me back to the ground and hovered over me, her hair falling around
my face like a curtain—a beautiful, golden curtain. She crushed her lips
to mine in a quick, sultry kiss before placing several pecks to my neck and
torso, making her way down my body.

Realizing what she
was going for, I grabbed her arms to stop her descent. “Ella, no. You don’t
have to do this.”

“Shh, Jonah. I want
to taste you,” she said sweetly before placing another small peck on my abdomen
just beside my belly button. A primal groan was all that I could manage at the
feeling of her hand touching my length through my jeans.

Right when her
fingers began fumbling with my button, I heard footsteps crunching their way
through the tall, lavender blooms. Our heads both whipped in the direction of
the sound at the same time, which made me more confident I had really heard
them. I saw no one. The only disturbance was a slight wave to the flowery
stalks.

“Jonah?”

“I know, love. I
heard it too. Here, get your dress back on,” I suggested as I held the thin
piece of fabric in front of her. She hesitated, but did as I said.

“But, this is our
dream. There can’t be anyone here we don’t want to be, right?” Ella said as if
she was thinking aloud rather than waiting for an answer. However, I had an
answer for her.

“Ella, there are
certain soul seers that have the bad habit of stalking dreams. It’s a form of
telekinesis that is very powerful. Many call them dream walkers, but they’re so
much more than that. They have the ability to control dreams—make the
dreams go the way they want,” I explained as I put my shirt on and sat in a
crouched position.

Ella knelt next to
me, grabbing onto the sleeve of my shirt and tugging down in a nervous fashion.
I covered her hand with my own and gave her a small smile—an attempt to
reassure her everything would be okay.

“I knew it wouldn’t
take long for you two to shack up,” a female voice said behind us, causing us
to stand up quickly and whirl around. I pushed Ella behind me, unsure of what
danger we were in, if any.

“Eve? You’ve got to
be shitting me. You’re a dream walker?” I asked, wondering how the hell I
missed that on her job application. “Ella, Eve is one of my part-timers over at
Lavendine.”

“Wait, I’m confused.
This… this is my neighbor, Jesse. At least, I thought she was,” Ella said,
making her way beside me with a perplexed look on her face. Then she looked at
Eve, squinting her eyes with determination, and asked, “Who are you?”

A wicked laugh
sounded from her mouth. “Isn’t that the million-dollar question? I’m sorry, but
you’re not ready yet. Besides, it’s time to wake up—”

I gasped a lung full of air as I felt Ella’s nails digging into my
side. Opening my eyes, I saw she was cradled against my chest, an agonizing
look on her face as she held onto me for dear life. She wasn’t awake yet.

“Ella! Wake up!” I quietly demanded as I sat up, forcing her to
sit up with me. “Please, wake up.” My voice was nearly a sob. I was worried
about what that dream walker might be doing to her in the dream.

A few moments later, Ella’s eyes popped open and a few massive
tears dripped down her face as she gulped for air. I kept my grip on her, not
wanting to push her, but dying to know what had happened.

“She held me—not with her arms or any sort of physical
force. She just stared at me and held me in place. I couldn’t breathe. I
couldn’t move. You had disappeared and I didn’t know what to do,” she mumbled
with her face buried into my chest.

“Shh. Okay. Come here,” I said as I coaxed her back down. My
muscles hurt, so I knew hers had to be killing her. I was also extremely
thirsty.

Laying her down gently on her pillow, I scanned the room and found
two glasses of water near the side of the bed she was laying on. Reaching over,
I grabbed one and brought it to her mouth. Her moans told me just how thirsty
she was as she gulped at the clear liquid.

“Slow down a little. You don’t want to drink too much right away.”
Reluctantly, she pulled away. I took a moment to gulp down the last of the
water in that glass, feeling the sores on my tongue burn with the chilled
contact, and relaxed down on the bed next to her.

“Jonah, what the hell happened?”

I shrugged, causing an ache to spike through my shoulders. “I
don’t know. I have no idea how I didn’t see it before. I’ve worked with Eve
every day for the past year. How could I not see that she was a Soul Seer? A
dream walker at that.”

“Has she ever visited your dreams before?” Ella asked, concern
turning into slight anger.

“No, not at all. You’re the only one that has ever been in my
dreams,” I assured her as I stroked her face and stared into her eyes.

“I can’t believe I trusted her,” she whispered, another tear
trickling down the side of her face. “She… she was my best friend—my only
friend—since I woke up over a month ago.”

“I’m sorry.” Looking over at the clock beside the bed, I saw it
was just after five in the morning. “Damn. We’ve slept for a while and I still
feel totally exhausted.”

“Welcome to my world,” Ella mumbled. “I’ve been having seizures
since the accident, but they seemed to be getting better for a while.”

“My dad told me this one was my fault because I was upset and my
blood pressure was causing you stress. I’m so sorry, Ella. If I had known…”

“Shh,” she said, placing her fingers against my lips. “It’s not
your fault. I may be confused as hell about all this, but I am confident of one
thing.”

“What is that?”

“You.”

Her comment made me smile as I kissed her forehead and held her
tight. She was my constant over the past six years and the fact we felt so
together in this mess made me feel like everything would be okay in the end.

“Other than what’s-her-name barging in, that dream was pretty damn
hot,” Ella mumbled against my chest, making me laugh and then wince at the pain
a light chuckle caused.

“Oh, don’t make me laugh! My muscles are so sore. God, Ella. Is
this how you feel after every seizure?” I asked as I placed my hand on my chest
and attempted to breathe.

Ella turned slightly in my arms and propped her chin on my chest
to look at me as she spoke. “Worse, actually. I think I feel a little better
because you absorbed some of it. I usually bite my tongue pretty bad, too. But
I think your dad may have done something to prevent that because my tongue
isn’t sore.”

“Mine is. My tongue is not only sore, but feels like it’s three
times the size of my mouth,” I explained with a mumble as I stuck my tongue out
to show her the bite marks.

“I guess he wasn’t prepared for you to seize as well. What exactly
happened?”

“He called me in and told me to calm down—that my anger was
causing you to seize. Your mom suggested I lay next to you to quiet my nerves
and try to calm you as well,” I explained as I stroked her hair. “As soon as I
touched you, I remember feeling the contractions of every muscle in your body
and mine—like we were attached somehow.”

“Christ, I’m so sorry, Jonah,” she whispered. Just as I was about
to protest, letting her know it wasn’t her fault, she lunged forward and
captured my mouth with hers.

Yeah, my muscles hurt—yeah, my tongue hurt—but having
her lips pressed to mine made the pain more than bearable. The warm feel of her
mouth seemed to soothe every ache—ease every pain—heal every wound.

All too soon, Ella pulled away, splayed her palm on my chest, and
propped her chin on top of her hand. Her smile was dazzling, even in the dim
glow of the clock beside her bed.

“Kissing you makes me feel like a bird,” she whispered as she
closed her eyes and breathed a heavy sigh.

“A bird?” I questioned, just for the chance to hear her voice some
more.

“Yeah. I feel like I’m soaring… flying free… like a bird.”

Then, she opened her eyes—sparkling, beautiful, amethyst
eyes. I couldn’t help but reach for another gentle kiss.

After a few short minutes of passionate kissing, we decided to get
some fresh air out on the back deck. Settling in on the chaise, Ella and I were
able to enjoy the stars while it was still dark.

A slight morning chill ran through me as I held her against my
chest and stared off into space. A few strands of white lights dangled around
the deck, illuminating the golden waves of her hair. Buried in each other’s
thoughts, we lay there and watched the dim glow of morning come upon us.

“Ella?” I heard a distant voice call through the house. Footsteps
banging on the tile floor of the kitchen let me know Delphina was headed our
way.

Ella sat up quickly as if she were a bit embarrassed to be glued
to my chest, but didn’t bother to get out of the lounge. She just sat on the
edge and waited for her mom to appear through the French doors.

“Oh, there you are,” Delphina said as she stepped gracefully out
onto the patio. She looked over at me and smiled. “Hi, Jonah. How are you two
feeling?”

“I know I’m definitely feeling sore and have no idea how Ella
manages,” I responded kindly as I lightly rubbed Ella’s back, not wanting to
bring up the issues we so badly needed to talk about.

“Well, I want to bring them up,” Ella blurted, obviously
responding to my thoughts. “Mom, we want to know what the hell is going on.
There has to be an explanation for all of this. Jonah and I both think you and
Dr. Chantrey are the ones with the answers.”

I heard Ella’s voice shake. It was the first time I’d ever heard
her get emotional in basic conversation. She sounded as if she would cry at any
moment. Embracing my new corny self, I just couldn’t stand the thought of her
getting so torn apart—especially considering my dad was the likely reason
for it all.

Thinking of the devil, he appeared behind Delphina. Still dressed
in his suit, tie removed, my dad looked as if he slept on the couch.
Considering it was barely six-thirty in the morning, my assumption seemed
fairly plausible.

Immediately, my blood began to boil. With just the sight of my
father, my anger took hold of me. I wanted so badly to know why the hell he let
me suffer for so long when he
knew
the reasons for my obsession.

Just before I came close to losing control, an angel touched me.
Her touch was so simple, so pure, it managed to calm me in an instant. I looked
down to see Ella’s hand resting on my knee. She grounded me.