"Like it actually happened?" I rubbed my hands over my arms. "But you did say the dreams are pleasant. That he wouldn't want to leave them, right? So, anything that happens can't be too bad."

Kinley grimaced. "At first, that will probably be true, and if you were just going in there to join him, it would be fine. But as soon as his subconscious realizes you're there to wake him, it will start to attack you."

"Awesome." I crawled beside him and pulled his head onto my lap. His hair felt like silk against my fingers as I ran them through the black strands. "How do I do this?"

"I'll help you fall asleep—" She held up her hands at my sharp, distrusting look. "I wouldn't be able to hold you in a Dream state right now if I wanted to. I'm simply going to be your guide."

"Okay. Then what?"

"Once we're in the In Between, you'll open your senses to the threads of other dreamers. You should be able to sense them easily since you encountered them earlier."

"If there are other dreamers, will I be able to find Calix?"

"Typically, if you know someone well, their dreams are simple enough to discern. A mate's...well, his dreams will shine like a golden beacon to you."

My worry eased. I might be new to this, but I wasn't trying to go into the dreams of just any Fae. This was Calix. My mate.

"What then?"

"It's easier to show you. Lay back."

I did as she said, and within a few seconds, I felt the soft caress of magic entering my mind. It wasn't threatening like it had been before. Kinley had been honest about that.

The sounds of the world around us faded. Gone was the whir of the ceiling fan and the incessant chirping of an angry bird outside the window. Then I no longer felt the slightly scratchy material of the comforter beneath me or the softness of Calix's hair.

"Open your eyes, Luna."

I obeyed and gasped. "Are we in Calix's dream?"

Kinley smiled and bent to cup a crystal peony. Glass petals softened against her palm, and it filled with pale pink smoke as she sniffed it. The sky overhead was filled with sparkling silver and gold stars against a backdrop of blue and lavender. A perfect blend of human realm and Faerie. And surrounding us, as far as the eye could see, were doors made of the same glass and smoke as the flowers at our feet.

"This is the In Between. A place only Dream Weavers can enter."

"It's magnificent."

"I often come here just to be alone, and sometimes, I seek out the dreams of those I left behind in Faerie."

"Wait. You can reach dreamers in Faerie from here?"

I paused in front of one door and noted that each door was different. From the color of the smoke that filled it to the carvings in the glass. This one had snowflakes etched on it, and the white smoke billowing inside sparkled like frost under the morning sun.

"This place connects to every realm. No matter how different we may seem, the one thing that human and Fae have in common is that they dream."

"Is that why you are kind to humans?"

"Let us not concern ourselves with my motives. Do you sense Calix's dreams?"

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her no, but when I raised my eyes, they fastened on a door atop a hill. Twice as tall as the others, it was filled with roiling black smoke. Every few seconds, lightning flashed within it, and just as Kinley had said, it glowed gold.

"That's his."

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, everything shifted, and I found myself standing in front of the door. With shaking fingers, I traced the intricate designs on the glass. Moons and feathers, each one pearlescent.

Kinley appeared at my side. She took my hand and placed it on the doorknob. "Once you're inside, you'll be sucked into the dream. Find him and bring him back here. Whatever you do, don't forget this is a dream. Otherwise, you'll both be stuck."

I snatched my hand off the doorknob. "Can you save us if that happens?"

She swallowed hard and dropped her gaze to her feet. "I could pull him out, but you would be lost. Your consciousness, the thing that makes you, you, would be absorbed into his."

Pulling my shoulders back, I reached for the door again. "Got it. Stay focused."

"Precisely." She twirled her finger around my wrist, creating a shimmering blue thread. Then she touched her finger to the door, anchoring it there. "We call this a tether. It will stretch with you as you explore the dream. All Dream Weavers use them in training. It will help anchor you and guide you home. Good luck, Luna."

The doorknob turned in my hand, and the glass door opened soundlessly. Nothing but darkness stretched ahead of me. Heavy and thick, it was not the pleasant atmosphere I expected. Until I stepped into it.

A moan escaped me as the blackness caressed me with its velvet touch. It was everywhere all at once. Grabbing my hair, trailing down my spine, parting my legs. Back arching, I fisted my hands at my side, giving into it as it delved into my center.

"Little moon. Open your eyes," Calix crooned.

When had I shut my eyes? They snapped open. I laid on a bed, and a canopy of black silk hung above me. Sheets of satin filled my hands, and—

I gasped, shooting upright when a moist tongue swiped through my folds. A chuckle floated up to me, and I looked down just as Calix raised his head from between my legs.

"Delicious, little moon." He sat back and pulled at the belt around his hips. "And we're just getting started."

Warning alarms blared through my mind as Calix worked his trousers down his hips. Kinley had warned me about being sucked into Calix's dream and told me to remember it was a dream. She'd also told me that everything that happened while I was here would be real, and I had conjured many terrible things in my minds. Injuries and monsters and tragedies.

I licked my lips as Calix's cock sprang free. There was nothing sad or scary about this, and the moment he ran his thumb across the tip, spreading the leaking pre cum over the sensitive skin, I could think of only how he would taste. Surely, there was no harm in indulging in his dream for a little while.

With darkened eyes, he watched me rise to my knees and reach for him. I curled my fingers around him, waiting for him to stop me. It wasn't often that he let me take the lead, not since that night by the tree, but he remained still as I lowered my head.

I hadn't even touched his cock with my tongue, but it was heavy and still growing. The tip darkened and glistened as it seeped. A clear trail of it had dripped down the length of him. I placed my tongue at his base, flattening it against him, and dragging it to the top, where I swirled it around his tip.

"For fuck's sake, little moon," he growled, grabbing my hair as I repeated the motion.

Instead of letting him pull me away, I pushed at his legs until he fell backward. Now it was me settling between his legs, looking at him through my lashes, as I closed my entire mouth over him. Up and down I stroked my mouth chasing my hand until Calix grabbed at the sheets.

"Enough," he growled, and when I didn't slow, tendrils of black mist curled around my throat and wrists. I whimpered as they pulled me off him. He had been so close to coming, I could taste it.

"I want you to come in my mouth," I begged as he lifted me higher with his shadows.

"Such a greedy little thing," he said, caressing my thighs as I dangled in the air. Then he settled them over his shoulder and lowered me just a fraction so his nose and mouth were in perfect alignment with my pussy.

"Calix!" I screamed as he devoured me. With my wrists tied about my head and a dark band still around my throat, I could do nothing but arch into him as he feasted.

Pure pleasure hummed through the bond. His and mine mixing into one intoxicating blend that had me weeping as I came again and again against his lips.

"P-please," I sputtered, my thighs shaking around his ears. If it wasn't for the black mist holding me up, I would have collapsed long ago.

He pushed my legs off his shoulders and stood, kissing me hard and smearing my face with my own cum. Then he lowered me to the bed on my hands and knees. Fabric ribbed as he tore away the leather corset I wore, and he rubbed his thumbs over the places where my wings attached. My pussy clenched down hard.

"Let them out, Luna. I want to hold on to them while I fuck you from behind."

I shivered. If just his touch against my back made me come, what would happen when his hands were on my wings?

"I don't know how," I confessed, gasping as he lined himself up with my center. There was no resistance as he pushed forward, filling me completely with a single thrust.

"How did you hide them before?" He asked, rolling his hips slowly while he reached around my front and tugged at my nipples.

"How..." I panted, my lust filled mind barely able to remember my name, much less anything else. He thrust forward hard, hitting a spot that made my eyes roll back. "I—I just wanted them gone."

As soon as the words passed my lips, pain flared across my back as my flesh opened to make way for the wings. Calix roared in triumph as the glittering, glasslike feathers erupted, falling over my sides like a cocoon.

"Hold on, little moon," he whispered in my ears before grabbing the top of each wing.

Stars blurred my vision at the first touch. His hips pistoned in and out, stoking the fires between us higher. Usually, as my climax built, all the pleasure coiled in my center, spreading out as it released, but now every inch of me felt like a live wire. It was nearly as intense as the way the Druil blossoms made me feel. Like coming might destroy me.

Calix pressed his chest against my back and his lips against my ear. This new angle made his thrusts deeper.

"You're not human anymore, little moon. Let go. Come for me. I've got you."

I sobbed, pressing my face into the satin bedding. He whispered the last part again and again until finally my heart and mind knew he told the truth. I twisted my head and pulled him in for a kiss, and the moment our lips connected, everything inside of me exploded.

A great force pushed out of my body, rushing through the room like hurricane-force winds. Every light extinguished and windows shattered. Calix shouted, curling over me to protect me from the glass, his hips driving me into the bed until he came with a groan, filling me with his warmth.

We laid there for several minutes. Not just catching our breath, but coming back into consciousness. My wings vanished once more, and Calix pulled me into his arms.

"Shit," I said, when he pushed damp hair out of my face and gave me a cocky grin.

"Not bad for our first go round after our mating ceremony, but I think I can do better."

"Better?" I laughed weakly, even as my lady parts tingled with anticipation. Then I realized what he'd said. "Mating ceremony? What mating ceremony?"

Calix grabbed my left hand and held it up so I could see the large diamond sparkling on my ring finger. "This, of course, is a tradition we borrowed from the humans. Now you belong to me in all ways."

"But we...we haven't had a mating ceremony," I muttered, frowning at the ring.

The mood shifted, turning dark. Calix's starlight eyes stared at me in suspicion, and his voice was flat as he said, "Do you not remember?"

Remember...remember...There was something I needed to remember. I shot upright. "This is all a dream. We have to leave, Calix. You have to wake up."

Black mist poured out of him, once more going around my throat. Only this time there was nothing sexy about the way he squeezed until I couldn't draw a breath.

"What?" he seethed, flashing his fangs as he threw me into the headboard. "Have you done with my mate?"