He conjured a black orb and tossed it at Khloé so fast she couldn’t dodge it. It crashed into her head and—
Khloé’s eyes snapped open, and she clenched the coverlet hard as her surroundings sank in. There was no pain, no Enoch, no street, no black orb. Instead, she was lying on the luxurious bed in the penthouse’s guest bedroom.
Beside her, Keenan curled an arm around her waist and drew her close. “You all right?” he asked, his voice thick with sleep.
“Yes. It was just a shitty dream.” And yet not entirely a dream. Enoch had invaded her sleep again. Was it another distraction so that he could send in his puppets?
She reached out with her mind and scanned the penthouse. Aside from Keenan’s, there were no other minds present, demonic or otherwise.
Keenan slid a hand up her back. “What was the dream about?”
She hesitated, not wanting to worry him.
“Khloé.”
She sighed. “I think Enoch went for a stroll through my dreams again.” She relayed what happened. “He’s obviously pissed and needed to vent a little.”
“It’s more than that. He doesn’t want you to feel safe. He wants to make you feel that he can get to you anywhere, anyplace—even in your dreams.”
“Huh. Never thought of it like that.” Khloé blew out a breath and rubbed a hand down her face. “I’m not going to be able to get back to sleep.” In all honestly, she was reluctant to drift off in case he went strolling into her dream again. Plus, her demon was too restless to settle any time soon, and its edginess would keep her awake.
Keenan tossed back the covers. “Then let’s go make some coffee. I’ll ask Levi to contact his incantor friend, Ella, and see if there’s a way to block Enoch from entering your dreams.”
Khloé lifted her brows. “Do you think it could be done?”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
It turned out that it could be done, so Levi brought Ella to the penthouse an hour later. Khloé’s inner demon stirred, sensing the female was powerful. Khloé had met the slim, leggy redhead once or twice before. There was something very striking about her. It wasn’t just her rich ruby red hair or her piercing inky blue eyes. She carried herself with a confidence that said she could take out anyone without breaking a sweat—Khloé liked that.
“Levi told me someone keeps going for a stroll in your dreams,” said Ella, settling on the sofa beside her. “I can use magick to help. Normally, it would be pain free. But Levi said that someone built protective shields around your vital organs. I’ll first have to unravel the one around your brain and then rebuild it afterward—both processes will hurt.”
Yeah, Khloé remembered the pain from when Vivian first constructed the psychic shield. Going through it again would be worth it if it meant keeping Enoch out of her dreams. Her demon was still in a tizzy about it.
Jolene had been just as furious to hear that he’d pulled that shit yet again. In fact, so was Teague—Khloé had called him shortly after last night’s attack, not wanting him to find out about it from anyone else, but she’d called him again after the dream incident. He went freaking nuclear.
“That’s why I have a tub of ice-cream on my lap,” Khloé told her. “I’m hoping that eating it will distract me.”
“One can but hope,” said Ella, twisting in her seat to face her.
Khloé did the same and spooned some ice-cream. “Ready when you are.”
Keenan loomed over them, seeming almost manic with restlessness. “How does this work?” he asked Ella. “You plant a psychic wall in her mind to keep him out?”
“If I did that, she wouldn’t be able to telepath anyone,” said Ella. “What I’m going to do is embed a sort of ‘tripwire’ in her mind that will become active when she sleeps. If anyone tries to invade her dream, it will flick the tripwire, which will snap her awake.” She smiled at Khloé. “Let’s get started.”
Ella’s fingertips danced in the air, and she chanted under her breath. Her magick punched its way into Khloé and crackled through her body, just as Vivian’s power had. Her demon stiffened, disliking the sensation, but it didn’t fight back; it simply watched the incantor closely as she worked.
The entire time, Keenan sat behind Khloé with his arms curled around her waist, keeping her and her demon anchored. Eating the ice-cream didn’t distract her much, but she hadn’t really expected it to.
“Done. Now I’m going to plant the psychic tripwire,” said Ella.
Khloé grimaced. “Is it going to hurt?”
“No. You might feel a strange sensation in your head, like a butterfly is trapped in one place just beneath your scalp, but it will pass.”
‘Strange sensations’ she could cope with just fine. While Ella did her thing, Khloé said, “It’ll infuriate Enoch that he can’t reach me, which will further bait him into coming at me.”