Then do it.
He forced his mind to slow down. He let go of his wolf-pack, at least for the moment. He focused exclusively on his new, bizarre circumstances.
As he began to breathe more deeply and to sink into the chair, he let his head rest against the upper part of the cushions. The concept of the dreamglide floated through his mind.
The moment he reached a certain level of relaxation, just like that, the dreamglide materialized all around him. He opened his eyes and he was in two places at the same time. He could see himself sitting in the chair with his eyes closed, yet he was suspended in the same setting but ten feet higher. The edges of the dreamglide faded to a smoky darkness and he could see through the floor of the strange conveyance.
Natalie was watching him in his chair.
Natalie?
Yes?
Look up.
She lifted her gaze and her brows rose as she saw him in the dreamglide. You did it.
Come up here. Join me.
He watched in astonishment as she split into two different people. One remained watching him in the chair, the other rose swiftly to enter the dreamglide.
Once she was opposite him, he mentally closed off the space below. His consciousness was now fully in the dreamglide.
Natalie’s lips curved then spread into a grin. “You did it. Way to go, Wolf.”
He chuckled because of the way she spoke. But his faint amusement dimmed as he stared at her. The unease he felt ran bone deep. Half his instincts kept drawing him to this unusual fae woman with glittering hazel eyes. But the other half pounded warning bells inside his head.
Natalie was trouble for him. For reasons he didn’t understand yet, she threatened the straight-and-narrow of his life, the one that demanded he care for the Meldorin Pack. Yet here was this fae woman who seemed to have triggered an alter fae response within his wolf body. He wanted to blame her, but Five Bridges was full of anomalies and right now he’d become one of them.
His doubts about this new gift began to subside. He could build dreamglides. The gift, if it could be called that, was like breathing air, as though his alter genes had always run this direction but had simply needed the right impetus to get going. Apparently, he’d needed Natalie to offer a jumpstart.
For a powerful moment, he was caught yet again by her beauty, by her exquisite hazel eyes and thick, dark lashes, by the airy swirl of her light brown curls around her shoulders and down her back, and by her strong cheekbones and her full, kissable lips.
As he held her gaze, he wasn’t surprised that her womanly scent rose, the one he’d caught before. Do you know you smell like lemons and mint?”
“I do?”
“Yep, and it’s getting to me.”
She leaned close and sniffed near his neck, then drew back to meet his gaze once more. “Do you know what you smell like?”
“I have no idea.”
“My father used to build things all the time. He had a workshop in our garage with every tool arranged on peg boards just so. Even as a little girl, I would sit on a tall stool by his work table while he built some project or other. I didn’t mind that high-pitched grinding of the saw or the dust in the air. I just loved being around so much industry.
“But that smell, of wood being cut, that’s what I’m getting from you. Is it a type of cologne or aftershave?”
He smiled slightly. “You’re smelling me, Natalie. You’re smelling my wolf.”
Her hand was on his cheek. “So other women have told you this before?”
He shook his head slowly. “No, I just know it to be true at least where you’re concerned.”
He caught her hair with both hands just below the shoulder then lifted slightly. “I like your hair. It’s softer than I thought it would be.”
“It gets a little wild when it rains.”
At that, he smiled. “Which isn’t often.”