“Then I’ll make you fall in love with me.”
“Don’t you think you’re coming on a bit strong?”
“You didn’t give me a chance to play subtly. You’re impervious to my seduction; you even bolted in the middle of our conversation.”
“You tried to get me into your car. My grandma told me never to get into a car with a stranger.”
“But I’m not a stranger. We’ve met before, and we’ve shared an intimate premonition. Do you not remember?”
Her face heated. Damn. How could she forget so fast? It was too embarrassing.
“You’re blushing,” Daniel noted. “How cute. Is being with a man something new to you?”
Charlotte gave him the evil eye.
He laughed. “Delightful. Now that you know my intention, I will bring up my next point. It’s about your gift—”
“Curse.”
“What you have is a gift, Charlotte. Do you always get premonitions when you touch someone?”
She shook her head. “That only happened with you and my Grandmaman. When I touch a person, I usually get a flashback about that person’s past, or I’ll be dream-walking into it when I sleep. Never the future.”
“Is that why you always avoid being touched?”
“People might think knowing what goes on inside a person’s mind is fun, but trust me, it’s not. Sometimes, it’s downright disturbing.”
“I have a theory that your intolerance to close contact can be neutralized.”
Charlotte listened to him with great interest.
“As we know, humans are the sole owners of their bodies, while people like us share it with another host. In my case, I share mine with a lion spirit animal. For us to co-exist in harmony, I have to channel my feral self from time to time. I shift. I hunt. I groom myself in my lion form…”
The image of lion Daniel licking his paw popped into her mind. She found it amusing. Does he cough up hairballs too? Like a cat. After all, a lion is a feline.
“If I don’t embrace and nurture it, the balance is disrupted, and it makes it harder to control my power. I could shift at inconvenient times. Imagine that I transformed in the middle of an important meeting. It’s not only that I’d create panic, but also I’d jeopardize the safety of my family.” Daniel paused. “In your case, I believe that since you rarely embrace your other side, your power is pent up and becomes very sensitive. A mere touch can make you intrude into others’ dreams whether you want it or not. You should be the one who has control over your power, and you should never let your power take control of you.”
It made sense. Everything he said was true. She’d never thought about it that way before. “What do you suggest?”
“Have a partner to release your excess power. Touch me. Let me absorb it. When you reach balance and harmony within you, I believe you should be able to live a normal life.”
Charlotte frowned in deep thought.
Daniel titled his head slightly. “What do you say?”
“You make everything sound so simple.”
“I offer you a solution that will benefit both of us.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Daniel weighed her words and slowly shook his head. “Not good enough for me. You’ll run and avoid me. I need your word and proof that you’ll always stay by my side.”
Charlotte frowned a bit. “What kind of proof do you need from me?”
He didn’t answer her immediately. Brow arched, the look on his face told her that she already knew the answer.
She blinked. Her heartbeat raced.