Holden was still asleep, his arm wrapped around my waist a dead weight. I shoved him off me and sat up, my head clear. I rarely got hangovers in real life, so why should my dreams be any different?
The vampire’s bed was as basic as the rest of his apartment, just a mattress and box spring on a low maple bedframe with no head or footboard.
Continuing to ignore Lucas, I looked around on the rug for my socks. I was wearing the rest of my clothes from the night before, so dream-Lucas was up on his high horse for no good reason. Unless I’d started having sex fully clothed, I was innocent of whatever he was trying to imply.
“Secret…”
“Fuck off. ”
Dream-Lucas crossed his arms and sighed. He was a high-and-mighty asshole even in my dreams. Maybe I should have taken that as a sign before I’d agreed to marry him.
“Look, I came here—”
“No, Lucas, you don’t get to tell me what to do. This is my dream, and you’re not welcome here. ”
He skirted the bed so he was standing in front of me. I ignored him the best I could and continued to search the floor for my missing socks. Dream or no dream, my boots would be uncomfortable without them, and I needed any excuse to not look at the werewolf king.
“This isn’t a dream. ”
“Then it’s a nightmare because you won’t fuck off. ”
He grabbed my arm, and for the first time I started doubting my dream theory. His grip was hard and painful and very, very real. I’d had lucid dreams before, but this had none of the strange, hazy quality of one of those.
This was happening.
I recoiled from his touch, clambering up on the bed and stumbling over Holden’s body. This finally roused the sleeping vampire who caught me just before I fell off the mattress. My attention was all for Lucas. Real, living, breathing Lucas.
“What are you doing here?” I shouted, trying to keep my voice full of anger and not hysteria.
“I need your help. ”
Holden set me on the floor and got to his feet, standing between me and my ex-fiancé. “Before I unleash the hellcat to give you a well-deserved shit-kicking, do you mind explaining why you’re in my apartment??
??
“I need her help,” Lucas repeated.
“How did you know she was here?”
“We’re married. I can find her anywhere. ”
“We are not married,” I screamed, a bit of the hysteria I’d hoped to avoid creeping up on me. “You made damned sure of that. ”
“Like it or not, Secret, you completed the ceremony. We’re married. ”
Holden caught me before I could dive across the mattress at Lucas. God knows what I would have done if I’d been allowed to get my hands on him. The vampire clamped me against his chest and held me tightly as I struggled to get at the werewolf.
“I think she’s choosing the or not option,” Holden said smoothly, as if he weren’t holding my writhing body prisoner.
“Fuck you,” I snarled and kicked out, making contact with Lucas’s stomach.
The attack somehow caught him by surprise, in spite of my obvious intention to do him harm. He doubled over, bracing himself against the bed while he caught his breath. I tried to kick him in the head, but Holden saw my plan before I could follow through and tugged me backwards, keeping me out of assault distance.
“Not to question your methods, but perhaps you might want to stop insisting you’re married to the woman you stood up at the altar. ” Holden set me down but pushed me behind him, his body tensed to catch me should I attempt another attack.
“The human ceremony was inconsequential. ” Lucas righted himself. “Secret, I’ve tried to apologize for the unfortunate—”
“You humiliated me. Not to mention leaving me exposed to Morgan. Desmond almost died because of you. ”