Into the Dream [The Arcadians] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read online

  Her own little birthday celebration.

  Raven was working tonight and no one else would celebrate her birthday, so she would, doing exactly as she pleased, which was hopefully getting a little R & R.

  That was when the lightning struck.

  Allie felt her entire body flame to life as she was engulfed in a white light so bright it hurt her eyes. She heard the crackling of pure energy surround her and felt herself falling. Unable to control her body, Allie cried out and hit the ground, hard.

  She groaned as the light faded.

  Every muscle ached, and she was surprised that she was still alive after what had just happened.

  Or was she?

  Allie lay on the ground, unmoving, and carefully wiggled her toes, then her foot then her arms to make sure they were still attached. Yep, all still there and in working order. She let out a snort of laughter. No, it wasn’t funny. But seriously, with the day she’d been having, who could be surprised that she had gotten struck by fucking lightening.

  Not her.

  It was then that Allie realized that the rain no longer fell on her face, drowning her in its torrential downpour. She slowly opened her eyes then squeezed them back shut.

  No, no this couldn’t be.

  She opened them back up. But it was.

  Fuck it, she really was dead.

  Either that…or she was no longer in her own world.

  Chapter Two

  “Shit…”

  Allie stared up at the dark-red sky and two, count them, two purple moons in horror.

  Weird.

  She was in a coma. That was it. She must be in a coma having some fucking weird-ass dream. The lightning must have damaged her brain somehow. That was the only explanation that made what she saw plausible. And even then she had no idea she had such an active imagination.

  She slowly sat up and looked around. The air felt thicker here, as if her lungs had to work harder to breath. Her body moved, but it was as if it were in slow motion, like she could bend the very air to her will.

  Weirder.

  Allie looked around to see she was in some kind of metal structure. It reminded her of a building that had just been started, the foundation all metal beams and drywall. Only there was no drywall. There were metal sheets acting as the walls, and gossamer lengths of dark material hanging from the beams, casting eerie shadows through the room.

  She was on a ledge of some kind, on the second floor. There was a big cutout in the center of the structure of the four-story building that allowed her to see the ground floor. Down below there were plastic-looking containers stacked against the far wall, making it look like a warehouse of sorts.

  It was all familiar but not, and what scared her more was the colors of this place all looked brighter, more vivid, like she was seeing everything in HD color or something.

  This was really fucking weird, but at least she dreamed herself some shelter.

  Allie scrambled to her knees as a noise sounded in the distance. Grabbing hold of her fallen backpack, she hurried toward the dubious safety of the back wall where she could still view downstairs in case anyone came at her, but she would be hidden away in the shadows. She took a few steps back and bumped into something hard, something warm…something very much alive.

  Allie tried to scream, but a hand clamped down over her mouth, holding it in. A deep voice rumbled from behind her, far above her head. Panic washed over her as she began to struggle. She fought with everything she had but couldn’t free herself. She bit down hard on the hand over her mouth, but the enormously strong arm wrapped around her just held her tighter against the body pressed up behind her.

  The man spoke again, his voice a deep growl that made her body shudder. Part fear, yes, but part something else that she didn’t want to think about.

  What the hell was she thinking?

  Allie gave up struggling and shook her head, trying to convey that she had no clue what he was saying. The man must have understood because he spun her around, holding tight to her arms to look down at her.

  Holy shit…

  The man holding her was a fucking giant. He must have been at least seven feet tall, far bigger than any man she had ever seen before. He towered over her with his powerfully built frame. He had a strong, chiseled jaw, high cheekbones, and lush, full lips made for kissing. His long black hair hung loose around his shoulders with two braids at the sides of his temples.

  The giant had on black leather pants and a soft leather vest that had a variety of knives and other weapons sticking out of the specially made garment. Around his waist he wore a belt with an actual sword hanging down the side of his leg.

  He was a warrior, like something out of her wildest fantasies. Allie would have said she had never seen such a beautiful man before...but he wasn’t a man. Whatever this was holding her had bright, glowing gold eyes that seemed to pierce straight into her soul. And by glowing she meant glowing an iridescent-golden glow that was definitely not human.

  Maybe this was a dream after all…

  That was her thought until he opened his mouth to speak again and she saw his fangs.

  Shit.

  Or maybe it was a nightmare.

  Allie’s gaze flew up to those glowing eyes and tried to keep her voice from trembling as she spoke. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand you. I have no idea what you’re saying!”

  The man froze. He used one hand to push the hood off of her head so he could get a good look at her. He sucked in a breath, and as those golden eyes burned into hers, Allie wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or try to run as one of his large hands reached out to gently trail his hard, callused fingertips down her cheek in a reverent touch. He touched her hair lightly, rubbing a few strands together between his fingertips as if he couldn’t believe it was real.

  In the next second she was swung around in his arms again, her back held tight to his chest with one of his large hands over her mouth.

  Shit! The animal man was going to eat her or something.

  And not in a good way…

  Fear left her panting and weak, but after a few seconds she realized that his hold was gentle. He made a low rumbling sound in his throat that was soothing, and his large hand stroked over her stomach as he held her close.

  Allie wanted to slap at the wandering hand, but she didn’t want to piss off the giant and give him a reason to kill her. This was just like her. Why couldn’t she have been dreaming of rainbows and fields of fucking flowers or something?

  Instead she got red skies and crazy, growling animal men.

  Allie’s eyes tracked down to the first floor as a few males entered the building. These men had the same glowing eyes as the one who held her, but the ones below spoke harshly to one another, growling and snapping. They seemed even more animal-like than the one holding her. In fact, they seemed downright feral.

  One of the males below hit another, and a fight broke out.

  Allie tried to step back into the safety of the shadows, but that only brought her body up hard against the man behind her. She froze as she felt the steel-hard spike of his cock poking at her back and went rigid with fear.

  Allie heard him sigh as he used the hand over her mouth to tilt her head to the side. Before she could react, his tongue swiped over her neck, making her shiver. His tongue laved her once, twice, and then she felt his sharp fangs bite down hard, breaking the skin of her flesh.

  The fucker bit her!

  She tried to cry out, but his hand held back the sound. As quick as it had happened, he pulled back, licking at the wound on her neck to close it. It didn’t really hurt that much, but still…what the hell was he?

  “Can you hear me now?”

  The deep voice sounded in Allie’s head, making her gasp.

  How the hell did he do that?

  She heard his low chuckle rolling through her mind.

  “I created a blood bond with you. You tasted me when you fought me earlier, and I needed to taste you in order for you to hear
me. I will not hurt you, little one. Do not fear me. You can respond if you push your thoughts back to me. Where is your protection?”

  Allie blinked. “Protection?”

  “The males who guard you.”

  The males who…Blood bond? What the fuck? Where the hell was she? “Where are we?”

  “We are in the eastern quadrant.”

  She huffed out an impatient breath. “I don’t know what the fuck that means.”

  His large body stilled. “You are female. You are not supposed to swear.”

  “Why, is that a law here?”

  His chuckle warmed her. “No, it is just not your way.”

  “Oh, but it is.”

  “You are a feisty one.”

  “You have no idea—” She paused. What the hell was she doing flirting with crazy fanged glowey-eyed thing that just drank her blood? “I meant where am I as in…what planet are we on, since this is clearly not Earth?”

  His already-tense body seems to tighten even more. “You are not Arcadian?”

  “Arcadian? Is that what you are? No, I’m not. I’m human.”

  “Human.”

  The way he repeated the word made Allie think that he had never heard it before. Well, shit. What kind of fucked-up science-fiction movie was her brain pulling this shit from?

  “Yes, human from Earth. One second I was going home and it was raining, and then the next I got struck by lightning and woke up here.”

  “Raining? Lightning?” He muttered a low curse. “We need an L-CON unit.”

  “What is that?”

  “L-CON, language converter unit.”

  Ah, why didn’t she think of that? Because she’d never heard of the fucking thing? Where the hell was she? How did she get here, and how the hell did she get back home?

  Wake up, wake up, wake up!

  He let out a low growl of disapproval. “I can still hear you.”

  “Sure you can. You can hear my thoughts. This is all a dream, and I’m not really here with a man who had glowing eyes and fangs, and the sky isn’t red. I really must be in a coma, and this is a self-induced delusion that is brought on by—”

  His chuckle was cut off on another curse, and he pulled her tighter into his embrace, backing them all the way into the shadows.

  “Quiet,” he ordered, and she had no problem obeying.

  Several rough males crowded the room on the bottom floor. Their growling and snapping got louder at the entrance of two more males. One of the newcomers pulled a beautiful dark-haired woman behind him. She was slim, wearing a short, vibrant-green toga-styled dress that was almost transparent. She was tall, but the men still towered over her. She looked frightened as the man yanked her forward by a leash that was attached to the collar around her neck.

  Allie couldn’t understand the growling and hissing that was going on downstairs, but she didn’t like what she could see. The original males gestured to several of the plastic containers. The male with the leash nodded and held it out to the males to take as he growled something in return. The woman let out a frightened cry as the men yanked her forward by her leash, taking her to the back of the room while the men who had arrived with her started carrying the containers out of the building.

  Allie was horrified as the dark-haired woman’s dress was ripped off her and she was thrown on top of one of the containers. Allie closed her eyes as the males held her down, and the one holding her leash stepped between her legs.

  What was this place that they could trade a woman like that? She couldn’t seem to stop shaking as pure terror washed through her.

  Wishing with everything in her, she prayed that she would wake from this nightmare.

  * * * *

  Tynan Dracor cursed as the traders entered the room, pulling a female behind them. He was a protector of the region, an Arcadian warrior that was feared by all. It was his duty to ensure the safety of all females on their planet and put down the rogues that brought disgrace to their people.

  Born of their mother and three fathers, Tynan was one of a set of triplets. Males on Arcadia were always born in sets of three, and all had golden skin with dark hair and features. Females of their species were born with the same dark hair but kept their skin pale by staying out of the sun. It was very rare for a male to be born with lighter-brown hair, and those who were became highly sought after as breeding partners. The same was said for brown-haired females. They were the most desirable, and many males would kill for the chance to claim one as mate.

  As the first born, Tynan felt the weight of their legacy, the heritage of the Dracors. Larger and more muscular than most, the Dracors were born leaders. They were princes of the Palace of Sands. Hard, dark, dangerous males that few females actually wanted to tie themselves to or be bred by. Most females frowned at the darker looks of the brothers with their black hair and deeply tanned skin, but some of them seemed to be willing to overlook their flaws for the chance to rule by their sides.

  But those particular females did not appeal to him or his brothers.

  Females were gentle creatures in Arcadia. They did not like violence and could barely stand the sight of blood. Like their fathers, Tynan and his brothers were warriors to the bone and would always be defenders of the weak.

  Tynan had been out on patrol in the Citadel with his two brothers when he had seen the energy flashes from inside the structure he had been passing. Their kingdom had a peace treaty with the ruling family of the Iron City in order to keep control of the rogues, and they were free to patrol and take out whatever rogues they could find.

  Entering the building, he had silently crept up the stairs to where he had hidden in shadows and watched the creature scuttle toward him. When he had taken the creature into his arms, he had first mistaken her for a youngling instead of a fully grown female, but as soon as he felt the lush curves hidden beneath her large, strange clothing, he knew that she was of breeding age, or at least her body was ripe for it.

  He could smell it.

  Tynan’s breath had caught in his throat as he turned her and stared down at the most beautiful female he had ever seen before. Shoulder-length platinum-white hair the color of the sun framed a perfect face, and her sparkling blue eyes shone with an inner light instead of glowing out like his. She was a tiny thing, but he had never wanted a female more than he did her. She was going to be theirs. He would claim her before anyone else had the chance to take her from them.

  He had breathed in her scent and all but tasted her desire on his tongue.

  Tynan was surprised to learn that she was not from their world. When her sharp little teeth had bitten down on his hand, his cock filled and grew tight within the confine of his leather pants. It wanted out and into her. But he would never dishonor her or his brothers by taking her here.

  The taste of her blood on his tongue almost made him come, and when he heard her sweet, gentle voice in his head he wished he could hear it for the rest of his days. She was not like the females of their world. She was feisty and had an attitude that made him proud. She would be the fitting mate for the princes, and when they stepped up to rule, she would one day make the perfect queen.

  To feel her trembling in his arms and to know it was in fear filled him with a rage so potent that he almost jumped down and tore the bodies of the rogues apart with his bare hands. But his female was frightened, and he would not leave her.

  Females were scarce in their world and should be treasured and cared for, not used and abused as they were seeing below.

  “Cael,” Tynan called out to his brother.

  “I am here, brother. I feel your heart pounding. Is something wrong?” Cael whispered in his mind, his voice filled with concern.

  “I have found our mate.”

  Silence greeted his statement.

  “What do you mean?” Ryder asked cautiously.

  “I have blood bonded with a female. She is spectacular. I know it. She is destined to belong to us.” Tynan’s voice was filled with conviction.


  “Why can’t we feel her through the bond?” Cael asked.

  “I don’t know. She is not from our lands.”

  “She is from the Citadel?”

  Tynan paused. “Nay, she is from another world.”

  “Impossible. Show her to us,” Ryder demanded.

  Tynan sent a mental image of her face to his brothers and heard the harsh inhalations of breath from both.

  “She is exquisite,” Ryder breathed. “I have never seen hair such a color…”

  Cael whispered, “Why can’t we feel her?”

  “She is compatible, but her genetic makeup must be different enough that you may need to form your own blood bond with her. I feel her in my soul already. Do you see the males that just traded the female on the main floor?”

  “I do. I am outside the front entrance and will take them out,” Cael growled. He couldn’t stand for females to be hurt or even spoken to harshly.

  “Ryder, will you be able to handle those inside on your own?” Tynan asked.

  “You are leaving a fight?” Ryder asked incredulously.

  “Our female fears. I will not leave her alone,” Tynan snarled in his head.

  “Take her from this place before she sees what we must do. We will finish this without you.”

  “Finish here and meet me at home as soon as you are able,” Tynan ordered.

  “As soon as we return the female to a haven,” Cael said.

  Tynan cut off communication with his brothers and quickly swept the tiny woman before him up into his arms.

  “No,” Allie cried out. “We can’t leave her. I won’t—”

  “Shh, little one,” Tynan soothed as he used his large hand to push her face into his chest. “As we speak, my brothers take care of it. Let me take you out of here. Do not look at them.”

  Allie heard the enraged roars and shouts from below and buried her face into the strange man’s neck. The scent of his skin was intoxicating. Like a mixture of sandalwood, vanilla, and some other spice she couldn’t name. She was still scared of him, but he hadn’t hurt her. He could have tossed her down into the pit with the others if he’d wanted to—