My feet suddenly plant against the ground and I spin around to squint through the light. The smell of lilacs, rain, and forest smother my nostrils and I know, even though I can’t see him, that there’s an extremely annoying half-Faerie standing behind me.
“Nicholas,” I call out, wrapping my arms around myself. “I know it’s you.”
He doesn’t answer, but I can feel him next to me, the heat of his body radiating all over me.
“What is this place?” I rotate in circles, searching the light for him, but I’m blind everywhere I look.
“I already told you, it’s your future,” his voice purrs in my ear and I flinch, swinging my arm around.
I only hit air and curse under my breath. “How do you know it’s my future?”
His voice touches my ear again. “Because I do.”
I glance around at the pale light. I can’t even see my own body, can barely feel it. “How can this be my future? There’s nothing here.”
“Is that what you see?” Nicholas’s breath encircles my face. “Nothing?”
My instincts warn me to be cautious as I remember how far he pushed me the last time we were in a vision together; how he tried to touch me and take advantage of me.
I open my mouth to tell him I don’t know, but as if my voice no longer belongs to me I say, “I see light… It’s everywhere.” Shit. Where the hell did that come from?
“Are you sure that’s all you see?”
No. “Yes.”
There is a pause. “Then I guess that means your future’s dead.”
Dead. “What!” I exclaim. “How do you reach that assumption?”
“Let’s go back,” he says, evading my question. “I have some business to take care of with Alex.”
Before I can respond, I feel his fingers slide through mine and he pries my arms away from me. Then I’m jerked back and he slams me against him, his arms enfolding around me.
“Let me go!” I wiggle my shoulders and arms, but he tightens his hold, trapping me against him.
He kisses the top of my head and I hear him breathe in the scent of my hair. “God, the things I could do to you right now.” His voice is deep and full of desire; it makes me want to gag.
I lift my leg, bend my knee, and swing my foot forward hoping to kick him, however all I touch is air.
“Nicholas, I swear to God—”
His lips come down over mine and I feel vile and gross inside. I try to lean back, but he only moves with me, keeping us pinned together, as he attempts to snake his tongue into my mouth. I open my lips and bite down hard, feeling his tongue rupture open and bleed.
He only laughs. “You’re seriously going to pay for that.”
His hand starts to trail down my back, groping me, and forcing me against him. The prickle stabs at the back of my leg and everything feels wrong. I’m terrified. Disgusted. With him and myself.
“Please don’t,” I beg, writhing my body as tears threaten to spill out. “Please just let me go.”
“Don’t worry,” he whispers in my ear. “I’ll be gentle.”
As his hand reaches my ass, a sharp, deafening noise echoes in my head. I hear Nicholas curse and then the lightness intensifies as I’m jolted back.
***
When I open my eyes again the light is gone. I’m lying in the velvet sofa with my head in Alex’s lap and he’s staring down at me with a concerned look in his expression.
“Are you okay?” he asks, tracing his finger down my temple.
Panic flares through my body as I glance around the room. “How did I get here… I thought I was in the storage room?”
“Yeah, but you fainted,” he says, brushing my hair out of my eyes. I wince at the aching pain in my skull. I feel nauseous and sick as I try to decipher what happened. “And you hit your head on the corner of the shelf before I could catch you.” He checks my eyes, leaning closely. “I’m worried you might have a concussion.”
I shake my head while I gradually sit up and he leans back to give me room. My eyes immediately drift to the sofa across from me where Nicholas sits.
He’s wearing a navy blue T-shirt and a pair of tan cargo pants. His sandy blonde hair sweeps over his forehead, his golden eyes twinkling and his smile is devious.
I narrow my eyes at him, but he only shakes his head and smiles. Watch it, he mouths. Or I won’t help.
Alex follows my line of gaze and then he stiffens. “When did you get here?”
“He showed up in the vision,” I explain through gritted teeth. I want to wring his neck, but I also need his help. It's wrong to let him have so much power over me, although there’s nothing I can do about it other than succumb to him. “In grand, creepy Nicholas style.”