Dream Bound (17 page)

After a moment, she raised her head and glared at Morgan. “How in the hell did you get that? Were you sneaking around the dream shack while I was in there last night?”

“Nope.” Morgan shook his head. “I went to bed early and thought I’d dreamed it. Then I picked up your thoughts this morning while we were feeding the squirrel and I realized you were broadcasting on a pretty wide channel.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” She practically growled as she questioned him.

Morgan leaned over and kissed the end of her nose. She blinked, obviously shocked. Mac sat back and enjoyed the interplay between the two.

“And totally screw up the best entertainment I’ve had in ages?” Morgan shook his head again. “Rodie, that was the hottest fantasy I’ve ever been part of, and believe me, I’ve got an excellent imagination.”

She only looked slightly mollified as she spun around and focused on Mac. “Okay. So how do I block? I am not sharing my fantasies with this jerk anymore.”

“Jerk? Since when did I become a jerk?” Morgan flashed an innocent look at Mac. “Last night, I did everything she wanted me to do in that devilish mind of hers. I know for a fact I left her totally satisfied and looking forward to her next shift in the dream shack.”

“That was then. This is now. Mac?” She raised one eyebrow.

Chuckling, Mac swallowed his bite of ham and cheese. “As I said, you need a visual. I’ve found thinking of my brain as a one-way mirror works if I want to pick up random thoughts without sharing my own. Think of a mirror only you can see out of so you can watch people on the other side, but they can’t see in. The dark side, the side you’re on, blocks your thoughts. That visual should do the trick. If you want to block other people’s thoughts as well as your own, think of a door you can close, or even a solid wall of some kind or a soundproof window shade coming down. With practice, you’ll be able to block what you’re thinking from just about everyone.”

Rodie’s eyes narrowed to dark slits. “Why didn’t you tell us how to do this yesterday?”

Fighting his grin, Mac put both hands on the table and stared at the sandwich between them. It took him a minute to get his humor—and his burgeoning laughter—under control. Only then did he raise his head, and while he focused on Rodie, his words were for all of them.

“I had no idea any of you would catch on so quickly. That was something I intended to teach you this week.” He looked at the three of them and shook his head, but he gave up on trying to control his smile. This was just too damned cool. “You guys are amazing. All of you. I never expected the level of intelligence, the openness to new things, the ...” He spread his hands wide. “The honest acceptance of this project. Of me.”

Rodie and Morgan exchanged a quick look, but it was Morgan who spoke. “It goes both ways, Mac. I think we’ve all seen ourselves as the ‘odd man out’ in one way or another. The same attributes that most people see as odd or unusual ...”

“Or just plain weird.” Rodie glanced at Morgan again and shrugged. “Those things that have made all of us feel sort of like outcasts in the rest of the world are exactly the traits you seem to want.”

She glanced at Lizzie and then again at Morgan, and Mac had the distinct impression she was fighting tears. “I’ve never felt as if I fit anywhere. But I fit here, with these guys. With all of them. Finn and Cameron, too.”

“What about Finn and Cam?”

They all glanced toward the door as the two in question walked into the lodge. Mac waved them over and dragged an extra chair up to the table. Morgan did the same. “Rodie’s just saying that she feels like she fits in with this group.”

Finn spun his chair around and straddled it with his arms folded across the back. “Yeah. I could say the same thing.” He winked at Lizzie. “I imagine you’ve all heard the details of the heartfelt welcome I got from Lizzie and Kiera.”

Mac glanced at Morgan and Rodie. Both of them, grinning broadly, nodded. “I haven’t,” he said, chuckling, “but it appears these two have, so I imagine I’ll get the details later.”

Finn laughed. “I’m sure you will. But yeah.” He glanced at the others around the table. “We’re all sort of odd ducks in our own way, but for whatever reason, we seem to click.”

Cameron watched them, nodding. He was quieter than the rest, but Mac sensed a lot going on behind that enigmatic expression. “Cam? How’d your shift go last night?”

He turned and seemed to focus everything in him directly on Mac. “It went well. Painting afterward went even better.”

It was a little disconcerting, to have that kind of perusal, but Mac maintained eye contact until, frowning, Cam turned away and stared off into space for a moment.

Then he swung around and once again focused intently on Mac. “I always have pretty explicit dreams. Fantasies, if you will. Last night was beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. The dials on the console didn’t change much, so I’m not sure if the images were coming out of my own subconscious or if someone was giving the visuals to me.”

Cam’s words sent an inexplicable shiver racing along Mac’s spine. He tried to shake it off, but the sensation persisted. He gazed at Cam and asked, “Would you be willing to share what you painted?”

Cam seemed to pull back into himself. Then he took a deep breath and nodded. “Back in a minute.”

Mac watched him leave, aware of the lingering chill. He turned back to the others, ignoring it as best he could. “Did any of you have a similar feeling? That maybe what you were imagining wasn’t all coming from your own mind?”

Morgan and Rodie shared a quick glance. Rodie shoved both her hands through her curly hair and growled in what could only be total frustration. “I don’t know, Mac. It was so weird. I had a really explicit fantasy of sex with two men. I don’t know if you’re aware of my illicit past ...” She blushed. Then she appeared to shake it off and looked directly at Mac. “A few weeks ago, I caught my longtime boyfriend in bed—my bed, to be specific—with another guy and a woman. To put it bluntly, I didn’t handle it well, and the ensuing incident ended up going viral on the Internet. Everyone saw it.”

“How and what got online?” Mac just watched her, giving her time to think about whether or not to answer him.

She laughed, obviously embarrassed. “Neighbor with a smartphone took a video of me chasing three naked people out of my apartment with a Taser. He posted it on YouTube.”

“Ouch.”

“Big ouch. Point is, catching the boyfriend playing the salami in a three-person sandwich really did a number on me. Yet my fantasy was just that—a ménage with me between two men. Not something I would choose on my own, but the fantasy was really explicit and it seemed to come out of nowhere.”

“Did you know the men?” Mac already knew the answer. He had, after all, been listening in on Rodie’s thoughts, though she’d started blocking them better over the past few minutes since he’d given her some ideas about how it was done. He wanted to see if she’d admit that Morgan was part of the dream.

“I knew one of them,” she said. She glanced at Morgan and blushed. “Morgan was there, along with some guy I’ve never seen before.”

Obviously, admitting it wasn’t too great an issue. Mac grinned at both of them. “I’ll be curious to hear what Morgan’s first shot at the dream shack’s like.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, I shared Rodie’s fantasy last night.” Morgan poked her with his elbow and she blushed. “It was so hot, I might just borrow it for myself tonight.”

“No fair. You have to come up with your own.”

Rodie stuck out her tongue, while Morgan grumbled like a sleepy toddler and slid down in his seat. “You’re no fun.”

She pouted and gave him a sultry look. “You didn’t seem to think that last night.”

Morgan shot her a surprised look, but just then Cameron stepped into the room and everyone’s attention went to the large canvas he held in both hands. “This is the one I did last night,” he said. Then he leaned the thing against the wall where the overhead light caught the painting perfectly.

Mac didn’t remember standing up. He was only vaguely aware of the others beside him. He couldn’t recall walking across the room, but he stopped a few feet from Cam’s painting with Rodie, Morgan, Lizzie, and Finn in a half circle on either side and stared, totally blown away by the vision he’d seen only once before. “Did you see this? Last night, in the dream shack?”

Cam nodded. “I started out just coming up with my own fantasy, but I must have fallen asleep.” He glanced at Mac and then turned once again to study the painting. “That’s when I get my visions, the scenes that I paint. They’re from dreams when I sleep, not stuff I imagine when I’m awake. When I finally woke up, about an hour had passed, but this was so clear in my head I actually sketched it out on a pad I’d taken with me.”

“The colors? Those flickers of light and the structures that seem to grow right out of the ground? The rivers that are ribbons of color all flowing together? You saw this in your dream?” Mac realized his hands were shaking. He shoved them into his pockets to keep from touching the fresh paint.

“Yeah.” Cam shrugged like it was no big deal. “This is exactly what I saw.” He frowned at Mac. “Why? Have you seen this place? Do you know what it is?”

Nodding slowly, Mac finally dragged his gaze away from the painting so he could look at Cameron. “It’s Zianne’s world. You’ve painted Nyria, the world the Gar destroyed. She showed it to me, shared her memories the night she came out to me and told me she was an alien.” He swallowed, so close to breaking down and weeping that it took him a couple of deep breaths to regain his composure.

Hell, he’d been on the edge since that damned dream or whatever it was that had him smelling Zianne’s scent last night. Definitely on the edge, but this was even worse. This was something Zianne had shared with him, something Cam shouldn’t have been able to paint.

Not unless he had actually witnessed the world himself, through either Zianne’s eyes or one of her fellow Nyrians. Oh, shit. He sucked in another deep, controlling breath. It wouldn’t do, to start bawling like a damned baby in front of the kids, but he’d never forgotten this image.

Just as he’d never forgotten Zianne. “I want to buy this from you, Cam. Name your price. I have to have it.” He glanced at the painting again, but then he had to look away. Later. When it was his, when he could study it privately. Not now, with his emotions running riot and his heart thudding in his chest.

“It’s yours, Mac.”

Cam reached out and touched his shoulder. The comfort he offered Mac was unexpected, as reserved as Cam had been so far, but he rested his hand on Mac’s shoulder and squeezed lightly.

Mac shuddered, still fighting tears.

“I paint in oil,” Cam said. His voice was soft, a comforting whisper drifting through Mac’s convoluted memories. “It’s going to take a while to dry. Then it’s going to need a couple of coats of varnish, to set the paint, but you can have it now. Hang it wherever you want and when it’s dry I’ll do the final coat.”

“You’re just giving this to me?” Mac shook himself out of the world within the painting, out of his memories of sharing this same vision with Zianne so long ago. “Shit, Cam. Your paintings sell for thousands. I can afford thousands.” He smiled, relaxed now that he knew the painting was his. “Don’t pass up a good deal when you’ve got me at a weak point.”

Cam laughed. “I can afford thousands, too, Mac. I may look the part of a starving artist, but I’m good, and I’ve got a great financial advisor. Besides, you’re giving me an experience that I imagine will keep me in ideas for the rest of my life. Consider it a gift, and we’re not even close to even.”

Mac let out a deep breath. “Thank you. You know what this means, don’t you?”

Cam nodded slowly. “It means we’ve made contact, doesn’t it? I got this from one of them, from a Nyrian, while I was in the dream shack.”

“You did.” Mac glanced at Rodie. “That second guy in your fantasy? I imagine he was a Nyrian as well. They need the energy from our sexual fantasies to give them form and shape, but they’re free-thinking, intelligent creatures. All you did was give him the body.” Mac wrapped his arm around Rodie’s shoulders and gave her a quick hug. “He gave you the fantasy once he showed up. For what it’s worth, and probably TMI, Zianne loved to take over in bed, once she had substance. A real woman’s body.”

Rodie chuckled. “Never too much information, Mac. Not when I know my fantasies were open to the masses.”

Mac gave her another squeeze and then focused on Finn. “What about you, Finn? Any visitors last night?”

“Actually, yes.” Finn shot a quick glance at Lizzie. “And no, this was not one of Lizzie and Kiera’s creations, but I thought it was just my mind wandering the way it always does.” He shrugged and looked almost sheepish. “I sort of dozed off ... hell, it was a long day and I couldn’t sleep last night before my shift. Anyway, a brilliant blue light woke me and when I opened my eyes, there was an absolutely gorgeous redhead in the shack.”

Lizzie laughed. “Of course she was gorgeous.”

“And a redhead,” added Rodie.

“Hey, cut me some slack. It’s my fantasy. Or not.” Finn shot Mac a sheepish look. “So there’s a gorgeous redhead in front of me, and then I look to my right and there’s a guy standing there. And no, I don’t do guys, so this is where I wondered if I was still dreaming or they were really there. After hearing your experiences, I’m beginning to think they were actually there with me. Anyway, the guy’s good-looking, has fair skin, dark hair, and I’m thinking that if I had to do him to get her, I’m okay with that, so I asked them—in my dream, of course—if they wanted to come back to my cabin with me when my shift was over.”

Mac laughed. “And here I thought you were the sexual predator. You’re saying you put the job first?”

“Of course I did. It was my first night, my very first shift. Too soon to screw up.” Finn folded his arms across his chest and focused on Mac. “That comes later. Besides, at this point, I was still thinking I was either dreaming or it was still a fantasy.”

“What changed your mind?” Mac couldn’t figure out why, but he got such a kick out of this guy. Finn could be such a jerk, but there was something terribly appealing about him as well.