Jaz's Warriors (Bondmates Book 2) (12 page)

A rush of hormones filled her and she sighed when the man holding her against his hard chest began to run his fingers through her hair, whispering to her in a melodic language that was an aphrodisiac in itself. Tears stung her eyes as she relaxed into them, a feeling of anticipation and satisfaction tickling at her mind along with a raw, intense hunger. She tried to reach out to those feelings, to identify why they were so odd, but the more she concentrated on them the more insubstantial they became. Desperate for more, struggling to not lose this amazing connection with these unbelievably sexy men, she tried to reach out to touch them but everything was fading around her.

As the dream vanished along with her connection to the men she began to cry, screaming that they come back, that they not leave her, not now, not when she’d finally met the men she was supposed to be with. The unfairness of it caused her to break down in sobs that shook her from the inside out. Someone shook her and she tried to bat them away, wanting to be alone with her grief and the rapidly dissolving memory of her dream. It all melted away, leaving her with only a feeling of loss.

“Casey, wake up!”

With a groan, Casey opened her eyes, then touched her wet face. “Paige?”

“Oh, thank God.”

She looked over and found a sleep-rumpled Paige chewing her thumbnail in the bright morning light. “You were having a nightmare, and I couldn’t wake you up.”

Rubbing at her face, Casey then stared at her wet hands. “Was I crying?”

“Yeah. And you kept begging someone not to leave you.”

Sitting up with a groan Casey rubbed her face dry on the edge of her t-shirt. “Wow, that’s weird. I don’t remember what I was dreaming about.”

Giving a rough laugh, Paige got out of bed and began to sort through her backpack. “Well, with all the shit that went down yesterday I’m not surprised that we both had nightmares.”

Casey took in Paige’s pale cheeks and the dark circles beneath her eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I don’t really remember what I was dreaming about but when I woke up I was crying. You probably heard me in your sleep and that’s why you were crying as well.”

The digital clock next to the bed showed that it was just after nine in the morning. Casey’s mind spun as she realized that at this time yesterday her biggest fear was reading a poem aloud with feeling. She stood and went over to her window, pulling back the curtain and cautiously looking up at the sky. The ribbons of light were still there, but they weren’t moving as fast and their color had faded a great deal. Among the dew-covered lawns and bushes, some of her neighbors were out on the street, drinking their morning coffee and talking in small groups. On her front concrete walkway, her mother was talking with Kimber’s mom and Dawn’s dad, their expressions subdued, but not as tense as yesterday.

There was a knock at the door, and a moment later, her dad popped his head in. “You two awake?”

Searching his face for some kind of indication as to what had happened while she slept she noticed that he seemed more relaxed. “Dad, is everything okay?”

“Yeah. The government has been on the news all morning. The Event was caused by something happening in the far outer reaches of space, out by Jupiter.”

Paige gasped softly. “Do they have any idea what it is?”

“Oh they’re spouting a lot of hot air, but what it boils down to is something happened out there, it slammed into earth and caused all kinds of trouble, and now the world is dealing with all the crazies this thing has stirred up.” He looked over at Casey. “We saw Roxy on the news somewhere in the outskirts of Detroit. She looked tired, but good.”

A weight eased off of Casey’s mind and she let out a deep breath. “That’s great, dad.”

He briskly clapped his hands together. “Okay, you two, get dressed. We need to head out with some folks to Main Street to help clean up the mess. Some assholes tried to loot the liquor store and they left broken glass all over the place. Then we need to head over to the high school. Some strangers got trapped on the freeway and we need to bring them clothes and food, and see what we can do to help them out. Remember, in times of need the best way to help yourself is to help others.”

With that he left Casey and Paige alone, staring at each other. Finally, Page sighed and looked away before tugging one of her schoolbooks from her backpack. “Is it weird that I’m sad we’re going to miss finals?”

“Yes, very weird. I think The Event might have given you brain damage.”

Laughter bubbled up from deep inside Casey, pushing away the remnants of her fear as her friend started to snicker, then laugh until they were both wiping away tears. She felt much better after the laughing bout, and Paige was still snickering while she went across the hall to her room. As Casey began to get ready for the day she couldn’t help but wonder if the changes to her world were finally over, or if they had only just begu
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Other Books by Ann Mayburn

About the Author

With over thirty published books, Ann is Queen of the Castle to her wonderful husband and three sons in the mountains of West Virginia. In her past lives she's been an Import Broker, a Communications Specialist, a US Navy Civilian Contractor, a Bartender/Waitress, and an actor at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. She also spent a summer touring with the Grateful Dead-though she will deny to her children that it ever happened.

From a young age she's been fascinated by myths and fairytales, and the romance that was often the center of the story. As Ann grew older and her hormones kicked in, she discovered trashy romance novels. Great at first, but she soon grew tired of the endless stories with a big wonderful emotional buildup to really short and crappy sex. Never a big fan of purple prose, throbbing spears of fleshy pleasure and wet honey pots make her giggle, she sought out books that gave the sex scenes in the story just as much detail and plot as everything else-without using cringe worthy euphemisms. This led her to the wonderful world of Erotic Romance, and she's never looked back.

Now Ann spends her days trying to tune out cartoons playing in the background to get into her 'sexy space' and has accepted that her Muse has a severe case of ADD.

Ann loves to talk with her fans, as long as they realize she's weird and that sarcasm doesn't translate well via text.