Enemy Mine (Mending The Veil) (13 page)

She had the horrible notion they meant she was losing her mind from living all alone in the woods.

“I’m never getting back to sleep.” She sat up and flipped on the light as she picked up her paperback and settled herself against the headboard. Reading was her favorite thing to do when she was bored, nervous, or upset. Paranormal was her favorite genre. She liked a little romance with her werewolves and vampires, What girl wouldn’t want a little smut with her fear? She sighed and flipped the page, immersing herself in the story and ignoring the terror of her dreams.

***

Gabriel Frost jumped up in his bed. The sleeping woman beside him moaned at the disturbance and rolled away from him, her naked back glowing in the moonlight shining through the hotel curtains. She wasn’t the woman he sought to protect, the woman from his nightmare. He rubbed at his sore eyes, silently cursing the whiskey he’d downed in order to relax enough to feel better as he gave into the woman’s flirty advances. He blinked at her in an attempt to recall her name.

Don’t bother, like all the rest you won’t remember her face, so why try to remember her name?

What the hell are you doing here?
Gabe met the annoyed cat’s blue eyes with a shiver of dread.

I have the unfortunate pleasure of being your Familiar; handed down through countless generations of good, upstanding, and respectful Witches to you.
The black cat’s ears twitched and then flattened on his head as his mouth dropped open on a soft hiss.

I didn’t call for you, Onyx. Go home to Mother. She might need a temperamental, judgmental, old bastard like you to ruin her peace and quiet.
Gabe tossed back the blankets without worrying about waking the blonde beside him. He padded, naked, into the bathroom, hoping that Onyx would take the hint and vacate the premises before he came back out from taking a shower. He needed one after the nightmare that had woken him out of a sound sleep.

Rivers of dead bodies and fire still made his stomach want to heave up last ‘night’s liquor. He’d never dreamed of such complete war and devastation, and even if he had, he rarely remembered his dreams in such stark detail. There was a woman, dressed in a soft white nightgown, her dark brown hair hanging down her back in waves that tempted him to run his hands through them. She stood before a wall of luminous material, the Veil of Life. It was a magical passage, a gateway to other realms and his only course for freedom.

Gabe stood under the hottest water he could stand, hoping to wash away the desperation and determination from his dream. The other being who shared his flesh felt ten times stronger about escaping the violence behind him. Wanting out of his Hell, there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to gain his freedom.

He approached the woman, stood behind her, and touched her shoulder. He tempted her to follow her heart and break every rule known to her kind. It was surprisingly easy to manipulate the scene before her. All it took was a woman, who practiced the old craft of earth and healing to sway her. At the end, when he sensed that she wouldn’t break through the Veil, he took matters into his own hands. He shoved her with all his strength, and when she fell through the barrier, grabbed hold of her nightgown and joined her in the fall.

Gabe shivered, despite the scalding water running down over his back and shoulders. He’d acted with such selfish intent that the other being possessing his body could be no other than a demon of the worst kind. He hadn’t seen the woman in the nightgown’s face, didn’t recognize her or know who she was, but for some reason, he’d been inexplicably drawn to her. Enough so that when he heard her piercing scream, he’d jumped up in his bed fully awake and ready to fight to defend her.

Biography

Kelliea Ashley lives near the Canadian Border in upstate New York with her husband, a cat named Copperkitty, a dog named Sammy, and several fish, who do not have names and are very lucky her husband feeds them.

A Jill-of-many-trades, she likes to incorporate her experiences from various jobs in her writing. She has been a nurse’s aide, a news reporter, a radio personality, a dairy farmer, and a pharmacy technician to name a few. Though she didn’t enjoy every job, she did take something important from each and every one of them.

Kelliea grew up an only child with a devoted single mother. She looked at books as companions and writing as a favorite escape. She has always been a bookworm who steadfastly refused to give up her paperbacks until her loving hubby bought her a Kindle for Christmas. Secretly she still adores the smell of a well read book, but sh… don’t tell her husband.

She has a habit in the form of chocolate and loves a glass of sweet red wine. Romance has always been her favorite genre because she sees the miracle and magic in finding ones’ true love.

Kelliea has five other titles published by Breathless Press. They are for sale on Breathless Press’s website, Amazon, Bookstrand, and Goodreads. Kelliea Ashley can be contacted on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and on her blog, Kelliea’s Quips at http://kellieaashley.wordpress.com/