V'Aidan made love to her feverishly, savoring every deep stroke. He caressed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s as he kissed her, felt her from the top of his head all the way to his toes.

Her warm body surrounded his, fit him to perfection. And the feel of her hands on his back...It was bliss. Pure bliss. He closed his eyes and delighted in the feel of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s on his chest, her tongue on his throat. Oh, yes, he wanted to stay here with her.

Forever.

Erin ran her hand through his long hair, her fingers clenched as pleasure ripped through her, each thrust deeper and harder than the last. She wrapped her legs around his waist, bucking her hips in time to him.

Drawing him into her body even deeper. She clung to him as she came, crying out his name.

He kissed her lips and quickened his pace until he released himself inside her.

Erin lay still, feeling his essence fill her. She didn't want to move, didn't want to feel him leave her.

"I love you, V'Aidan," she said before she could stop herself.

V'Aidan froze at the words. Pulling back, he stared at her in disbelief. "What?"

Her cheeks turned pink as her brown gaze shredded what was left of his heart. "I love you."

"You can't. It's not possible."

"Possible or not, I do."

V'Aidan gathered her into his arms and held on to her desperately. He shook from the force of what he felt for her. So powerful, so overwhelming.

Sated to a depth he'd never known before, he pulled her on top of him and listened to her even breaths as her sleep took her.

He wanted to wake her up but knew better. Unlike him, she had to have her sleep.

"Erin," he whispered softly as he stroked her hair. "I promise you, I'll always be what you think I am."

Resigned to the inevitable, he closed his eyes and waited for M'Ordant and Krysti'Ana to come for them.

CHAPTER 6

V'Aidan woke up to a piercing screech that felt as if it would shatter his eardrums.

He groaned at the awful sound as Erin stirred on top of him.

"What is that?" he asked.

"My alarm clock," she said, rising from him to rush to her bedroom.

It wasn't until her return that they both realized what had happened.

Nothing.

"Did you have any dreams?" he asked.

She shook her head. "You?"

"No," he said, smiling.

"Do you think..."

His smile faded. "No. They can find us. Sooner or later, they will."

Erin closed her eyes and cursed the thought of it. "Maybe they won't bother." She saw the doubt in V'Aidan's eyes.Wanting to cheer his dour mood, she pulled him up by his arm. "C'mon. Let's take a shower and then I'll call in sick to work."

"You can't. What if you get fired?"

She shrugged. "I'll find another job."

He shook his head at her. "You are amazing."

She smiled at him.

Erin called into work only to be reminded of the marketing report that had been due on Friday, which she had forgotten to drop off.

"The meeting is at noon," John told her.

"Okay, I'm on my way up there with it."

"Is something wrong?" V'Aidan asked as she hung up the phone.

She shook her head. "I just have to take something to the office. Want to come with me?"

"Sure."

They didn't speak much as she drove across town. V'Aidan held her hand the entire time and Erin had to admit she liked the strength of his hand wrapped around hers.

Once they reached her building, Erin led V'Aidan into the maze where her cubicle was. He watched the hustle and bustle of corporate life with a dispa.s.sionate stare.

Erin went to John's office, only to find it empty.

With V'Aidan directly behind her, she dropped the report in John's in-box, then turned to leave.

Chrissy stood in the doorway with Rick Sword behind her. The two of them stepped into the office and closed the door.

Erin heard V'Aidan curse.

What the devil was going on?

"What are you doing here?" V'Aidan asked, his voice laced with anger.

"Waiting for you." Chrissy stepped around them and pulled the blinds closed. "You won't dare fight us in her workplace, will you, V'Aidan? All we have to do is make ourselves invisible to the humans and they won't see or hear anything but her. And her they'll lock up in an asylum as soon as we're gone."

Erin still didn't understand what was going on. But she had a sick feeling that she had been duped from the very beginning by all of this.

If V'Aidan could be real, then so could they.

"What is this?" Erin demanded.

Chrissy's eyes flashed to yellow and it was then Erin knew the truth.

Chrissy was the she-snake from her nightmares.

"Stay out of it, human," Rick said. "We will deal with you after we finish with him."

V'Aidan pulled Erin behind him.

"How very sweet." Chrissy's tone was mocking. "One would think you were Oneroi they way you coddle her.""He is Oneroi," Erin shot back, her entire body shaking from panic. How could she and V'Aidan fight them here? Like this?

Rick laughed at her words. "Is that the lie you told her?"

V'Aidan held his breath. He didn't want her to find out like this. "Erin, I..." His words faltered as he turned to see the confused look on her face.

He didn't want to tell her the truth. He didn't want to be what he was anymore. She had shown him something better and he didn't want to go back to the way he'd been.

"What does she mean?" Erin asked.

"He's your dragon," Krysti'Ana said mercilessly. "The thing I fought the first night we met in your dreams."

"No." Erin shook her head. "It's a lie. V'Aidan, tell me it's a lie."

He wanted to, but he couldn't. He'd lied so many times that it shouldn't have mattered to him. Yet it did.

"I'm a Skotos, Erin."

Her eyes filled with tears. "It was you! You who made me so terrified I couldn't sleep? You who chased me and... and..." She couldn't even begin to recount the torture he had put her through during those first few weeks. She had thought she was losing her mind. "Why did you trick me into thinking you were Oneroi? Was it just so you could feed from me?"

"At first, I only wanted to get you away from Krysti'Ana. I knew you wouldn't go with the dragon, so I appeared to you as a man. And then later..." His voice trailed off as his eyes went dead.

"You lied to me."

"I know."

She backed away from him. The agony in her eyes sliced him.

V'Aidan clenched his teeth as grief washed over him. "I needed you, Erin. And I didn't know how else to keep you with me." He reached for her.

She cringed and the gesture tore through him. She no longer wanted his touch.

Like all the others, she, too, rejected him.

The hurt betrayal on her face made him feel lower than any of the insults the others had ever dealt him.

"I should have known," she whispered, "someone like you pretended to be could never really want someone like me."

V'Aidan winced at the pain in her voice. "Erin, don't say that. You are the most wonderful person who has ever been born."

"Is that another of your lies?"

V'Aidan closed his eyes. There was nothing he could say to make this right. He'd been wrong from the very beginning.

All he could do now was make sure no other of his kind hurt her.

"M'Ordant!" he called, summoning his brother to him.

The Oneroi appeared between Krysti'Ana and Rec'Sord.

V'Aidan took a deep breath. "I will go with them peacefully if you will keep them from her.""It is my job, is it not?"

V'Aidan nodded. It was the job of the Oneroi to help. It was the job of the Skotos to use and destroy.

He turned to look at Erin, but she refused to meet his gaze. Judging by the tears she fought, he would say he'd done his job very well this time.

His last view of her was when M'Ordant wrapped his arm around her the way he yearned to.

Krysti'Ana and Rec'Sord grabbed him to take him home.

"I'm sorry, Erin," V'Aidan whispered as they shimmered from her realm into his. "I'm so very sorry."

Erin didn't move. She knew V'Aidan was gone. She'd heard the sincerity of his apology as he vanished.

But inside she was all raw emotions. Raw betrayal. She kept seeing the horrible dragon in the cave.

Feeling the scaly talons on her.

How could that be the same man who had made love to her? The same man who had made her love him?

The betrayal of it lacerated her heart. Why? Why had he made her believe in him?

"I don't understand any of this," she said to M'Ordant.

"Sh," he said, brushing her hair back from her face. "Krysti'Ana and Rec'Sord wanted you for their own, but V'Aidan got to you first. When she found out he'd beat her to you, she was livid."

"But how did he find me?"

"Something in your subconscious called out to him. He was only supposed to give you a single nightmare and move on, but he didn't."