Insight (Web of Hearts and Souls #1)(25)

I felt a gentle pull on me, the way I always felt when I helped one of my images, so I pushed down my own trepidations and searched for whoever needed my help. It was easier to help them than deal with the erratic thoughts in my head. I needed a distraction.

I stood slowly, stared into the darkness next to the river, and reached out with my sense of emotion.

I felt a blanket of peaceful love with a sense of urgency. The night air in front of me began to move; it looked like a wave gently swaying with a current. A thin light began to emerge then Landen stepped through the wave. I felt the air leave my lungs and adrenaline rush through every part of my body as my heart violently hammered in my chest.

“Landen…” I said.

In the darkness, I could see his haunting blue eyes widen, we were both soaked in the emotion of disbelief, along with the fear that this wasn’t real.

In that beat of my heart he’d reached my side. His hands were trembling ever so slightly as they cradled my face, and his thumbs graze the flesh of my cheekbones. He was staring at me like I was a forbidden fruit, like I was every sin in the book, desire washed over that lasting look as he leaned in and let his lips frame mine. When we melded the flesh of our lips together, his hands fell from my face and slowly waved down my body, embracing my flesh, I was doing the same to him. He was warm, he was on fire, I could hear his breaths, hear the sweet sound of our kiss, the way our clothes were moving under our touch. He was real. He was in my arms, and he was driving me wild. That first kiss was nothing compared to this. That was a dream, it was fleeting, it was something that could end at any second. This—this touch, this emotion, this pulsing of my soul was eternal.

He pressed our bodies together and held me with more strength than he had ever displayed. We both sought air more than once, but the other moved closer as soon as that gasp was taken. His warm tongue was uninhabited yet sensual as it danced with mine. I was devouring every sensation he was giving me and wanting more, so much more.

I was trembling with passion, I think he misunderstood that, he slowed our kiss, as one arm went around me and the other cradled my face. His thumb reached to my lips just as his kiss ended. He tenderly caressed the moist, swollen flesh he found there.

“I found you,” he said with the lips of an angel. His voice was deep and entrancing, those three simple words sounding like poetry as he spoke them.

His eyes danced over my image. “I love you,” he said as he leaned in and kissed me once more. This was a sweet kiss, only lips, only warm sensual lips. It ended far too fast.

I had always felt this emotion coming from him, this deep claim, connection, bond, but hearing him tell me that he loved me left me weak in the knees.

“I love you,” I said so faintly that I wasn’t sure he heard me.

He pulled me to his chest, caging me in his arms as if I were the most precious soul he’d ever laid eyes on.

I kept telling myself over and over that this was real. After all this time he was real. Even if I was insane at this point I didn’t care. He had a voice, a name, and he was in my arms. I didn’t care what hell was hunting me anymore. It didn’t matter because I knew this boy would stand at my side and help me fight all my demons. He was strength. He was liberation. He was mine.

I felt him slowly turn and look at the cabin, then down at me. He raised my chin so I would have to look at him.

“Willow?” he said with a disbelieving gaze.

I nodded shyly.

Anger came over him as he looked back at the cabin.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, panicked, thinking I had done something wrong.

“You were here the whole time, and he kept me from here,” Landen raged under his breath. He hesitated. “How did you come to me before?” he asked as confusion came over him.

“What do you mean? I dreamt, just like I always do.”

His mesmerizing gaze filled with awe. “I was not asleep…I thought it was real.”

“How is that possible?” I whispered breathlessly.

“I don’t know. I’ve never known anyone who has dreamed of the same place and person so vividly, every night,” he said, searching my eyes with a near sinful smile dangling on the corner of his lips.

It took all I had not to throw myself in his arms again. My soul was still pulsing, as if it were all too aware of him. I felt the vibration of his every word against my skin.

“Neither have I,” I said, trying to catch my breath.

“You have always been real to me,” he swore, pulling me closer to him.

“Have we always had one another?” I asked, feeling the sensation of relief sweep over me. Were we meeting soul-to-soul, not dream-to-dream? How could that be?

Landen kissed my forehead before he said, “Knowing that gives me some peace.”

It may have given him peace, but he was still livid. I knew that emotion was aimed at his father, not a doubt in my mind.

Landen glanced at the cabin, then down at me. He tucked a loose lock of my hair behind my ear.

“I’ve been following my beacon for the last few days, but it kept moving.”

“We were traveling here to meet your father,” I said quietly, feeling all of my anguish melt away.

“What happened?” he asked as concern filled the stare I was lost in.

“There’s this guy, Drake, who wants me to come to his dimension with him.”