Read The Glass Man for Free Online Page B

sigh. “Remove the clothes, and either you stay here with me until you wake up, or I get to look upon your wonderland again.” He raised a dark sculpted eyebrow and flashed a Cheshire cat grin. “Either way, I win.”
    “You’re insane.”
    “Possibly.” His eyes smoldered as his fingers walked playfully toward me.
    Even in my dreams, his nearness made my skin ripple in goose flesh. His presence ate the light in my soul and cast a cruel, frigid shadow over me. I fought to control my breathing.
    His fingers reached my bare shoulder. Delicious heat spread through me from head to toe. I shoved him away and shimmied to the edge of the bed. Half of me wanted to rub myself all over him, and the rest of me wanted to retch. How could I even want to touch him?
    Before I could decide what to do, he grabbed me around the wrists and pulled me against the side of the mattress, face to face with him. I ended up kneeling on the floor while he sprawled across the bed on his stomach.
    “So tell me, princess, have you figured out what you are yet?”
    With a grunt, I tugged against his hold. “I told you not to call me that.”
    “I’ll take that as a no. Any new ideas?” He played his soft, moist lips over my fingers while I did my best to ignore the throbbing in my nether regions.
    “I won’t play this game with you.”
    He rolled his eyes and expelled a deep sigh. “You know … Lila … you can be such a killjoy sometimes.”
    I should have known he knew my name. “Nice to know something can wipe off that nasty grin. And I told you, I’m human.”
    “Human?” He laughed a twittering bird-like sound. “You no more belong to the race of thick-skulled barbarians than I do. Hair of spun gold, the eyes of otherworldly brilliance, the golden honey skin of a Goddess.” He uttered a bitter laugh. “I truly don’t know why you waste your gifts on them. Speaking of which, why haven’t you used them in the last few weeks?”
    My mouth dried into a desert. Shit.  “How do you know I haven’t used them?”
    I caught a flash of rage in his eyes before they went back to their perpetual amusement. “The rag mags haven’t reported any children mysteriously finding their way out of burning, smoke-filled buildings without knowing how, or guns misfiring by the thousands, or murderers waiting patiently by their victims for the authorities to come and take them away.” He faked a laugh. “Why do you bother with them?”
    “Nice try. Most magazines have gone out of business.” A thought flashed through my head like a lightning strike. My neutral face cracked. “You can feel it when I use power. Any power. That’s how you’re finding me, isn’t it? Fuck!”
    I leaned away from him, but he yanked me against the bed. My shoulders burned. The shadows in his eyes pulsated, the effect extending into the room. I thought I could hear dying cries, and the room chilled with a malevolent darkness. My breath came out in white puffs. My power weakened in his presence as if he absorbed my energy.
    “You can’t hide from me much longer.” His hair stood on end, carried up by an unseen wind.
    Cold terror crawled along the curves of my spine.
    “I’ve let you run about all these years because I enjoyed the chase and our little interludes, but very soon I will need you by my side. And,” he punctuated each word with a tightening of his grip, “You—will—come.”
    I grunted through the pain and willed myself to wake up, but it didn’t work. Most nights he kept me inside the dream until he finished his little game.
    “Why do you need me by your side?” I had no idea whether or not the shock showed on my face. The whole time I thought he’d kill me at some point during his little cat and mouse game. Maybe he still would, but he wanted something from me first. Death or slavery? I couldn’t decide which one frightened me more.
    The devil grin returned. “Because I say so.”
    I licked my dry lips. “You found me the day after I ran