Dream Bound: Book One | ✓ [COMPLETE]

Dream Bound - Chapter Seven

                                     Dream Bound

                                    Chapter Seven

                                         day three

Before proceeding to speak, Colton jammed his key into the ignition, twisting it to the right. The Mercedes rumbled to life, shaking my seat beneath me. I automatically reached for my seat belt, drawing it across me in case something happened. But an invisible thread tugged at me, connected to Colton as well. With him here, nothing could happen. I'm your guardian angel, he'd said. In the tainted, casual years before, I wouldn't have given the idea of a guardian angel a second thought.

 “Like I said, I've been an angel. I just didn't get my wings until I died. Has anything ever happened to you?” He glanced my way as he drove, jumping on the highway. Loads of things had happened to me. I was a defenseless, clumsy human. It would be out of the ordinary if nothing had happened to me.

 “An unfortunate amount,” I admitted grimly, pulling at a loose thread dangling from my jacket. Beneath it, I wore Colton's shirt. The scents that clung to the shirt swirled upwards, tickling my nose.

 At this, however, he smiled. It was an amused smile, almost. “Care to elaborate?”

 It was my turn to smirk, though it wasn't intended. “Like you don't already know.”

 This time, his smile fell. “Actually, I don't. The only things I can account for are the ones within the last three years. Before then, I unconsciously kept you safe. It was the spiritual bind between us, while I just happened to feel it happening,” he answered truthfully.

 “You felt it?” I blinked, intrigued. Had I felt anything? It was hard to remember, in all honesty. I was once again greeted with the black abyss of my mind, pushing it back when it failed to supply me with familiarity.

 “It's how I know. When you're in danger, the physical pain is almost unmanageable. The scars on my back are warm already, but when you step into an area of danger, they burn with warning.”

 “Sounds...painful,” I said slowly. “How does this...spiritual bind keep me safe, when you're not there physically?” He lifted his shoulders in a shrug.

 “I'm not quite sure, to be honest. Three years isn't enough time to discover your past. Despite the fact I've been an angel, I spent sixteen years believing I was human.” He met my gaze again, hands dancing across the wheel as he pulled it to the right. The speedometer inched up slowly, gathering leverage as he accelerated. He was driving far beyond the speed limit, and even as the outside world zipped by, I felt nothing but the cloud of security.

 The long rips in his shirt glowed faintly, exhibiting the scars dominating his back. I could picture his wings, but not how they came to be. Instantly, I wondered what they felt like. I imagined they'd be as hot as his skin, powerful and strong. Just like him.

 I frowned a little, “That's odd. I don't understand how you could be an angel, but now know you were.”

 “I didn't get my wings until I died, Ivy,” he reminded me patiently, flicking his gaze back to the road. I fingered my seat belt thoughtfully, watching the road as well. The front end of the Mercedes swallowed up the road faster than I could digest, and everything sort of blurred together.

 I nodded, “Right. How did you die?” The look crossed his face, the one that read he couldn't answer that particular question.

 “A car accident,” he said, surprising me. A jolt of something coursed through me, numbing my mind momentarily. A swath of colors swam through my mind, flailing about. I reached for one, trying to piece them together. The sound of metal scraping against asphalt filled my head, before everything disappeared altogether.