CHAPTER 64: CHAPTER 64: THE FIRST SESSION

FINE," Grayson said quietly, the word carrying the weight of absolute surrender. "But if anything goes wrong—"

"It won’t," Kieran interrupted smoothly, already moving toward the center of the room with the fluid grace of someone completely in control of the situation. "Now then, we’ll need a more suitable arrangement for this."

With casual efficiency, he began rearranging the furniture, pushing the heavy leather chairs against the walls and clearing a space near the fireplace.

The dancing flames cast shifting shadows across his features, making his golden eyes seem to glow with their own internal light.

"Mailah, you’ll need to lie down," Kieran said matter-of-factly, as if he were discussing the weather rather than the intimate violation of her most private thoughts. "The chaise there should suffice. Comfort is important for proper dream induction."

Heat flooded Mailah’s cheeks at the clinical way he discussed the process.

She moved toward the indicated furniture with reluctant steps, acutely aware of how exposed she would be—not physically, but psychologically.

The idea of these two supernatural beings rifling through her subconscious desires made her stomach twist with mortification.

"This feels wrong," she murmured, settling herself onto the velvet cushions with obvious discomfort.

"Most necessary things do," Kieran replied without sympathy. "Now, Grayson, position yourself here beside her. Close enough for contact but not so close that you lose objective perspective."

Grayson moved to kneel beside the chaise, his face a mask of controlled tension.

When his fingers brushed against hers, Mailah felt the familiar spark of connection that always seemed to arc between them, intensified now by the supernatural energy beginning to build in the room.

"The first lesson," Kieran began, settling into a chair positioned where he could observe them both with perfect clarity, "is learning to distinguish between conscious fantasy and subconscious desire. What humans think they want and what they actually crave are often vastly different things."

His voice took on the tone of a professor delivering a lecture, clinical and detached despite the intimate nature of the subject matter.

"Begin by establishing the dream connection, Grayson. Light contact, nothing aggressive. Let her consciousness guide you toward her surface fantasies."

Mailah felt the moment Grayson’s supernatural nature touched the edges of her mind—a warm, almost electric sensation that made her breath catch in her throat.

The world around her began to blur and shift, the familiar den dissolving into something softer and more ephemeral.

She found herself in a dream version of the estate’s master’s bedroom, moonlight streaming through tall windows onto rumpled silk sheets.

Grayson was there, his hands gentle and reverent as they traced the contours of her body with worshipful devotion.

"Good," Kieran’s voice drifted through the dream like smoke. "She’s shown you her conscious desires—romance, tenderness, being cherished. Perfectly predictable. Now go deeper."

The dream shifted, becoming more vivid and intense.

Mailah felt exposed in a way that had nothing to do with the imaginary silk nightgown that had suddenly appeared on her. This was the feeling of having her most private thoughts laid bare, examined like specimens under a microscope.

"I can taste her essence from here," Kieran observed with clinical interest. "Sweet but complex. There are depths beneath that innocent fantasy, aren’t there, Grayson?"

Even through the dream haze, Mailah could hear the amusement in his voice, and she felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

What was he sensing? What hidden aspects of her desires were being exposed?

"Don’t," Grayson’s voice was strained. "Just focus on the technique."

"Oh, but the technique requires complete exploration," Kieran countered, his tone carrying a note of predatory satisfaction. "Push past the surface romance, Grayson. Find the primitive urges she’s buried so deep she doesn’t even acknowledge them herself."

The dream around Mailah began to shift and darken, taking on an edge that made her pulse quicken with something that wasn’t entirely fear.

The gentle moonlight became flickering candlelight, and the tender Grayson transformed into something more primal, more demanding.

"Fascinating," Kieran murmured, his voice thick with interest. "She fantasizes about surrender, doesn’t she? Complete and utter submission to supernatural power. How deliciously contradictory to her conscious self-image."

Mailah wanted to protest, to deny what he was saying, but the dream held her trapped in its embrace.

She could only experience the unfolding fantasy as her subconscious desires were dragged into the light—desires she’d never even admitted to herself.

Grayson’s hands were no longer gentle. They were possessive, claiming, holding her wrists pinned above her head while his mouth moved against her throat with barely restrained hunger.

And she was responding to it, arching into his touch with a desperation that made her real self want to disappear with shame.

"Stop analyzing her," Grayson growled, his voice tight with barely controlled emotion. "This is supposed to be about feeding technique, not—"

"But her responses are so educational," Kieran interrupted with obvious delight. "Look how she responds to the fantasy of being completely overpowered. She craves the loss of control even as her conscious mind fights against it. The contradiction creates such exquisite tension."

The dream shifted again, becoming even more intense. Now there were two figures in the candlelit room—both Grayson and Kieran, their supernatural natures fully unleashed, their eyes glowing with predatory hunger as they stalked toward her.

"No," Mailah gasped, the word escaping her lips in the dream even as she remained frozen with a mixture of terror and arousal.

"Yes," Kieran purred, his voice seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. "This is what she truly desires—to be the center of attention, to be fought over and claimed by beings of power. The civilized woman is merely a mask over something far more primal."

"Kieran, enough," Grayson’s voice was sharp with warning, but Mailah could sense his own arousal bleeding through their connection, his supernatural nature responding to the intensity of her hidden desires.

"Don’t pretend you’re not affected," Kieran said with a knowing laugh. "I can feel your hunger growing, feeding off her responses. She’s practically radiating sexual energy now—look how her body responds even while her mind rebels."

It was true, and the realization made Mailah want to sink through the floor with mortification.

She could feel her body responding to the dream as if it were reality—her breathing had become shallow and quick, her skin flushed with heat, her body arching unconsciously toward Grayson’s touch.

"The deeper you go into her subconscious," Kieran continued with interest, "the more complex her fantasies become. She doesn’t just want to be desired—she wants to be consumed, to be so irresistible that you could lose control fighting over her."

"Stop," Mailah whispered, though whether she was addressing Kieran’s commentary or the escalating intensity of the dream, she couldn’t say.

"She’s magnificent," Kieran observed with something approaching admiration. "All that repressed desire she’s never allowed herself to acknowledge. She could sustain an incubus for weeks on fantasies this rich."

The dream reached a crescendo of intensity that left Mailah gasping and disoriented as Grayson suddenly severed the connection.

She found herself back in the den, sprawled on the chaise with her hair disheveled and her dress wrinkled, feeling as if she’d run a marathon.

"That’s enough for the first session," Grayson said firmly, his voice carefully controlled though Mailah could see the strain in his expression.

"Nonsense," Kieran replied, rising from his chair with obvious satisfaction. "That was merely the introduction. We’ve established that you can access her deeper fantasies without triggering a complete feeding frenzy, which is progress."

Kieran moved closer to where Mailah lay recovering, and she could swear she felt heat radiating from him. "And we’ve learned some absolutely fascinating things about our dear Mailah’s hidden nature."

"Kieran," Grayson’s voice carried a clear warning.

"Oh, relax," Kieran said with a dismissive wave. "I’m just enjoying the contradiction. Her subconscious aches for things her conscious mind would never dare admit."

Golden eyes locked onto Mailah, lit with the kind of interest a wolf reserves for prey. "Tell me, love, did you relish discovering those hidden cravings? To be nothing more than prey while predators tore at each other for you?"

Mailah felt her face flame with embarrassment, unable to meet his gaze. "I don’t know what you’re talking about," she mumbled, though they all knew it was a lie.

"Of course you don’t," Kieran said with a knowing smile. "The conscious mind pretends to protect us. But the subconscious—ah, it is merciless. And in yours, I found nothing but hunger dressed in shame."

"That’s enough," Grayson said, moving protectively between Kieran and Mailah. "She doesn’t need to be humiliated for having natural desires."

"Humiliated?" Kieran looked genuinely surprised. "I’m celebrating her complexity. Most humans are boringly predictable in their fantasies, but she... she has depths that could keep an incubus entertained for centuries."

The casual way he dissected her most private thoughts left Mailah feeling stripped bare, every hidden longing laid out as if tattooed across her skin for anyone to read.

She pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to create some barrier between herself and Kieran’s penetrating gaze.

"How do you feel?" Grayson asked gently, his attention focused entirely on her rather than Kieran’s observations.

"Hot," she admitted, then immediately regretted the word choice as Kieran’s smile sharpened with amusement.

"I imagine you do," Kieran said with obvious satisfaction. "Deep feeding creates intense physiological responses. Your body experienced everything your mind fantasized about, even if it was only in dreams."

He settled back into his chair with the air of someone thoroughly pleased with the evening’s work.

"We’ll need several more sessions to perfect the technique, but this was an excellent beginning. By tomorrow night, Grayson should be able to feed from your deepest desires without accidentally draining your life force."

The casual mention of tomorrow night’s feeding sent a chill through Mailah despite the heat still coursing through her system.

All of this—the embarrassment, the exposure, the discovery of desires she’d never known she possessed—was just preparation for something even more intense.

"Rest now," Kieran advised, rising from his chair. "You’ll need your strength for what’s to come. And Mailah?" He paused at the door, his golden eyes glinting with dangerous knowledge. "Sweet dreams. I have a feeling they’re going to be far more interesting than they used to be."

As the door closed behind him, Mailah was left alone with Grayson and the lingering heat of desire.

How could she sleep now without unconsciously summoning Grayson in her dream when she was so hot and bothered?