Velvet Haven

curls. Sidhe women were hairless there, but he liked Mairi’s dark curls, liked seeing his hand in them.
    She watched him, her eyes wide. With one hard tug he pulled her to him. She fell back, flat against the bed, her breasts bouncing, her thighs wrapped around his waist, his cock poised to penetrate her in one hard thrust.
    “Mairi,” he whispered as he pressed forward onto her. But then something caught his eye, at the corner of the bed— iron .
    “Ah, Mairi,” he whispered painfully, realizing that this dream was part of his death premonition. That she was. “Have you saved me tonight so that you can kill me later?”

CHAPTER TWELVE

    Rowan smiled as she snuggled deeply into the sofa cushions and Mairi covered her with a blanket.
    “How you feeling, Ro?” Mairi asked as she gave her friend a big hug.
    “Like I got hit with a truck.”
    “Well, you needed a whack of lorazepam and Valium to stop the seizure. You’ll be feeling dopey for hours yet.”
    Yawning, Rowan nodded. “I can’t seem to keep my eyes open.”
    “Sleep as long as you like. You don’t have to keep me company.”
    “I got a mean craving for Chinese food,” Rowan mumbled.
    “Let’s order some for lunch, okay?”
    “Your vision,” Mairi murmured as she looked at the raven in the crate. “What do you remember?”
    “Rabid dogs, and you, a weird place.”
    “Nothing else?”
    “Nope.”
    Mairi hoped the tumor wasn’t growing. She didn’t think she could stand it if she was to lose Rowan.
    Rowan fell asleep and Mairi walked over to the cage to rebandage the bird’s wing. This morning, when she had checked the bandage, she had spent more time studying the bird. The silver stripe on his back was most curious. Clancy chose that time to clomp over to her. He rested his head on the table and whimpered. Mairi glanced at the clock and realized it was past time for the dog’s meds.
    Clancy was old and his hips were bad, but Mairi couldn’t even think of putting him down. So she just kept popping him full of aspirin and dog treats and as much love and affection as she could.
    “Almost done, Clance,” she murmured, as she tied a knot in the bandage, securing it.
    He was facing the bird cage and watching the raven like a hawk. Nothing had changed since last night, Mairi realized. They were still staring at each other, but the struggle for power was over. The bird was in charge. It was so strange how they had stared each other down before Clancy just backed off.
    As she went to the cupboard and reached for the aspirin bottle, she thought of Bran, for no reason other than the onyx raven reminded her of his hair. It had been so black and silky. God, she was pathetic.
    Really pathetic.
    But she found herself wondering what he was doing. Who he was with. If he had even thought of her after he’d left her naked.
    “Hey, Mairi,” Rowan called from the living room. “I’m hungry. What about you?”
    “Starved,” she answered back.
    “I’m fantasizing here about an order of jumbo shrimp.”
    “I’m on it,” she said, reaching for the phone book and searching for the number of her favorite Chinese restaurant.
    “Mairi? How’s your friend doing today?”
    She glanced up from the phone book and looked at the bird, who was watching her with a look of rapt attention in its strange eyes. He was truly beautiful, though it was so damn weird of her to think so. He’s just a dumb bird, she reminded herself, but she couldn’t resist looking at him once more.
    Rowan sat up on the couch, catching Mairi’s attention. She saw Rowan studying the cage. “Feed your raven,” she murmured. “He needs energy.”
    “How do you know?”
    Rowan sank back on the pillows, closing her eyes. “I saw it in a dream last night.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah, some guy named Suriel told me to tell you to feed and care for that bird.”
    The phone book dropped, and Mairi, white with fear, faced Rowan.
    “What did you say?”
    “He’ll save you, that bird. But first you’ve got to feed it.”
    “No, the other part, about Suriel.”
    “Oh. Yeah. He thought he was in your dream, but then he realized he wasn’t.”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    Rowan sighed and closed her eyes. “Honest mistake, Mairi. I was in your bed, after all.”
    And then she heard a familiar voice. A voice from her childhood, the one she used to hear when she hid beneath her bed when her father was drunk and destroying the house.
    “There’snothing to fear, Mairi. I’m