6. The Estate

After visiting Emma every night for the last two weeks, Matthais needed to get back to the family estate and sign some papers for the business.  He was absoletly miserable upon returning and he was grumpy with his brothers and brooded in his bed chambers most of the time.  

He was unsettled being back at the estate, as he was too far from Emma.  He feared for her safety because of the Toten (the dead) clan.  

He didn't want to think about the future without Emma by his side to give him strength and courage.  

The Toten were their deadly enemies and Emma was in danger, should anyone discover that Matthias found his soulmate.  He needed to get back to the city quickly.

Their bond was growing stronger and he now could feel her mood changes, even from a distance.  He frustrated her by not revealing himself to her and she would beg for him to show himself.  

She cried out begging him to reveal himself to her, but it wasn't time.  She wasn't ready for she didn't fully accept or trust him.  Not yet.  It was too dangerous. 

He would go back to her tonight and ravage her again in her dreams.  Oh, how she clung to him and let him have his way with her.  She was putty in his hands but he still feared that she might still runaway.  

He was holding off on making love to her, even in her dreams, until she turned and they were alone in the vault.  Then, when his stood before her, then and only then, would he finish the bonding and take her as his own.  

Once he turned her, she would crave him the way he craves her now.  The bonding makes your mate irresitable. 

He worried about her turning.

She was so strong, that if she wasn't ready, he feared she would attempt to fight it.  

He wasn't willing to take the chance.

Not yet. 

He cringed when there was a loud knock on his bedroom door and he knew that he was in trouble.  He hadn't been around for the last two weeks, ignored work, the estate, his family.  Would they not cut him some slack for finding his mate after like a thousand years?

Literally!

He opened the door and growled, "What?"

He wasn't happy with what he saw and he slammed the door shut and threw himself back on his bed.  How dare they interrupt him?!?!?  He was so pissed at his brothers.  

They on the otherhand, were not ready to give up and faded into his room only to torment him until he got up and came downstairs to eat dinner with them.  

He must behave in a civil manner, regardless of his mating issues. 

He growled at them and screamed offensive words.    

In the end, they were not deterred and he was sitting like a stuffed penguin in his tuxedo in the formal dining room with his brothers and their mates and business guests.  He just remained silent and civil. 

That was their only requirement.

He could manage that.  

Silent!

James cast to Matthais, 'Stop being morbid!  You can participate in the conversation!'

Matthais casted back, 'I am dreaming of my mate. Leave me alone.'

'Oh, how droll.' 

'Don't start with me James! I'll skewer you with my ancient sword!'  

After that, Matthias turned his pouting into gloating and James cast back, 'Make an excuse for yourself and go back to her! Get lost!'

Instantly Matthias was gone, leaving poor James to make excuses for him.  

He ripped the tuxedo off and dressed casually with a black button down shirt and jeans.  

After fixing his hair, he faded and appeared in her room.  She was in the shower and sensed him immediately.

Emma called out, "Ghost! I know you are here. Please, please come out!"

She let the towel fall to the ground and sat in bed without any clothes, taunting him as she combed her long red hair.  

She pinned her crazy curls up and said to him, "Tonight, I want you to give me more! Something, please!"

He watched as she struggled to fall asleep and he chanted a charm to help calm her down.

He appeared in her bedroom, in her small apartment and wandered around.  He rummaged through her paintings and looked at the pictures she hung on her walls. 

Once he felt her slip into her REM sleep he dream cast to her again and he was holding his breath as he saw her standing there without anything on.

Once again, he took her to his bed chambers and she clung to him as her desires had been growing all day.

"Emma, you are so beautiful.  We are meant to be together forever and I know that you're scared.  You know that you are my soulmate and I am yours. I know that you feel the pull." 

"Stop just coming to me just in my dreams," she huffed with a hint of mistrust in her voice. 

"My enemies are vast and until you turn and train, you will be in danger.  You must accept me first before we can go further," he added.

"We have had this same conversation a thousand times, just show yourself to me.  But I don't even know your name or what you are! What am I turning into?" she begged.

"You must accept first or you could betray us!"

He stepped closer and kissed her, letting his hands roam across her body.  His desires for her were making this untenable.  He wanted their first time to be as true mates, not this way.  Not through the dream casting.

Matthias also understood the dangers of intimacy during dream casting.  Under dark circumstances he could get her pregnant and the baby would be a hybrid.  

He was a fool but he knew he needed to stop.

"This will be the last time I will come to you in your dreams.  The next time you sense me, call my name and I will appear before you."

"Then tell me your name."

"Soon.  You shall know my name soon," he said before caressing her body and he slowly undressed before her.

She was mesmerized by his silver eyes and his long black hair.  He had not a scar or imperfection on his body and his abs were perfectly sculptured.  He was perfect at 6' 3" and his body revealed how much he desired her as he stood in front of her.  

Emma explored his body and he walked her over to his bed.  As they were intertwined, he had to control every urge in his body not to make love to her.  When she touched him, he thought he would die, for her touch was explosive in his mind.  

He so often had refrained from intimacy for fear of having his heart broken.  Now her touch was enough to break him, for he had so longed to have a soulmate.  

Kisses trailed down her body as his mind raced and reacted but before things got out of hand, he broke away and whispered, "We need to wait to go further.  I cannot make love to you in your dreams."

She looked crestfallen. 

"It's ok. I will leave and give you a few weeks to think about this.  Then we will need to be together.  You will need to come with me."

"I can't give up everything that I have!  You are a total stranger and you are very dangerous!" She started crying and begging him not to take her.

He got angry and snapped, "Do you not feel the connection? If we deny it, it will destroy us! Our souls have already started to knit together.  That is why you sense my presence in my shadow form!"

"I just want to be normal! This is too much! What are you? What will I change to?  I need to know." she continued to cry and buried herself under his blankets, trying to hide from his eyes.

Matthais sat on the bed and pulled the covers back, before he stated as calmly as he could, "Stop torturing yourself.  Let me turn you and then I can explain everything.  I am a dangerous man to my enemies but I am not, nor will I ever be capable of being dangerous to you.  You are my soulmate and your pain will emenate through my soul, should harm ever come to you.  Even now, you will start to feel my emotions."

"No! No! No! You just need to go away and never return.  I don't want whatever you are promising." 

"Emma, darling.  We are already bound and the process has already started.  Every touch, every kiss has connected us.  There is no escaping this bond.  If you refuse me, it will crush both of us forever.  I need to turn you and until then I cannot say more."

He left her dream and appeared in her bedroom, dressed and walked into her small living room and sat at her desk. He wrote her a quick note:

My dearest Emma,

I do love you more than you can imagine and I cannot wait to get to know you better.  I will return in a few weeks.  At that time, and only then, call my name and I will appear to you.  

Yours in love, 

Matthais

PS Do not tell anyone about me or it will be considered a betrayal.

Finding the letter sitting on her desk, she saw her name written in such beautiful handwritting and she knew then that he was real.  These crazy dreams were real and she felt a loss without him by her side.  

She picked up the letter and opened the envelop and cried for the next twenty minutes as she read and reread his words.  

Emma suddenly understood that their bond was real and she would go with him, even though she also knew that she would fight it without denying him until the very end.  

Oh! She would fight him! 

She was angry at fate for twisting her world and forcing her to change her plans.  

Damn you, Matthais.  

Damn you!