Forbidden Heat novel Chapter 186

I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep. Lucien arrived much faster than I anticipated and I wasn’t able to clean up anything. I was still naked under the covers and the bed was a mess for obvious reasons.

I heard the sound of the door opening and then closing. Lucien is probably standing in this room right now. What should I do…should I wake up? Or should I continue pretending that I’m asleep?

I heard his soft footsteps as he approached the bed and soon the bed creaked a little under his weight as he sat down on the side of the bed.

“Wake up, Natalia,” he whispered into my ear before kissing my temple. What was it that I sensed in his voice? Worry…and perhaps a little anger?

“Lucien…?” I spoke his name in a drowsy whisper as I pretended that I had just woken up.

“How are you feeling? Edward called me late last night to tell me that you were sick. I was going to come over right away but he insisted that you needed to rest up first,” Lucien asked me as his warm hand slowly stroked my head. This was so comforting and at the same time it made me feel so guilty.

Instead of lying to him about my sickness or confessing the truth to him about my emotional breakdown and the reason for my spat with Edward, I decided to remain as truthful as possible by telling him about my disturbing nightmare. After all, the nightmare did make me feel sort of ill.

“To be honest, I’ve been having a strange nightmare lately and because of that I haven’t been sleeping well…” I started to explain to him.

“Do you want to tell me about your dream?” Lucien asked gently. If Natalia is having nightmares on repeat it might be linked to her fear. Perhaps I should get a skilled psychiatrist to help her? Lucien thought to himself silently.

I began to describe my dream of being lost in the middle of a dark forest in the rain to Lucien. He listened intently and expressed his sympathies for me. He showed no indication that he is familiar with an event where I went missing or got lost in a forest. So, as I half expected, the event in my dream probably did not occur in real life after all.

“Could it be your fear of the forest and the wilderness that is plaguing your dreams?” Lucien suggested after hearing me out.

“Perhaps. I don’t remember why I hate being in the wild so much though. Nothing like the event in the dream happened to me before, right?” I had to ask just to make sure.

“I don’t recall anything. You’re a city girl after all. Why would you get lost in a forest? I mean, we do have a pretty large garden in the family compound, but it clearly does not resemble a forest,” Lucien was firm in his answer. He really seemed like he couldn’t believe that I could ever get lost in a forest given that I never headed out to one in the first place. I guess he is right. I have to start letting go of my fears.

“I guess you’re right. I’m truly sorry for worrying you,” I apologized for causing him trouble once again and for not being able to tell him the whole truth.