The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

again, soothing, cool. He loved her touch.
    And then, unbelievably, he felt a press of cold blade and a jerk of the ropes. He opened his eyes to see Natalia busily sawing at the ropes around his throat with a tiny knife. Her face screwed up with the effort, she was a lady not used to cutting anything more difficult than an apple.
    Ochen watched her, unable to help, as the knots loosened and the horrible pain lessened. At last she pulled the ropes from around his neck. She touched the burned flesh where the rope had been, tears tumbling down her cheeks.
    Ochen licked away a tear, loving the salty taste of it. She moved around him so she could reach the witch rope that bound his wrists. Her dress brushed his skin, her perfume sweet.
    “I can’t let you die,” Natalia whispered. “It doesn’t matter whether I see you again. You’ll be alive and safe.”
    Pain robbed him of too much breath to argue. His leg throbbed in agony, and it was tempting to slip back inside her fantasies to ease the pain. But too dangerous.
    “What are you doing?” someone shrieked.
    Lady Delia stood in the doorway, still in her overly ruffled ball gown, flanked by the two hunters who’d beaten Ochen senseless.
    Natalia didn’t look up or stop cutting the ropes. “I’m letting him go.”
    Delia strode in and seized Natalia’s shoulder. “You have no right to. He’s mine.”
    Natalia shook her off. “He’s a living creature, not a slave.”
    “He’s a Dream Catcher. Do you know how hard they are to find, you stupid woman?”
    “He’ll die if I leave him here,” Natalia snapped. “Then you won’t have him any more. What’s the difference?”
    “The difference is that he hasn’t done my fantasy yet. You had your turn. Now it’s mine.”
    “I can’t help it if he connected with me first.” Natalia sounded the slightest bit smug as she continued to work on the ropes.
    “You really are stupid, Natalia. He ‘connected’ with you because I told him to. I promised I’d free him if he did. I wanted him to make a fool of you, because everyone knows what your fantasies are.”
    Natalia stiffened. She glanced at Ochen for confirmation and he nodded once. Delia had told him to choose Natalia, to let her live her sexual fantasies while she stood in the middle of the ballroom. If he did that, she’d have her hunters untie the ropes and let him go.
    Things hadn’t gone according to plan. Ochen had chosen Natalia all right, but the connection had been real, deep and strong. When Natalia would not let Delia humiliate her in front of the others, Delia had refused to let him go. Going to Natalia in her dreams had been his choice.
    The pain that flooded Natalia’s face flooded him, too. He expected her to stand up and walk away, to leave Ochen to Delia’s mercy.
    Instead she put the knife to the rope again. “It doesn’t matter.”
    “You really are pathetic, Natalia. He is my property.”
    “Slavery is illegal on Bor Narga.”
    “Human slavery. He’s not human. He’s animal.”
    One more cut, and the ropes fell from his wrists. The burning ceased.
    “He is free,” Natalia said quietly.
    Ochen touched her cheek. “Thank you.”
    Delia shouted at her hunters and lunged for him, but Ochen had already formed the clear thought of his own lands in his mind. He aimed there, and Natalia, Delia, her hunters and the tiny room dissolved into light. The last things he saw were Natalia’s beautiful brown eyes, then he was home.
    “So how was it?” Natalia’s mother peered at her over breakfast the next morning in the elegant dining room. Carefully placed screens kept the desert sun from being too harsh, and the result was a room of cool shadows and splashes of light.
    “Terrible.” Natalia picked at her cold grouse eggs. “Delia did have a Dream Catcher, but he got away.”
    “Good for him.” Arene Sorvenska sniffed. “I’d hate to be bound to that woman.”
    “Yes, Delia’s men beat him. But he’s gone now.”
    “Evil little witch. Best you don’t have anything more to do with her, dear.”
    “No fear, Mama.”
    “Good.” Arene sniffed and went back to reading her beloved newspaper.
    Natalia had half-expected Ochen to come to her in the night. He hadn’t, of course. He was likely back in his mountain realm, wherever it was, healing and doing his best to forget about his captivity.
    It wasn’t his fault he had to use me to free himself. He was desperate. It’s nothing personal.
    She should be used to men using