Destined for Dreams: Book One Read Free Page B

messes with the dial on the radio until a rock band blasts through the speakers. She turns the volume down a notch and cracks her window to let in fresh air.
    I smile gratefully at her, then turn away. “Will there be boys?” I tap my fingers on the arm rest.
    Alyssa smiles. “Lots of them.”
    My chest tightens from excitement and anxiety. I don’t have any other friends at the compound and I’ve never been on a date either—not that my father would allow me to go on one anyway. Now that I have some freedom, I don’t know how to feel. What if my nightmare inflicting side starts to show? How can anyone like a monster?
    “Maybe we should go back,” I say after a minute. I don’t really want to, but meeting new people is scary, especially with how unsafe it is outside the compound. It’s dangerous not knowing people’s intentions and I’ll have to be even more guarded.
    Alyssa changes lanes as we drive into the city. “You don’t really want to go back.”
    “What if something bad happens?”
    “It won’t. I can see things coming, remember?” Alyssa has a point. While her visions aren’t always concrete, they can show her how things play out. She can keep us safe.
    I glance out the window. Alyssa slows down because of heavy traffic and then merges into the right lane and turns onto a narrow one way street.
    I grip the dashboard, afraid of getting trapped on this street with nowhere to go, but then the street connects to a wide alley that turns into a small, private residential parking structure. A security guard hands Alyssa a permit and she tosses it on the dashboard, and then she maneuvers through the parking structure until we reach the middle level.
    I follow Alyssa out of the car and she loops her arm through mine. An elevator is to our left, but Alyssa pulls me past it and to a stairwell in the corner. She pulls the door open and I step in behind her. Our footsteps echo off the concrete walls as we climb up two flights of stairs and through another door that leads into a large lobby.
    Plush black couches are positioned around a coffee table that sits on a large red and gold area rug. Modern, black-framed portraits of people I don’t recognize line the walls and on the opposite side is a set of opaque double doors.
    Alyssa guides me across the lobby and waves at the camera stationed in the corner of the ceiling. The door clicks and automatically swings open into a narrow hallway with dark wooden floors.
    At the end of the corridor, a troll leans against the wall with a built in computer. His short, brown hair is styled to the side and blue-framed glasses sit low on his thin nose as he reads a magazine. The sleeves of his green dress shirt are rolled up to his elbows and his dark-washed jeans are a little too long on his short stature.
    He looks up and tucks the magazine under his arm. His brown eyes reflect green in the dim lighting and he offers his hand out to Alyssa. “You’ve brought a friend, doll face,” the troll says, looking me up and down.
    She kisses the man’s cheek. “This is Nadia, Cian. I’ve told you about her, remember?”
    He studies my face for a moment. “You’re lovelier than I imagined.”
    I offer my hand and he takes it. He kisses my knuckles, his lips lingering, and I gently tug my hand away. Trolls can be possessive if you give them the chance.
    “It’s nice to meet you.” I step back to put distance between us. “This is my first time away from—”
    Alyssa bumps my shoulder. “Home,” she says, finishing my sentence. “Nadia has never been to the city before.”
    I was going to say that it was my first time away from the compound in a long time, but I’m glad Alyssa intervened. I almost blew our cover. No one needs to know where we came from. It’d get back to the council one way or another.
    Cian raises his eyebrows. “You’re going to enjoy it here. All members are welcome.”
    I nod and he opens the door.
    Alyssa touches Cian’s arm before leading me