I cursed softly and half reached out to wake him, then paused. I wasn’t entirely sure he’d talk to me about the dreams, let alone the assault, so maybe it was better if I used the link rather than make any attempt to discuss what he’d experienced because of it.

I closed my eyes and reached to him mentally, sending wave after wave of soothing thoughts. As his movements finally began to calm down, I added the belief—the need—to express his feelings, to give them voice and, as a consequence, give the experience less power to hurt him in the future. I had no idea if it would help, but I also had nothing to lose by trying. He might have only felt echoes of what had been happening to me, but that didn’t make his sense of defilement any less real.

It took me a while to drift back to sleep, and I wasn’t entirely sure my dreams were any less traumatic than Jackson’s, because I woke up feeling less than refreshed.

A knock at the door in the other room jerked me awake. I sat upright, sparks instinctively flying from my fingertips. A murmur of voices followed; then the smell of bacon and toast hit my nostrils, and my stomach rumbled in response. I threw off the sheets, dragged some fresh clothes from my bag, and got dressed.

“Morning, sunshine,” Jackson said as he came back into the room. “It would appear we didn’t have any uninvited guests last night.”

“I gathered that, given the alarm didn’t go off.” I tucked one leg under me as I sat down at the small table. “How did you sleep last night?”

He shrugged. “Had a few dreams but nothing too bad.”

Right. “Jackson, we need to talk—”

“As a certain redhead keeps insisting, I’m okay.” He placed the tray on the table between us, then pulled the covers off the plates, revealing not only bacon and toast, but eggs and beans as well.

“I don’t think that’s exactly true—”

“Fae don’t do emotions—”

“Fae don’t do love,” I cut in. “But you have the full quota of everything else.”

He grinned. “That I do.”

I picked up the napkin and tossed it at him. “I’m trying to be serious here.”

“Then I seriously don’t want to talk about it.”

I hesitated, but there was little point in going on about it. It’d only annoy him, and possibly make him even more reluctant to talk. “I’m here when you do.”

“Good.” He took one of the plates and a couple of slices of toast. “So what is our plan of attack today?”

“Well, I never did get to search Janice’s place, so maybe we should go back there. She must know something. Otherwise, why would Amanda have tried to get rid of her?”