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Prologue

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful, raven-haired girl, with rose-red lips and alabaster skin. She had stars in her hazel eyes and pain in her fragile heart. She didn’t dream of fairy tales the way other little girls did. She grew up collecting fragments of her fractured fairy-tale dreams, caught between two worlds—slumber and the waking.

I am the little girl. She is me.

A dream is defined as a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep. My dreams have defined me for as long as I can remember. And he’s been a part of these thoughts and sensations for as long as I’ve been dreaming. But I’ve never seen his whole face. The man with storm clouds for eyes.

I’ve seen bits and pieces of him over the years. His alluring lips curving into a wicked smile. His capable hands gripping a worn bow. His dark hooded cape shielding his face as he moves through the trees like a fox.

And that’s exactly what he is. A hunter. I don’t know how or why, but I know this in my heart. Just like I know I’m his prey. I should be afraid and run—but I can’t. I’m frozen. Not in fear… but in the familiarity of him. I’m captivated by my own personal bogeyman. Paralyzed by my desire.

Hunted by the man who haunts my dreams.

And when I wake up, it’s the reality that haunts me, as I hunt for answers about my past instead of preparing for what my future holds. Nothing could prepare me for that—not even the premonitions clouding my subconscious like a blizzard.

Someday my prince will come… and hunt me.

Chapter 1

Adelaide

“I had the dream again,” I confess, allowing myself to sink farther into the plush velvet sofa.

“Which one might that be?” he asks, knowing exactly which dream. The same damn dream I’ve been having most of my life… the one that chips away at my sanity a little more each year.

“You know the one.” I sigh.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Would I be here if I didn’t?” I snap, instantly regretting the poison in my tone.

“Your sessions stopped being mandatory a long time ago, Adelaide,” he gently reminds me.

Like I could forget. I aged out of the system years ago, but this place for broken minds and shattered hearts is the only home that I’ve ever known… or at least the only one I can remember.

“Walk me through what happened.” Doc nods, encouraging me to share so he can update my chart—still crazy.

“This time was different.” I settle in deeper, deciding how much to say, already knowing I won’t tell him about the hooded man that has been getting closer every time I close my eyes. But never close enough to touch.

I can’t help the pang of regret, nor longing I feel. Or how messed up it all sounds. Good thing I didn’t say it out loud.

Doc has pretty much heard it all, either as a psychology professor or in his private practice, Sieben Haus. This is the only thing I’ve ever held back. And I need to keep it secret just a little longer. It feels too intimate. Too raw.

“Different how?” He looks up from his yellow pad of paper, waiting for an explanation while I battle with myself.

“I was there.” It comes out in a rush, and my cheeks fill with the breath I’m now holding, along with the secret of my dream hunter.

“Of course you were.”

“I. Was. There.” I enunciate each word carefully. “I woke up with melted snowflakes on my cheeks.” My fingertips caress my skin as déjà vu chills me to my core. “Explain that.”

“Tears, perhaps?”

“No—yes. Maybe?” I hate this confusion. It follows me around like a dark cloud. Like my memories are just on the other side of a door, locked inside my mind. My abandonment issues stand guard with my insecurities as their weapon of choice.

“Just start at the beginning.” His calm voice reassures me. I can do this.

I close my eyes, trying to remember. “It started the same as always. In the forest. It was dark and cold. I could hear a cry—or maybe it was a scream. It was a piercing sound, just above the wind. I wasn’t afraid, not at first. But I knew I needed to find the source. Someone was calling to me—needed me. So, like always, I did just that. I walked until I stepped to the edge of the woods, and I followed the sound of agony as it got louder and louder, and it led me out of the shadows of the snow-covered trees.”