The Dawn of Dae (Dae Portals Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

hallucinations? I hadn’t had a hit of any hallucinogenic in years—and it had been over a year since my last episode.
    I was over the drugs… wasn’t I?
    I had dreamed up a lot of weird shit while on some form of drug or another, but well-dressed men coming out of my refrigerator was a first. Sighing, I considered my options. Screaming and finding some sort of weapon to bludgeon the invader with topped my brief list, but I was tired enough it seemed like too much effort.
    He recovered first and said something in some fluid language. I wasn’t even sure if he was saying words or just making a string of really, really nice sounds. If it was a language, I wanted to learn it. It was sensual, soft, and soothing.
    “I don’t have any idea what the hell you’re saying. Get the fuck out of my apartment,” I snapped, stepping aside and letting go of the door. He brought up his elbow to prevent it from closing on him. I pointed at the front door, which was all of ten strides away.
    When he laughed, his eyes sparkled, and their color enthralled me. The blue was bright and intense, as vibrant as the dawn sky. I sucked in a breath and stared.
    I’d never seen anyone with eyes anything like his.
    I didn’t like older men; I wasn’t supposed to like men at all. All they did was make me miserable. He lifted his hand towards me, and I flinched away. Lines creased his forehead as he frowned.
    “Pardon me, but might you be able to direct me to the city hall? I seem to have taken a wrong turn somewhere,” he stated, and his English was as sexual as the other language he had spoken.
    I should have screamed profanities at him, but unable to string two thoughts together let alone get creative, I stammered the directions.
    “Sorry to bother you, Miss…?”
    “Alexa,” I blurted.
    Before I could stop him, he grabbed my hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed the back of it. His mouth was soft, warm, and sent shivers crawling up and down my spine. My brain fired off warnings of imminent pain so strong my toes curled in anticipation of misery.
    He let me go, shoved his left hand into his pocket, and smirked at me. “Do you have a last name, Miss Alexa?”
    The polite way he spoke threw me off balance, and I mumbled my last name before asking, “Who are you?”
    “Alexa Daegberht. That’s a nice name. I’m Rob. I like you, and I think I’ll make you my woman.”
    My mouth dropped open. “You’ll what ?” I shrieked. I drew a breath to curse at him, but in three long strides he was gone, waving a farewell before closing the door behind him.
    I had to be suffering from hallucinations. There was no way a man had come out of my refrigerator, asked for directions to City Hall, and then declared I was his woman. It was too absurd to be reality.
    Maybe Kenneth had slipped a hallucinogen into his cigar, a subtly devious one with a long set-in time. Maybe I hadn’t even made it away from the couch, collapsing in exhaustion from my long day without breakfast or lunch. After the day I had, screwed up dreams seemed appropriate. Maybe I really was asleep.
    My macaroni and cheese chose that moment to flop out of my refrigerator onto the floor. It hit the worn vinyl tiles with a splat. Instead of scattering like it should have, it bounced and jiggled, leaving neon-orange smears in its wake.
    “Mommy!” my macaroni and cheese squeaked.
    There was only one thing for a sensible girl like me to do. I fainted.

Chapter Three

    The ceiling was covered in neon-orange smears. I blinked, but the stains remained. I groaned and blearily checked the rest of the kitchen. Cheese coated the floor, the cabinets and counters, and even the refrigerator I so loathed. The culprit of the culinary catastrophe bounced around my head.
    “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!”
    My macaroni and cheese was talking to me, and like a child on a sugar high, it darted to and fro in its excitement.
    Like my kitchen, I was caked in neon-orange cheese. The back of my head throbbed, a