In fact, I’m pretty such I love it.
But that’s… that’s a consideration for later.
Instead, I just hold her. Purr for her. Give her the strength she needs to fully rouse from whatever hellish vision made her cry like that.
Her face is still wet, dampening the skin of my chest as she buries herself against me.
It’s like she’s trying to escape into me somehow, or perhaps get to my purr. I’m not quite sure, but I keep the rumble going as her breathing begins to even out and her body relaxes. She’s not asleep, just… soothed.
“Thank you, Alpha,” she whispers.
“Grey.”
She giggles a little and the sound is almost drowsy. “Thank you,Grey.”
I smile because there was a hint of sass in that reply.
“Most Alphas prefer to be addressed by their titles,” she adds, her voice softening.
“With anyone else, I might prefer it, too. But I need you to call me Grey.”
She tilts her head back and her eyes look impossible bluer, maybe from her tears. “Why?”
“Because calling meAlphaawakens my beast,” I tell her honestly. “And you’re not ready to meet him yet.”
Ashlyn studies me for a long moment, the sadness seeming to slowly dissipate from her features. “I’m very familiar with beasts… from my nightmares.” Her words sound like a confession. Though, I’m not quite sure what she’s truly confessing.
“Are they visions?” I ask.
She nods, her white-blonde hair glinting from the low lighting in the room.
“Related to my sister?” It’s a hard question for me to voice, but I need to know.
When Ashlyn nods again, my heart stops.
“You can see her?”
She shakes her head then. “No. I… I can’t really see her, just feel her. Like I am her at times.”
My stomach clenches, thinking about what she’s saying.
The writhing on the bed.
The screaming.
Ashlyn saying she doesn’t see my sister, but sheismy sister… at times.
“Like this dream you just had?” I press, my voice barely recognizable.
Her brow furrows. “Er, no, not quite. It… it was a combination of visions. Cause and effect.” Her lips twist. “It’s hard to explain, and I can’t voice too much without risking a change.”
“Given how much you were screaming, I think achangemight not be a bad thing.”
She swallows, the movement slow and purposely. “In my experience, changes are never for the better.”
My chest aches with the thought. “I don’t know what you’re seeing, but if that’s happening to my sister?—”
“It’s not,” she interjects. “That… It’s related, yes, but not her.” She closes her eyes and takes a breath. “Give me a moment, please. I’m still trying to process and I’m struggling to explain.”
