I yank my hands back, shaking, staring down at Thane and an apparition of me that weeps over his lifeless form.
The same veins of gold crawl beneath my skin, glowing brighter, burning hotter until pain tears through me.
“Stop!” I scream, but the ground opens beneath me, flames bursting through the cracks. The trees catch alight one by one, hot licks of fire curling into the shape of snarling wolves.
Then comes the whisper, threading through the roar of the flames—smooth, silken, and cruel.
“You can’t save him, Willow,” it roars, taunting me, haunting me with the truth.
My breath turns to smoke. “Who are you?” I demand, and a figure steps out from the fire, cloaked in black, eyes like pools of obsidian that reflect my terror.
“You were never meant to love him,” the voice hisses. “Your love is meant for destruction.”
The ground trembles violently, and the flames roar higher.
“No!” I cry out desperately, clutching my head as light bursts from my palms, the same golden fire consuming everything around me. The figure lunges—and suddenly, there’s a hand on my arm again.
Thane’s voice, rough and desperate, breaks through the chaos.
“Willow! Wake up!”
The dark, ashy world shatters. I gasp, choking on the air as the nightmare tears away. The dark of the bedroom folds back around me—familiar shadows, the faint glow of moonlight filtering through the curtains. My throat burns, my body slick with sweat, and I barely register that someone’s holding me upright until I hear his voice again.
“Hey…hey, it’s me,” Thane says softly, his voice hoarse, a steady hand on my shoulder. “You’re safe. It was just a dream.”
Blinking rapidly as I gasp for breath, I take the water Thane offers me, chugging it down in one gulp until my parched throat is quenched, and images from the nightmare I had come flashing through my mind.
“It was a nightmare,” I correct Thane as I pass him the empty glass, catching a glimpse of his side profile when he turns briskly to place the glass on the nightstand.
A stark contrast to what I saw in the nightmare, Thane's face is full of life now. A wave of relief washes over me, and with it comes a flood of emotion that rushes in, confusing me with its intensity.
“I know…” Thane whispers gently, turning to face me, his forest-green eyes ensnaring me in their warmth despite the darkness of the room. Wrapped in only the natural light of the moon, his tanned cheeks appear golden, but not the color I've been afraid of in my nightmares.
This gold oozes warmth—the kind that has me absentmindedly lifting my hand to touch his face as my eyes flicker back to his, another bout of relief washing over me when I feel the warmth of his flesh beneath my palm. But I also feel the magnetic tingle in my fingertips, the first stirrings of awareness that have been setting in ever since I returned to Girdwood.
This time, I don't flinch or mentally recoil from the touch. This time, I'm amazed.
Perhaps it's the aftermath of that strange dream—nightmare—that has me clinging to this moment as if to make sure he's truly still alive. What I saw was too real to bear, and though it doesn't make sense, it also makes perfect sense, considering what Rissa told me.
I'm not sure if I'm ready to believe it yet, but how much longer can I deny the strange sensations running through my fingers?
Is it because of him?
Or because of what I saw in that nightmare?
It felt like a warning.
And the worst part is that touching him sparks something inside my skin, electric, alive, like my body remembers something my mind refuses to believe.
That scares me more, and has me quickly snatching my hand away, aware that for a moment, I lost myself. For a moment, Thane didn't even flinch and allowed me to keep my hand pressed to his cheek.
Quickly averting my eyes, I clear my throat and try to become numb again, but my trusted defense mechanism isn't working fast enough. Glaring at my own hands as if they've failed me, as if they've betrayed me by touching him, I become highly aware of the scent filling the air.
Tobacco.
Mint.
My brows instantly furrow, and I snap my head up at him accusingly.
