As I enter my house, Willow's lingering scent in the air rouses my inner wolf when it hits my lungs, and I lick my lips as if I can still taste her. Chuckling under my breath, I stroke my bottom lip as I recall her flavor, stifling the urge to find her and grab her and crush my lips to hers again.
Resistance is going to be harder than ever, especially after last night. My inner wolf has tasted its fated mate's essence and has become addicted to it.
There's no going back now.
Just as I'm about to arrive at Willow's door, her faint moans and whimpers drift down the hallway, stopping me in my tracks as my heart sinks.
It's happening again.
She's having a nightmare.
Zapped into action, I push open her bedroom door and rush to her bed, falling to my knees beside her as I grab her shoulders with careful force.
“Willow…Willow, wake up…you're having a nightmare,” I prompt, but Willow's twisted face tightens, her fingers tightening in the sheets as her body writhes against an unseen force.
“Your love is meant for destruction,” she whispers in a voice that sounds detached from her lungs, ominous and dark, but I'm not stricken with fear. I need to get her out.
“This was always going to be your fate….”
“Willow!”
“Huh?!” Willow bolts upright, her eyes flying wide, glossed over with tears as she notices me.
I try reaching out toward her, but her brows knit with furious accusation, her body tensing as she presses her back against the headboard.
“Don't, Thane,” she warns, her voice still echoing the deeper octave of her voice in the nightmare. “Don't touch me.”
“Willow, you were having another nightmare. It sounded like a vision. What did you see?”
Her chest heaves, breaths coming in ragged bursts. “I said don’t touch me!” she snaps, voice trembling with fury she doesn’t even understand, eyes bewildered and unfocused as she glares at me.
I raise my hands, keeping my tone low. “I’m not your enemy, Willow. I just need to know what you saw.”
She shakes her head violently, index fingers digging into her temples. “You wouldn’t understand. Every time I close my eyes, I see burning…destruction…you, dying…”
The words hit like a blow, and my throat tightens. “It’s just a nightmare, Willow. You don't—”
“It’s not!” she screams, and the sound of her voice slices through the room. “It’s real, Thane! Every time you come near me, it gets worse! I don’t know what’s happening to me!”
I move in, trying to reach out again, but she flinches like I’ve struck her. The air becomes thick, an ominous hum rising between us, her palms glowing faintly gold beneath the thin sheen of sweat on her skin. She notices it, too, staring at her palms and gulping through unsteady breaths.
“Willow,” I whisper, sensing the shift in the atmosphere. “Breathe, okay? Whatever this is, you can control it. It doesn't mean—”
“I can’t!” Her voice fractures, raw with terror and trembling with fear. “Get out before I hurt you!” she pleads, and her desperation cuts deeper than the heat building in the room.
“You won’t hurt me,” I say, moving in to close the distance between us. “You won’t.”
But the moment my fingers graze her arm, a blinding, violent light explodes from her palms. The shockwave throws me off my feet, flames scampering up the bedspread, devouring the curtains in a flash. The air fills with smoke, the sound of cracking wood echoing through the cabin.
In a split second, fire consumes the bedroom.
Fire from Willow's hands.
Shit!
Elias warned me about this!
“Willow!” I roar, stumbling through the fire toward her, where she's stuck on the bed. She’s frozen, wide-eyed, golden light flickering across her trembling hands in short sparks.
