My Omega. My wild wolf.
Mine.
My inner Alpha roars in delight.
The moonlight makes Freya’s fiery hair glow. She looks even more beautiful than I remember. How is that possible?
She is dressed in a plain linen dress with a carnelian sun in the middle.
Did Lanlin dress her in that? My lip curls into a sneer.
I am instantly distracted, however, by Freya’s scent of roses, which fills the cavern along with her pheromones.
I can’t hold back my growl, staggering to my feet.
Fuck, I need her.
“Aurelius!” Before I can take a step towards Freya, she is throwing herself into my arms. She knocks me back into the wall. “I’ve fucking missed you. I wish that you were real.”
I freeze.
She thinks that this is a normal dream.
I should tell her the truth.
Yet I can feel the simple happiness that is flowing through the bond, as Freya nuzzles me. Her touch along my scent gland and her pheromones are curing me, and I take as many deep breaths as I can.
Who knows when I will be able to again?
As soon as I tell her that I am real, I know my Freya.
She’s as likely to stab me as to nuzzle me.
“You’re shaking.” Freya peers up at me, and my chest tightens at the genuine concern in her eyes. “If this wasn’t a dream, then I’d be worried that you were close to feral from lack of my pheromones again. This is probably what this dream is all about. Fuck a troll, after I’ve seen how tough things have been for Lanlin, it’s made me terrified about what you must be suffering, despite everything.”
I attempt to not react at Freya’s mention of Lanlin.
I pull her closer to my neck, stroking up and down her back. “I’d suffer anything, as long as you aren’t. I have been protecting both Daire and you from the beginning, even if I had to hide it from others by making it look like hurting you. I simply didn’t know how best to protect myself or the entire kingdom, when there was so much at stake. Yet I have been plotting toward that my entire life. Give me time, and I will give you an empire.”
It’s strangely easy to talk to her, when she doesn’t believe that I am myself.
Freya pulls back to study me, as I stroke through her silky hair; I like that my blood from my injured hand is marking her.
“What if I don’t want an empire? What if I just want my pack?” She asks.
“Pack? And who would it include?” I narrow my eyes, suspicious.
Freya settles against my chest with a sigh. “Keep playing with my hair. I hope that I dream about you every night. Although, you’re nothing like the real Aurelius. He’s never like this.”
My expression hardens. “Hmm?”
“Oh, he walks around with this huge stick up his ass, as if it would break him to show a single emotion. He’s not gentle. He doesn’t say what he thinks but banters like a cold hardass. The Alphahole sent Daire and me into danger.”
My cheeks redden.
Tarquin used to say to meonly listen at keyholes if you want to hear in excruciating detail what people hate about you.
I didn’t know if it was advice to spy…or not to.
