He could only focus on contacting his nestqueen, praying to the Stars his pain didn’t spill through the connection. He needed her—to know he still existed and to return to him.
She was all that mattered to him, and he refused to believe he would never see her face again. He wanted to live for another chance to accomplish everything he wanted to, including performing a piece dedicated to her to a sold-out crowd.
Selena deserved to be worshipped by her clan and celebrated for all she had done for the demi-human and Circuli citizens on Destima. While she had support to push forward her vision, her ideas gave the less fortunate a second chance at life.
Like the second chance his nestqueen had granted him. That was all he wanted anymore.
His nestbrothers had drilled him about how selfish he was and how his drive—his base instinct to prove he was worthy of siring Selena’s offspring—was unduly pressuring their nestqueen, when she just had a litter of cubs.
Was this pain the Stars’ punishment for pressuring Selena to have more children? If so, he was glad to pay for all his misdeeds. He knew he had overstepped his boundaries before and had learned to back away and allow her to adjust to life.
They had years to be together, and plenty of time to sire offspring, if and when she wanted to.
Or, at least, he had thought they did.
What was that blinding light, and how had he seen the memories of what his nestqueen had experienced since she was gone? That shouldn’t have been impossible—yet, his Selena always made the impossiblepossible. He had always admired her determination and creativity. Still, he was confused about what he’d seen and how he’d ended uphere.
Staring at the sky, he sensed something was off about his surroundings. Lunkai hung in the sky like a purple marble. Destima was a small, water-based moon orbiting the capital of a sol system owned by Zirene, the powerful Sovereign of the Aldawi empire. The influence needed to provide their nestqueen with such a great gift—not to mention funding, managing, and protecting it—was no small feat.
It was also a reminder of how little Odelm had to offer her. Yet she only desired his love.
He had been too wrapped up in his troubles to see how lucky he was. If this were the universe’s way to tell him to treat his gift from the Stars—his nestqueen—better, then he would willingly accept it.
Anything to prove himself to Selena.
Sighing, he watched the binary suns in the sky prepare to set.
Something about the atmosphere feltwrong… as if the world around him were a part of the dreamdome, a copy of his new home designed to feel real, even though it wasn’t.
The sudden absence of pain was another sign things weren’t right, paired with his missing mental connections to his nestqueen and bondmate.
Then where was he?
A familiar presence materialized behind him.
Spinning, he collided with a glowing, teal form and stumbled back, tentacles flying up in defense.
Wait—what?
The irresistible urge to study the limbs he thought he had lost overrode his need to see who—or what—had just flickered into view then disappeared. He couldn’t fathom how he’d regrown his tentacles, when the last thing he could remember was the searing pain of their loss.
He hadseenthem sliced from his body in his nestqueen’s memories. So, this couldn’t be real, even though it feltincrediblyreal. He could taste the salt on the wind and had felt pain when he’d smacked into the teal form. Neither could happen in a hazy dream.
“Odelm?” The familiar deep voice of his bondmate sounded just as confused as he felt.
“Xylo?” Odelm pulled his gaze from his flexing tentacles to the male he hadn’t thought he would see again. They had shared the same fate. How was he here? “Is that you?”
Standing tall with his vines spread around him, Xylo stared at him in wonder. His clan’s Primary appeared, just as he had before they had ventured to the Aldawi capital, with his star-patterned body, dark-emerald moss, and darkening-violet underarm blades and petals. It was as if none of the damage he had witnessed had happened.
“It’s me, yes, but is that truly you?” Xylo scanned Odelm’s teal tentacles and stepped back when his vines dangled into view. “How is this real?”
“It’s not,”a warm tenor voice announced, the sound radiating from every direction.“Using your mental connections with Selena, my host, I pulled all of you into a psychic construct with her, so I can focus on healing your bodies. I am Euouae”
“Allof you?” Odelm repeated, dumbstruck.
“Is this what you had in mind when you asked me to trust you?” His hearts skipped a beat at the sound of Selena’s voice ringing true behind him, but he couldn’t bear to turn around. No matter how desperately he wanted her, he couldn’t handle the disappointment if she weren’t truly here. “Are you sure this is safe?”
“As safe as you are with your Shadow in your dreamscape, only this is a temporary psychic plane, not a dream.”
