Dangerous words.
The human coaxes me to her bed, and I sit balanced on the cloud-like blankets. She startles me by coming right up and stroking a hand down my face. The moment we touch, an incredible warmth goes through me, strengthening what I already know to be true.
“What are you doing?” I mutter.
“God, you look so real,” she tells me. “And damn, you’re hot. You know, I really was starting to think my brain was broken, but then you come along.”
I don’t think about what I do next. Reaching out, I wrap my arms around her back, and it feels so…natural. I stare at her, trying to grasp how this broken and fragile little female could destroy us. “What are you afraid of?” I ask her, still thinking about her nightmares.
Her smile becomes strained.
“Why do the nightmares torture you, mate?” I prompt when she doesn’t respond.
Her weak smile turns into a grin again. “Mate? Are you an Aussie? I’ve never dreamt about an Aussie before. Is it true you ride kangaroos to work, and they carry you in their pouches?”She peers around like she’s fully expecting to see a kangaroo as my dream steed. It’s fucking ridiculous, and yet, I can’t stop my smile.
“No,” I tell her. “You’re my fated mate, little one. As in?—”
“Wait. Do you mean like in romance books? Oh…” She laughs. “I would have been happy with a friend, but if you want to call me your fated mate that’s even better. I’m definitely down for a spicy dream instead of a nightmare.” She brazenly slides a hand up my chest, and I freeze as warmth trails under her palm leaving sparks everywhere she touches. “I could almost believe it too, because you feel incredible,” she continues. “I swear, all I can think about is jumping your bones right now. God…why can’t all my dreams be like this? You don’t have tentacles by any chance, do you?”
I frown. “Tentacles? No, I do not. Is that a problem, mate?”
She pouts, but she doesn’t look too disappointed. “It’s okay, I figured that might be too much to ask.”
I open my mouth, intending to let her know that I could use my power to ensure she never dreams again, but before I can speak, she presses her lips to mine as a single tear slips down her cheek.
And I’m lost to her. Instead of banishing her from my mind, I surrender to the light, allowing her to indulge in her fantasies.
One night…
That’s what I tell myself. One night, and I’ll leave her alone forever.
My mate is an addiction I can’t deny. Days pass, and while the dreams change as often as my mate changes her faces, her appearance constantly morphing, each night I’m drawn to her, desperate to make her dreams filled with ecstasy and my nights filled with warmth. Every time, I tell myself I’m only visiting so I can finally rid her of her dreams for good before severing the connection, and every night I stay until she wakes in the human realm. I never ask her what her life is like in the waking world. I’m already walking a fine line, and if I ask, I know I’ll end up falling in deeper.
Raith is the first one to pick up on my change in mood. My eagerness for sleep. The odd smiles that pull across my face during waking hours. Fuck, since when had I smiled so big in the centuries I’ve been immortal? When a week has passed, I finally confide in my brother, and he convinces me to pull him along into the dream. He was supposed to provide me with the support I needed so I could say my farewell and sever the connection, but instead, we make our mate scream, her cries of ecstasy echoing throughout her broken dreams. The pair of us spiral into her, cherishing her together. We are addicted lovers without an ounce of remorse. Only pleasure, darkness, and drunk on sunshine.
Until the queen discovers our mate.
We’re not sure how.
I vow to sever the connection to our mate, to appease the queen. I beg on my hands and knees in the shadow palace, ready to kiss the very ground the queen walks on, something I’d never subjected myself to for any reason, but I would if it would spare my mate. The queen’s magic can be dark and volatile. Unpredictable.
But my pleas aren’t enough.
“Promise me, she won’t be harmed,” I remember my words like it was yesterday. “The magic of your curse should be focusedon me and the others, not on our mate. She’s innocent in all this. Spare her your wrath.”
“We were hand selected,” Queen Krosia says, sneering down at where I kneel. “The war must be won at all costs. One human is not worth the lives of billions of souls.”
Her words create a vice around my heart, and I breathe deeply, struggling to keep my shadows under control. Power bubbles under my skin, sizzling through my veins. “Her sacrifice is not needed. The prophecy states we must only beware of our bond to our mate. And we have not bonded.”
The queen scrutinizes me.
I forge on, teetering on the edge, so close to losing control. “You said yourself, the curse you place on us will make it impossible for us to find our mate. There’s no way she will be a danger to us. She doesn’t need to be involved.”
The queen sniffs. “Provided you give me access to her dreams, the curse will be effective, and your connection will be severed, but your mate will not be harmed.”
There’s only one way for the queen’s curse to reach my mate. Through the connection of dreams. I shouldn’t believe her. I know deep down, the queen cannot be trusted, and yet, I bow my head. I don’t see another way out of this. Not when the queen has threatened to hunt down our mate in the human realm if I don’t comply with the terms of her curse. I had known from the beginning the connection had to be severed. As long as my mate lives, she will be fine without us. As long as she’s safe, I don’t care what happens to me.
“Don’t let the queen find her,” my brother’s plea reaches my ears, his words desperate.
