Series: Lee Savino
Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
It’s a monster, scary enough to give a child a lifetime of nightmares.
“He’s waiting. He’s your strength. You have to let him out.”
I say nothing. I don’t even have the energy to tell him “I can’t.”
Teddy studies my face and sighs. “This is my fault. I was wild, just like you. I fought with you too much. I didn’t realize it then, but I was trying to provoke you to embrace your bear. If I’d realized that sooner, I could’ve done a better job and just talked it out instead of fighting.”
I glare at him. “This is my dream, and you're making it about you?”
“This isn't a dream. And your mate needs you.” The light flares in his eyes, and I see his own bear looking back at me. “You’re out of time. Remember what I told you.”
He steps back, bunching his fists. I recognize his stance well. He’s about to start a fight.
I raise my hands. “Wait–”
He knocks my defenses away and socks me right in the face.
Teddy
I wake with a gasp, flailing. Something’s trying to strangle me, and I let out my claws to tear it to pieces.
“Teddy,” Lana calls. She’s right next to me. “It’s okay.”
I force myself to stop fighting, feeling wild. I’m in the living room in our new mountain home, lying on our leather couch. Lana’s beside me, sitting on an ottoman. Matthias is standing behind her.
Shreds of baby blue fabric litter my chest and the floor.
I brush them off. “What…?”
“It was a blanket covering you,” Matthias says. “You destroyed it.”
I sit up and rub my face with both hands. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Lana holds out a hand and waits for me to take it. I pull her into a hug, needing her solid warmth to ground me.
After a long embrace, she pulls back and lets Matthias check me over. He must be satisfied with my vitals because he leaves and goes into my guest bedroom, quietly closing the door.
“Did it work?” Lana asks. “Did you make a connection?”
“I think so. I don’t know.” The trance state put me into a dream that was so real. “I saw Darius, spoke to him. I think he got the message.”
I rise to my feet, unable to sit any longer. My knuckles throb like I’ve punched someone. Darius has just a hard head in a vision as he does in real life.
The door to our guest room swings open, and Matthias walks back out, escorting Paloma’s sister Wren. She looks pale and shaky, and I rush to help her sit down.
“Did it work?” I ask. “Did you reach them?”
“It worked.” Wren says. Matthias helps her sink to the couch.
“Give her some space,” he orders.
Lana tucks a blanket over her shoulders. I jog to the fridge to get her a glass of water.
Matthias holds it, so Wren can drink. After a moment, the color returns to her cheeks, and she clears her throat. “They’re alive. I can sense them both.”
“Did you get any impression of where they were?” Matthias asks.
She nods. “In a steel frame building, like where you keep a small plane. I sensed a lot of land around them. Forest. Some mountains. There was a stack of boxes with a logo on them. A circle around an X. Both the circle and X were made of silver chains.”
“Got it,” Matthias rises and pulls out his phone. “I’ll let Kylie know. She’s tracking all private plane flights in the US. This will help her pinpoint where Thompson could’ve taken them.” He heads outside to make his calls.
“You did good,” I tell Wren. “Thank you.”
She nods. “I linked you and Darius, so you could give him the message.”
Goosebumps rise on my arms. I don’t know how these psychic visions work, but when I stood there with Darius beside our childhood home, it all felt real.
“I gave him the message,” I say.
“Then it’s done.” Wren blinks and lifts her head. Her eyes have a dreamy quality. “Now it’s up to him.”
Darius
I come to, thrashing awake. I can’t move much. I’m upright and bound to a hard surface by heavy chains.
I’m in the same space as before, surrounded by guards. Thom and Paloma stand a few feet away.
“Darius.” Paloma strides towards me, but two guards grab her and pull her back. “Let go of me.”
“Paloma,” I growl. I don’t like anyone touching her. Neither does my bear. He lurks under my skin, but doesn’t fight to come out.
I remember my dream–the dream that Teddy told me wasn’t a dream. It felt so real. My face throbs from where Teddy hit me. The pain is good and clean and invigorating compared to the sickening weakness the silver brings.
In my dream, my bear was a misshapen monster.
Embrace the bear, Teddy told me.
“Tell him,” Thompson says to Paloma. “Tell him what we plan to do to him and all his shifter friends.”