He stiffened. “It isn’t a physical thing. I mean, I’m reacting normally. Keen. Ready to go.”
Her eyes seemed to peer straight into his soul. “Then what is really going on?”
Tyrez shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never felt like this before. It’s like I really don’t want to go through with it. If it wasn’t too late to pull out, I would do so.”
“I can speak with her if you like.”
Shards.His mother, calling off a mating? He’d never live it down. “No. I won’t have an issue mating her. Whatever this is, I can’t let it interfere with my life.”
She snorted softly. “Are you dreaming of him?”
His jaw dropped. How had she known that?
“Youaredreaming of him.”
He looked away. “I have, yes. But I’ve had dreams with Dani in them as well. And in one, she turned into a Dragon—”
Her silence had him glancing back at her. Eriana’s eyes had widened. “She turned into aDragon?”
“Yes. A black Dragon. Small. Not crystal enhanced.” He shrugged. “But they were just dreams.”
Eriana stood suddenly, and stared at the swirling clouds through the narrow window. Tyrez rose to move up alongside her.
“Mother? What is it?”
“They may not have been simple dreams, Tyrez.”
He’d come to her to ask that very question. But now, he realized he hadn’t been prepared for the answer.
“Do Dragons experience living dreams?” He barely recognized his own voice.
She hesitated before answering. “I have personally known two Dragon couples that were soul bonded. There are more, but as you know, they are not common.”
His heart accelerated. Soulbond. A rare phenomenon among Dragons. It was exactly as it sounded, a soul-deep pairing that linked two Dragons for as long as they both lived. It was the one and only time Dragons sank their teeth into each other—the exchange of each partners’ individual virus was part of what bound them together.
Was that what he was experiencing? Was this Firashe destined to be his mate?
“Even if a soulbond is possible, I don’t understand why you have dreamed of both of them. Or why you are attracted to Dani.” His mother’s brows had lowered.
Tyrez sighed. “Perhaps the dreams are just that—dreams.”
She glanced down to his wrists. “Perhaps. But if you don’t find him, you may never know.”
He gritted his teeth. “I will make arrangements to get Dani to the Watcher and see if the other women will participate.” He hesitated, and then added, reluctantly, “I will also speak with Cara about the possibility of Dani staying with her.”
Eriana’s eyes flashed. “The only way forward, my son, is through.”
17
Dani blinked up at the vivid-red drapery over her head. It all came rushing back. The fight in the cemetery. The Dragon, and his crazy family. And finally, his mate.
Then Ash—in her dream...
She sat up. Her body felt stiff, as though she’d been lying there a very long time. The clock inset in the wall meant little to her, but the light coming in the huge opening sent longer shadows across the floor. Surely she hadn’t slept for an entire day?
Her bladder insisted that yes, she had. She took care of the issue and then returned to sit on the bed. When was the last time she’d slept like this? She couldn’t, not on the street. Not only was concrete not as comfortable to lie upon, but she had to be alert at all times. If she wasn’t, she might not wake at all.
Odd that she’d let her guard down sleeping under the wing of a Dragon. It was as though she trusted him. How could that be?
