Matt, where are you?
Nothing but darkness answered.
I pulled his covers over me. When Trix huddled close, I finally opened the floodgates, and let the tears flow.
6
Anna
At first, there was only darkness as the pills took me deep.
But then, my feet landed on solid ground, and the moon pushed through to give me light.
I was on the plateau.
The fact I wasn’t in the forest—I closed my eyes against the sudden prick of tears. Was it a sign that Matt was truly gone? I cast around for any sign of him, or of Sebastian in his equine form.
There was only silence.
My sorrow filled me to overflowing. I held clenched fists against my chest and raised my eyes to the burgeoning moon. I wasn’t Dire, but if I didn’t release this, it would consume me.
I tilted my head back, and howled.
It soared through the night, filled with all my pain. My first effort ended on a sob, but I filled my lungs and tried again, pouring everything I felt into the tortured notes.
No one answered me. Had the drugs Xumi given Matt taken him too deep to dream? I felt like my heart was shattering.
And then a scream filled the air.
Not a human sound—this came from a throat much larger. But the pain running through it matched my own.
I looked to the sky, and I saw him. Coming straight at me in full dive, his wings folded tight to his sides and lips pulled back from massive teeth. A moment of sheer terror pulsed through me—but the moonlight glinted indigo off his scales, and my heart knew him.
Talakai.
He was magnificent. I found myself stepping forward as his massive wings spread, the wind crackling against them. It halted his progress until he hung only feet above me—his eyes glowing blue against the night sky.
“Talakai,” I said. “Come to me.”
With a deep rumble that was almost a groan, he dropped to the ground. He couldn’t settle enough to fold his wings, but crouched there, staring at me.
Was he real, or something my imagination had dredged up? No way, really, to know for sure.
“Do you know where Xumi has taken you?”
He snorted, his breath steaming in the cool night air. “No.”
“Matt.” Talakai shook himself like a giant dog and looked away from me. “She wills kills him, ifs he can’t gives her whats she wants. I can’t stop her.”
I started to tremble. No way this wasn’t real. My imagination couldn’t dream this stuff up. “What does she want?”
He didn’t answer right away, but then the luminous eyes snapped to mine. “She wants to hurt him. And then fornicate with him.”
The agony in his voice pierced me to the core. Is that what Xumi had done to him? I swallowed. I couldn’t imagine someone hurting my Dire. Forcing him to... “Matt is strong—”
“Nots strongs enough,” he hissed. “Ands he says he is bondeds to you, so hes cannot responds to her. Whens he fails, she wills kills him.”
What? Not wanting to was different from not being able to. But before I could ask that question, Talakai continued.
