“Even she can’t give all the answers.” Journey squeezed my hand. “She’s the goddess of pairing; she-she can’t do everything.”
I balled my hands into fists and beat them onto the floor. “You can’t--give me the answers or won’t?” I yelled.
Grim grabbed his mate and pulled her back. “That’s enough,” he growled. “My mate and the Goddess can’t help you.”
“Easy for you to say! You have your mate. She is living, breathing!” I threw my hands back at them. “Put yourself in my position! My mate is dying on that table; what would you do!?”
Bones hunched over Nadia’s body, gently pouring water over her again. The dark fur on Nadia’s back was matted and clumpy, and the soft brown fur on her chest was still dry despite the water. Her chest rose and fell softly with each breath, and I could see my fingers trailing lightly over her fur.
My mate was running out of time. Going through a dream she thought was real, and I couldn’t help her. But if there was a way I could get inside, I could just tell her it was fake, that none of it was real, if only I could get in her dream.
I raised my head and darted to Journey. Grim was holding her tightly against his chest. The rest of the room was solemn, not sure what to make of the situation. But now I had a spark of hope. Maybe I could get to her, tell her it was a dream.
“Can I enter her dream?” I said out loud to no one in particular. “Can I get in her head, just like a mind-link, while she’s sleeping?”
The room was still quiet besides the chanting, the candles that surrounded the table where I stayed with my mate all but nearly burned out or put out by the water that continued to spill over the table from Bones trying to keep my mate’s body temperature lowered.
“It’s possible,” Bones muttered as he spilled the last bit of water on her body. “I’ve read about it in the other realm.”
Grim held onto Journey, her eyes glazed over with an opaque film over them. The last time I saw them like this was when she was speaking with the Goddess.
“You need to be connected to her physically to do this.” Journey spoke, and her eyes cleared.
Anaki cleared his throat. “Should we leave the room, then? Give them privacy?”
My friends glanced at each other and shook their heads. “We aren’t leaving,” Hawke spoke up. “We will turn our heads, but we won’t leave when our brother needs us. I don’t fucking care if it’s awkward.”
I blew out a breath and shook my head. “Idiots. No, a bite. A bite is stronger. The mating mark is stronger. That is the connection we need.”
Journey nodded, and everyone in the rooms backed away. I took off my clothes, watching my mate twitch on the table. She’d grown worse in the few minutes I had been talking, trying to figure out what to do.
I was so fucking messed up. I could feel my soul withering away while trying to figure out what to do, to save her, to save us.
Part of me wanted to shake Journey, to tell her to give me the answers, but the other part knew I had to figure it out for myself. In the end, I needed to know I could protect my mate on my own, that I had the power to do this myself, not rely on others. I was strong enough for both of us.
I stood naked in front of my mate, the candle light flickering on my body. I shifted, letting my body take over. My grizzly, now large enough to straddle the table and not move my mate while I hovered over her. She was still so damn small, a sun bear and a grizzly together. It was perfect for her small form.
I nuzzled into her neck, the side where I had graced her with my mark just nearly a week ago, and opened my maw. The chants were loud as they continued to hold her forehead. They gave me enough room as I took my teeth and quickly sunk them into my mate’s shoulder.
My mate winced, feeling my teeth sink into the muscle and straight into the bone. The mark pulsed between us, energy flowing through both of us, binding us together. As the energy intensified, a warmth spread throughout my body, and I saw flashes of light before everything went black.
I felt the jolt of pain she felt inside her dream. I was transported into the dream itself, and it was a war zone I could have never imagined.
It was a bloodbath, and it was real, so very real that I thought I was standing just outside the Iron Fang. My friends were lying on the cement in their own blood. I didn’t take the time to look at the bodies of my friends. I knew I had little time.
I ran through the bodies and right up to the scene I could hardly stomach. My mate, in her bear form, lying on the ground, crying, whimpering as she saw my grizzly sprawled on the ground with blood surrounding its neck. We were bleeding out, and she was trying to crawl to my lifeless body.
It all looked so damn real it could have fooled me.
That was when I saw Duke Idris laughing, gloating that her life was over. I took a step back, seeing the bastard. He looked exactly how I saw him months ago when we helped rescue Journey. This time I got a better look at him, and he was as terrifying to me in the dream as he was in real life.
I balled up my fists, feeling the heat of the fire on my face from the Iron Fang burning beside us.
There was no way my mate could do this on her own. This demon was powerful, wearing my mate down for years for this moment to finally take her life and soul away. Even with the bond, I could see that the demon was waiting for a moment like this. She had nothing to lose before. He was waiting until she had everything: a life, a home, a family, a love, so it would be easier to pull her into the depths of hell.
Not today. The demon wouldn’t win.
The demon must not have realized I had entered the dream because he paid no attention to me.
