“Teddy? Did you just talk to me?” Her voice was a jumbled mess, filled with tremors and uncertainty.
I’ll be damned.
Anaki’s presence caught my animal’s attention. He darted his head and found him knelt by the doorway, his neck bared in a submissive bow, and his eyes closed. “Nadia, are you alright? Bear sensed something was wrong, and he shifted. This is the first time I’ve even seen his grizzly and uh…” Anaki swallowed. Fear radiated from his body and resonated into the room.
My grizzly didn’t mind him. Either he didn’t find him a threat, or he knew I found him as my brother. I hoped for the latter, but we hadn’t talked about it. We never really were the talking type.
Anaki stood slowly. “What happened? Did you levitate again? Do we need Journey, the witch, and the warlock?”
My grizzly snapped his head and roared at Anaki.“We will protect her!”he yelled inside us. He turned our massive body off the bed and toward Anaki.
“Easy there, Teddy Bear!” Our mate’s gentle hands grasped our colossal head and pulled us back toward her. “Come here. Don’t you want to stay with me?”
Nadia rubbed her face next to ours, and instantly, she became the song that calmed the beast. Even me with my worry about a fucking nightmare being stuck in her head, she put that worry away to ease our rage and take care of us instead.
Fucking hell, I didn’t deserve her one damn bit.
We followed her as she sat down, our head laying on her lap, and she leaned against the headboard.
“That was a nightmare that haunts me. It was out of my body. It’s never done that. I woke up, which normally I can’t wake up from a nightmare—and it was there in front of me while I was awake.” She shook her head. “It was mad at me. It scared the hell out of me. Then Teddy came in roaring, and it jumped back into my head!” She rubbed her forehead, the slight crease forming between her brows.
My animal rose from her lap, making the bed creak, and licked her forehead. She smiled and rubbed behind his ears. “Nom, nom,” she chuckled.
Anaki shifted from foot to foot in the doorway. “Bear didn’t stray too far. Besides, we both thought since you actually had a nice dream, your nightmare had gone.”
Nadia pursed her lips together and continued to pet rub our ears. “To be honest, I thought so too.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Nadia
Therushofpanicand fear had long evaporated, leaving me in a state of calm as Teddy enveloped my body. His massive head rested gently on my lap, his velvety ears nestled between my breasts. With each breath, his chest rumbled, emitting a comforting purr that resonated between us. In this serene silence, no words were exchanged between us.
We didn’t need to. There was a direct line of emotions going through each other. It was the strangest feeling that I was still getting used to. He held fear and anger, and, most of all, he felt helpless.
It made me acutely aware of the power emotions held and their ability to transcend barriers and bridge the gap between two individuals. And as I navigated this new territory of raw vulnerability, I couldn’t help but wonder how our shared emotions would shape the path ahead between us.
It will either help or curse us.
There was a nightmare inside my head. A demon, maybe a phantom that cursed my dream world while I slept. It wasn’t Teddy’s fault it was back in there, but he thought he could capture it with his teeth, but obviously, that would not happen. Was there a chance Teddy would now see him in my dreams since we were so emotionally connected now?
Would he feel my fear while I slept? There wasn’t anything he could do, no physical being he could latch on to.
Teddy snarled. I could feel his lip curl as he raised his head.
Anaki backed away from the door, reaching his hand in his pocket, and began dialing. Teddy lifted his head again, taking his massive form to go after him. I gently tugged on his ear, guiding him back towards me. “Nuh, uh, come here, big boy.” He groaned and plopped back on the bed, and the bed squeaked beneath us.
I need some air,I thought.
Staying in this dark room only reminded me of the dark shadow that hovered over me when I woke up. I didn’t need that reminder. I needed the sun on my face, the cold air wrapping around my body, and the leaves crunching under my feet.
Teddy snorted, his deep rumble vibrating through the room as if his body was burdened with weight. He mustered the strength to descend from the bed and tenderly cradled my hand in his massive jaws. He was delicate with me, pulling me to the closet and opening the crack in the door.
Bear’s clothes lined one side, while mine lined the other.
I let out a laugh and ran a finger through the sweaters, jeans, and jackets. “Guess you are letting me outside, then?”
Teddy huffed and sat down, waiting for me to change.
