She’s smirking at me, full of satisfaction.
I slowly turn my head to the side and horror grips me. At my side is Moe, with her head on my shoulder, sleeping peacefully.
Then this… that female is…
“Don’t squirm,” she murmurs as she snaps her fingers and whatever control I had over my body disappears.
I can no longer move, and any effort to do so elicits more knowing smiles from her.
“We don’t want to wake up your lover, do we?” she whispers as she moves closer to me, her face hovering over mine. “What would she say then? If she saw you fucking another?”
I try to speak but I can’t. Nothing works as I’m trapped in my own body. I can only stare at her.
Who is she? Why does she look like Moe?
Who—
Another snap of her fingers, and memories flood me—everything she’s done in the past while wearing Moe’s face.
I move my eyes wildly around—the only thing I have control over.
“Shh, just pretend I’m her. You’re so good at that anyway.”
She presses her lips at the corner of my mouth in a soft kiss—far softer than her words. “Come on, don’t be shy. We have the same face, anyway. You can lie to yourself that I’m her so it doesn’t feel like cheating.”
I’m drenchedin sweat by the time I wake up. A nightmare. Just a nightmare. Yet within seconds, although the feeling of horror remains, all particularities about that bad dream disappear.
I frown to myself. What was it…
“Moe?” I call out her name instinctively, stretching my arm to find her in bed. But the only thing I touch is cold, empty sheets.
“Moe?” I repeat, this time getting out of bed and looking all around the room. She’s nowhere to be seen.
Panic engulfs me. I quickly put on some clothes and run out of the room, letting my senses extend for hundreds of steps in each direction to find her. My shadows instinctively follow my commands, twisting, turning and moving like an army of minions.
They ransack the markets, the obelisks, the ruins. Until…
I let out a sigh of relief as I run toward her location. She’s just outside the food market. But as I get closer to her, I realize she’s not alone.
She’s laughing at something her companion says, her face full of happiness and mirth.
“Nyk! There you are!” She waves at me when she spots me.
I slow down and then come to a halt in front of them.
“You…” I grit out, the anger from before resurfacing a hundred fold.
“Oh, don’t worry. She’s not our enemy, Nyk! I met her by chance and thanked her for everything. She’s so nice, she said she’s been marked for a Culling before, too, and that’s why she saved us.”
I stare at her in shock. Just what the hell is she planning by approaching my Moe? Something nefarious, no doubt.
My hands ball into fists as I barely control myself tonotattack her—regardless of the fact that I’m no match for her strength.
“Is that so,” I mutter in a low, aggrieved tone.
“This is Nyk, my—” she pauses as she meets my eyes, her cheeks suddenly reddening.
“Her mate,” I say curtly.
