What is this place? Why am I here?
Another step, and I feel the pressure grow stronger, pushing against me, but I keep moving. The cage calls to me, but I’m not sure if I want to answer it.
Then I notice movement in the far corner of the cage, and I realize there’s someone there.
“Hello?” I ask, hating how loud my voice sounds.
I wince, waiting for a monster to materialize out of the darkness and attack, but there’s nothing.
The figure in the cage stirs, and then I hear a soft, tentative, “Izzy?”
“Christian?” I quicken my pace until I’m directly before the cage, and I wrap my hands around the metal bars.
And there, huddled in a ball, is Christian Montgomery.
His dark hair is longer, brushing his ears, and he appears paler and thinner than before. Dark smudges underline his eyes, and his cheeks are hollow. He wears the exact same outfit he wore when I last saw him—a dark-blue flannel shirt over a gray tank top and jeans—but the material is worn and stained, riddled here and there with holes. Scruff covers his jawline, giving him a wild, disheveled look.
“Holy shit.” Christian blinks at me. “I’m hallucinating, aren’t I?”
What a strange dream.
I ache to reach through the bars and touch him, caress his face, but he remains just out of reach.
“The last time I saw you, your wolf had taken over,” I murmur, gawking at this dream version of Christian. “Are you…?”
“The bastard trapped me in here.” Christian gives an undignified snort and throws his head back against the bars. “But at least I’m crazy enough to finally hallucinate you. I missed you so damn much, Izzy.”
My heart skips a beat at his confession, but I force myself to breathe. Of course my subconscious would have him saying that to me. It’s what I’ve been wanting for weeks now.
The last time I saw him, he was completely consumed by his wolf—feral, out of control, a beast trapped in a human body.
But this man in front of me, this man with the gaunt face and wild eyes, is Christian.
He shuffles forward on his knees until he grips the bars in front of me. “Izzy.” His voice is ragged, and a tremor reverberates through him. “I-I don’t know how to escape. My wolf trapped me here. I can’t get out.”
His words hit me like a punch to the chest, and my breath catches.
I shake my head and grip the bars of the cage, my hands directly above his own. “This isn't real, is it? You’re not real. You’re just a dream.”
His pinkie, caked in mud, brushes against my own, and lightning strikes through my body.
“Maybe my mind conjured you because it knows this is the end. I don’t know how much longer I can fight.” He licks his unbearably chapped lips. “I’m so scared, Izzy. There’s only darkness here. Darkness and this cage.”
I know this is a dream, but I can’t stand to see the desperation in Christian’s gaze. His raw, broken voice stabs at my soul like a flaming blade, and all I want to do is reassure him.
“Fight,” I whisper, hooking my pinkie around his. “You need to fight, Christian. You’ve always been strong enough. You can do this.”
He lets out a sound—half laugh, half sob—and he grips my hands so abruptly that I jump.
“Iamfighting, Izzy. I’ve been fighting for what feels like years. I can’t stop it. I can’t stophim.” His breath comes in ragged gasps, and desperation pours off of him in almost palpable waves.
I don’t know what to say, what to do. My mind is still reeling from the impossible reality before me, but I don't want to lose him—not like this. Never like this.
Even if it is only a dream.
“Then fight harder. Please.” The words slip from me before I even realize it, raw and pleading. “You can do this. Youhaveto do this.”
He stares at me, his eyes searching mine like he’s trying to find something—anything—that will make this nightmare stop. I feel the weight of his gaze like a clump of concrete on my chest, cutting off my air supply, but I force myself to suck in a deep breath. I can be his strength for him. Iwillbe his strength for him.
