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Philip snorts a laugh. “She’s amusing. I’ll give her that.”
Jules appears less amused, rubbing his lips together with uncertainty. “You’re not human.”
“I’m starting to realize that,” I say. “Quit stalling.”
He sighs, staring down at my hand as he sketches circles along my knuckles. “I know for a fact that it was werewolves who attacked our pack that day because I saw brief flashes of what happened to your parents through your eyes right before you disappeared.”
“You saw what happened through my eyes?” I ask in shock. “How can that be possible when I can’t even remember what happened?”
He shrugs then sighs, elevating his gaze to mine. “You and I were kind of close when we were younger, and sometimes when werewolves are close, they develop an alterum dimidium animae, which allows them to occasionally see thoughts and dreams through each other’s eyes.”
My cheeks flush as I recall the dream I had of kissing him. “How long has it been since that happened to you? Since you last saw my dreams, I mean.”
He sucks on the metal in his lips. “Well, up until tonight, I thought it was over a decade ago. But now that I realize you’re alive, I think it may have happened two nights ago. I just didn’t realize it at the time.” His gaze drops to my lips.
I work to appear indifferent. “Well, just for the record, I have that dream a lot.”
The corners of his lips quirk. “Of kissing me?”
“What? No! That’s not what I meant.” So much for playing it cool. “I meant that I dream of kissing guys all the time. Every night, in fact.”
His mouth curves downward. “Do you spend a lot of time kissing guys?”
I shrug. I’m such a fucking liar. The only guy, besides Jules, who’s ever kissed me was a werewolf who stole my first and only kiss. A one-sided, disgusting, horrible kiss. But I don’t want to admit this to Jules. Don’t want him to think that the only guy I’ve ever dreamt of kissing is him. Don’t want him to discover that he’s the only guy I’ve ever really shared a kiss with. Or maybe I just don’t want to admit any of this to myself.
Jules looks away from me, raking his fingers through his hair.
“You’re killing the poor wolf,” Philip muses with a grin.
Jules clears his throat, staring down at his hands. “Anyway, I saw what happened to your parents in a dream you had right before you died. You must have been unconscious.” His fingers fold inward, the rings pressing against his palm and causing the skin to blister. “I tried to find you, begged you in the dream to let me know where you were, but then you faded away and …” He pushes the rings deeper into his skin. “We tried to look for you. For years, we searched for you. But the longer our alterum dimidium animae remained silent, the more everyone became convinced you were dead.”
Unable to stand his self-inflicting pain any longer, I reach over and unfold his fingers. “Stop doing that. No one here needs to know to respect you.” Although, I’m starting to question if there’s more to wearing the silver rings than just earning respect.
He stares at the blisters engraved into his palm, the skin already healing. “It’s a habit.”
“Well, it’s a bad habit.” I run my finger along his palm, noting the bumpiness of his flesh. Old scars. His palm is covered with them.
I start to pull my hand away when he twines his fingers through mine.
“Do you remember anything about what happened that day?” he asks.
I shake my head. “I already told you the farthest back my memory goes is to when I was found on the side of the road in the Common Realm.”
“The Common Realm?” Philip’s face contorts with disgust. “That’s where you’ve been for all these years?”
“It’s not that awful,” I tell him. “No worse than here.”
Instead of getting irked, he laughs. “Yeah, we’ll see if you’re singing the same tune after you’ve become reacquainted with our world.”
“Maybe I don’t plan on staying here,” I quip. “Besides, my traveler’s pass expires in twenty-four hours.”
“You want to go back?” Jules appears hurt.
I feel like an asshole. I’m not sure why. I don’t know him. Or, well, I don’t remember him, so why should I feel bad for saying I’m going to leave this realm?
Because you don’t really want to leave.
I shake my head at the thought. “I don’t know what I want. All I know is that, besides Legend, I’ve tried to keep my distance from paranormals.”
