AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It’s a few hours before sunset, so he should still be sleeping, which is probably for the best. Then I can deliver my shameful little creation without having to see his reaction.
The closer I get to his room, the more depressing the sight of the cake becomes. Especially given the effort he’d put into my birthday in comparison. Circumstances were entirely different then, but yet…
Maybe I should turn back now. Save him from having to pretend like this isn’t the most pathetic—
The bond twinges in my chest, and my steps slow as I blink hard, trying to keep the cake from falling. But now my vision is going in and out, and oh God—
The same familiarity I’d felt looking through the memories in Reid’s head envelops me as his dream materializes in place of the hallway.
It’s not the same as the memory itself, but the moment is instantly recognizable, even witnessing it from a different angle than the one I experienced it in.
Now, I stand by the door to Reid’s bedroom. The rest of the space is a blur of motion as men swarm Reid against the wall and a past version of me is tied to the bed. I look away from myself, not needing a reminder of what happens next, focusing on Reid’s face instead. It’s twisted in anguish, though by the look in his eyes, it has more to do with what he’s seeing than the physical pain of the stakes securing him to the wall.
“Reid,” I breathe, pushing into the room. But even then, he sees right through me.
“Please just let her go,” he wheezes, his lungs sounding like they’re full of water. “I’ll do whatever you want.”
There are more men in the room than I remember there being during the actual incident, more stakes securing him to wall, and even more bloody wounds in his body from where he’s torn some free.
He lets out a roar that’s more animal than human, but I don’t turn as I hear my own scream behind me.
“Reid, you’re dreaming.” I reach for his face, but my hands go straight through him. “Reid!” I shout, hoping he’ll hear me somehow like he did when I was in the shadow realm. “You’re asleep.Wake up.”
He struggles against the stakes, and rivulets of blood soak through his shirt. He manages to rip one arm free, but another man is there, stabbing a different stake into his shoulder.
“Take me instead,” Reid pants. “Leave her out of this.Leave her out of this.”
There’s another scream from behind me, this one blood-curdling and cutting off with a gurgle.
I stumble back a step, my shoulder connecting with a wall as I break out of the dream like bursting through the surface of ice-cold water. My fingers are in a death grip around the plate—it’s a miracle I didn’t drop the damn cake—and I close my eyes for a moment as I try to calm my breathing.
My chest tightens around my pounding heart. But it’s not my chest, I realize. It’s the bond, struck so tight between us it feels like it’s on the verge of snapping.
He’s still in the dream.
All common sense disappears as I reach his room and throw the door open.
But he doesn’t wake up.
He’s on his back in the bed, his chest rising and falling rapidly with his breath as his head twists against the pillow. Sweat plasters his hair to his forehead.
“Reid.” Discarding the cake on the nightstand, I climb onto the bed and grab both sides of his face. “Reid, you’re okay. You’re dreaming. Wake up.”
His head turns to face me, but he doesn’t wake.
“Reid.” I shake his shoulders. Is he still on those sedative potions to help him sleep? What if they’re keeping him stuck there? What if I can’t wake him up? “Reid,wake up.”
He gasps, then moves too fast for me to see. I hit the mattress on my back, and it knocks the wind from my lungs. He straddles my hips, his forearm pressing down on my throat and his fangs bared.
He blinks, realization dawning in his eyes, and yanks back, releasing me.
I gasp for air.
“Valerie,” he says breathlessly. “I’m—I’m so sorry—”
“It’s okay,” I whisper, my heart sprinting at full speed as I cup the side of his face. “It’s okay.”
“What are you…?” He blinks a few times, like he’s still trying to pull himself from the dream, and I push myself up to sit in front of him.
