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I’m alone in my dreams. Void of companionship, color, and sound. It’s just me in a dark room, impatiently pacing back and forth. I’m tired, but I’m also restless. Angry, but strangely at peace. These conflicting emotions make no sense to me, just like the vast emptiness before me.
I should be somewhere, but no matter how hard I try to wrack my brain, nothing of importance comes to me. Nothing other than the whispers of someone needing me. Someone desperately wanting me to wake up.
But who?
Perhaps it doesn’t matter. I’m confined to the darkness with no chance of getting out. Or am I? The feeling grows stronger, paired with a sense of urgency. The need to be by this person’s side. It’s not just one either, though one voice reigns above all others, I hear cries from several voices, calling out not a name, but a title.
King.
Over and over again. King. That word gets overshadowed by another one though. One more powerful than that of a ruler. Mate.
The voice sounds female and so far away. Tendrils of fear snake around my body, but not ones that belong to me, at least not entirely. I think they belong to her.
Images of deep-auburn hair, silky-smooth skin, and the warmest of eyes assault my brain in rapid succession, changing from a happy woman to one bent and broken. A deafening roar rings out around me, but no one else is here. Just me. The sound came from me…but why?
More fear winds tighter and tighter around me until I’m suffocating, choking on fear that doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to her. A floral name. Daisy? No, that doesn’t sound right. Maybe…Rose.
Rose. The sweet smell of summer. A red wine so rare it is meant to be savored. Something that is mine.
Rose is mine.
The cold fear that washes over my body is my own. Rose needs me. Rose needs help. But where the fuck am I? A melodic sound calls my name, sounding like chimes on a windy day.
I take a step into the dark. And then another until I’m walking toward the voice. I’m directionless in this darkness, but my ears guide me. Closer and closer to the voice until it’s a loud ringing sensation in my ear. No longer pleasant, but rather an ominous ring hinting at an unfavorable outcome.
Take me to Rose, I think repeatedly. My voice doesn’t work here, but my thoughts do, and they are loud. Demanding to take me to Rose. To the people who need me before it’s too late. Before I lose myself.
“Rose!” I roar and for the first time, light filters in. I squint against the harsh lights, panting as if I just flew miles with no breaks in between. My heart threatens to burst out of my chest.
“My King!” A familiar voice gasps. It takes me a moment to gather my bearings, but soon my eyes focus in the bright room. Mina stares at me with wide eyes as if I have just startled her. There’s a nasty-looking scar sliced across her face that hasn’t been there before. I don’t ask her about it though, because my mind immediately zones in on the one person I want to see that is missing from my bed.
“Rose. Where’s Rose?” My voice cracks, dry from disuse. I would be embarrassed if I weren’t so fucking confused. I went to sleep and now everything is different. Wrong.
I don’t appreciate the look of pity Mina gives me. Not one bit. “Mina. Where is Rose?”
My words come out harsher than I anticipated and I immediately feel bad when she flinches. I go to apologize, but Mina is already speaking rapidly. “You’ve been cursed, My King. For a few days now. Rose tried everything she could to wake you, but she couldn’t and today they went to strengthen the wards and—wait! We don’t know if it’s safe for you to leave!”
The moment she said Rose is at the wards, I shift. My dragon erupts from me, painfully, after days of keeping him locked out due to the curse. Mina screams at me to stay, but that’s the last thing I plan on doing when my damn wife is in danger.
And she is in danger. I feel it. Her fear and desperation. It’s a rancid taste in my mouth that I can’t get rid of. It threatens to poison me unless I find her. I pump my wings faster and faster, closing the distance between us rapidly, but still too long for my liking.
Tracking her down isn’t hard. She’s screaming in our bond, though I’m not sure she realizes she’s doing it. Even while I was cursed, there was always something—no, someone—speaking in the back of my mind, begging me to come back. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s the reason I woke up. I’m certain of it.
Even if she wasn’t screaming out for me, I smell the blood and smoke from dragon’s fire. I hear the shrieks of the dying and wounded, as well as the victory calls of those who have slain their enemy.
More importantly, I see the Nephilim; their twisted soulless bodies wreaking havoc on my people and decimating my wards. And among the chaos somewhere is Rose. One small mortal in a sea of dragons and Nephilim.
Anger consumes me and fire erupts from my throat, raining down on the group of Nephilim attempting to break their way through the wards. Their screams should satisfy me, but they don’t.
Murmurs go through my head of the other dragons realizing I’m here. Most are relieved, thinking my presence will bring an end to this battle. If they believe simply showing up will be enough, they’re sadly mistaken.
More and more Nephilim break through my wards, I feel the invisible barrier deteriorating rapidly. I also feel Rose's work wrapped up in the wards and pride swells through me. My wife tried and I plan on helping her see this through.
I’m frantic in my attempts to find her. Rose’s terror is still evident, but this close to so many dragons makes picking her out a near-impossible task.
In my frenzy I almost miss him. The crouching Nephilim with his hand extended into a fist. He’s large, even for his kind. I fly lower and that’s when I see the eye patch covering his burnt side. My blood runs cold at the recognition of Gadreel, the Nephilim king.
Another scream fills the air, this one closer and familiar. I recognize her instantly, though it’s a scream of terror I never wanted to hear coming from her.
