Dream of Us

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Dyani’s POV.

We didn’t shift into our fur to travel to the compound, we wanted to be able to communicate with each other and Denali thought an attack would be easier in human form. The moment we get off the compound, we shift. We have to wait for Calian because it takes him longer to change form, it’s been so long since he last did it.

It’s uncomfortable to watch him be in so much pain. He looks like I did when I first shifted. I feel his agony as his body contorts unnaturally, doing something that will become fluid and painless the more he does it. Once he has finished shifting into a chestnut-coloured wolf, he shakes out his fur and nods, telling us he’s ready. We take off back in the direction we came, heading back to the rental car.

When we get there, we shift back and change into the clothes we’ve carried in our mouths. In the car, Denali drives and Sian takes the passenger seat. Calian and I sit in the back. We both can’t stop looking at each other. Being near Denali and talking to him unlocked memories in the furthest recesses of my mind, it is clear that it will also happen with Calian.

I want to ask him what I was like with him, what his memories are and perception of me is. It’s a strange situation to be in, where someone knows you already and has memories of you that you can’t access.

“I can’t believe he got away with it,” Calian murmurs, but we all hear him.

“He won’t, brother. We’ll make him pay,” Denali promises.

Calian gives me a heartbroken look and then turns to stare out of the window.

“Ten years, gone...all of Dyani’s memories. Nuka.” His expression turns angry, his face becoming hard. “We need to kill the bastard.”

“Amen,” Sian mutters from the front.

“We will,” I promise him, surprising everyone in the car with the strength of my voice.

This man, be him my biological father or not, must pay for what he has done to me and the people I care about. I have no qualms about being a part of this, I’m ready to avenge my mates and my friend.

“I’m taking us back to the airport,” Denali announces as he turns onto a motorway. “We’ll need to stop a clothing store to get supplies for Calian.”

Calian looks down at himself. “I guess I’ve grown a bit over the last decade.”

Denali smirks at him through the rear view mirror. “Just a bit.”

When we pass a shopping outlet and Denali pulls over for us all to get out. Calian is only in a pair of shorts, so Denali gets him a top out of his suitcase. Sian and I go for food, Denali, and Calian break off to get him some clothes and everything else he’ll need. Once we’ve raided the food hall, we wait for the guys back at the car with bags full of food for all of us. I’m hungry after all that fighting and such a big adrenaline rush.

Calian and Denali come back looking pleased with themselves. I admire my mates as they approach, feeling a rush of excitement that these two men are all for me. Calian has changed into black cargo joggers and a grey crew neck sweater. He’s wheeling his own travel suitcase now, no doubt filled with clothes.

How did I get so lucky?

“You just focus on your burger before you start off a heat again,” Sian teases next to me.

I nudge her and take another massive bite of my cheeseburger.

We hit the road again after everyone has eaten. In the back of the car, I book us four tickets to the final destination, where Nuka is being held. We all know to expect it to be much harder this time. By now, King Inteus must have heard that we have Calian, so he is probably doubling, if not tripling, the security around Nuka.

I go to sleep in the back of the car. Not because I’m particularly tired or I’m being rude, I’m hoping that being around Denali and Calian will help me remember more of my past, and it does. My dreams are vivid, they feel so real as I’m pulled into memories I haven’t accessed for years. They chop and change a lot with little transition, making them a bit jarring and confusing at times.

One moment, I’m in the woods with my three mates. We’re messing about, splashing each other in a river. My mates keep tackling me, sending me under the water until I’m soaked and complaining about being picked on. Then the scene changes and I’m dancing around the house with them, music blaring loudly from the radio on the windowsill.

I wake with a start, making everyone else jump in the car as I call out something unintelligible when coming round.

“Goddess, Dyani,” Sian breathes, inhaling quickly. “Don’t scare me like that!”

“Sorry,” I mumble and rub my eyes.

“I take it you were dreaming?” Denali asks from the front of the car.

“Yeah, some memories came back,” I reply, and both of my mates perk up with excitement.

“Like what?”

I explain the dreams to them, and they fill me in, explaining what happened on those days. Apparently, my three mates liked to gang up on me a lot when we were teenagers. I was always complaining about being the only girl in the group.

“You never complained about that when it came to being in bed together though,” Calian jokes.

“Ugh, really!” Sian complains.

My face feels so hot right now.

“Airport’s ahead,” Denali’s observation cuts through Calian’s laughter, making it stop short.

Like before, we’re all on high alert as we park the car and wheel our luggage towards the giant building. There are lots of people travelling today so it is easy to blend with the crowd.

“Keep your eyes open, he’s more likely to have sent guards to the airports because he knows we’re coming,” Denali tells us as we enter the building. “It’s going to be worse when we land. Be ready.”

It’s the same process again for going through security and waiting for the plane. The travel time in the car was tighter this time so we don’t have to wait as long to board. Sian sits with Denali and Calian and I sit together on the opposite side of the aisle, Denali asked for us to book it that way to give me some time to talk to my mate alone. He is really so considerate.

“How have the last ten years been for you? Catch me up, I want to know everything,” Calian asks me the moment the wheels of the plane leave the ground.

It’s a short flight, only a few hours. We talk the entire time. I know that Calian has been in the same comatose state Denali was for the last ten years, but he has so much to tell me about his -our- childhood. I want to know what his life was like, even before he met me as a teen. He listens as I tell him about my experience with my foster family and give the brief details of my short relationship with Jaymie. I fill him in on meeting Denali, then known as Adrian, and how we came up to this point.

When we land, he’s up to speed mostly. WE carry out suitcases off the plane and head straight for the exit. We don’t see anyone suspicious until we enter the main atrium of arrivals. There are three guards, we all spot them individually. One of them tries to make a call and Denali rushes forward, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back just as he puts his phone to his ear.

Our group tries to look inconspicuous and casual as we hurry over to them. The other two guards close in as I snatch the discarded phone off the floor.

“We need to get them away from the humans,” Calian says as we huddle around the guard Denali has in a strong hold.

“We can leave via that exit and go towards long stay parking,” I point to the doors.

“Find somewhere secluded,” Calian says as he starts towards the guards who have almost reached us.

We gather some attention as we head for the exit, mainly because Denali is strong-arming one of the guards, threatening to break his arm if he makes a sound. Once outside, the guard starts fighting Den, who pinches his neck and sends him unconscious.

One of the guards goes for Sian, who runs towards the corner of the building to lure him away. Calian and I take the other, grabbing him as he lunges for me. We drag him around the corner as Denali follows, carrying the unconscious guard over his shoulder.

“We need to get out of here before human security sees,” Denali says and drops the guard on top of a dumpster lid.

Calian knocks our guard unconscious. I help Sian drag her guard over and we make a neat little pile of them on top of the bin. We gather up our bags and walk calmly to the taxi rank like nothing happened.

“Taxi!”

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The rental dealership I find on my phone is far better than the ones in the airport that had long queues. The taxi drops us off and we’re driving away in a rental half an hour later. Denali explains to Calian that three of us are going to need to concentrate on Nuka to be able to locate him.

It takes us over an hour of driving around to get close. We have to keep stopping and closing our eyes to feel for the right direction. We must look very strange to anyone driving past, like a group of meditators with poor Sian sat amongst us.

“When we actually find his location, we’re going to need all of our magic,” Denali informs us. “Not just to break the mage’s barrier, that should honestly be the easiest part if we managed to break Calian’s with only two of us, three will be fine. No, we’ll need our magic to fight off the sheer amount of guards I’m expecting.”

“King Inteus has had twelve hours to prepare,” Calian comments.

“That’s more than enough time to increase protection.”

“I can feel the bond getting stronger,” I tell them, and my mates agree.

“We’re close, they must be up ahead in those trees,” Denali points.

“But that’s human territory, it says it’s a nature reserve,” Sian reads the sign we pass.

“King Inteus thinks he’s being clever. We’ll have to be careful; we can’t have any human casualties.”

Denali drives down the gravel road and parks in a car park with a load of other human tourist cars. We get out and look around, feeling for Nuka.

“He’s that way,” I tell them with confidence, pointing south-west of us.

“Let’s go get him.”

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