Dream of Us

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Dyani’s POV.

I watch my friend tear off a strip of fabric from her top and press it against the gash on her mate’s head. He barely even reacts, too caught up in staring at her.

“You’re so beautiful,” he croaks and then breaks into a coughing fit.

“I’m sorry,” she murmurs again, sounding pained. “I didn’t know.”

“It’s not your fault,” he reassures her.

He tries to sit up straight, Sian places her hands on his shoulders, steadying him.

“Where are you hurt?”

“I was thrown back by that ball of fire, I hit the wall. I think I’ve cracked a rib,” he says and then winces. “Yeah, I definitely have.”

“I’m so sorry, let me help you up.”

“Wait,” he says and reaches for her arm. “What is your name?”

“I’m Sian,” she tells him. “Sian Tsosie.”

“I’m Lieutenant General Michonne, but you can call me Chogan.”

“Chogan,” she repeats his name with a smile. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

I take his other arm with Sian, and we help him get to his feet.

“Do you need any help to take him outside?” I ask her.

She shakes her head. “I’ve got it, we’ll wait for you upstairs. Get Nuka back.”

I watch as my friend supports her mate down the corridor, carefully stepping over his fallen comrades. I turn back to my mates, who look determined, if not a little fatigued, as they stand opposite each other in front of the door.

Once more, we take each other’s hands and close our eyes. The spell on the door is strong, that much is palpable, I can taste the magic in the air. It’s sickly sweet, like candy floss. More than one mage set this up, that’s for sure.

“We can break it,” Calian mutters, as though he can sense my doubt.

It’s going to take a lot of energy, but we can do this. We all renew our focus and attack the door with our minds, combining our powers. Our hands alight and the fire burns bright enough that it flickers behind my closed eyelids. The heat is overwhelming as it grows between us, bathing the door in a golden glow of fire.

Tiredness starts to set in. My muscles ache, my fingers tingle and it takes more concentration than before to divert my power. I can hear my mates are breathing just as heavily as I am. I focus in on their energy, using their proximity to fuel my strength. The magic surrounding the door starts to give way. We sense out the weak points in the barrier and target them.

“A little more,” Calian urges us.

With a metallic groan, the door bends in the middle and swings open. I let out a shaky breath. Stars twinkle in my vision when I open my eyes. Calian lets go of my hand and puts it on my shoulder.

“Marita? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay,” I tell him and give him a small smile.

Curious to see Nuka, I lean my head around the door. Like Calian, he is strung up with a network of chains. My mates follow me into the cell. We begin breaking the chains. I watch Nuka as I work on pulling apart the links of the soft metal.

He has a darker colouration than Calian, but not as dark as Denali. His facial hair is perfectly trimmed, frozen for the last however many years that he’s had it. Somehow, my mates have aged but not become overgrown in hair. His hair has a healthy gloss to it, it’s in tight curls to his head on top and faded on the sides. His eyes open and stare unblinking ahead, his irises are pale hazel, almost like liquid chocolate caramel.

We help him out of the chains and set him on his feet. He shakes his head and takes a few deep breaths. Confusion mars his features as he looks around at us all. His eyes land on me and my stomach feels strangely fuzzy when our eyes meet.

“Dyani,” he whispers.

I blink in surprise as he pulls me into a tight hug. His scent surrounds me, a familiar smell of charred wood and forest pines. I breathe it in as I hug him back.

“Den, Cal,” he greets my mates, hugging them. He frowns as he pulls back. “Wait, where’s Inteus?”

“That’s what we need to find out,” Denali replies.

“We’re going to take him down,” Calian says with determination. “Together.”

Nuka stretches out his muscles and admires the devastation in the hallway as we lead him up and out of the building. It takes a moment for our eyes to adjust to bright light of day. I focus in on Sian and her mate, who is leaning against her. I cannot believe she has found her mate in King Inteus’ General.

Whose side is he on?

“What happens now?” I ask Sian as we re-group.

“Chogan needs to heal, and you lot need to rest, using your magic must have taken it out on you,” she replies.

“Sian’s right, we need to rest before we can go after Inteus, we must be at our strongest.”

“I’ll need to shift a few times,” Nuka says, pulling a face. “That’s going to be fun; not.”

“Let’s go back to the car and we’ll find a hotel for tonight, we can come up with a plan on the way,” I suggest.

Sian leads the way with Chogan. My mates and I hang back a little, giving them some privacy.

“Do you think we can trust him?” Denali poses the question we’re all considering.

“He doesn’t appear to be rejecting the mate bond, I believe his loyalty may have just moved to our side,” Calian observes.

“I agree, I think Sian will be more important than Inteus to him,” I confirm.

“We need to find out why he was serving Inteus in the first place, no one willingly works for that bastard,” Denali mutters.

Calian and Denali go ahead, leaving me with Nuka. It’s hard not to let my eyes wander as we walk beside each other. Like my other mates, he is very muscular. He’s more lean than the others, and even though Denali told me that he is the youngest, he looks it in his face. He has a more youthful appearance than the others. He’s closer to my height, too. Denali is 6"5 for sure, Calian must be about 6"4/3 and I would guess Nuka is six foot.

“What are you thinking about?” He asks suddenly.

“I’m wondering how tall you are,” I answer shyly.

He smiles at me. “6"1.”

“How do you know that? You surely were not 6"1 at fifteen.”

His smile turns into a grin. “Magic. Tell me Ani, how much have you changed over the last ten years?”

“That’s a question that’s impossible to answer, I don’t know what I used to be like.”

He stops walking, looking shocked as he turns to me. “Wait, you don’t have your memories back?”

“No, they haven’t come back fully yet. I keep seeing snapshots and bits and pieces, but I still don’t remember much.”

He frowns and shakes his head. “That spell will be reversed when we kill Inteus. The moment his heart stops beating, your memories should return.”

As much as I want to remember my past life, it makes me uncomfortable that we have to kill someone to get them. I have to remind myself that Inteus is not a good man. He has killed many people; he used my mother’s death to tear me and my mates apart. He doesn’t care about me.

“I’m sorry,” Nuka apologises, misinterpreting my silence. “I shouldn’t have been so blunt about it; he is still your father.”

“That man is not my father,” I snap a little harsher than I intend to. “He took my memories; I don’t remember him as my father, and I don’t want to. He means nothing to me.”

Nuka looks wary but smiles. “Good, that should make this easier.”

The car is up ahead. We take the suitcases out of the back, my mates change into proper clothes instead of their underwear, which gathers a few strange looks from passing humans on dog walks and picnics. I change my clothes because my smell like barbecue, which makes my stomach flip queasily because I know it’s burned flesh I’m smelling.

Sian and her mate sit in the back of the car. Denali and Calian take the front seats and I sit on Nuka’s lap next to Sian, much to his enjoyment. He puts his arms around me and nuzzles his face into my neck. He sighs with content, and I mimic the action.

“I’ve missed this,” he whispers. “I’ve missed you, all of you, so much.”

“This is so strange for me. You are all so familiar, yet I can feel that there’s things about you I can’t remember,” I confess to him.

“It must be frustrating.”

“Like you wouldn’t believe. I can’t wait to get my memories back.”

“Soon, Dee,” Denali promises from the driver’s seat.

We stop at a convenience store for food and medical supplies for Sian’s mate. She bandages his head wound in the back of the car. We don’t have to drive much further before a hotel comes up on the outskirts of the city, we book two rooms and convene in one of them first.

Sian helps her mate sit on the bed; the colour is already coming back to his face as he recovers. I look longingly at the other bed, desperate for some sleep. Everything aches and I really need to recharge after using all that magic.

“I don’t mean to be rude, Chogan, but we really need to know where your loyalties lie,” Denali states bluntly.

Sian looks desperately at her mate, who gives her a firm nod and squeezes her hand.

“As far as I’m concerned, my priorities changed the moment I laid eyes on my mate,” he says sincerely. “But there’s one problem. The only reason I was serving Inteus is because he has my sister. If he finds out I’ve swapped sides, he’ll kill her.”

I knew it.

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