27. Asher

ASHER

W hen I opened my eyes, I was lying on the soft grass, surrounded by a vast forest. Mist clung to the trunks and branches of the trees, but I wasn't cold. The forest felt very familiar, but I couldn't figure out why.

Slowly, I got to my feet and looked at my hands. My body felt and looked real, but I knew I was in a dream. As I looked around, I remembered I'd taken a potion to get here, and now I needed to find my fated mate mark with Phaedra.

Wait. Where was she? I started to panic, but it only lasted a second. She was asleep in a nest of that soft grass just a few yards away from me. She looked as peaceful as she had in my cabin, and just like then, I didn't want to wake her. But I had to.

I crouched next to her and stroked her cheek. "Hey, Phaedra," I murmured. "We have work to do."

She woke slowly, her long lashes fluttering. Her sapphire gaze met mine, and a sweet, sleepy smile spread across her face. My heart started to pound painfully, like it could outpace a second heartbreak.

Fortunately, her angelic expression only lasted a few moments; that was how long it had taken her to remember what we were doing here.

"I don't recognize this place from any of my memories," she said, letting me help her to her feet.

"That's because this isn't your memory." I gestured around. "These are Dagger pack lands."

"Oh." She glanced around. "Goodness, it's beautiful here."

My lips curled into a smile. "I think we need to find my mark first and yours next. Then we can break their hold on us at the same time."

"Right." She considered me for a few seconds. "Well, you don't seem uncomfortable. I'm guessing this memory is a happy one?"

I nodded. "I think so." I stared out at the trees, remembering my father's instructions: "Catch the biggest moose you can find. If you do, you'll be a man in my eyes." As often was the case, his instructions held a patronizing air.

"Well." She rubbed her arm, glancing around awkwardly. "Should I wait for you here? I don't want to poke around a precious memory."

"That's up to you, but I don't mind you tagging along."

The clothes I was wearing before I entered the dream disappeared the way objects do in dreams, and I shifted. In my wolf form, I shook out my fur, and immediately caught a faint, familiar scent. There was prey nearby.

The scent and the dream itself urged me onward. I knew what was about to happen next, and I felt sure that all I needed to do was let it play out.

"Asher, wait!" Phaedra called. "I can't shift for some reason."

I hesitated. Why couldn't she shift?

"My wolf is completely silent," she said as she caught up. "Maybe it's because we're in your dream?"

That must have been the problem. Dream logic obviously had nothing in common with real-life logic. I inclined my head, urging her to follow me while I kept my pace to a light trot. I didn't want to leave her behind, but my body was urging me to run after the prey I knew was there.

She jogged after me in silence until we stopped. She was panting as she touched the trunk of a spruce. "We don't have trees this thick on Wilcox lands," she said.

I looked up at her and pushed my nose into her hand. She smoothed her hand between my ears, and I trembled at her touch. I wished she could have seen my territory through her wolf's eyes. It was challenging and full of many scents. The world seemed so big and so small at the same time when such dense trees surrounded you.

And then I stood straight, catching the noise I'd been waiting for. It was a small chuffing sound that Phaedra didn't hear with her human ears. As if hot poker was jammed into my flanks, I took off toward the sound, just like I had when I was sixteen.

"Asher, wait!" Phaedra called.

But I couldn't stop myself when my prey was so close. Then I saw it: a huge moose whose black fur was sun-bleached to russet brown at its shoulders and back. It spotted me coming out from between the trees and gave a few warning stomps in my direction. Just like before, I wasn't intimidated. I took off after it. The moose bolted, much quicker and more agile than I remembered it being. I gave chase for what had to be an hour, but I was always just out of reach.

I stopped at a stream and gulped water, but it was tasteless and didn't quench my thirst. I didn't need to drink, but I was burning up. I jumped as something burst from between the trees, but it was only Phaedra. She was mussed, like she'd been rolling through the forest instead of running.

"What the hell?" she demanded. "I've been running after you for hours. "

What? I shifted to speak with her, my clothes reappearing as I did. "What are you talking about? It's felt like an hour to me at most."

" Hours, " she stressed again. Slowly, she calmed down and ran her hands through her hair and over her clothes.

"I've been trying to catch the moose I took down years ago, but it's always just out of reach. It didn't take anywhere near as long to catch it before." I scratched the back of my head. "It must be the god magic keeping it out of my reach."

"That's probably true, and that might explain why time has moved more slowly for you, too." She set her hands on her hips. "If that's the case, running after it won't work. We need to outsmart the magic."

"And how do we manage that?"

"Trap it?"

"But it stays just out of sight. I'd never get close to it in time to catch it." I crossed my arms, thinking deeply. "I could try… hiding from the moose instead and let it get close on its own. That's not the way I hunted it down in real life, but I'm willing to give it a try."

I shifted again and found the moose's scent. I followed it until I heard it grazing. Phaedra was nearby, hiding in one of the trees. I crouched down in the bushes, closed my eyes, and waited. If it stayed just out of sight, maybe the best way for me to outsmart it was to let my other senses take over.

I wasn't sure how long I sat there, but just when I thought it was getting me nowhere, the moose walked toward me. I waited for a while, listening to the sound of its steps until it was only a foot away from me.

I lunged forward and bit straight into the moose's neck. I expected the sweet taste of fresh blood to explode over my tongue, but my teeth struck something hard. It wasn't bone.

I dropped it on the ground and shifted so I could pick it up. It was a wooden puzzle box. As I held the box in my hand, I felt someone standing next to me. I turned, expecting Phaedra, but found my father instead.

He looked just as strong and tall as he had that day I took the moose down. I nearly stumbled back from him. People had always said I looked like my father, but I'd never seen the similarities. Seeing him now as he was then, I felt like I was looking into my reflection, only my reflection had brown, exhausted eyes, streaks of gray hair, and a full beard.

The landscape around us shifted as I met his gaze. We were standing in the small clearing where Phaedra and I had woken. My father placed his hand on my shoulder and patted it twice, stiff, awkward, and so very much like him that I felt a lump form in my throat. I'd spent so much of my life without his love or attention, so why did this make me miss him?

"Why did you give me this?" I asked, my voice a bit thick.

"Because I trust that you can open it," he replied. "Any man—any alpha can."

With that, he turned from me and started walking back to our compound. I was meant to follow him, but I didn't. I watched him walk farther and farther away until the trees and the mist swallowed him.

The rustling of leaves behind me told me Phaedra was coming from wherever she'd been hiding. Fortunately, it seemed she'd traveled with us when the landscape changed.

"Your dad was so cryptic," she said gently.

"He was always cryptic." I wanted desperately for her to wrap her arms around me. I wanted to hold her and have her hold me back, but as badly as I wanted it, I remained strong. We were here to end our bond, not encourage it.

"What is that?" she asked.

"A gift from my father." I forced myself to turn away from the spot where he'd disappeared. "He gave this to me after I took down the moose on my own." My stomach filled with knots. "But I never figured out how to open it. I just threw it away."

"Oh." She frowned at the box. "Your mark is probably in there."

"That's what I'm thinking." I turned the box over in my hands. "Maybe the dream version of the box will be easier to solve."

"For our sake, I hope so."

Before I could get started on the puzzle, the scenery began to morph around us again. Suddenly, we weren't surrounded by trees, but with the gilded walls of a large ballroom.