20. Dreams

Stumbling, my body weakening with every step I took, I made my way home to the small hut I shared with Axel. He told me it wasn’t called a hut, but rather a cabin. It had a few rooms and all the modern conveniences that I enjoyed. Despite being very plain, the cabin had tasteful decorations. I would have preferred more of the forest to be represented in the home we shared. Still, there was time to make it our own. Or we could choose to wait until our house was fully constructed before creating a true sense of home. We had plenty of time to decide what to do since our home was lower on the list than others.

Time was something elves had plenty of. Regardless of my mother’s wishes, I was staying with Axel until I was really needed at home. Besides, I had not completed my mission and solved the fertility crisis. I would not leave without the answers I sought.

Every day we seemed to get further and further away. It felt hopeless at times.

Shifters, elves, others, all called out to me as I made my way home, my energy rapidly dwindling, but my focus was solely on telling Axel what had happened. He deserved to know before I faded.

I could feel the darkness pulling me under. It took all the strength I had to just put one foot in front of the other to get home to him. I should have remembered to charge my cell phone.

For hours after I’d assisted Hiroshi with the healing, I’d felt unstoppable, giving me a false sense of security. Energized beyond anything I had experienced before, I had run through the compound to tell everyone I needed to about what had happened.

A shifter had commented that it looked like I had overdosed on caffeine. They had laughed at me. I had found it odd.

I had only left once I was sure I had done everything necessary to ensure the couple had everything they needed for Hiroshi’s heat, so they would not be left hungry or thirsty. The rest of their family was amused but overjoyed also at the sudden heat. A shifter usually had at least one year before heats returned after giving birth.

ívarr had trapped me in a meeting for hours when all I wanted to do was run through the forest. He wanted to discuss the implications of what our magic meant for the shifters who were extra gifted. We saw all shifters as gifted. They each had an animal soul within them. Those with extra gifts just had something more, a latent magic that manifested in just one particular way, which begged the question, could we unlock them further? Would that help us? Was that what we were there for?

Now, I was finally on my way home to Axel and feeling all of my energy slipping away, like the adrenaline crashes I’d been researching for ívarr as a way to induce the beta change. If I looked down, surely I would see my energy seeping into the ground.

Hands found me. Unknown voices, or perhaps I was just too exhausted to pick each person out. They spoke to me, assuring me they were helping me home. I could only manage to speak Axel’s name.

Everyone knew about us. I hadn’t needed to tell them. It was rare to see us without each other now.

Suddenly, he was in front of me. Axel had his hands on my shoulders, his shifter strength the only thing holding me up.

“T? What happened?” I felt his worry, and heard it in his voice. It shook with fear. His eyes—his terror was stark.

“Hiro… healing… weak… must sleep.”

There, in his eyes, was a deep understanding. Axel was my safe place in a world I didn’t quite understand. He lifted me into his arms, a reversal, yet still reminiscent of that day months ago when we shared our first kiss.

Gently, he laid me on the bed, then removed my shoes letting them drop onto the carpeted floor.

I felt his cool palm brush the hair from my face. “Then sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Just like I was for him.

I knew I was dreaming instantly.

The air carried the scent of honeysuckle. The grass beneath me was spongy-soft, warmed by the late afternoon sun.

Trees surrounded the clearing I was in. Without looking, I knew it would be a perfect circle.

Wildflowers with their satin petals tickled my fingers in the gentle breeze.

Perfection.

My dream stretched out, time passing without notice as I took in the details of this world my imagination had created. I knew it was coming from me, because I was clothed in my favorite soft pants Axel favored and I wore no shirt. My hair was unbraided, flowing like silk in the wind.

Another clue it was a dream was the absence of sound. There were no birds, no bugs, the air made no noise as it rushed over me. It was completely quiet, as if I was in a soundproof bubble, or like I’d been rendered deaf. Though when I muttered, “just a dream,” I heard the words both in my mind and in my ears.

For what felt like minutes, but it could have been hours, I lay there, watching the clouds pass over me. I made a game of it after a while, too lazy to sit up and explore.

The clouds took on shapes, which I told to the butterflies and bees that passed me by. I’d somehow thought them into existence. These weren’t the butterflies and bees of Abrocaelum or Sweetwater. These were creations of my imaginations. Fat, furry bees laden with pollen and massive, colorful butterflies who were eager to balance on my fingers.

If I thought about it hard enough, I was sure I could dream other things into this world.

Not Axel. I would never want an echo of the man who held my heart. Only the real thing would do and he was safe in Sweetwater, likely frantic as he watched over me.

As I dreamed, I was conscious of time passing in the back of my mind. I was sure my continued absence was worrying Axel. I snorted, sure I was downplaying my lover’s reaction. He was likely trying to tear the world apart to get me back to him.

The air turned cold, the sky darker, a likely side effect of my concern for Axel’s wellbeing leaching into the dreamstate I found myself in.

Night came, the moon high and full in the artificial sky.

“Hush, child. Your dearest is fine,” a pleasing feminine voice said.

I sat up, looking for the voice, yet unable to find her.

“He cannot hear you, my lady,” I replied, still scanning the area I found myself in.

There was a figure under a faraway tree. Could it have been her?

She tittered a laugh. “Oh, you are charming. Those words were for you.”

Her voice was pleasant and easy to listen to. I felt no threat from her. No, there was something more. Affection. Love. Care.

“How can they be?” I asked, honestly. “I know them to be a lie. Even now, here, so far away from my love, I can feel how hard he is panicking. We are connected.” I clasped a hand to my bare chest, feeling the tether to Axel there, next to my heart.

“That you are. Apologies for my white lie, then, sweet elf.” She was not offended, only amused.

“Thank you, though I knew you meant no harm, only to soothe me.” I felt compelled somehow, as if telling anything but the whole truth would cause irreparable damage not only to her, but to myself.

“I find you quite captivating, Teárlach Skanicudal, Crown Prince and heir to the elven throne of Abrocaelum.”

The figure became clearer, like the distance between us had halved. Though I could not see her clearly, I could see she was tall, probably taller than me. Dressed in a white flowing gown, she had pale as moonlight skin and silver hair as long as Teagan’s, brushing her knees. It flowed like water, completely unbound or braided. She wore night blooming Jasmine in her hair.

“Thank you, my lady. What, pray, should I call you?”

“I have many names. You may call me Luna.”

Luna, as in… the shifter goddess, The Luna? How was this possible?

I shot to my feet and sketched a low bow. “The Luna, you honor me with your presence here.”

“No, dear elf, the honor is mine. Only someone with true faith and pure love could find themselves here with me. You have proven to have both.”

“How? I am nothing but a soldier, my lady.”

“Are you?”

She was closer. Her eyes were dark, a void. There was no pupil, like the eyes of a demon, yet she was still the most beautiful thing I had seen aside from my Axel.

“There,” she said, lifting a long finger and pointing to my heart. “You love one of my wolves in a way so deep and pure nothing could part you.”

“It’s true. I would fade without Axel. I’d do anything to give him what he wants.”

“Anything?” Her red lips twisted into a smile. She seemed to read my soul. “You really would. Tell me, Teárlach, would you like Axel to become an omega?”

“More than anything. I want him to have the baby he longs for.” She glided closer. So near to me I would have felt her breath if she was human. The Luna waited for me to finish my thought.

“I only wish I could be the one to give him a child. Our child. It’s impossible.”

“Teárlach, with love, nothing is impossible.”

Then the dream faded to black. The Luna, if she had truly been there, was gone.