Page 20 of A Surrender Of Hope

My eyes hurt, and tears run down my cheeks as I desperately try to keep them open and ignore the pain as I stare around at my surroundings. Even with the clouds blocking the sun, the light is so bright compared to the darkness.

“Beautiful,” I rasp, hands trembling at the first sense of hope filling my chest. There are pine trees clustered nearby, their branches heavy with pristine white snow, the brilliance of the snow provides a stark contrast to the dark green of the tree. I gasp, my heart beating so hard I fear it may burst. A brisk, coldwind courses through the land, running over me and making me shiver in delight.

“What the hell? Where am I?” I hear a soft voice say, startling me so bad I swear my heart stalls. “W-what? Why am I in a dress?” the feminine voice yells, and I spin to look around, then pause as a young woman steps around the trees, kicking at the hem of a long blue gown, cursing under her breath as she shakes her head and huffs in irritation.

She finally glances up, looking around the snowy landscape, and I inhale sharply at how freaking stunning this girl is; long blonde hair that matches my own, brilliant green eyes, and a curvy figure draped in blue silks and silver armor. The dress style makes me think she is probably a Versipellis Demon, but her coloring? Fuck, she’s definitely a Dream Walker. My magic dances inside me, making me smile at the now-foreign feeling that’s been dormant for so long I forgot what it felt like.

I watch her, stepping closer while ensuring I still have a fair amount of distance between us. I want to go to her, to ask her how she was captured, if she knows where we are, and how she banished the darkness I’ve been stuck in for so long. As I stare at her, something inside me shifts, the longing for death tapers off, replaced with a burning need to help this girl I don’t know. I’ve never met her before, I would remember it if I had. But something tells me this girl… she means something to me, to my life, and I need to do everything in my power to keep her safe.

“I’m going crazy,” she moans, looking up at the tall mountain above us. “I’m losing my freaking mind, and I managed to land myself in a blizzard wearing a damn dress!” I can't help but chuckle, loving her fiery attitude. It reminds me of my youngest brother and makes me long for home.

“But have you?” I ask, casting my voice to trail over the wind, needing to know if she can hear me. She yelps in surprise,and my legs almost give out in relief. She’s real, she can hear me. Her hair shines brightly, and her eyes sparkle as she looks around her. She’s so beautiful, like my own personal sun. “Or are you the only one not blind to the dark?” I ask, needing to know how she brought this light with her.

The vision of the girl wavers, and I frown as the male voice from before comes back to me. “Sorry, dude. But I need you to wake up,” he says, much closer this time, just as something cold and wet fills my senses, blocking my airways and making me struggle to breathe.

My eyes fly open,and I dart up in bed, coughing and sputtering as I choke on the water that was just dumped on my face.

“Thank the Gods,” Creed whispers, his bright green eyes watching me closely as he stands over the bed, hand patting my cheek as he nods and smiles. “Hey, man! Wakey wakey! You good?” he asks once he sees I’m fully awake.

Growling, I shove him hard in the chest, knocking him off my lap and glaring at him as I wipe the remaining water from my face and stare at him in shock. “Creed?” I rasp, then groan, my head throbbing and with the pain, the memories come of the last few months. My brothers had come to the human realm to save me, but Meyer had called me into her dreams. Arch died, the Seniorem was trying to take over, and there is now a civil war in the Umbra Hunters ranks.

I open my eyes, looking at Creed as he frowns and leans closer. “Yeah. It’s me, man. Are you okay? I can go get Nox if you need,” he starts to say just as my youngest brother storms into the room, looking a little flushed and panicked. Once he sees me sitting on the bed, he relaxes a little.

“Sorry. Meyer was asleep; I had to get her to move and didn’t want to wake her and… shit,” he breathes as he runs a hand through his long tangled hair, making the silver charms clink together. “Are you all right? I could feel your panic, but it lessened there toward the end,” he admits, and I nod as my dream comes back to me. It was the first time I had seen light in four years, the first time I saw Meyer and knew she was special.

Meyer… Meyer… I jump off the bed, the visions of Meyer covered in blood, her cold, limp body on the frozen ground, an arrow protruding from her back.

There was no pulse. She didn’t have a pulse!

“Shit! Valen, calm down, brother,” Nox commands, adding a bite of his dominance to his words that do nothing to me. This fucker keeps trying to dominate me, but he forgets I’m his equal in magic. I may have given up my throne, choosing to bind my race to Versipellis instead of rebuilding, but I am still the Dream Walker Prince. Lennox and his magic hold no sway over me. The only reason I agreed to let him lead our Legion is because I respect the hell out of him, but that doesn’t mean I will fold under his command.

I look around for my girl, needing to feel her, touch her skin, watch her smile, and feel her strong, steady pulse under my fingertips. Shoving to my feet, I sidestep Nox, who is trying to reach for me.

“Valen, I need you to calm down. Your heart is beating too fast, and your temperature is rising. You’ll shift into your Shade form, which will be dangerous for Meyer,” he calls after me as I race through the halls, shoving open Razar’s door and scowling when I find an empty room. I run even faster to Creed’s room, following the half-formed Legion bond, pushing open the door, and almost fall to my knees in relief when I see Meyer sound asleep on Creed’s bed. The smell of arousal is heavy in the air, but I pay it no mind as I enter the room.

Striding over, I kick off my shoes and carefully slip into the bed next to her, pulling her close and inhaling the soft scent of fresh air and citrus that lingers around her. Her soft, petite body curves perfectly into mine, and she mutters something in her sleep, eyelids fluttering slightly as she frowns and snuggles into my chest. She’s wearing a different oversized shirt this time, this one smelling of Creed instead of Lennox, and it helps soothe me to know she’s wrapped in the scent of my Legion.

My magic springs from me, unbidden, wrapping around my girl like a cocoon, acting like it’s also afraid she might disappear… or worse, if I let her go. I soothe the anxious energy coming from her, taking the dream she had just started to fall into and banishing it from her mind, ensuring she gets some much-needed rest while she continues to heal.

As gently as I can, I bring up my hand, wrapping it around the delicate column of her throat, marveling at the softness of her pale skin. For the first time since the battle that started this horrible nightmare, I finally feel like I can take a full breath, her strong pulse thrumming under my touch is almost like a lullaby to my senses.

Closing my eyes, I curl more tightly around her, trying to figure out the best thing to do next now that my mind can finally work again. Pressing my lips to her hair, I sigh, knowing my brothers are watching me like I’ve lost the plot, and maybe I have. Maybe there is no coming back from the damage inflicted during my incarceration.

Opening my eyes, I look at Nox, who is glaring daggers at me, dark magic swirling around him like a personal thundercloud. He is probably pissed that I’m curled up with his mate. The fact that Meyer is here and alive only because Nox mated her—effectively tying her soul and lifeline to him—is the only reason I’m not kicking his ass for mating her before I had the chance. I already know he’s going to be a pain in the ass to dealwith because of this; his youth and inexperience with personal control are a problem we will have to help him with, but I refuse to let him bully me away from my girl.

I was already planning my life with her, already tied my magic and heart to her every breath and whim while he was bitching about how frustrating she was. Meyer is mine, the only difference now is we will have to include Nox in our plans of adding her at the center of our Legion. Creed and I planned to keep our Legion bond, and we hoped to convince Razar to stay, despite his loud protests about having her in our Legion. I was convinced he would remain simply from the many times I’d found him stalking Meyer in the shadows, watching her every move with a slightly less-than-evil scowl on his face. He’s already as obsessed with her as we are; I only hope it’s because he wants to protect her, not hunt and kill her. With Razar, you never know until his Beast decides to act.

But Nox is a wild card I wasn’t counting on in this game. Sure, I had hoped he would convince our father to let him stay in our Legion, to rule with Meyer and us at his side, but I knew it would be a shot in the dark, practically impossible. As much as I love our father, Orcus is highly traditional when it comes to the ways of our people.

As the heir and future king, Father had told my brothers he would break the Legion bond, tying us to our youngest brother to keep Nox from taming his natural instincts. Nox was to have his own mate, a princess and eventual queen hand-selected by our father who would rule at his side. I look back down at the girl sleeping in my arms and wonder if Nox has told her she is now the Princess of Versipellis.

“What’s our plan?” I finally ask, keeping my attention on Mi Sol, her presence filling me with the light I crave.

“Hey, he’s finally talking. Great. Okay, so now that you’re semi-back to normal,” Creed says, grinning at me as he plops onthe bed and reaches out, running his fingers through Mi Sol’s white-blonde hair. “How the hell did you kill over two hundred Hunters and Wraiths? Not to mention the three Beastia still in the clearing. One moment, they were all fighting in the midst of war. ThenBAM!Death everywhere,” Creed whispers the last word, making Nox look at him like he’s lost his mind. “Oh, and like, do you need a cuddle or something?” he asks, laying next to Meyer and patting my hand, not trying to remove my arms from around her, which I appreciate. “Things got intense there, and I was worried, bro.” Creed snuggles down, looking at Meyer with almost as much love and devotion as I feel for her, making me relax even more.

This is what I missed most while I was locked away, this sense of family and belonging. “I’m okay,” I whisper into Mi Sol's hair, lying, but Creed can do nothing more than what he is doing now. Being here, being my brother, and not treating me like the others do. Sure, I may be a little different, but I love how Creed still treats me the same. It makes me feel like less of a freak show.

Creed hums under his breath, his knowing eyes locked on me, but he nods instead of pressing the matter. “Okay. So the plan. We take her to Father and have him take the mark off, right?” he asks, looking to Nox, who has started to pace in front of the bed, tossing random looks at the sleeping girl in my arms.

---