Page 19 of Own to Obtain

“What is it, Shaya?” His voice had a hard edge to it she recognized—one that told her he wasn’t going to let her not answer this time.

Her eyes lowered. “Do you think…” She swallowed and raised her eyes to his again, remembering this apparition wasn’t real. “Do you think he’s hurt?”

“Who?”

“Kardos.”

Dream-Kardos watched her closely. “Why do you think that?”

“The potion I took to dull the bond… it could have hurt him.”

“It didn’t.”

Shaya bit her lip as she nodded slowly. There was no point in talking about it with a dream, how could he know?

“It didn’t hurt me, Shaya,” he insisted. “I miss it desperately, but it didn’t hurt me.” He paused. “Why did you take it?”

Shaya didn’t answer, unwilling to get into any topic that would spoil the experience of having him there, no matter how much of an illusion he was. “My sister thinks I’m in love with him.”

The Alpha’s gaze sharpened. “Are you?”

She blinked as tears came to her eyes. How could her feelings for him be so confusing? This never happened in the stories she grew up listening to. Shouldn’t she know if she was in love? “Why couldn’t he be kind?” she said, her voice breaking as her tears tracked down the sides of her face. “If he were kind it would be easier.”

The Alpha turned her face to him. “Our life is not kind, Shaya, it is hard. And we have to be hard to survive it. Sometimes kindness isn’t easy to see when it involves pain and suffering, but if you look closely, it is there.”

Shaya shook her head, blinking through her tears. This conversation was pointless.

Kardos placed a hand on her cheek and thumbed away her tears. “This is when I hurt, Shaya. Seeing these tears. They are like daggers.”

Shaya made a noise in the back of her throat. “Kardos has seen me cry many times. It doesn’t affect him.”

“You are wrong, little bird,” he said, lowering to kiss her damp skin. “You are very wrong.”

“Can you… purr for me?”

Something changed in his eyes. Winding an arm around her middle, dream-Kardos lay on the bed behind her and pulled her back against his chest. When the heavy, rumbling purr began, the vibrations seeping deep into her body and swirling through the bond, she sighed with deep relief.

“I am in the Western Lands at Eiros Castle,” Kardos murmured.

Shaya stilled. How would her dream know that? She blinked rapidly, almost succumbing to panic before realizing—if she knew it, the dream would know it.

“I am close now,” he was saying, “so tell me where you are?”

“I don’t know,” Shaya said glumly. “We’re traveling.”

The Alpha behind her stiffened.

“We’ve been through about six portals and to so many different types of cities, I can’t keep count,” she continued. “I think we’re going to see someone.”

“Who?” Kardos almost shouted. “And why do you need to see them?”

Shaya breathed shallowly. “To get advice.”

“This is madness,” he growled. “The only advice you need is to come home with me. If you are worried about hurting me why don’t you let me take you home?”

Shaya exhaled heavily as her annoyance rose rapidly. Even in her dream she couldn’t escape him being persistent and stubborn. At least Elion let Kyus have some space so she could think. He didn’t doubt that she would come back to him, so it didn’t matter to give her some space. Why couldn’t Kardos at least consider doing that? And anyway, none of this was even worth arguing about. “It’smydream,” she muttered under her breath. “Why can’t you be like him in my dream?”

The change in the atmosphere was immediate.

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