Page 24 of Unleashed

“We will keep watch, Nina,” Balir said.

Nina furrowed her brow. “What?”

“It is our watch,” Vortok said, “and Balir has the sharpest eyes on Sonhadra. You may rest.”

She frowned. It was daylight, and she wasn’t tired.

No… It’s night. This is a…

A dream? A memory? Both?

Her mind was hazy; though she couldn’t determine the nature of this vision, she knew she was somehow touching Balir’s and Vortok’s minds at the same time, bridging them together in a shared memory.

But she’d never beenpartof anyone’s memory like this, had never been able to interact with them…

Nina rose from the rock and turned to face Vortok. He smiled at her, and the warmth of his expression enhanced its appeal. His features were sharper than after his melding with the beast. She reached out, cupping his cheeks in her hands, and ran her thumbs over his lower lip. There were no horns, no protruding tusks.

She held his gaze. “This is you.”

His smile faded, and sorrow glinted in his eyes. “No. This cannot be me.”

“These bodies are dead and gone,” Balir said. She glanced at him to see the same sadness and despair on his face. “We can never be again.”

Nina moved a hand to touch her fingers to Balir’s cheek. “It is and always will be you,” she said firmly. “No matter what Kelsharn has done, you are stillyou.”

“Kelsharn,” both men whispered in unison.

Suddenly, Nina stood alone. She was surrounded by blackness, unbroken and infinite, but when she looked down, she could see her body as though it were bathed by some unseen light source that touched only her.

“Vortok? Balir?” Her voice echoed, the reverberating sounds drawing out until they were unidentifiable. Then the echoes morphed, changed, and swung back to her.

“Help,”the echoes said in voices that were no longer hers.

Nina started and turned in place, but there was nothing around her save utter darkness. “Who are you?”

She longed for Vortok and Balir. There was something about these voices…

“Trapped. Help…follow…”

By the last word, the voices were barely audible, and their volume diminished further to leave Nina in total silence.

“Are you there?” she called.

Her voice echoed and faded away.

The hairs on her arms and the back of her neck rose. Unease slithered through her. Something was here with her. She felt it. It was watching her, drifting through the darkness like a shadowy serpent.

“Help!”the voices shouted from directly behind her.

Nina woke with a jolt. Body tense, heart racing, she lay in silence that was broken only by her harsh breathing. She opened her eyes. The leaf and branch ceiling of the shelter overhead was lit by the faint, grayish light of dawn.

As the haze of the dream lifted from her mind, Nina became aware of two things; Vortok sleeping directly in front of her, laying on his back with one hand settled over his stomach, and Balir’s arms wrapped around her, cradling her against his warm, solid body.

She held still, afraid to move, uncertain of what to make of the situation or how to handle it. What would they do when they woke? The way Balir was holding her kept most of her weight leaned atop him, relieving the pressure and discomfort of sleeping on the ground but making it impossible to get up without disturbing him. She was aware of every point of contact between their bodies, from the top of her head touching his shoulder all the way down to her legs, which were entangled with his.

I dreamed of them.

I dreamedwiththem.

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