I hear her voice as though from a great distance, ebbing and flowing like waves lapping at the sand.

I close my eyes, focusing on the lovely, soothing sound of it.

But I know it cannot be real. Just as the vision of her outside the cold bars was not true. I know it cannot be.

She does not trust me. Has not fully accepted me as hers. Why would she be here now?

I continue to pace around the small cage they have secured me in, knowing when to turn and when to adjust my wings without thinking or looking.

I have been in here for...some time. How much time I am not clear on.

I shake my head, covering my ears with my palms as I continue to hear that familiar, impossible voice. It hurts to hear it when I know it is not real. When I know she is not here. Why won't it go away? Growling to myself, I continue to pace around the cage, thoughts coming in and leaving, too fast for me to grasp. They are slippery things indeed. Though perhaps not quite as difficult to corral as they were...

The entire time, her voice does not stop. I frown as I realize it isn't the same everywhere in the small cave I've been confined to. The next time I go around, I slow near the bars.

Yes. Her voice is stronger here. I fight through the maze of my mind, through the half-formed thoughts, struggling to understand the words that voice is forming.

Addison's voice.

"...you have to release him! He isn't dangerous anymore!"

"I understand your desire to do so." A rumbling male voice. A familiar one...Drosdan. Drosdan's voice. "But we simply cannot be sure that he is fully in control yet. It is not safe to release him too early if he is still lost to the bijass."

The bijass.

I was...lost to the bijass. Yes, that makes sense. I cannot think, cannot trust what I see or hear because I was lost to that dark, primitive part of my mind.

But the fact that I am even now hearing these words and understanding them is proof the bijass is fading.

"I'm telling you he isn't lost to the bijass anymore!" Her tone is irritated now, even more demanding. “Why aren't you listening?”

A laugh forms in my chest as I imagine her staring down the much larger male. She sounds fierce indeed, a force to be reckoned with. That is my female...

I still at that thought.

No.

I shake my head, agitated. I cannot call her my female. She has not fully given herself to me the way I need, the way I crave.

I have been waiting, waiting too long for her. For all of her.

"Addison, I simply cannot—"

"He's my mate, Drosdan," she responds in a low voice.

Her matehood right. She is asserting her matehood right.

Silence falls in the wake of that pronouncement. It is clear, decisive. Unmistakable.

As if my mind was waiting for just that moment, I feel a door within burst open. And a wave suffused with Addison washes over me.

I feel her.

Her struggle to fight back tears. Her heart, fully open to me. Her fear of losing me. The emotions are strong, undeniable. Addison's emotions.

I feel...full.

Joy bubbles up inside me, pushing the darkness back even more. This, this is what I needed, what I wanted. What I have dreamed of. But I do not want her to feel this way. I want to heal every inch of doubt she has, leave nothing dark within her.

I can feel her fear that I will leave. A foolish fear indeed. I will never leave her. Ever. She is everything I have ever wanted, ever needed.

And now she is mine.

I will never let my treasure go.

Lost in the wonder of this new connection, I do not realize Drosdan is at the door until I hear the click of the lock turning.

I turn towards the door just as it opens.

Addison.

I push forward, excitement beating at me.

Addison.