Oni blinked a few times before the sleepiness cleared from his eyes as he stared around the empty temple. We could see between the open pillars to where the sky outside was that magical mix of silver where night met day and the stars still twinkled.

He started to reach for my hand but I put mine behind me and stepped back with a shake of my head. I realized we were as naked as we’d been in bed and quickly conjured day clothes onto our bodies before anyone joined us. Oni glanced down at his jeans and tee with a raised brow but let it go for now as he waited for me to explain.

“Okay. Well, since my brother hasn’t clued you in, allow me. The first rule of dream walking is that you can’t touch anyone. While this is a dream, it’s also really happening on another level of existence. The construct is strong, but all it takes is for two of us to touch and it all dissipates,” my brother Sam explained as he and Jonathan approached.

“What’s up, big brother? Kinda rude to pull us from our beds so you could rub your honeymoon in the faces of your two unmated brothers, don’t you think?” Jon smirked as he stepped a little closer, then bent from the waist to sniff Oni’s stomach. “Oh, hell. You didn’t waste any time, did you?”

Before either of us could respond, Easton came striding into the temple. “Hello, boys. Fancy meeting you here.”

“Yeah. Fancy that.” Oni smirked. “I believe you summoned my mate and his brothers yesterday afternoon for this meeting. Now that you’ve pulled us all out of bed, maybe you’ll tell us what gives?”

Easton threw his head back with a musical laugh. He wiped his eyes as he looked at me. “Aye, he’ll do, indeed. Quite the feisty little omega you’ve got here, mate. Did you bother to explain to the boy that he’s still sleeping, and only his mind is engaged? ’Tis but a dream, is it not?” He stroked his chin and looked thoughtfully at the statue of Artio that presided over the room. “But then again, isn’t life itself merely a dream? I’ve often thought that, myself.” He stretched his arms out to the sides and spun in a circle while singing a strangely repetitive ditty in a pleasant baritone. “Life is but a dream… a misty, misty dream. A misty, misty dream I dreamed last night.”

“Is he always like this?” Oni asked skeptically as he looked back and forth between my brothers and me.

Jon grinned. “The Fae are all like this, from what I’ve seen.”

“Oi, and what would you know of the Fae, boy?” Easton asked with a raised brow as he dropped the act.

“More than some, less than others, I suppose. What can I say? I’ve seen a few things.” Jon shrugged.

“Aye, I’d forgotten that for a moment. You three see many things the average mortal doesn’t, do you not?” Easton rubbed his hands together. “Let’s get down to the business at hand then, shall we? The magic hour has nearly passed and I’m not allowed to spend too much time loitering about.”

“By whose law?” I asked curiously. “I realize you were locked in our realm when the portal was sealed, but…” I remembered suddenly that he was rumored to be Artio’s bedmate. “Ah. Your lady’s decree?”

Easton blushed slightly as he shrugged. “My lady keeps a bit of a leash on me, yes. But I’m free to roam, so long as I don’t linger too long, use my majicks, or let myself become noticed by others.”

“Others being humans? That makes sense,” Sammy said as he nodded. “So, what made you bring us here? Is it time for us to…”? His voice trailed off as he glanced at Oni, as though uncertain of how much he was allowed to say.

Easton turned his back to us as if gazing at the coming sunrise, clasping his hands behind his back as he rocked from heel to toe. “You already know your task, but there are items needed that will work as keys. But first and foremost, you must prove yourselves worthy.”

“Prove ourselves worthy?” Jon snorted. “My brothers and I are haunted by dreams and visions for a lifetime, and now we have to prove ourselves? If we weren’t already good enough, why were we plagued with the knowledge beforehand?”

“Oi, surely you know how these things work, mate.” Easton looked over his shoulder to flash Jon a wink before speaking in an eerie monotone as though reciting something he’d rehearsed.

“What the hell does that mean?” I asked without thinking. I noticed that Sammy had conjured his phone and was taking notes. Thank goodness for that, since I hadn’t thought of it. We would definitely need to revisit this conversation later.

Easton didn’t respond, instead continuing to speak in rhyme as though reciting from memory.

There was a moment of silence as we all processed his words. Oni was the first to speak. “Excuse me, Easton. I beg your pardon, but you’ve mentioned four compass directions? And your clue would hint that we’re starting with east, so that would lead me to assume that there will be three more clues or quests? But there are only three triplets. Who will be the person given the clue for the fourth cardinal point?”

Easton spun around with his jaw hanging open as he stared at Oni for a long moment. He laughed to himself, shaking his head before glancing my way. “Sure and this one is brill, mate. Be sure and keep him around.”

Ignoring that, because why wouldn’t I keep my mate around, I repeated Oni’s question. “He makes a good point. Since this waited until I claimed my mate, and you mentioned my brothers’ mates when we last spoke…” I paused to make sure I had it all. “Oh, and our parents worked in pairs too! Am I correct in assuming this will be done by couples? And if so, who the hell is the fourth couple? And more importantly, why haven’t my brothers and I seen them in all the dreams and visions we’ve had involving the future of the portal?”

“Aye, ’tis fair to assume that an anchoring pair to your glorious magic would be needed, wouldn’t you say? For now, you and your mate must begin the quest to put the steps in motion for the glorious conclusion—many lives and loves depend upon it.” He stepped toward the temple stairs after that cryptic statement, as if preparing to leave.

“Wait.” Sammy looked up from his phone for a moment. “Does this mean that we’ll all three have our mates soon?”

Easton held his hands up and shook his head. “Easy, boyo. One step at a time, eh? Right now it’s your brother that needs to shine.” He headed for the steps, then paused to look back over his shoulder. “If I might make one suggestion? Be careful about biting into any shiny apples, not all of them are edible.”

The four of us stood there quietly as we watched him leave. None of us moved a muscle until he’d finally disappeared into the distance. I jumped when Jonathan suddenly clapped his hands together, startling me. “Okay, now that we’ve had our mystical portion of the day, shall we go back to you knocking your mate up on your mating night?”

Sammy grinned at Jon’s words while Oni instinctively rested a hand over his flat stomach. He tilted his head to look at me. “You guys can really smell biological changes in a dreamscape? I know that our feline noses can pick up on the slightest change within hours of insemination, but in a dream state? That’s pretty cool, I have to give you that.”

I shook my head. “Don’t encourage my brothers, babycakes. It won’t take much to have them boring you with more of their dreamscape exploits over the years.”

“Whatever.” Jon shrugged. “All I’m saying is that I can’t wait to get home and tell the dads that Oni is preggo.”

Oni’s eyes went wide. “You wouldn’t!” he gasped. “Seriously, I have four months! There’s no rush. Besides, you need to let us tell everybody.”

Sammy blinked at Oni for a moment before correcting him. “Five months. Feline shifters have five-month pregnancies, I thought.”

Oni rolled his eyes. “Is biology really the most important thing to talk about right now? For the record though, lion shifters have a slightly shorter gestation rate. Only a month less than what you’ll expect to have one day, but yeah—my pregnancy will be four months.”

“That’s good to know.” Jon nodded. “Just when I thought we were going to get along, you go and give us a reason to be hella jelly. Although, I wouldn’t change being a jaguar for a slightly shorter pregnancy. We are still the superior shifters, after all.”

“As if,” Oni sniffed as he and my brothers fell into the lifelong argument they’d had about whose animal was cooler.

“All I know is, if you don’t want Jon to blow your secret? You guys might want to cut the honeymoon short.” Sammy grinned at me and Oni.

“Screw that,” Oni laughed. “If you’re jealous now, you should see our room. Speaking of which, I think it’s time to go back there.” Obviously remembering what I’d told him, he waved his fingers to say goodbye to my brothers with a playful smirk as he stretched his other hand out to grab mine.

I blinked my eyes as I found myself lying in bed back in our room. When Oni sat up and flipped on the lights, his eyes were dancing with excitement as he turned to look at me. “That was the coolest thing ever. We are so doing that again, right? Now tell me, were our bodies here the whole time, or did you zap us back and forth? How does that work?”

Chuckling, I reached for him and pulled him down against my chest to snuggle. “Our bodies were here while our spirits roamed free. That’s why physical touch will always pull us back.”

“Fascinating. I noticed not only did you apparently dress us, but your brother had a phone at one point, how did that work?” His mind was obviously working a mile a minute as he struggled to make sense of the experience.

“We can conjure anything in a dreamscape that our minds can imagine. And yes, I will be happy to take you on many more. But first, can we maybe sleep a little longer?” I ran a hand along his back, enjoying the smooth feeling of his silky skin under my palm.

“Sure, we can sleep.” Oni rolled over on top of me, crawling over my chest to sneak a kiss as he rocked his hips to slide our bare cocks together. “Or, we could maybe do something a little more interesting instead?”