Chapter Thirty-Two

Serena woke in her usual place on the dreamscape, wearing a plain white sleeveless dress, her feet and legs bare. Dream therapists set up dream universes with familiar territories they could steer clients through at will, and she breathed a sigh of relief that this sunny forest clearing was her normal choice for greeting clients. Like all dreamwalkers, the astral was a real place for her. The sun was bright in her eyes, the grass was soft and damp on her bare feet, and when the wind picked up, she felt a chill.

The bright-blue sky above her began to cloud over. This was her dream, and her subconscious was trying to send her a warning—he was coming.

She began to walk fast across the meadow, heading for the forest nearby. He was the stranger here. That meant she had the advantage.

It was the middle of the afternoon in the real world. No one she knew would be asleep. There was no one to turn to except herself. The Narcolite could keep her under for hours. She had no choice; she had to do something that would not only violate everything she stood for as a dreamwalker and a member of the shamans’ circle, but would also lose her any chance at being a pack therapist. She had to violate someone else’s dreams and get some help.

She shifted to wolf and sniffed, trying to find a trace of someone, anyone she knew, on the astral. But the only thing she could smell was danger on the air. She drew a shield around her. Vince wasn’t a trained dreamwalker. She might be able to hide from him for a while.

She rose up above her world, flying into the astral where she could sense other dreamers. Some were wild vortexes of emotion. Some were dreamwalkers like herself, trained to control the dreamscape. She searched desperately, looking for someone she knew. It was bad enough to enter someone’s dream, but to disturb someone who didn’t know her and wouldn’t understand that this wasn’t her normal way of operating, that was unthinkable. Normally. But this wasn’t a normal situation, and she was desperate.

She sensed a familiar presence and focused on that, but when she drew close, she was horrified. Sam was in the dreamscape. Why or how, she didn’t know. She descended into his dream. His aura was red with the fever, and when she drew near to him, his wolf turned, its eyes flashing electric blue.

She loped up to him, whining and sniffing his face. His wolf sniffed her all over, his tongue lolling out.

“Sam. Please shift, so I can talk to you.”

But he stayed as a wolf, brushing against her leg over and over again, rubbing her with his scent. Her wolf pushed at her, harder than it could in the physical plane.

So this was what it was like to run with a lover in wolf form. Heat raced under her fur, and she pressed closer to Sam. He licked her cheek, and her wolf whined in ecstasy. This was what they wanted, a strong mate.

She pushed her wolf back. What about Gabe? He was the mate she wanted, not Sam. Not yet. Not until they took the Bite. Then the virus would rush through them and seal their bond. But her wolf had other ideas. This one was here and strong and in their dreams. They should take the Bite now.

She fought back her wolf’s desires. She was in control, not the beast, and if she let Sam Bite her here, it wouldn’t be real. The virus couldn’t take hold. She had no idea what would happen to Sam, but she knew she couldn’t do this to him. She’d hurt him enough already.

She shifted back to human, her white dress blowing in the breeze, her wolf confined under the surface.

Sam butted his furry head against her thigh.

“Sam, I’m in trouble. Do you understand? I’ve been kidnapped by Vince Ethelwulf. He’s got me in his father’s fishing cabin.”

Sam whined. His eyes were glazed, and the red almost mist of his aura flashed. There was something more than just the fever here. Something was wrong with him. She wanted to shift into wolf and smell him, to see if she could figure it out, but she was afraid. If her wolf took control again she might lose any hope of getting Sam to rescue her, with or without a dream Bite.

“Sam, I need you to be human. Can you shift so I can talk to you?”

The air around them grew heavy. Electricity crashed. Vince had found her.

She wrapped her arms around Sam’s neck. Her wolf whined in pleasure, pressing against her, and she almost forgot what she needed to say.

“Sam. Find me. Vince Ethelwulf has me. I’m drugged and tied up. Do you understand?” She thought she saw a flash of awareness in his hazy eyes, and then it was gone. “Sam, what’s wrong with you? Are you drugged too?”

She couldn’t be sure he understood any of what she was saying. He was either drugged or the fever had him so tight in its grip that his wolf had taken over. Either way, he was her best chance.

Lightning cracked overhead, turning the dark sky a blinding white. She stood up. “Wake up, Sam. Find Gabe. Tell him—” The wind rose, whipping her hair into her eyes. She wiped it away, exposing her face to the flying dust and debris. Trees lashed from side to side, and a branch crashed down inches away. Her subconscious was warning her—she couldn’t stay any longer.

Vince was coming. It was time to run.

 

Gabe had no idea how long it had been since he’d given up talking to his twin, but he assumed it had at least been a few hours. He’d circled the cell so many times it should have wear marks in the cement and Butch was on his third cup of coffee.

“Gabe.” Sam’s groggy voice drew him across the cell.

“Forget it, Sam. We’re better off not talking.”

“It’s Serena. We have to get to her.”

Gabe shook his head. “Trying to tempt me into breaking out, just so you can kill me? That’s pathetic, Sam.”

Sam growled. “Don’t think I don’t want to, but you’re going to have to stand in line. She found me while I was sleeping. She’s been kidnapped. Taken by that asshole, Vince Ethelwulf. You know, the one who’s always such a jerk in the canteen.”

“Found you? Kidnapped? What the hell are you talking about? There’s no way she came in here and I didn’t notice. And you’ve been snoring over there, dead to the world.”

“She’s a dreamwalker. What the hell do you think I mean? She found me while I slept.”

Hot jealousy poured over Gabe. “She walked in your dream?” Visions of Serena coming to him while he slept fought with picturing her in Sam’s dreams.

“I don’t know, asshole. Maybe she just likes me better.”

Gabe lunged. He pressed his face into the corner and stretched his arm through the bars, trying to get around the wall into his brother’s cell.

Sam’s laugh rolled out. “Relax. I was sleeping, stupid, and you’ve been pacing your ass off.”

Gabe’s blinding rage eased, but his jealousy was still there. He realized Sam was still talking.

“Gabe, we have to get out of here. She’s in danger. We need a plan.”

Serena was in trouble. Maybe hurt. He thought about the strange man’s scent all over her cabin that had driven him crazy the last time he’d been there. His wolf howled inside and the rage pulsed red. He’d find him. And when he did, he’d tear Vince Ethelwulf limb from limb.

The push to shift and go get the man who had Serena pulsed through him. Run, run, run.

He hit the wall hard with his fist, the bruising pain shaking some sense back into him. As a wolf, he’d never get out of here. He didn’t even stand a chance as a human. “They’re never going to let us out. We’ll have to tell Chuck, and they’ll send someone. Where is she?”

“Really? You think they’ll find her in time? We know her scent. As crazy as this is, we’re both fever-linked to her. We could find her if she was in Timbuktu. By the time Chuck realizes this is more important than his lunch break, and the chief pulls everyone off this dog attack case that’s got them so worked up, God only know what the fucker will have done to her.”

The red haze covered his vision, and he howled.

“Shut up, Wulfric!” came from around the corner.

Gabe forced his wolf back and tried to think through the emotion driving him into pure instinct.

“You’re just as screwed up as I am,” Sam said. “Admit it.”

“So what if I am?” Gabe wiped sweat off his brow and leaned his back against the wall, letting the cool cement ease some of the fever’s heat. “What’s your plan?”

“I’m going to cause a ruckus and get some food. When Chuck brings it in, I’ll jump him, get the keys, and get out.”

“And let me out.”

“I’m not that far gone. Two of us will be better than one. While we’re away from Serena, I think I can control myself. But once we get there…”

Gabe waited for Sam to finish his thought, but there was only the sound of panting from the other side of the wall. He twisted inside with sympathy. God, this was difficult for him, hearing the aggression in Sam’s voice. But what must it be like for his twin? And what would happen when they saw Serena? Would the fever take the last of their bond and shred it to pieces?