Raven soon learned the others consisted of four. There were five people who could do what she did and fell within an age range where they could physically do the job. The others were either too young or too old. There were two wolf shifters, a druid, a vampire, and a bear shifter. All they needed to add to the group was a mage and a dragon. Why? To round out the main controlling factions and have most magic types covered. The group would have fourteen going in and scattering to manage different parts of the mission when the time came. But until then Raven and Dominic would need to wait. They’d meet the others so if they encountered them, they’d know they could trust them and how the should expect them to act. Lily still hadn’t found that supposed dreamer who spoke to Raven. This disturbed Raven a lot. She’d almost been sucked in by whoever they were, and she may have gone with her at the time. Or believed anything she’d said.
Raven hadn’t expected training to include fight training for her. She thought she’d learn about building the Dream Realm or maybe interacting with things and creatures there. But it wasn’t, they put weapons in her hands and expected her to learn to shift with speed. When Striker, their head training instructor insisted, she start strength training. Raven lost her mind and broke. Dominic was furious when he found her crying in the corner of the training area. Striker and he almost came to blows three times that week, but now there was nothing Raven could do to stop Dominic from going after Striker. She knew it would be a mess as the two males would be evenly matched. But Raven didn’t want a war happening either from this. So, instead of following Dominic, Raven went in search of Lily to see if she could do something about this. After all, Striker was one of her people. She didn’t want there to be trouble between them from this. “Lily. Lil
“What is going on in here? Has everyone and his uncle lost his mind? STOP!” Lily’s voice rose at a steady pace until she screamed the last word. The protectors and mates were all fighting among themselves. Not sparring or training. They were slugging it out and ripping into each other. Lily knew this would happen it had to. This is what happened when you dropped too many strong-willed leader types into one space. Then didn’t give them directions on where to look for leadership. Lily saw this happening and now she had to deal with it. But Dominic was the lynch pin right now. She had to get him to go to Raven and get them to bond. Without that trust they wouldn’t be able get through this. She wasn’t a large being by anything and getting between several scrapping large almost feral males wasn’t a smart idea, but she did it anyway. She wasn’t sure what she was screaming or who she was screaming at, but Lily wanted them to stop and take notice. It took s
Dominic came barreling out of the training room looking rather worse for wear. He wasn’t sure where he’d find Raven or what mood she’d be in. Lily seemed so sure of herself and what Raven thought. Goddess, he was afraid Lily was right and Raven had kept quiet. She shut down about anything and everything that bothered her. He didn’t know half of what went on in her mind because she wouldn’t tell anyone. It was like she was a scared rabbit in a wolf’s body. It had been all he could do to get her to shift the first time they’d started to train. Now here he was trying to find her to pled with her and reassure her that he what? Would stop saying conflicting things? Doing conflicting things? Fuck. He’d screwed himself up good and he didn’t have anyone but himself to blame. Oh, sure he could blame the elder council for their stupid demands, but he could have shut them down whenever he wanted to. If he’d only stepped up and showed some of his strength and n
Raven sat on the window bench as Dominic loomed over her and yelled at her. She’d never seen him like this. He seemed almost to be in a panic at the thought of her doing something she’d done many times before. Okay, the chances of being killed were higher. Okay, a lot higher. But he was acting like she was important or something. But her reason was sound. Wasn’t it? The Pack needed a leader. If they both died without an heir, or someone set to takeover. Then what would happen to the Pack? Or if she came back without Dominic. Raven was sure they would never forgive her for losing him. “You’re not being reasonable Dominic.” Raven could see he responded to this with his emotions and not with his leadership skills or experience. She knew she must get him to see the serious nature of this. They’d leave the Pack without a leader for who knew how long. “What has reasonable got to do with this? How am I supposed to be reasonable about my mate de
Dominic wanted her to trust him. He admitted his word wasn’t consistent before this. Could she trust him to keep to his word? She had to, now, didn’t she? The way he’d responded to her was when she told him she understood he had responsibilities to the Pack over her. It wasn’t what she’d expected at all. Dominic yelled at her. Raven didn’t think she’d heard anyone say the word ‘no’ so many times in so close a succession over one thing. He’d stomped his feet in his displeasure. Dominic’s wolf’s nature came out and it scared her at first. She thought he’d take his anger out on her. But he was angry because she was sending him away. Not because she was forcing him to forsake his Pack for her. Raven tried to make it easy for him not to struggle decide between the guilt of neglecting his Pack for the mate he didn’t want. Now she lay there watching him sleep as she realized what was going on. He’d been doing everything alone. Trying to take the lead witho
“Where are you going Pet?” Dominic leaned up on his elbow in bed as he watched Raven reach for the door. “I need to see Lily. I have an idea, but something feels off. I want a second opinion.” Raven wanted to be out of there and back again before he woke up. But that wouldn’t happen now. “You couldn’t ask me? I’m your mate. Your partner.” Raven stopped at the door and turned back. She blinked, frowned at him. Her head tilted to the side as she tried to process how to say this to Dominic. She sighed heavily and returned to bed. “It’s not something I would think to talk to you or most people about. It’s about something or someone in the Dream Realm. I wanted to ask her if I should try to contact that girl again and see if I could get some useful information from her. You know pretend she’s my friend and ally. See if she’ll accidentally reveal something else. But.” Raven paused; she didn’t want to sound like she was dismissing him.
The training continued but the fighting didn’t. Relationships seemed to change as well. Raven found others would approach her about the plans. It felt surreal to her to be the one that others went to when they couldn’t reach out to Lily. At first Raven wasn’t sure what to make out of it and she hadn’t been prepared for it. Lily didn’t think anything of it and changed tactic by giving Raven information. Filling her in and discussing different things with her. She didn’t need to make decisions, just make sure everyone was on the same page. At least, that’s where it started. Then they started to enter the Dream Realm or received reports from others going into there. With questions about what they should do or how they should respond. Lily wasn’t always there. Raven found the others looking at her for the answers and responses. There were time limits and time crunches on when these people needed to know the answer. Lily had other responsibilities too.
“Raven, I’ll say this right now. I’m looking to make a shift away from it and while some people will not like this I don’t care. But I won’t tell them why because I don’t want to put you in danger. If one of my enemies or rivals decides to use, you against me or use your abilities they may try to kidnap you. So, we’ll say nothing to anyone outside of our Pack and we’ll speak with those within the Pack that must know.” Dominic said. He tried to assure Raven about her safety and his sincerity. “Dominic we can’t tell anyone about what I can do. For one thing, no one would believe it. For another, you’re right they might try to use it. I never thought they might try to use me against you by kidnapping me.” Raven felt stunned at the thought that she was agreeing with him and accepting her. “So, what do we do now? You say I’m the important one, but I don’t feel like it, and I don’t know how to proceed. Or do I say, how we proceed with this.” Raven looked to Dominic a
“We couldn’t help Tom?” Kelly asked. She’d missed their arrival and Tom being bundled off to the healing center. “No, we couldn’t. Those arrows hit him when he was in this realm. We couldn’t do anything about the poison. Even in the Dream Realm the poison would kill him, and his mate must be a Dreamer to bring him back. Everything and everyone have limits no matter how powerful they are. Well, that’s what I’ve had to come to terms with.” Raven watched Brigid’s haunted face as she said this. The other dreamers were there with them now and they’d been discussing their abilities and learning about what they could do. Their situation within the Dream Realm and how much danger they were in. What dangers came from the realm and what came from the Fae. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m exhausted. There’s just too much to take in. I need time to take this all in.” Raven wanted to spend time with Dominic. She had so many questions for him. How had he
Their arrival didn’t go unnoticed for long. Which they were all thankful for. Brigid, though, was in a panic. She could do nothing in this realm to help save Tom. The arrows were poisoned. At the first mention of poison, the trickle of people became a flurry. Lily got word out to the closest healing center to expect him and arranged a mage portal to get him sent right there. In moments Tom and Luke were gone with two other wolves from their Pack. Raven watched as people moved about all weary of Brigid. They were unsure how to respond or interact with her. Did they worship her? Treat her as a ruler? Approach her as a friend or an enemy? What did they do? How did someone interact with a being they thought of as a god for thousands of years? Especially, when they’re standing directly in front of them looking rather bedraggled and lost. “Reality is never what the stories tell us. I wish it was. A goddess in one realm is a nobody in another realm. What c
Dominic’s mind was still scattered, but he could move, and he did. He knew who he was and who Raven was. What was different was more than he had time to think about as they made their way back to where they needed to go. They had found their objective, and he had to push his mate to get them out of there. The enemy was in there and they now swarmed over the land searching for the small female with them. If they found her, then they’d find Raven. Both were creatures who could twist the very air of this realm into whatever they wanted. Goddess, he’d been killed hours ago. He remembered the searing pain as the Fae tore into him with a magical wild-fire spell. Dominic remembered his body being torn apart and burned piece by piece. These sick creatures created a spell that could keep their victims alive until the last piece of them was consumed. Yet, the Fae creature hadn’t realized his mate was a Dreamer and there. Brigid walked Raven through recreating
“I still don’t know if I can do this.” Raven listened to Brigid’s words and instructions about how she was supposed to build a new body for Dominic. She claimed he’d be the same as he was before. If that’s what she wanted. Oh yes, she’d hinted at the fact that Raven could tweak things if something needed changing. But she’d warned her that it couldn’t be too big of a change. Raven didn’t know what Brigid meant by that. But she was still having problems believing she could do this. How could this be something she’d be able to do? If she didn’t Dominic would stay dead. If she didn’t try, he’d be dead when they returned to their reality. If she tried and failed, at least she could say she tried. If she succeeded, she’d have Dominic back. What did she have to lose? Other than hope. “You won’t know if you can do anything the first time you try to do anything until after you’ve tried to do it.” Brigid said. She was being humorous and smiled at her in a mo
Raven didn’t know how long or where she was. But she knew something was wrong long before her mind was fully functional. When she realized that she couldn’t find Dominic that Raven knew something was wrong. When Luke noticed Raven was awake, everyone moved to her side. “Hey, hey, Luna Jones, are you back with us? Okay, take it easy. Breathe. Breathe. Calm yourself. You’re okay. It’s not what you think. We need to talk, but we can’t if you get upset again.” “Where’s my mate? Where’s Dominic?” Raven sat up from where she lay on the ground in a strange place. “Where am I?” At least she recognized Luke and Tom, but she didn’t recognize the female. “Please Luna Jones, stay calm and relax. We need to explain this to you. There’s a limited time to change the outcome and we can’t stay here long. Please listen to this. It’s unbelievable but it’s a miracle. Just listen to her.” Tom begged Raven. She didn’t know what Tom was speaking about, but sh
Raven didn’t know what happened to Dominic or how to get him back. He and the guard he’d attacked were fighting in the cage on top of the column. “How do we get Dominic down from there?” There was no way she would leave without her mate. Tom and Luke turned on her. “Luna Jones, we understand our orders and your feelings. There’s nothing we can do. You and the lady here are our priority to get out of here.” “I’m going back in there to get him back. Our Pack needs him.” Raven found Tom holding her back with the help of the female. “No, you can’t. Only a living person can switch places with him. Also, the Keeper will return at any minute. He won’t let the guard, or your friend live long.” The soft voice of the female had Raven’s reacting violently to this. “We can’t leave him behind.” As we spoke in hushed tones the creature Raven assumed the female called the Keeper returned. Raven panicked and she had to get to Dominic now. So
One cage was left up on a high column with a lone occupant. Raven gasped when she saw the being move. “They’re alive up there Dominic. She’s up there. That’s her. I know it. I don’t know how, but they won’t let us use our abilities here. So, she can’t rescue herself. They’re practically tapping her of everything she has because they’ve used up or killed all the others.” “These were the others I assume.” “Yes, I think so. At least, most of them.” “Looks like someone was angry. How are we going to reach her? They shattered all the other columns.” Tom asked. He tried to work out a way to get to her, but like everyone there it was one of those monumental tasks. “We don’t have climbing equipment, and the column is solid stone. I don’t see any cracks or veins. It would take days or weeks to work our way up making footholds if we had the gear. That’s if anyone knew how to use it. I’ve only gone to a rock-climbing gym a few times.” “
Raven stepped away from the others without a word. The males debated what they found lying on the ground, but they found nothing long or strong enough to work as the tools they needed. Luke went through his pack searching for anything. “Need out strips want. Function and form are one. Take from the scrap and bring it value, beauty, use, and form.” Raven said half to herself. She muttered under her breath as she stared at her hands as if the debris in her hands was an object to study. Her hands moved over it. Pressing, pushing, and pulling at it as she tweaked the object. The object glowed with a faint light that pulsed with each movement of her hands. “This should work to pop the hinges out.” Raven returned to Dominic’s side, and in her hands lay a thick rod and a heavy mallet. She offered them to Tom who hesitated to take them. “Uh, thanks.” When he did take them, his features changed to show a look of surprise. He felt the weight of the mallet and