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.
“Are you sure you’re the wolf I’m mated to? Because this is not how he runs. He doesn’t apologize or say he’s sorry. Nor does he regret a thing he does even if it’s a mistake. He lives with it and pushes on.” “Yeah, well that was when I thought it only affected me. Now I’m seeing it’s different and it’s not only me who’s affected by what I’m doing.” Raven realized what he was saying and stopped giggling. Dominic was growing up. How had he gotten this far and not grown up? She … This thought caught her completely off guard. But how? They’d lost their parents. But Dominic had people to fall back on. She hadn’t, was that the difference? Was that where the disconnect was? Was he broken too? Like her but he could hide it better? Or people didn’t fault him for it like they did her. It made him a little less intimidating and a little more approachable somehow. “Yeah, I’m the same wolf. Why would you think something that crazy? No, d
Dominic was passionate and a little kinky still. At least, that hadn’t changed. But the sex had somehow. Raven had had sex before, but she’d never lost the ability to make sound. Or see. But if it meant feeling like that, she would welcome that again. No one ever told her that her clit could have a noticeable pulse and how enjoyable it was to feel. Or how distracting it could be. She lay in bed wondering if he’d had sex with her to distract her from her emotional crisis of earlier. Well, it couldn’t have been that much of a burden by the way he was humming in the shower right now. Dominic seemed to be in the best mood she’d seen him in since well ever. Raven didn’t remember ever seeing him like this. Dominic left the bathroom and threw himself onto the bed when he realized she was awake. “Okay, are you still blaming yourself for something you couldn’t have known anything about? Or said anything about? Really Pet you need to stop thinking that you ar
Dominic got a frantic call from Paul hours later. “Dom we’re having problems here there have been several attacks on our people. I think they’re looking for Raven. Trying to draw here out.” Paul’s voice came from the phone hiding none of his annoyance or his anger. He wanted permission to do his worst. “Who are they Paul? I need more details than that to tell you what moves to make.” Dominic didn’t give out blanket orders without knowing the full details. Because he wanted to know what happened and who was guilty. That was how he split the hairs between him and a common criminal. Dominic had rules and a code to follow. Of course, it was complicated by the existence of the supernatural but that was a given. “It’s the little green buggers with help it seems from someone bigger. Their messing with our deliveries to all our businesses.” Dominic leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling. Paul’s insulting term, green buggers, was f
“The first reports are in, and it looks like we are narrowing the playing field faster than we thought. Also, there are more individuals and groups coming forward willing to help with working on this plan. I’m glad you’re here Raven. There’s no way I could do all of this and keep my sanity. The dreams and visions are enough to handle without the people asking the questions. Then try and match the questions to the visions so that the answers can go to the correct people. It’s a tall order on the best of days. Now I’ve got the other visions added in too.” Raven listened to Lily ramble tired as she was. She didn’t control her visions. They came when they decided to. It’s another reason why Stryker was always around, someone had to catch her. “What other visions? Lily, you’re not making as much sense as you believe you are. So, what’s going on?” Raven wasn’t sure about what Lily was talking about. Lily was far too tired to talk about anything. But she was determine