Page 228 of Awakened

I don’t know how long I’m asleep, but when I startle awake, Caelen’s next to me, breathing deep with one arm banded around my lower back and the other tucked behind his head.

My eyes are blurry from sleep, and it takes me a second to focus on my surroundings. But the moment I do, I realize what pulled me out of a dreamless slumber.

A thin line of flame flickers along the edge of the room, like soft candlelight.

Squinting, I follow its winding path with my gaze, trying to make sense of what I’m seeing.

“What…”

Is this one of those strange dreams again? It doesn’t feel like it, but⁠—

No. Both times I escaped in my dreams, I felt a clear sense of unreality, even if it took me a second to recognize it. Like I was there, but not there at the same time.

Caelan shifts, and I glance at his still-sleeping form, wondering why neither of us has discussed the dreamscape, and if I should have brought it up before. I hadn’t meant to ignore it, but there’s just been so much happening and⁠—

The light flares, brightening the room significantly. I get the uncanny sense that it’s irritated at being ignored.

And suddenly, Branwen’s words from yesterday when she chased me down after the meeting come back to me.

“When the fire calls, you must answer it.”

Well… Hell.

Sliding out from under Caelan’s arm, I move as carefully as I can so I don’t wake him. He’s got a predator’s instincts, and if he wakes up now, there’s no chance he’ll simply let me leave on my own to discover where this flame goes.

I don’t like leaving without telling him, but I promised Branwen that I wouldn’t ignore the flame and that I’d go wherever it took me alone.

She swore this was the way I’d find answers to my questions, so that’s what I hold onto now, praying for the strength not to chicken out.

Besides, Branwen wouldn’t knowingly put me in danger.

When my feet hit the plush rug, the flame flickers, wriggling across the floor toward the door.

It reminds me of a snake, slithering toward the unknown. A flame that leaves nothing but unblemished carpet and stone in its wake.

On my way out, I snatch a clean pair of cotton shorts from the bags of random stuff Vae purchased for me. One of Caelan’s sweatshirts is still where he threw it across the back of the couch, so I snag that, too.

At the door, I hesitate. Am I really going to do this? Follow a moving line of flame even though I have no idea where it might be taking me?

I think of all the reports I’ve seen—all the people hurt and dead. All the homes and cities destroyed—and make a deal with myself. If, for any reason, I feel like this might be a trap, I’ll turn back around.

But right now, I don’t feel that way. As the fire spins around my ankles, dancing almost playfully against my skin, I get the feeling that I’m exactly where I need to be.

With one last look at my sleeping Mate, I push the door open.

And follow the flame.

Chapter 27

Daxen

Iwake with a start in the middle of the night to the sound of someone slamming their fist against my bedroom door.

BANG BANG!

“Daxen! Get up!” Caelan’s muffled voice filters through the thick wood, and I groan in irritation.

It feels like I just fell asleep after spending hours tossing and turning to the thoughts—and moans—of Caelan pleasuring the little Omega across the hall.