Page 16 of Their Crowned Mate
"You mean the agreement we came to before I knew you were pregnant?" he challenged. "That one?"
I sighed. "This is why I didn't say anything."
"And you're going to have to accept the consequences of that," he pressed, leaning down to kiss me before I could respond. "Come on. It's late and we've all had a long day."
"Oh, you're actually going to sleep?" I mumbled, following him back into the house.
"I'll rest and watch you sleep, if nothing else."
I snorted. "You know, coming from anyone else, that would be an insanely creepy thing to say."
"And coming from me?" he asked, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.
I rolled my eyes and refused to answer. He already knew well enough.
CHAPTER9
LAVINIA
Ifound myself tossing and turning as I lay in bed, struggling to get to sleep even though I was pressed between Cole and Alexander. Marcus was out guarding the portal, since they all took shifts.
Finally, I drifted off into a light sleep and found myself waking up in the woods. The full moon shone brightly above me and I shivered as I felt a chill breeze sweeping through the trees. The faint smell of flowers drifted through the woods and a strange chittering sound echoed from somewhere in the distance. The trees swayed all around me, the tops of their arms brushing against the stars as they swayed back and forth.
A shadow appeared in the clearing in front of me, moving toward me at a steady but nonthreatening pace. I squinted to make out what it was and froze in surprise when I realized it was my wolf.
She locked eyes with me briefly before leaping toward me, clearing the distance between us in a single bound. She nudging my hand with its head before running off into the darkness.
What in the world...?
I took off after her, wondering where the hell she was going, since it was rare enough that she felt like making an appearance. It was the first time I'd seen her in my dreams and I couldn't help but be curious even if I knew it wasn't real.
She was a lot faster than me when I was on two legs, but I was determined to keep up with her. I ran through the woods, dodging trees and jumping over fallen logs as I followed her.
Finally, she seemed to slow down and I saw a glimmer of light in the distance. My eyes widened as I realized what it was--an enchanted portal shimmering brightly on the surface of a still pond.
My wolf stopped in her tracks, turning to give me a wary look. I knew she was worried about what lay ahead, but I was too captivated by the portal's beauty to be scared. I stepped closer and peered into it, marveling at the kaleidoscope of colors that shimmered within it.
The desire to enter this other realm coursed through my veins and before I could stop myself I took a step forward...
No... what the hell was I doing? I jerked back, snapping out of whatever trance had overtaken me. It was like something was calling me from the other side of the portal. Beckoning me.
It was a strange, innate sense of danger. One I had learned to listen to, even if it was in a dream. I took another step back, still trying to make sense of the strange feeling that had come over me.
When I saw a blur of blue fur spring past me, I gasped. "Hey!" I cried, realizing my wolf was headed straight for the portal. "No! Wait!"
She didn't listen, of course. Did she ever? She had caused me nothing but trouble from the beginning.
I watched in dismay as she dove headfirst into the portal and disappeared.
What the actual fuck?
I lingered on the edge of the water for a few seconds in indecision. This was just a dream, and I knew that for sure now, but I usually woke up when I had those realizations. Try as I might, I couldn't wake up now. And once I realized the portal itself was shrinking, I felt a fresh surge of panic.
What was going to happen if my wolf was trapped on the other side? It had taken so long for her to make her first appearance, and she had saved my ass now more than once.
"You dumb mutt," I said through my teeth, grudgingly approaching the waning portal.
It was just a dream, I reminded myself. There was no way I could actually travel through a real portal in my sleep. But I couldn't exactly remember how to wake up, either, and the sense of dread at the thought of not going after her won out.
