Chapter 110: Dreams Answer - Callista's POV

What little peace I had felt while drifting off to sleep didn’t last. It was almost as if I had gone to sleep alone, without Riven holding me.

At first, it was subtle. I was by myself, walking through the woods. There was a flicker at the edge of my mind, like something shifting in the darkness where I couldn’t quite see it. Though I physically felt myself curled against Riven with his warmth seeping into me, there was only coldness here.

Darkness flooded in on all sides, seeping through cracks of whatever fragile calm I had found. And then it took me.

The woods faded into nothing, replaced by a void where I couldn’t see anything. The air was so much colder here, chilling me to the bone. It scraped against my lungs as I tried to breathe, and the ground—or whatever surface was beneath me—was just as cold. It felt wrong.

Suddenly, I slipped on something liquid. The smell of iron and copper hit me a second later.

It was blood. I slipped on blood.

My heart pounded as my stomach twisted. I looked down as the darkness began to fade, revealing a drag trail of blood leading to another room. My bare feet were stained with it. I stood there shaking as my wolf stirred violently beneath my skin.

“This is just a dream,” I said, my throat suddenly bone-dry. “No, this is a dream. I feel Riven’s warmth. I’m in his arms. Callista, get yourself together. You’re not alone now.”

But when I opened my eyes, I was still alone, following the path of blood through a doorway.

“No,” I whispered, my voice echoing strangely in the empty space around me. “No, not again…”

But this world didn’t listen to my pleas. It never had.

I walked into the room, expecting to see gore and body parts, but there was only a trail of blood. A low sound rumbled through the darkness at the darkest part of the room, something between a growl and a breath. My body went still as it rolled toward me, getting closer and closer.

My head snapped up.

“Riven? Is that you?”

Silence answered me, then I caught a shadow just at the edge of the darkness.

My heart pounded harder against my ribs, robbing me of breath as I took a step back. I felt the slipperiness of the blood under my foot, making me skid backwards until I fell.

“Riven,” I called again, louder this time. “If this is you, you need to stop and—”

The shape moved closer. Whatever it was, it went slowly. And the closer it got, the more wrong it felt.

The bond didn’t feel like him. It felt fractured and twisted, like something had taken hold of it and pulled too hard in every direction.

“Riven?”

The shadows peeled back just enough for me to see his red-gold eyes and my breath caught. They weren’t his. Not fully.

“You left,” the voice said.

It was his voice, but it wasn’t at the same time. I stared at him, trying to place what this was until the only thing I could think of was that it had to be his demon. It layered itself over his, distorting it until they were two speaking as one.

My chest tightened painfully. “I didn’t—”

“You left me,” the demon repeated, louder this time.

“Riven didn’t want me here,” I said quickly, trying to rise to my feet though my instincts screamed to run. “But I’m here now and I’m not leaving him.”

The thing wearing his face tilted its head slightly. “Too late.”

The word hit me hard, but I didn’t have time to react. It moved too fast, coming at me with a speed I had never seen before.

It was in front of me, a hand wrapping around my throat. Though it was firm enough to hold me in place, it didn’t crush me. My breath hitched as I stared up at him, searching for something familiar in those red-gold eyes.

“Riven,” I choked out.

For one split second, something flickered in those depths. His grip faltered.

“Run,” he said, his eyes fluttering.

The bond surged violently between us, snapping tight and flooding through me like fire and ice all at once.

“Please run, Calli—”

What little outburst Riven had was quickly swallowed by the demon. The pressure on my throat tightened again as he forced his way back through.

“No more running,” he growled. “You’ve run from our destiny for too long.”

My wolf snarled in response, pushing forward and refusing to cower, even now.

“You don’t get to take him,” I breathed, even as my vision started to blur. “You don’t get to have him. I’m going to break this curse and you will fade into oblivion.”

The thing smiled wickedly. “How can you when I was summoned here and placed in his body?”

My eyes widened. “What? No.”

He laughed. “Did you really think you knew everything about this? Did you really think it was tied to his family line?”

I looked toward the wall behind him, trying to remember everything. “But that’s what—”

“Ronan said,” he cut in. “Ronan says plenty of things, but what’s true? It tied to his family, alright. I’ll give you that, but it’s not what you think.”

“At this point…I don’t care,” I snapped. “He is mine.”

The bond snapped tight, and I jerked awake with a sharp gasp. My body arched off the bed as air violently rushed into my lungs.

My hands flew to my throat instinctively, my fingers trembling as they pressed against skin that was intact, but didn’t feel like it.

“Callista—”

Riven’s voice cut through the panic instantly, his hands already on me. I sucked in another breath, shaking, my eyes darting around the room as if I expected the dream to still be there waiting for me.

“It’s fine,” I whispered quickly, even though it wasn’t. “I’m fine.”

But the bond wasn’t calm anymore. It was humming and echoed something that hadn’t stayed in the dream.

“It’s getting worse,” I said as Riven pulled me to him. “The dreams.”

“What did you dream about?”

“Of the demon,” I murmured. “He said that Ronan lied, and that this wasn’t something passed down through the line. He was summoned.”

Riven’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean he was summoned? You mean like this curse was placed on me? Or—”

“I don’t…know,” I said, my voice cracking. “Riven, I really don’t know, but if he’s telling the truth, then Ronan lied.”

Riven went very still at that. “He wouldn’t…lie about something like that,” he said, but there was a hint of hesitation in his voice. “Why would he? That doesn’t make sense.”

“Doesn’t it?” I asked, my voice firm. “Why would he tell you if he was the one who had cursed you?”

“No, that can’t be—”

“You didn’t hear him,” I whispered, pulling back just enough to look at him. “You didn’t feel it. That wasn’t just a nightmare, Riven. It felt…real.”

His hands tightened slightly on my arms, grounding me, but I could feel the shift in him through the bond.

“That thing in your dreams is just that,” he said slowly.“Has it been talking to you more?”

“Yes,” I breathed. “And it’s not just repeating things anymore. It’s telling me things we didn’t know before. These are the nightmares I’ve been having, but this one has progressed.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s telling the truth.”

“No,” I agreed, my voice quieter now. “But it also doesn’t mean it’s lying.”

Riven’s jaw ticked before he glanced away.

“Summoned,” he repeated under his breath. “That would mean someone chose this. That it wasn’t just…bad luck or bloodline.”

My stomach twisted at that. “Or someone wanted it,” I added. “Maybe he wants to wipe out the wolves and is using his children to get it.”

His gaze snapped back to mine instantly. “No,” he said, sharper this time. “There’s no reason anyone would want something like this.”

“Power,” I said immediately.

The word came out before I could stop it, but once it was there, it didn’t feel wrong. It felt…possible.

“Control. A weapon. Something they couldn’t create on their own, so they forced it into someone else.”

Riven shook his head, but slower this time. “That’s—” He stopped himself, exhaling sharply. “That’s too much speculation for a dream.”

“Riven, I’m a seer. It wasn’t just a dream,” I insisted, my fingers tightening in his shirt again. “It knew things, like about me leaving and the bond.”

Riven dragged a hand through his hair, pacing once before stopping himself as if he didn’t want to leave my side completely.

“If it was summoned,” he said slowly, “then someone had to do it. Someone had to put it there.”

“And that means it can be undone,” I said quickly, sitting up straighter despite the lingering tremor in my body.