Chapter 20 Nightmares and Warnings
Lina didn’t dream often.
Three centuries in the forest had taught her that dreams could be dangerous—voices, memories, illusions sent by the Veil to confuse her mind.
She’d learned to sleep lightly, like an animal, always listening for danger.
But tonight felt different.
Safe.
Warm.
Her hand in Kael’s hand.
His scent—cedar, iron, winter air—steady beside her.
She drifted deeper than she meant to.
And that’s when she saw it.
THE DREAM
She stood in the forest again, barefoot on cold earth.
Mist curled around her ankles.
“Not again,” she whispered. “Not here.”
But the forest was different.
Quiet.
Dead quiet.
No birds.
No wind.
No heartbeat of magic under the roots.
A heavy, suffocating silence pressed against her skin.
Then—
A voice.
“Little wolf…”
The mist thickened, rising to her knees, her waist, her chest.
Lina froze. “No.”
“You run well.”
The voice was everywhere.
Inside her mind.
Behind her spine.
Under her ribs.
But it was not her father’s voice.
Not her tribe’s.
Something older.
Colder.
Something that had lived beyond the Veil long before wolves had names.
Lina spun, searching for the source. “Show yourself.”
A shape moved behind the trees.
Not a wolf.
Not a man.
Not anything that should exist.
A tall shadow with too many edges, too many limbs, shifting like smoke and bone at the same time.
“I found you.”
Her heart slammed into her ribs.
The shadow leaned close—
and she felt it inside her skull, scraping at her memories.
Her mother’s laugh—
her father’s voice—
her tribe’s faces—
All flickered.
“No—” Lina clutched her head. “Stop!”
“You will come back to me.”
“I will not!”
“You are Valerius… chosen… tied to the Veil itself…”
The shadow reached for her—
A hand of ash and starless night.
She stumbled back—
But her feet sank into the ground like mud.
“No—let me go—!”
The shadow’s fingers brushed her cheek.
Cold.
Burning.
Wrong.
“Come home…”
Lina screamed—
KAEL
“Lina!”
She shot upright with a choked gasp.
Her heart thundered.
Her skin was ice.
Her lungs refused to fill.
And Kael was already there.
He had her in his arms in seconds, pulling her against his chest, one hand on the back of her head, the other around her waist.
“Lina, breathe,” he said, voice low and shaking. “You’re safe. You’re with me.”
Her chest heaved violently. “Kael—it touched me—it touched me—”
His wolf surged so fast the air around him crackled with energy.
He cupped her face, forcing her to look at him. “What do you mean it touched you?”
“In the dream,” she gasped, trembling. “It was the forest—but not the forest—and it spoke to me, Kael. It knew my name. It knew my tribe. It told me—”
She swallowed hard, voice barely audible:
“Come home.”
Kael went still with rage.
Not subtle anger.
Not quiet anger.
A deadly, Alpha-level fury that vibrated through his body and shook the bedframe.
His eyes burned gold.
His breathing shifted—
shallow, dangerous.
“Lina,” he said quietly, “was it the same presence from the rift?”
She nodded, unable to stop shaking.
Kael pulled her into his lap, wrapping her in his arms so tightly she couldn’t fall apart even if she tried.
He pressed his forehead to hers.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“Did it hurt you?”
“It tried to.”
Her voice cracked.
“It pushed into my memories. It tried to take my past.”
Kael’s breath caught.
Then something broke inside him.
In a low, shaking growl, he whispered:
“I swear to the moon, I will destroy it.”
Her vision blurred. “Kael—”
His grip softened immediately, thumb brushing away a tear she didn’t know had fallen.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured. “I’m right here. It can’t reach you in the real world.”
She shook her head. “Kael… dreams are real to the Veil. They cross easier than physical things.”
His jaw clenched violently. “Then I’ll stay awake.”
“What?”
“I’ll stay awake and guard your sleep,” he said. “Every night until this is over.”
Her heart twisted. “Kael, you can’t—”
“I can,” he growled. “And I will.”
“Kael—”
He pulled her closer, his face in her hair, breathing her in like he needed it to live.
“Lina,” he whispered, voice rough and desperate, “when you screamed… I thought it took you.”
She froze.
His arms tightened.
“I thought you were gone.”
Her breath hitched. “Kael…”
He leaned back enough to see her face, his expression raw and unguarded.
“I can’t lose you,” he whispered, “not to a dream, not to the Veil, not to anything.”
She stared at him.
And for the first time, she realized—
This wasn’t just protectiveness.
Wasn’t just the bond.
Wasn’t just the Alpha instinct.
Kael cared.
Deeply.
Dangerously deeply.
Her wolf pushed forward, urging her closer.
“Kael…”
She reached up and cupped his cheek.
“I’m here.”
His eyes softened instantly, gold dimming to warm amber.
“You’re shaking,” he whispered.
“So are you.”
He let out a breath that was half laugh, half pain. “Then we’re a pair.”
She leaned her head against his chest, feeling his heartbeat, letting the sound ground her.
Kael stroked her hair gently. “Tell me everything you saw. Every detail.”
She told him.
The shadow.
The forest without magic.
The voice calling her “little wolf.”
The cold hand touching her cheek.
Kael’s fingers tightened in her hair. “It touched you again.”
“In the dream,” she said. “Not physically.”
“Dream or not,” he growled, “it crosses boundaries it shouldn’t. And it shouldn’t be able to speak to you without a link.”
Lina stiffened.
Kael noticed.
His eyes narrowed. “What?”
She swallowed. “Kael… I think it’s using the sanctum crack. The rift. The part we opened.”
He closed his eyes, jaw tightening in anger and guilt.
“We didn’t have another choice,” he said.
“I know.”
“But now we fix it.”
He gently lowered her back onto the bed — but instead of moving away, he stretched out beside her and pulled her against him, keeping her firmly anchored to his chest.
“You sleep,” he said softly.
“I’ll hold you through the nightmares.”
“Kael…”
His lips brushed her temple — not a kiss, but close.
“Nothing will reach you tonight,” he murmured.
“Not while I’m here.”
Her wolf melted into him.
Her body finally relaxed.
Her eyes grew heavy.
Kael’s heartbeat thudded slow and strong under her cheek.
Safe.
Warm.
Protected.
As Lina drifted back to sleep, she felt his arms tighten one last time around her waist —
and heard his voice:
“I won’t let anything take you from me.”