Chapter 26 – The Dream That Felt Too Real
Rhianna’s POV
Darkness pressed in on me, heavy and suffocating.
I stood barefoot in the middle of the packhouse living room, but everything looked… wrong. The walls flickered like candle flames, and the air smelled of ash.
“Sebastian?” My voice cracked as I called for him.
He stepped out of the shadows, his expression unreadable — no warmth in his golden eyes. His wolf was close to the surface; I could feel it in the way the air trembled around him.
“Rhianna,” he said flatly. “Tell me it isn’t true.”
A chill swept over me. “W-what isn’t true?”
“That you’re dying.” His voice broke, then hardened again. “That you have only a year left.”
I staggered back a step, shaking my head. “I… I was going to tell you. I just needed time.”
“Time?” His voice rose, sharp enough to make me flinch. “You kept this from me. How long have you known?”
“I didn’t want to burden you,” I whispered. “I didn’t want you to look at me like I’m broken.”
His eyes flashed, full of rage and hurt. “You are broken, Rhianna. I can’t be with someone this weak. A Luna who’s fading away before my eyes — what good are you to me? To the pack?”
“No… please don’t say that.” My knees gave out and I sank to the floor, reaching for him. “Sebastian, I need you. I’ll fight this, I’ll find a way. Just don’t leave me.”
He stepped back, out of reach. “I won’t watch you die piece by piece. I’d rather walk away now.”
Tears blurred my vision. “Sebastian, please…”
“I can’t love a shadow,” he said coldly, and turned his back on me.
“Don’t go!” I sobbed, crawling toward him. “Please, don’t leave me alone!”
I grabbed at his arm — and suddenly my hands closed around empty air. He was gone. The room dissolved into smoke.
I gasped awake, bolting upright in bed, drenched in sweat. My heart slammed against my ribs so hard it hurt.
For a long moment, I couldn’t breathe.
The nightmare clung to me like a second skin, the echo of his cruel words ringing in my ears.
I pressed my palm to my chest and forced myself to whisper, “It was just a dream… just a dream.”
But even as I repeated it, a whisper coiled through my mind:
What if that’s exactly what he’ll say when he finds out?
The thought hollowed me out.
Sebastian didn’t know the healer’s latest diagnosis — that my condition was worsening, that I might not have more than a year.
And now I couldn’t let him find out. Not yet. Not when he had just started softening again, just when I finally had a glimpse of the man I fell in love with.
I curled my knees to my chest and stared out the window at the silver wash of moonlight over the trees.
You can’t lose him now, my wolf whispered, sorrow in her tone. Not when you still need him.
“I won’t,” I murmured back. “I’ll keep it secret. I’ll keep fighting.”
But the tremor in my voice betrayed how afraid I really was.
The front door slammed downstairs, snapping me out of my thoughts.
Footsteps — heavy, purposeful — came up the stairs.
The bedroom door creaked open, and Sebastian stepped in. He smelled of pine and rain, his hair damp as if he’d just showered at the training grounds.
His eyes locked on me at once. “Rhianna? Why do you look so pale?”
I straightened quickly, trying to hide the remnants of my tears. “I’m fine. Just… couldn’t sleep.”
He crossed the room in two long strides and crouched in front of me. Up close, I saw the worry in the tiny crease between his brows.
He reached out, brushing a thumb along my cheekbone. “You’re clammy. Are you sick?”
The gentleness in his voice made my throat tighten. I forced a small smile. “No. I’m fine, really. Probably just the weather.”
He didn’t look convinced. “You’re lying.”
I shook my head. “I’m just tired. That’s all.”
He sighed, sitting beside me on the bed. His weight dipped the mattress enough that our shoulders brushed.
For a while, neither of us spoke. His warmth seeped into my chilled skin, and for a moment I let myself lean subtly toward him, wishing the dream hadn’t left such a raw ache in my chest.
Finally he said quietly, “You scared me just now. I thought something happened while I was gone.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “Didn’t mean to worry you.”
His hand rested over mine, a rare, gentle gesture. “You don’t have to keep everything bottled up, Rhianna.”
I looked at our joined hands and thought: If only you knew.
But I just nodded and managed another small smile. “I’ll be okay.”
Sebastian’s POV
When I came through that door and saw her sitting there, pale and distant, my heart nearly stopped. For a heartbeat, I thought I’d lost her — again.
She said she was fine, but I didn’t buy it. I could smell the fear coming off her in waves, even though she tried to hide it with a smile.
Something was wrong. Something she wasn’t telling me.
Part of me wanted to press her, demand answers. But another part — the part that remembered all the times I’d pushed too hard and driven her further away — told me to let it be.
So I just sat there with her, pretending not to notice how she avoided my eyes.
I wanted to promise her everything would be okay, but the words stuck in my throat.
Instead, I squeezed her hand gently and hoped that was enough.
Rhianna’s POV
He stayed beside me until the worst of the trembling stopped.
It wasn’t much — just his quiet presence — but it felt like a lifeline after the nightmare that had ripped me apart.
I told myself again and again: It was only a dream.
But deep down, I couldn’t shake the fear that someday, when the truth came out, the dream would become my reality.
And I knew, with a certainty that chilled me, that I couldn’t let Sebastian find out. Not yet. Not until I was ready.
For now, all I could do was lean slightly into his warmth and pretend, just for tonight, that everything was fine.