“Stay close and use all of my senses.” The Wolf nodded. “Got it.” His hand strayed to my belly protectively. “We must get free of this place, Mate. By any means.”
“We will,” I said. “Have faith in the others. They'll find Nemesis, and she'll break the curse.”
“Until zen, ve just have to stay alive,” Kirill said grimly.
Chapter Nineteen
Another door appeared.
“I think we should stay here.” I stared at the door warily. “We just need to hunker down and wait.”
“Maybe you should try contacting Morpheus again,” Kirill suggested.
“I tried last night, but he wasn't there,” I said. “I could give it another go if I can manage to get to sleep.”
“Lie across us,” the Wolf offered. “Then we'll all be together. We can watch over you until you wake up.”
“I like the sound of that,” I agreed.
The men sat down, cross-legged, and I laid across their laps. It took a bit of wiggling to get comfortable, but I was finally able to settle on my side facing them. My head rested on the Wolf's lap and my belly pressed against Kirill's. The scent of my men covered me like a blanket and that, combined with the sound of their steady breaths and stroking hands, helped me relax enough to fall asleep.
The Fey created the Dream Realm so as a fairy, I had a significant amount of control over it. When I fell asleep and found myself dreaming, I wasn't just able to recognize it as a dream, I was also able to control my dream and move beyond it. Why would I need to move beyond it? Because Morpheus was once again absent. And what did moving beyond a dream even mean? It meant that I was going to leave my dream and head into another. If I could find Morpheus, that would be ideal because he'd be able to recognize me as the real me right away. As opposed to believing me to be part of his dream as another person who wasn't a dream god might.
I searched the dark beach of my dream. I don't know why I dreamt of the beach; it was not my favorite place. Not by a long shot. But night had made it bearable; the sky above me twinkled with stars and a soft breeze warmly caressed my skin. Moonlight guided me down the pristine shore; salty waves shushing against the sand with a tropical lullaby.
“There you are,” I muttered to myself.
Hovering in shadows of some jelecote pines, their weeping needles shivering in the salty air, was a hazy spot in a rectangular shape. As I focused on it and approached, it became more defined; turning into a curtain of wispy, indigo mist. The veil of my dream. On the other side of the condensed-mist veil waited the rest of the Dream Realm. I brushed aside the curtain and stepped into an infinite room of similar veils; all of them suspended in the air with seemingly nothing behind them. But I knew the truth; every one of those insubstantial curtains led to the imaginary world of someone's dreams.
“Morpheus!” I shouted.
If the Dream God were anywhere near his cave, he should be able to hear me. If he were actually sleeping, it would be more difficult. I didn't have a link to Morph so finding him among the millions of dreams would be nearly impossible. But he is the Guardian of the Gates of Horn; the passage into this realm. I just needed him to be awake and nearby.
But how often do I actually get what I need when I need it?
I called for Morpheus a good five minutes before I decided that I was wasting my time. Then I closed my eyes and focused on the links inside me. There were several possibilities. All of my husbands were bound to me through vows of Blood to Heart; I'd just recently completed one such vow with Re on our honeymoon. Then there was Thor, who I still held a connection to through his vow of Blood to Mouth that he'd made to me years ago. Finally, if none of them were sleeping, there was always my link to my lions. Surely, one of them was taking a cat nap.
The link that finally rose up to lead me into a dream belonged to none of those people. It led me to Fenrir. I had loosely bound myself to the Wolf God a long time ago; nearly as long ago as I'd accepted Thor's vow of protection. Back when I'd healed the Wolf God with my love magic. The magic had formed a link between us. Normally, that connection hovered gently beneath all of the other bonds inside me. I had so many damn ties that it's a wonder they don't get tangled up inside me. But my other ties weren't leading me anywhere in the Dream Realm; it was Fenrir who lit up and pulled me to him.
I strode unerringly to the billowing curtain of mist and then passed into Fenrir's dream. I found the Great Wolf standing at the top of a hill with Emma, his wife, staring down at a couple of wolf pups playing. I smiled as I approached them. Fenrir loved children, and I wasn't surprised by his dream.
“Dad,” I called to him.
Fenrir turned his head and smiled at me. “There you are! We were just wondering where you'd gotten off to.”
“You were?” I asked.
“I told Emma you wouldn't leave your pup for long,” he said smugly.
“My pup?” I asked as I looked back at the wolves. “Is that Vero?”
“Of course,” Fenrir frowned.
“Who's the other one?”
“That's Ethan,” he said with confusion. “You know that.”
“Dad, this is a dream; your dream,” I started with the explanation. “I'm trapped in a mirror, and this is the only way I can contact anyone.
