I stared, aghast.

"Hide? I'm not hiding. I'm fucking trapped! Are you the one who trapped me?"

He turned his head, looking around the room. Then nodded to Jaiel behind me. "Doesn't look like much of a prison, if you ask me."

"Yeah, well." I shrugged. "It didn't start that way. Now, answer my questions. Who are you, and why are you here?"

"I'm … here to keep you safe. You must leave this place before it's destroyed."

"Destroyed?" I stammered. "What do you mean, destroyed?"

"The storm is coming," he repeated. "And it will tear apart this little memory the same as it has the others. You must go."

I knew that storm. Every time I'd opened the doors, I'd seen it raging over the ocean, angry and wild. But it never came closer, so I'd ignored the warning bells in my mind.

The stranger didn't need to know that, though. He'd barged into my dream and was trying to order me around, as if HE were in charge.

"This is a dream —" I snapped. "Mydream. Why should I be scared of a little storm?"

"I think you can feel how dangerous it is," he said, holding out his hand. "Now, we must go. Quickly."

"No." I stepped backwards. "I don't even know who you are. There's no way I'm going with you."

The cloaked man let out a sigh, then grabbed my wrist before I could react. "Why must you always be so fucking stubborn …"

Chapter 4

Kaiya

Gasping, my eyes flew open, and I reached out to catch myself. But my fingers just grasped straw and the hard ground of my cell.

Thank the gods. It wasn't real.

My head throbbed, nausea twisting my stomach as the strange dream faded and I pulled myself back to reality.

What the fuck was that?!

That ballroom, dancing with Jaiel, waking on my straw pallet in the cell.

It was always the same — except that man.

He was new …

What did it mean? Why change now?

I felt for Jaiel's bond deep in my chest and let out a relieved breath.

He was there — distant, but alive.

The Harlsteds had said Frexin had stormed Dragon'sPeak before Jaiel and the wolf shifters arrived, so they hadn't seen him.

And Frexin had mentioned Jaiel was still free and causing her problems on more than one occasion.

Surely that meant he was okay …

But if so, why did that damn dream plague me so often?

It was almost as maddening as the mystery of those damn red doors.

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