Page 7 of Becoming One

CHAPTER 3

Orion sat at the end of the couch with Nelson spread out, lying beside him, his head resting on Orion’s lap. He gently ran his fingers through Nelson’s silky-soft, beautiful jet-black hair, intrigued by the white stripes scattered throughout. When he had first met Nelson, Orion had thought the gorgeous man had dyed his hair, but to his surprise, as he sat day after day, watching over his mate while he was in a coma, he could study every inch, every feature of Nelson, and found that his hair was all natural. Now he sat again, caressing his mate’s hair and staring in awe at how beautiful Nelson truly was.

“He’s almost ready, Orion. Just keep doing what you’re doing,” Jewel whispered as he moved closer and sat on the coffee table before them.

“Shouldn’t I be asleep as well?” Orion asked softly, not wanting to disturb Nelson.

Jewel shook his head as he replied, “No. Only the person we want to dream walk with is required to be asleep. Once he hits that REM sleep, we’ll join hands and I’ll take us in.”

It was another five minutes until Orion felt Nelson’s body completely relax and go limp, the cutest little snores escaping his lips, making Orion smile. He shook his head internally as he thought how even something as small as a snore coming from his mate, made him fall deeper in love with the man.

Jewel slid closer and placed his hand on Orion’s. “He’s ready. I need you to relax, close your eyes, and just concentrate on your breathing. When you hear me tell you to open your eyes, open them, and we’ll be inside Nelson’s dream.”

“Can we help?’ Briar asked in a whisper as he and Helio walked into the room and came closer.

“I’m not sure whether you can. I’ve never done this with anyone else before.”

“That’s why we want to help. You may not be able to take Orion with you seeing as you’ve never done it before. When Ezra told us what you were doing, we knew we had to come. I think we can help your ability by using our powers, this way you can take Orion,” Helio replied.

“Where is Ezra? I thought he would be here by now,” Jewel said.

“Oh, he’s on his way. He was just finishing a call with one of the contractors,” Briar said and sat next to Jewel.

“Okay, well, let’s see what you can do. Nelson’s ready.”

Helio sat behind Jewel on the table and he and Briar each placed a hand on Jewel. Orion watched as Jewel focused on Nelson, blocking out everything else in the room. “Okay, Orion, close your eyes,” Jewel whispered.

He did as Jewel instructed and relaxed into the cushions as he closed his eyes and concentrated only on his breathing, matching it to Nelson’s. A few minutes later he felt a strange tingling go through his body and suddenly he felt weightless, like he was floating on his back in the middle of a pool.

“We’re in. Open your eyes, Orion.” He heard Jewel’s voice, but it sounded as if it came from a distance. Almost as if it was spoken through a metal can.

Slowly he opened his eyes, not sure what he would find. Part of him was afraid this dream walk wouldn’t work and part of him was afraid it would. The unknown was scary sometimes in itself, but walking around in someone else’s memories or their dreams, was downright creepy and made him feel like he was invading his mate’s privacy. But then he reminded himself that Nelson had asked to do this and for him to come along, and he needed to respect his mate’s wishes.

Opening his eyes, he immediately knew they were inside Nelson’s dream. Not only was he not sitting on the couch with Nelson’s head in his lap anymore, or sitting in the drawing room of the mansion, but he and Jewel were now standing in a glade full of different grasses, trees, and flowers, with the sun shining bright on their skin.

Orion closed his eyes and raised his head, wanting to luxuriate in the feel of the sun on him, but he felt nothing. Realizing he was in Nelson’s dream and wouldn’t feel the warmth of the sun, Orion opened his eyes and looked around. As far as the eye could see there was nothing but the glade. A few butterflies flew by and he could hear birds chirping in the distance.

“There, what is that?” Jewel asked as he pointed to the left.

Orion shifted his gaze to where Jewel was pointing and saw nothing but a field of daisies. Then suddenly something fluffy and white poked up over the flowers and bobbed up and down, as if whatever it was attached to was hopping.

“A bunny maybe?” he said.

“I don’t think so. Rabbit tails are more round and closer to their bodies. That one is longer and flapping as it moves,” Jewel replied.

“It’s my fox,” Nelson’s voice came from behind them, and Jewel and Orion turned to look at him. The deep sadness Orion heard in his mate worried him.

“Sweetness, are you okay?” Orion asked as he stepped closer to Nelson and took his hand. It was a little disconcerting knowing they were in a dream, yet he could still take his mate’s hand and feel it’s warmth.

“I’m fine, Orion, but my fox keeps running from me. I almost caught him over there under the willow tree, but he took off as I approached,” Nelson answered, his voice despondent.

“Let’s go see if we can get him to come out,” Jewel said, and headed into the field of daisies with Nelson and Orion following.

After what seemed like they had been searching for hours, but was more like five minutes, not spotting even a tail glimpse of the fox, they all stood still in the center of the field looking in all directions.

A slight ruffling behind them followed by a low growl had the trio turning in its direction. Orion’s eyes widened, and a bright smile spread over his face as he peered down at the most adorable thing he had ever seen. It was smaller than a house cat, but with jet-black fur covering all of its body, except for a patch of snow-white fur on the chest that ran around his neck like a collar and a big, puffy white tail. The creature had the biggest brown eyes, that showed intelligence behind them as Orion stared into the creature’s gaze. It also had a beige colored muzzle with a cute little pink nose, and two of the smallest, cutest, little white horns sticking out of its head and two floppy ears. Then when it lifted a paw and clawed at the air in their direction as it growled, Orion could see that the bottoms of the creature’s feet were a soft pink that matched its nose.

“Oh my Gods, it’s so adorable,” Jewel declared as he knelt down. “What kind of creature is this? Is it something you made up in your mind, Nelson, or is this your fox? Because I have to tell you, when you say fox, this isnotwhat I pictured.”