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Damon

Present Day

Their strategy had worked. They had effectively turned my own Fated mate against me. I had even met her before Rhys had. Clever fox. Clever fuck.

At least I could still infiltrate her mind and try to gain her trust, even if the others tried to keep her away from me. Lied to her about me.

Maybe she connected me to all her bad memories because that was where she spent her time while dreaming.

I waited patiently as I sipped my drink, careful not to overindulge. I’d need complete control tonight to reverse the damage done.

And while I waited, I lingered on those memories, the ones that had started it all. There was one mind I didn’t like to have too much time in, and that was my own.

I could feel Dove enter the dreamworld and I relaxed in my office, leaning back in the chair. The penthouse was empty. It had been empty since Enko had left for the academy. When those pricks turned him against me too.

It wasn’t my fault that this was my job. My responsibility. That Enko helped me keep control of the city.

Was I truly expected to bear this burden alone?

The fires burned, the nightmare almost as familiar as my own at this point. I looked around and found Dove instantly. I could feel her.

Her white hair billowed, the heat of the fire causing its own wind. She watched the temple burning calmly. Every time she came here, she strengthened herself against the fear. She was getting stronger every night.

Her eyes snapped back to me as she felt my presence. “You’re here.”

“Of course I am, my little bird,”

I said, moving to her side.

“I thought I told you not to call me that.”

“So everyone else is allowed a name for you, but not me?”

My expression was stone, but it panged at my heart.

“I don’t even know you. I barely know Rhys still.”

Rhys, the one who turned them all against me. Like I was the bad guy and we weren’t all terrible for our innocent Fated mate. “Well, what do you want to know?”

“How long have you been coming to my dreams?”

She spun around suddenly, staring up at me with those brown eyes. But the dream lacked the color of real life. Everything in her nightmare was black and white and red. The white of her robes, the red of blood and fire, and the black of coal after the fire raged.

She was beautiful, more alluring than I ever could have imagined a woman could be. The fires blazing around us made her a soldier after a deadly battle. She carried a new weapon, an odachi. It was connected to her spirit, even in the dreamworld. She could use it here, if a Mind demon tried to attack her. But I made sure to keep her safe from other devious beings like me. That was as much my job as guarding the Hellgate. More so, even.

“Since the night I first laid eyes upon you,”

I told her. “I couldn’t keep away, but I kept hidden, just watching. I didn’t want to scare you. I needed to know you, Dove. To know that you were okay.”

She nodded, turning back to the burning temple. “The others will be mad if they knew I was speaking to you instead of blocking you out. But if the goddess Fated us, I know I need to give you a chance.”

She was religious. That much I had figured out. Anyone raised in a temple would have had the old ways beaten into them from a young age. And she had all but been born there. “Praise to the goddess.”

She laughed, rolling her eyes. The link between us twanged like a guitar string. “Don’t be a smartass, Damon.”

I smiled. “I heard about your second tail. Congratulations.”

“Heard about it, or saw it in the mindspace?”

she asked rhetorically as she inclined her head. “How many do you have?”

I bristled. It was that distrust I had of everyone now. Even my own Fated mate. Ever since Enko had betrayed me. “Can I trust you, Dove? Or are you here to spy on me for the Archfox?”

Her head tilted, “It is you that needs to earn trust. After how you treated Enko.”

“I brought his memories to the forefront of his mind. Reminded him of our bond. Did he not tell you? My job isn’t a choice, Dove. It’s an obligation I was born into, my soul was promised to the goddess a thousand years ago due to my bloodline.”

“No, he didn’t tell me. Everyone only warns me about you. But for some reason, I feel drawn to you.”

“We’re Fated. Did you expect anything less?”

“You can trust me, Damon. I’m not here to spy on you, only to get to know you.”

My brows rose skeptically, but our time was running short. “In that case, I have eight tails. As many as your precious Archfox.”

I could feel Enko awakening and my heart fell. Time passed quicker in the dreamworld without me altering it. It was like the whole night was gone with just a few words exchanged between us. I touched her arm, keeping her in the dream for a moment longer.

“Can I see you again? Can I have your number?”

She laughed, a lovely musical sound, “Something tells me you already have it.”

She was right, I’d stolen the digits before she even knew I lurked within her mind. “I’ll text you.”

I was ripped from the dream as she awoke. I could sense the others’ minds, but they were blurrier than my Fated mate. I begrudgingly stood up, heading out to patrol around the Hellgate and ensure nothing had escaped in my moments of leisure.