Unwanted Fates | Book Two ✔️

Thirty-two | Dreams

A bear pawed through the creeping plants tearing and clawing deformed heads from bodies, the barbed collar on its neck laced with poison its only concern. It spun as a monster latched onto its spine, biting its rump with its needled teeth.

The tiger leapt, catching the creature seven feet in the air before crushing its windpipe with blood-drenched canines. How many more could there be? They seemed to be growing smarter, hiding.

Four lions hunted into the wastelands chasing the scent of a wounded one. Yes, the bite would eventually take it down, but any failures, any more leech deaths, could mean another one of them turned to food.

A rogue wolf stalked outside the castle walls. This one had been elusive for weeks, killing its omega with a violent assault. They were no longer lone monsters. They were organising themselves. Packs of them. They were hunting-

*

Sylvie woke, eyes bulging in horror as her dreams swirled noisily in her head, her mates all shooting upright beside her with half-sleepy stares of alarm.

"What?"

She shuffled out from under them and sprinted to the bathroom, emptying the remnants of her stomach in the toilet. When she turned, her mates stood in the doorway wearing the same confused, gorgeous, worried look.

"Sorry," she whispered, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Then, standing and kneading her cramping stomach, she walked to the basin, washed her hands and gargled some fresh water before spitting.

"What was it, princess?" Kian appeared at her side and searched her face. If any of them seemed to know what she experienced, it was him.

"I think it was just a dream."

He eyed her dubiously and folded his arms.

"What?" Rowan asked, peering between the pair of them. "What do you know?"

Kian leaned against the counter while Elias blocked the doorway, halting her much-desired escape. She was in no mood to talk about her nightmare. It was just a stupid dream.

"Sylvie has been known to have prophetic dreams, and I'm reluctant to let you dismiss it, princess. What did you see?"

She rolled her eyes and followed the action by rubbing the sleep from them.

"It was like I was looking through the animal's eyes-"

"Just animals?" Elias clarified.

"Shifters. I was a bear, a tiger, a lion, et cetera-"

"Please tell us everything," Rowan said, gripping her elbow lightly. God, he looked so cute when he was being earnest. "If it might help my pack, I need to know."

"And a rogue wolf, but that was it. In each part of the dream, I was hunting- I think I was following vampires, but the way the animals- shifters thought made them sound like monsters. A lot of them called them monsters."

She shivered, rubbing her arms. "Can we continue this from bed? I'm freezing."

Rowan scooped her wordlessly and carried her back to bed, tucking her in and sitting at her feet like a lap dog. So fucking cute. The more she saw him this way, his true self, she couldn't believe how intimidated she had been when she first met him. Big, cute, phoney.

"So?"

She nodded. "So I pretty much woke after that, but I got the impression if I failed in killing the hunted creature, I would end up eaten. I'm guessing-"

"Blood bags," Rowan finished with a clenched jaw.

"We don't know if this dream means anything-" Kerensa grumbled thickly from the chair.