Chapter 220
Chapter 220
Ellie POV
The dream began the same way it always did-with mist.
Pale gray fog drifted through the trees, soft and endless, swallowing sound until all I could hear was the thud of my own heartbeat. I knew this place. I’d seen it so many times that the air itself felt familiar. Somewhere ahead, two small figures giggled-a sound that had once comforted me but now filled me with dread.
I knew that something was off. They were too big, too old. But that hazy dream logic made that fact seem unimportant as I moved through the fog to reach them.
“Boys?” My voice came out thin and uncertain.
No answer. Only laughter again, a little farther away. When the mist thinned, I saw them-two flashes of movement darting between the trees, chasing after something I couldn’t see.
“August! lan p>
They didn’t stop. They were running toward a darker shape at the edge of the clearing. For a heartbeat I thought it was a shadow-until I saw the eyes. Blue. Wild and luminous.
Nolan. His wolf form.
He stood at the boundary between forest and fog, powerful and still, watching as the boys stumbled toward him. The mist curled around his paws like smoke.
“Wait!” I tried to run, but my legs wouldn’t move. The ground was soft and heavy beneath my feet, dragging me down. I reached out, fingers brushing the air, but the distance stretched endlessly.
The boys didn’t look back. They ran straight to him, their laughter echoing through the mist as Nolan bent to meet them. His great head lowered, and for a moment I thought she saw his muzzle brush their hair in something almost tender.
Then the fog swallowed them all.
“Stop p>
I jerked upright in bed, breath catching. The room was dark moonlight pooling through the open curtains, the twins asleep in their cribs beside me. Their soft breathing filled the silence, a steady rhythm that should have soothed me-but the image of Nolan’s blue eyes still burned behind my lids.
I pressed a hand over my heart, waiting for it to slow.
It was just a dream.
Except it didn’t feel like one. The urgency in it, the way the boys had run-that wasn’t fear. That was choice. They’d gone to him willingly.
This wasn’t the first time I’d dreamed of the boys leaving with Nolan, but it was the first time that I understood they were doing so willingly. Eagerly. They were choosing
m over me.
I shivered and my throat felt tight.
The goddess’s dreams had never been so vivid, and never before had they left me feeling like I was helpless to do anything about them. I couldn’t shake the sense that something was about to change-that the dream wasn’t a warning against Nolan, but about something larger, something I couldn’t see yet.
He wouldn’t take the boys away. I used to fear he would, but now I knew better. So what did this mean? Why were
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Chapter 20
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they all leaving me behind?
By dawn I’d given up on sleep. I fed the twins, dressed quietly, and slipped out toward the packhouse.
It wasn’t a long walk, and it was a familiar one, but it was sill too much time for my mind to spiral over the dream. The implications. I felt like I was running out of time and I couldn’t seem to calm myself. I could only think of one person to turn to.
Moonstone was waking up around us. The sky had softened to silver-blue, the smell of pine and fresh bread floating on the air. Inside, the halls were warm with light and the faint hum of morning voices. Alaric was already in his study, as he always was, a cup of coffee steaming beside a stack of correspondence.
He looked up when I entered, and his expression shifted instantly-from Alpha to father. “You’re up early, little
moon p>
I tried to smile. “Couldn’t sleep p>
He gestured for me to sit. “Another dream p>
I nodded, lowering myself into the chair across from him.
They boys were bundled in their double stroller and Alaric smiled fondly at them, reaching to touch each of their little faces affectionately, before turning his attention back to me.
The familiarity of the room-the polished oak desk, the scent of ink and parchment- should have been comforting. Instead, it made it throat tight.
“It was the same one,” I said quietly. “The one where Nola takes the boys with him. But different. The boys were running this time p>
Alaric set his cup aside, giving me his full attention. “Running where p>
“To Nolan p>
The words came out barely above a whisper. I stared down at my hands, twisting them in my lap. “Before, they were just walking away from me. But this time, it felt… urgent. Like they had to reach him. I kept calling for them, but they didn’t even look back p>
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