by Jade Waltz
Kaede glanced at the leader of the Fab Five.
“I had to clean up your mess. Something that shouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t dismissed—”
“Selena doesn’t have the power to dismiss you. Ever,” Zirene injected angrily. “You are my agent, first and foremost. Selena has no rights when it comes to you guarding her. I am not wasting your capabilities on the battlefield for you to have a night off. There are no nights off—not when her life is linked to mine,” he hissed and slammed his fist on his desk. “This is your only mission, Agent Kaede. Don’t let others tell you any differently.”
“Not even me, brother?” Royak chuckled.
Zirene’s eyes hardened as he turned toward the Aldawi Heir.
“Try me.”
Royak’s tail flipped in the guest chair as he gave Zirene a gentle smile.
“You know I wouldn’t override you—I never have—and I won’t start with Selena’s safety.” His smile dropped as he faced Kaede. “One would be a fool to mess around with your Nova.”
“Indeed,” Zirene agreed, relaxing. “Now… tell me what important information you gathered from your interrogation.”
Kaede stood swiftly and fell to attention. He dared to try to raise his head to meet Zirene’s gaze, but Zirene’s anger continued to fuel the weight of his dominance. Kaede may have a strong mind, but he couldn’t win against the thickness of Zirene’s aura in the room.
Only Royak could move freely as if nothing was amiss. Zirene knew his brother could feel the effects but was strong enough to ignore them until Zirene used his full force, which he rarely did. Not even their father could resist him then.
“The Quaww hired him to keep tabs on your dealings, especially Selena. He didn’t know that Selena was who she is until my sisters defended her against his… tasteless actions,” he growled. “When they called Selena by name and told him she was their new sister, he knew he needed to find a way to create havoc. If he could make her attack someone, the Quaww could use it against her and try to overturn the vote. He came up with a better plan to drug her with a new aphrodisiac on the market and get her alone. He would use his connections to kidnap her undetected and escape the space station.”
“Her connections with her nestmates would allow us to find her,” Royak murmured easily.
“Exactly,” Zirene purred. “Once again, I am glad she is bonded to her nestmates. Taking in the banished Circuli princes works to our advantage since they are the most powerful males aboard the Destiny. Xylo’s mental strength was enough for me to tolerate, but having him paired up with the princes will only aid in protecting Selena.”
“I wouldn’t disregard Odelm even though his mental strength is average for his species,” Kaede stated. “I have witnessed him with Selena. He is very attuned to her wants and needs. He may not be able to constantly read her thoughts, but he has almost mastered gauging her emotions to know something is wrong before Xylo does.”
Zirene pondered it for a moment as the others waited in silence.
“Do we know where he would take her? And have his connections been dealt with?”
“Yes, Sire.” Bryeca stood to attention beside Kaede. “She was to be given to a Quaww merchant known for trading illegal goods. We can’t bring him to justice since we have no evidence of such dealings, but Aunya was able to place trackers on his ship.”
Zirene glanced at Aunya. “Is this true?”
“Yes, Sire,” she nodded, her face down. “We will be able to collect any evidence of future illegal dealings and deal with him accordingly.”
“Excellent,” Zirene purred. “And his connections?” Zirene asked, addressing both leaders.
The two of them looked at each other as if neither one wanted to answer him.
Kaede sighed and faced the Aldawi princes.
“Escaped,” he hissed. “They left the space station shortly after I left the club with Selena.”
“I request permission to hunt them with my sisters,” Bryeca blurted. “Allow us to clean up the mess we made.”
“Don’t fail me,” Zirene growled. “I don’t do well with those who do, especially when it comes to Selena.” He stared at Kaede, daring him to meet his eyes. When Kaede refused to accept the challenge, a smile broke on Zirene’s face.
The male knew his place.
“Agent Kaede, your place is to be Selena’s shadow. You are to watch her at all times, monitoring her actions and those around her.” Zirene gripped his chair as his tail flicked behind him. “You are the primary defense she has from the universe. It is you who will make my life easier, knowing my Nova and our cubs will be safe from harm and the evils that want them.” His eyes hardened. “Don’t fail me again.”
Kaede met his gaze for the first time and nodded.
“On my honor.”
“Now that that is established, are all meetings as intense as this?” Royak asked, trying to lighten the mood.
Zirene held up his paw to silence his brother.
Something felt off.
He closed his eyes and focused his hearing, his ears twitching every which way trying it pick up anything amiss.
A small ringing sounded in his head… but it wasn’t his Nova’s… at least, it felt off. The once clear and even ring felt muted, yet the frequencies changed rapidly.
A burning sensation traveled up from the tip of his tail along his spine.
Zirene jumped on his feet, startled from the feeling.
“Something is wrong with Selena.”
Zirene ran to the Dreamdome in a panic, not caring who called his name as he passed. Royak and his agents would deal with them. Right now, it was up to him to get to her.
The burning was spreading, traveling down his arms and legs at a concerning speed. The ringing was getting louder each passing moment.
Kaede stated she was the only occupant—no other being entered the room or the lobby.
There was no explanation for why she would be in trouble.
He stopped before the entrance and slammed his paw on the scanner. The security scanned him, instantly overriding the locking mechanism and opened the door. Zirene turned and addressed the group.
“I am going in alone. Do not let anyone else come in,” he ordered. “If I don’t return in a few hours, come after us.”
“Will do, brother,” Royak said, his pale lavender eyes full of worry. “I will make sure you are both well taken care of if it comes down to it.”
Zirene nodded and rushed into the doorway.
“System. Emergency Shutdown. Prince Zirene Darcaw. Code 5312.”
“Confirmed,” the Dreamdome’s robotic voice reported. “Emergency Shutdown Complete. Welcome, Prince Zirene Darcaw.”
The lights rose at a gradual pace, revealing the Dreamdome’s chairs lined up in an arch along the wall. Selena was leaned back in the master chair, her body jerking uncontrollably as her head whipped back and forth.
Zirene ran up to her, concern flooding him. She should be slowly regaining consciousness now that the Dreamdome was shutting down, but there was no explanation why she wasn’t. The Dreamdome was completely safe—no one should be convulsing as she was. Zirene inspected her. There wasn’t anything amiss—other than Kaede’s scent was all over her dark clothes.
He growled. Now wasn’t the time for him to be angry about last night’s events or jealous of the fact she was wearing something of Kaede’s.
Slowly, Zirene picked Selena up from the master chair, holding her close to his body as he prevented her from falling. Her thrashes fading as her draped body started to still.
Gasps and heavy breathing filled the silence.
“Selena. Come back,” he begged. “Wake up.”
The gasps became worse.
Even with the system shutdown, Zirene was afraid of leaving the Dreamdome with her in this state. Never before had this happened to someone—not any of the engineers, his pilots, or to him. If a pilot’s ship was destroyed, his consciousness was left intact—they had tested wha
t happened if the Dreamdome lost power or was destroyed with an occupant many times before making a group-sized version.
But all the occupants to this Dreamdome had always been Aldawi—until the day he invited Selena’s clan to experience it.
Was there a glitch in the system? Or had someone tampered with it?
None of it mattered when Selena’s body stilled and went limp in his arms.
“Royak!” he yelled. “Royak! I am losing her!”
Not waiting for his brother’s reply, he needed to act. The body couldn’t live without its life-essence. Hers was slipping. Where, and why? He didn’t know, but the only way to find out and save her would be joining her in their void’s chamber, forcing his way into her dreamscape, and merging it with his own before pulling her back to the present.
Zirene leaped into the master chair and lowered Selena between his legs, holding her in his arms. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to calm as he breathed deeply, following the steps of Aldawi meditation ingrained in him as a cub.
Eyes closed. Even breaths. Steady heartbeat. Calm mind.
Zirene repeated those words, chanting them like a mantra, ignoring the abnormal ringing in his head, his body feeling as if it was on fire.
He was the second prince of the Aldawi Empire—one of the strongest Aldawi ever in existence. He had the pedigree and strength to fight this.
And the Fates and the Stars bound her to him to challenge him. She was meant to keep him grounded and not spiral out of control, only to get lost in the void. Blackness surrounded him as the darkness of his mind became one with its shadow—the shadow cast from his Nova.
Selena's life-essence was a bright golden sphere, drawing him in like an asteroid attracted to a planet’s gravitational pull.
A burning flame. A shooting star.
So bright, he was afraid to look away for fear if he turned his gaze, she would be gone.
There was always a great need to reach out and wrap himself around her—to protect her from all who wanted to take his light, his Nova, away.
She was his first. No one would take her away from him.
Not now. Not ever.
Selena’s golden sphere flickered, its intensity dimming each time.
Zirene studied their shared void. By bonding with her nestmates, she created doors in it without knowing. Their once exclusive chamber now had closed paths to all nestmates, colored by her mental threads to them—Xylo’s teal, Odelm’s pale green, V’dim’s turquoise, and Z’fir’s emerald.
Zirene’s anger flared when he saw a crack. A thin cyan thread had somehow made its way inside and was attacking her from within his own chamber.
Someone was trying to take his light away from him.
Zirene reached for Selena, sending his mental threads out to her—to enclose his most prized possession from the universe. He expanded his presence, filling the chamber, severing the thin cyan thread and destroying it.
Blackness became light.
Selena laid before him, naked and bound to a medical bed, her dark blue-green eyes boring into him, dimmed of life.
Zirene solidified and waved his hand, unlocking the binds that tied her.
“Who did this to you?” he demanded, reaching for her.
“You did,” she replied, her voice a harsh whisper.
He stilled. “What?”
“You were in it all along, weren’t you?” She looked away and searched around, confused. “Where did the others go? They were just here.”
Zirene studied the dreamscape room. It was just a space with a beam of light coming from above, shining down on Selena sitting on the medical table. The presence he once felt wasn’t there anywhere.
“There isn’t anyone, Selena.”
“Don’t give me that! They all were here, telling me how much they can’t wait to harvest me.” She glared at him, tears falling down her face. “Just stop the act and end this now. I know when I have been beaten.”
He dropped his arm. Her words chilled him.
“Who, Selena? Who said this?” he growled. He wanted to kill whoever had put these doubts in her mind.
“My nestmates.”
“Those males wouldn’t harm a thing about you, and you would be a fool to think that,” Zirene growled. “This is the dreamscape. You fell asleep in the Dreamdome,” he explained, scanning the room once more. “And someone wanted you to think that.”
“Why? Why would someone do this to me?” she begged, her voice cracking. “I have done nothing!”
Zirene hissed and grabbed Selena, pulling her to him.
She cried out and thrashed in his arms, clawing at him as she gripped his fur to pull herself free, refusing to be held.
In a single breath, Zirene willed the world away and replaced it with the secluded beach they always shared. Gone was the medical table, and the darkness of the room became the sunset in Destima’s horizon.
“Selena, open your eyes. It is me,” he pleaded. “This is our world. You are safe now.” Zirene placed her on the white-sanded beach. She opened her eyes, taking in the scenery and jerked away.
She chuckled, mockingly, as she dried her tears. “I don’t know who you are anymore, not after what you did.”
“What do you mean?” Selena shook her head as she turned. Zirene grabbed her arm, refusing to let her walk away from him. “What do you mean?” he repeated.
“First, you said someone was interfering with my dreamscape and made me believe my nestmates were here with me, bragging about their nefarious plans. There have never been others in here, other than the time I accidentally trapped my princes in here. So why now? Somehow they are gone, and you are here. So, either I can believe you are the very person messing with me or somehow, it is really you. If it really is you, then you are more of a sick and twisted frax than I thought,” she spat, pulling away.
“Selena, you are my Nova—”
“Don’t use that title with me. It means nothing, and you know it,” she hissed, her eyes shooting lasers through him.
“It is the truth!”
“Keep telling yourself that, Prince Zirene,” she snarled. “If I mattered, you wouldn’t have treated me the way you have. How do I know if you are real? That this isn’t some twisted game of yours?” Selena threw her arms in the air and walked away.
Her words burned worse than the sensation he felt earlier, as Zirene watched her travel farther away.
How could he rule the most powerful territory in the CEG, yet couldn’t make things right with the one person meant for him? Was he doomed to forever be held at arm’s length from her? To never be able to work in harmony with her?
He growled and shadowstepped behind her, wrapping his arms around her. She gasped and tripped, startled, sending them both to the sandy beach. Zirene caught himself, holding his body off Selena, caging her beneath him. Their chests heaved as they struggled to catch their breaths.
“Selena…” Zirene murmured, searching her eyes. “Please believe me.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Selena
“I…” Words failed to form as I gazed into his sad amethyst eyes, my mouth agape. “Why? Why should I trust you again after everything you have done?”
“Because I am trying… trying to make things right between us,” he sighed. “But every time I try to protect you, I push you away instead.”
“How can you protect me from something I don’t know? Don’t you see? Leaving me in the dark does nothing but cause problems. Each time you have done so, your plans didn’t go the way you wanted, and it only made things worse.”
“Selena… you are the one thing that keeps me from going… that keeps me grounded. The Fates gave you to me, and I have failed to cherish what we have.” His gaze landed on the mark on my neck. Slowly, he adjusted himself, his fur tickling my stomach as his bottom half pinned me into the warm white sand. “When you were attacked, I panicked, afraid of what was happening to you.” He brushed my hair from my face. “What would happen if they took you aw
ay from me.”
“I want to believe your sweet words, but your actions tell another story, Prince Zirene,” I sighed. “How can I know if this is real? If what you are saying is true? Are you even who you say you are?”
“How can you ask if I am real?” Zirene met my eyes in shock. “I have known you for nine years, visited you almost every night in our shared dreamscape. Is that not real enough for you?” He leaned his head down, chest pressed against mine as his mane brushed against my breasts. “Is this real?” His nose traced my jaw down to my neck. “How about this?”
He pressed his lips against my mark. I moaned, closing my eyes as he gently nibbled along my neck. My hands finding his back, I pressed myself against him. My peaked nipples dragged along his fur as I wiggled my legs, spreading the wetness forming between them.
“Tell me, Selena. Is this real?” he breathed, his breath sending shivers down my spine.
Tears fell as I shook my head in confusion.
I wanted to believe him—to finally be able to explore a relationship with him freely—but my heart ached from everything recently said and done. Was this just another trick? Why couldn’t things be easy? Why did it seem like the universe was trying to toy with me by dangling my dreams in front of me, just out of reach?
Zirene placed a gentle kiss on my mark and pulled back. Staring down at me, he gently brushed the tears from my face, his eyes filled with sadness.
“Selena… I didn’t mean to cause you such turmoil,” he murmured.
Slowly, he climbed off me. I stared at the darkening sky, hiccupping as tears continued to fall. A slight wind made me instantly miss his warmth.
Arms lifted me off the sand as the world immediately shifted to our familiar shaded porch. Zirene sat down, draping me over his legs. He pulled me close as he placed a paw on my cheek, directing my face toward him.
“Talk to me. Tell me what is going through your head.”
Closing my eyes, I leaned into his paw and sighed.
“I want to hate you. I want to believe everything we had was a lie. But every time I try, you do something like this,” I said, gesturing to the world around us.