A piece of him wanted to stay in the blissful, peaceful limbo he’d been lingering in. No fighting, no rogues to deal with, no pain, no . . . Rose. Rose! His Rose. But she wasn’t his, was she? He loved her, needed her. She was his mate, the other half of his soul, but she would never accept him for who he was, and could he bear it if she walked away from him? Could he let her walk away from him?

No. And for that, she would hate him more. Maybe it was best to stay in limbo, sweet oblivion, where he was numb and pain no longer touched him.

“Knox! Answer me, please. I need you.”

His heart thumped hard in response to her distressed pleas. Was she in danger? Even limbo couldn’t keep his wolf from the innate need to protect his mate. He sat up and blinked his eyes several times, trying to get rid of the gritty feel.

“Knoxxxx?”

The vibrations of anguish in her voice cut through him like a knife, tearing at his heart, eating away at his soul. He had to go to her, had to answer her, had to protect her. He sat up and winced. Why was he so lethargic? Why did every movement he make take more effort than he felt he could give?

“Rose? Where are you?” His throat was dry and hurt. Each word scratched like sandpaper.

“Knox? Talk to me so I can find you.”

“I’m over here, baby.” He tried to stand, but his legs were like jel y, and he plopped hard back on his ass.

“Oh my God! It is you!”

When she came through the fog, her aura was like a bright ray of sunshine breaking the haze and scorching it with beautiful light until it dissipated into smaller and smaller tendrils and vanished altogether. If this was the light people saw at the end of the tunnel, he’d gladly walk into it without a second thought. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid eyes on, and he was positive that no matter how long he lived, he’d never see a more glorious sight than she.

She made his heart beat, not in a mechanical rhythm necessary for life, but in happy thumps that yearned for every next beat made within her presence. He didn’t just exist around her. He thrived.

She kneeled next to him, and he pul ed her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. Her warm body cuddled against him, and her natural scent—tinged with lilac and honeysuckle—tickled his nose. She leaned back and framed his face with her hands, and not even her tears could squash the delight he felt from holding her.

“What’s wrong, Rose?”

“I thought I lost you. I thought you were gone forever.” She buried her face against his chest and sobbed.

He rubbed what he hoped was soothing circles on her back and wondered why she was so distraught. Why had she thought she’d lost him? But it didn’t matter. What did matter was that she was upset because she thought she’d lost him, which meant . . . she cared for him. His chest swelled, and he wanted to shout out in joy as he rocked her gently and kissed the top of her head.

Her silky onyx locks tickled his nose, and he sat back and tipped her chin up with his fingers until her pale blue eyes, glossy and swol en with tears, stared straight into his soul.

“You were upset because you thought you’d lost me?”

“Of course I was.”

“Is it not too much to hope for that you care for me just a little, even though I’m a lycan?” He framed her face and fanned his fingers over her soft skin.

She closed her eyes for a moment and leaned into his touch before answering. “I’m sorry for generalizing you. You’re not a monster. You’re a beautiful, caring man, and I’ve fal en in love with you.”

“I never thought I’d hear you say those words to me, Rose. They are words that wil hold the most meaning to me for al time.

You must know I love you.”

She nodded. “It took me a while to figure it out, or believe it, but I do know.”

He kissed her. When she instantly parted her lips for him, he groaned, slanted his mouth over hers, and deepened the kiss.

She tasted of everything wonderful that had been forbidden to him. Now that he’d tasted submission, surrender, desire . . . love for him on her lips, he’d never want for another thing in life. That wasn’t entirely true. He’d wish for a mil ion more kisses from her.

Her delicate tongue tangled with his and stroked along the seam of his lips. He needed to claim her, wanted to imprint himself on her so she’d never forget she belonged to him. But something was wrong. He broke the kiss, nearly forgetting his thoughts when she cried out in protest, but he needed to know what had made her so upset.

“Why did you think you’d lost me?”

“I was attacked at my house, and you saved me, but not before you were injured. You bled out fast and went unconscious. I didn’t think you’d make it.” She cupped his jaw in her hand, and he rubbed against her.

Everything came rushing back at that moment. This was a dream. He’d been injured, possibly fatal y. Rage tore through him when he remembered how the rogues had handled Rose. They’d hurt her, and he’d kil ed them for it, but not before the last one had gotten in a lucky swipe at him. And then another one had come, and he’d barely been able to help her. He reached up to his neck, but it was fine. Of course it would be since his throat was only wounded in the conscious world.

“I couldn’t wake you up. No matter what I did, you wouldn’t open your eyes until Russel came. But you passed out again after yanking him of me. I kil ed him this time—for real.”

“Russel ? The same Russell who killed your friend?” Anger coursed through him.

She nodded.

“I thought you already kil ed him?”

“I thought I did too, but apparently the misconceptions I had about how to kil lycans al owed him to survive what I thought was sure death. Al this time, I thought he was gone, all this time—”

“Shh. It wil be okay. I promise.” He stood and pul ed her up with him.

Now that he knew his real wounds had been dictating his body in the dream world, he could shake of the feeling of lethargy.

He would go back to reality. He would go back for her, Rose, his mate, and he would live for her.

A squeak of surprise escaped her plump lips, as if she’d only just realized he didn’t have a scratch on him. She reached up and traced his neck, no doubt where the hideous wound had marred his skin. Her brows furrowed.

“How is this possible?”

“This is another one of those things that you didn’t know about even through al of your research on lycans. Mates have a mental connection that is strong enough to fol ow them into their dreams.”

“We’re dreaming.” She spun around. “None of this is real?”

“It’s real . . . but not.” He grinned when she scowled at him. “We make up our own fantasies here. We feel everything that takes place. We can control what happens, but of course, it only happens here. While we remember it al upon awaking, it cannot breach the real world. If you get pissed at me and shoot me with an arrow again, I won’t be injured when I awake. What happens in our dreams, stays in our dreams. The same is true for reality.”

She frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“So you are stil injured in reality?”

* * *

Rose sat up with a start. She’d fallen asleep. Knox was still lying across her lap, and she was still sitting on the hard floor, leaning against the bed. He’d been in her dreams? No. It’s not possible. But yet she knew it was.

That’s how he found me. While she’d been casually showing him around her neighborhood in the dream the night before, he’d been honing in on her location. When he woke up, she was going to throttle him for not telling her about this dream stuff sooner.

“Knox.” She brushed his blond hair back from his face, and his lashes fluttered.

He sucked in a great gulp of air as his eyes opened. She wanted to cry in relief, but she cradled him to her instead.

“Rose?” His voice sounded gravelly and strained.

“Don’t talk, Knox. Can you shift? You have to so you can heal.” If he didn’t, he’d die. He’d lost too much blood, and the damage was too great. She didn’t know how he’d held on this long.

“I don’t know.”

“Please do it for me.” She bent and kissed him gently on the lips. “Don’t leave me.”

She gasped when golden hairs poked through every inch of his exposed skin. Fangs shot down over his bottom lip, and his muscles began to contort. Within a split second, a wolf stood staring at her.

Not a wolf, Knox. His midnight blue eyes were the same and watched her intently, as if he thought she might run away screaming at any moment.

Happiness shot through her because she knew he’d be okay now. She’d found him in their dreams, and he’d come back for her.

“You can touch me if you’d like.”

She jumped. “Knox?”

“Yes. It’s me. You didn’t expect me to be able to talk, did you?”

“Oh, I don’t know, couldn’t be any weirder than changing into a wolf.” She frowned and then laughed when she thought about how funny it would be if he spoke to her as a wolf.

His low chuckle floated through her brain. “We have to have some way to communicate in wolf form.”