*Lucas*
Sasha still looked stunned as I brought her back to where Morianne and I first t. She kept glancing back at the venue.
“Did I really do that?”
I nodded. “You have a lot of power. I don’t even know what you’re capable of.”
“And you knew I had this power?”
I nodded again. She hadn’t taken her hand from mine since we left the venue. I took that as a good sign.
“How do you know more about than I know about myself? You said you’d explain everything.”
“I will.”
Sasha stopped suddenly and pulled up short. Sighing, I turned to face her. She gave a hard look, crossing her arms.
“Tell now. Ever since you showed up in my life, it has all turned upside down. I deserve to know why.”
“You’re right. You do.”
We hadn’t made it to the place where I was supposed to bring Sasha, per Morianne’s instructions. If I wanted to fully gain Sasha’s trust again, I needed to make ti for this because it was important to her.
“Alright, I’ll tell you what I can, because honestly, there’s a lot I still don’t know or understand.”
Sasha scoffed. “That’s comforting.”
I chuckled and held my hand out to her. “We should keep moving. I don’t want those rogues, or Donovan’s guards, to track us once they stop beating each other up.”
She took my hand and walked to my side. “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”
“This is what I know... you’re a Dream Dancer, soone with very powerful magic passed down through the Dark King’s line.”
Sasha’s eyes widened. “My mom always said my father passed sothing evil to .”
I squeezed her hand. “I don’t think the power is evil, and you don’t either. You’ve told many tis that you intend to use the power for good.”
She creased her brow. “I don’t have any mory of you other than when you bullied when we were kids. How is it that we’ve had these conversations and you know such personal things about ?”
“Well, and please be open minded about this, I’m from a different reality, or ti line.”
Sasha stopped again and stared at . She was completely frozen, her fingers slack in my hand.
“Sasha...?”
“This isn’t a joke, Lucas!”
“I’m not joking. I told you, I don’t understand all of it either, but I know that this is not my world, not with the mories I have.”
She sighed and looked at her feet. “I guess that makes sense, seeing as you have these mories and I don’t.”
“In my world, we found this orb. With your Dream Dancer power, you’re able to tap into the orb and receive visions. Sohow, it transports us to an alternate tiline temporarily. Only, this ti, it isn’t temporary. I’ve been here for days.”
“And in the other world, we’re mates?” Sasha stumbled over the word like she didn’t want to say it in relation to .
I nodded. “We were paired together with your work-study program, and that’s how we found the orb and got closer and closer. We’ve been on so strange journey trying to discover the mystery of the orb.”
“I wish I could rember. What I don’t understand is why I can’t feel the mate bond. I’m old enough, and I feel so kind of pull to you, but it is barely there.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of it, I promise.”
We made it to the spot where Morianne planned to et us. The priestess had a long cloak on, her hood up concealing her face.
“Lucas, well done. I was concerned that you wouldn’t make it out, especially when you decided to stick around and help the guests.”
I shook my head. “I never asked you to put others in danger. That wasn’t the distraction I had in mind.”
“Then you should have been more specific. Co with . We have much to discuss.”
She snapped her bony fingers and beckoned us to follow her.
I glanced sideways at Sasha.
She shrugged. “Who is this woman?”
“She’s a priestess and a witch. Morianne has powerful magic, and I think she can help us figure out what is going on.”
“Do you trust her?”
I glanced at the back of Morianne’s head. “No, but I’m not sure we have a choice.”
“Well, I trust you, so if you think it is the only way.” Sasha gave my hand a little squeeze.
We followed Morianne to a small, crumbling temple on the outskirts of the village. It seed like the kind of place a mildly unstable witch would spend her ti.
The roof was caved in and the exterior walls crumbled slightly. Crows hung out in the yard, cawing and pecking at the dusty ground and dried-up grass.
An eerie feeling settled over as we followed Morianne inside, but I hid it from Sasha. I didn’t want her to be nervous about any of this. She was trusting .
Inside the temple was covered in several layers of dust. There were broken windows and cobwebs all over the place.
“Don’t mind the housekeeping. This is rely the safest place in the vicinity for us to talk.” Morianne chuckled and pulled her cloak off, draping it over a lopsided, decaying altar.
I waited for Morianne to say more.
She faced us and tilted her head, studying Sasha closely. “Huh, this is the Dream Dancer?”
Slowly, I moved between Morianne and Sasha, taking a protective stance. I didn’t like the way Morianne looked at her. I glared at the priestess.
Morianne grinned and waved off my display.
“So, you stole the bride. Congratulations. Are the two of you going to run off together and live happily ever after?”
“Actually, I was hoping to get my mories back first. Lucas has all kinds of mories that I don’t have, like us being mates.”
“Do you know what could suppress a mate bond?” I asked.
Morianne was a witch, so she had to have so ideas.
“There are a few options. Are you sure she is your mate in this world?”
“I’ve never felt a mate bond to anyone. Sotis, it feels like I just don’t have one. That’s not normal, is it?” Sasha gave Morianne a pleading look.
“No, it isn’t. It is likely that sothing is suppressing the mate bond.” Morianne nodded.
“Donovan claid he didn’t have a way to do that, but what if he did? Has he ever given you anything to eat or drink that might....”
I trailed off when I saw the blood drain from Sasha’s face.
“Smoothies–every few days he’d insist I drink a smoothie he made. I didn’t drink the last one, and that’s when I started to feel like I needed to find you.” She flicked her eyes at .
“There are only a few toxins that suppress a mate bond that can be administered through food and drink. If you’ll let , I can give you a tonic that will flush the toxin from your system.”
I gave Morianne a wary look.
“Yes, please! I have to know!”
I squeezed Sasha’s hand. “Hang on. Are you sure you want to rush into this?”
Sasha nodded. “I need to know what these feelings are. More importantly, I need to know if Donovan really... if he did this to ....”
“Okay, I understand.” I looked back at Morianne. “It’s safe?”
“Of course. I told you already that I have no desire to hurt the little Dream Dancer.”
Morianne pulled a dicine chest out from under the altar. She humd to herself as she searched through it. Finally, she pulled out a vial with a murky, pale blue liquid.
“Here we are. Drink this down.”
She handed the vial to Sasha. Without hesitation, Sasha popped the top off and threw it back like a shot.
I stared at her, surprised and awed by her urgency.
“Oh, that’s–” She sputtered and coughed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Bitter.”
“Sasha, how are you feeling?”
She creased her brow and frowned. I saw her eyes drift to the empty vial in her hand. Suddenly, her eyes snapped up, and I saw the bright glint of her wolf rise in her eyes.
She gasped and stumbled backward. I jumped forward and caught her, keeping her steady.
“Whoa,” she whispered. “I’ve felt my wolf since my birthday, but never like this. She’s so much stronger, and I can really sense her feelings. It’s like a veil between us just lifted.”
“Ahh, then your fiancé chose to suppress the mate bond by suppressing your connection to your wolf. It probably subdued a lot of your instincts and feelings as well. Better to control you.”
Sasha rubbed her forehead. “I... why would he do that?”
“Because he’s a jackass,” I muttered.
“Lucas.” Sasha grabbed my shirt in her fist.
“What is it, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong. You were right. We are mates. I feel it so strongly now. That’s why I’ve been drawn to you this whole ti. I can’t believe he did this to !”
“I can.” I sighed.
Sasha frowned. “Really?”
“Yes. In every reality I’ve been to, Donovan has been a dick.”
“I guess it is a good thing I didn’t marry him.”
I chuckled. “I’d never let that happen, whether you rember or not.”
Sasha’s frown deepened. “I don’t have any of the mories we talked about. I still only rember you from our childhood.”
Sighing, I looked to Morianne for answers. “Is there a way to recover her mories?”
“Lucas, I told you before, she’s not your Sasha.”
I growled warningly. Morianne shrugged it off.
“You are still not in your own reality, and the Sasha from your reality didn’t co here with you. Yes, the Lucas and Sasha of this world are mates. However, you’re the one out of place here.”
“Right....”
“She doesn’t belong to you. She belongs to the Lucas of this world.”
“What do we do about that? I’d like the Lucas of this world to co back so he can protect Sasha and keep Donovan from her. And I know that I should return to my own world and my Sasha.”
“This is head-spinning,” Sasha grumbled.
Morianne plucked at her lower lip. “You’re right, Lucas. You do need to get back to your own reality. Despite your best intentions, we have no idea how your actions will impact this reality.”
“I don’t know how to get back. In the past, it was temporary, and I switched back after about a day. It’s been a lot longer than that.”
Morianne grinned widely, almost maliciously. A shiver ran down my spine, and I instinctively encircled Sasha in my arms, holding her to my chest.
“I can help you get back to your reality. But first, we need to find the orb.”
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