Dream of Us
Chapter Four

Ani’s POV.

The shrill beep of my alarm breaks through my dream. I groan in frustration and press my head further under the pillow. I was so close to having some answers, to replaceing out who that man was. I bang my fists against the pillow before letting out another groan and dragging my body into a sitting position.

I rub the sleepy dust from my eyes with my fisted hands and blink a couple times to dispel the stars they cause in my vision. One glance at my clock tells me that it is 7:31AM. I have one hour to get to the diner before my shift starts. I sigh heavily and swing my legs round, getting up from the warm, cosy bed.

A shower is the first thing I go for. I scrub my scalp, brush out my tangles and shave my legs. When I’m done, I dry myself off and add some product to tame the mass of curls that is my light brown hair. I apply my make-up in the mirror in under fifteen minutes, which would horrify my friend, Sian, who likes to spend a good hour on her make-up each morning.

Once that’s done, I pull on my uniform. It’s pretty basic, but I like it. I’m required to wear a black skirt or trousers, flat shoes are recommended because I’m on my feet a lot, and a white shirt with the restaurant’s logo stitched on the left breast. I eat an apple and a banana for breakfast, clean my teeth and then pull on my coat. I’m out of my flat before 8AM.

My small Ford Fiesta is waiting for me on the road. I pull out of my spot and drive the ten minutes through the city to the restaurant I started working at a month ago. Before I worked at Camille’s, I used to work at a diner on the other side of the city. My foster mum says I’m wasting my life being a waitress, she thinks I should be working my way up the career ladder at some corporate company. She doesn’t understand that I love waitressing.

I’m good at customer service and I like giving customers the best experience possible when they dine with us. I receive some very generous tips and I get on with my work colleagues. I have everything I could need working at Camille’s.

Except adventure.

I’ll confess, it’s hardly an exciting job. Sure, it changes every day, and you never know who is going to walk through the door, but it’s not exactly an adrenaline rush when my shift starts. I’m only twenty-five, I want to have adventures and travel and see things. Unfortunately, Jaymie doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who shares those dreams. His goals are to settle down; buy a house, get married and have a family. Nothing wrong with that, but I’m not sure that I’m the woman to give him that life.

Camille’s is still closed to the public when I arrive. I enter through the staff entrance at the back and replace the chefs already in the kitchen. Michel, the maître-d, is setting up in the front while Sian restocks the condiments. I hang up my coat and put my bag in the staff work room. I come back out into the front of the restaurant and look around for things to do.

“Morning,” I call out breezily, getting their attention.

“Morning, Ani,” Michel replies without looking up from the table he is setting.

Sian comes over and bumps her hip with mine. “Morning, beautiful. Ten minute make-up job again?”

“You know it,” I reply with a smirk.

“Ugh.” She rolls her eyes dramatically. “When will you let me teach you how to blend? You must contour those lovely cheekbones, Ani.”

“Yeah, yeah. These cheekbones are just fine not being blended, thank you very much.”

“Whatever, I’ll wear you down one day.”

“Keep dreaming, Sian,” I reply sassily and help her to set one of our larger tables. I call out over my shoulder, “Any high-flyers today, Michel?”

“Only one at 12 o’clock, table of fifteen.”

“You can have them,” Sian mutters.

“We’ll both have them,” I correct her. “We’ll need two servers.”

“Gross. You know I hate big groups. They’re so rowdy.”

“I’ll do most of the talking, you do the serving. Deal?”

“Deal,” she replies. She puts her hand on her hip and assesses me with her sharp eyes. “Still with the bore and snore?”

I roll my eyes at her derogatory nickname for Jaymie.

“Yes,” I answer tersely. “I am.”

“You need to ditch him and get yourself a more exciting man, Ani.”

“Exciting man? Have you see Laleston?” I narrow my eyes at her. “It’s not exactly bachelor-city, Sian.”

“Who knows who will walk through that door, maybe lightning will strike.”

Maybe.

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Denali’s POV.

I follow the scent of my uncle to his flat. The sun has now risen on a new day and the roads are busy with commuters. I get many strange looks because of my state of undress, it doesn’t help me keep a low profile. My plan is to get my uncle’s help and then get out of this city and as far away from it as possible.

If I were the king, I would have spread out my mates and I to the furthest corners of the Earth. They’re not going to be held just down the street from my prison, they will be miles away, I know it. I can tell that they’re far away by how I can’t feel them, not even faintly. Our bond is strong enough that we should be able to tell how far away the others are by concentrating, but there must be powerful magic binding them, just as I was bound.

I get access to my uncle’s flat building and replace his name on the list. I take the lift up to the seventh floor, replace the right flat and knock on the front door. It takes a few minutes before he answers it. He’s older than I remember. He is a shifter, he will age slower than humans, but will still age. He frowns when he sees me, and it takes a moment for him to recognise me. He has to inhale first and recognise my scent.

“Denali? Is that you? Goddess, how you’ve grown! You’re a man, now!”

The last time this man saw me, I was a child clinging onto my father’s hand. I am very different to that now. I have seen and done things that child could never even have dreamed of, even during nightmares.

“I’m sorry for turning up unannounced like this, I’m afraid it’s an emergency. Please can I come in?”

His eyebrows raise and he steps out of the way, opening the door wider. “Of course, come in.”

Over a glass of water and a couple slices of toast, I tell my uncle the shortened, edited version of my life story for the past decade. I inform him that his life is in danger the longer I stay with him and that I don’t mean to put him at risk, I only need his help to search for my mates.

He agrees readily. Family means everything to shifters; we are pack animals. Also, I believe he feels that the quicker he helps me, the quicker he will be in the clear and safe again. I don’t blame him for being anxious, King Inteus is an infamous and merciless king. Many fear his rule.

As with many shifters, my uncle has connections that allow me to have a fake identity set up within a few hours. He helps me to access my old bank accounts, where my family money is kept. I am given an ID, a credit card, and new clothes. When I step out of his flat in the afternoon, I am no longer Denali Enger, I am Adrian Summerhill.

With my credit card, I pay for a train ticket to the Ryton airport. Once there, I will use my powers to pray to the Moon Goddess and see if she can point me in the right direction. I am lost without my mates, and I have no idea where to start.

I would normally replace it impossible to choose who I should search for first, but I know that my brothers, Calian and Nuka, are being held under the same conditions I was. Although not pleasant, they are alive and they’re not going anywhere, they’re locked up.

I know that the king did not imprison his own daughter. He sent her away with a new life. She is the one I will search for first, I have the best chance of replaceing her because she will be out in the open, her scent will be traceable. Over the past decade, I have slowly being going crazy, not knowing if she is okay or not. My brothers are safely incarcerated but she is roaming free.

What if she has been hurt?

What if she has been searching for us?

What if he changed his mind and has locked her up, too?

There are so many ‘what ifs’, I feel like my head is going to explode. I look out of the window of the train, watching endless green fields replace the skyscrapers and flat blocks. I can’t bring myself to tear my eyes from the sight. The world has never looked so beautiful. It’s amazing what ten years locked in a comatose state will do to your appreciation of the world. I’m so grateful to see anything other than that cell.

My eyelids start to droop, and I fight to keep them open, desperate to appreciate the view some more. Eventually, I can’t fight it any longer and I fall asleep, I take a nap, exhausted from everything that I have been through.

It’s for the best, really. I’m going to need my full strength to get my mates back.

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