Chapter Seven
Charm knew she was in another strange dream the moment she opened her eyes.
She wasn’t worried about the pink waterfall and trees with glowing blossoms since she’d seen similar things at the sanctuary. However, looking up at the two ringed moons in the dark purple sky made her feel like she was standing on an alien planet.
Although she was unsure why she was dreaming about this particular setting, she found it quite soothing. It seemed a little hazy, like there was a thin layer of fog covering everything. Beyond the trees was a barrier of thick purple clouds. Instead of making her feel isolated, the barrier made her feel safe.
It was like she had her own private haven where nothing bad could reach her.
The last time she’d been there, she had been too drunk to really pay attention to her surroundings. Well, that, and she’d been too focused on the gorgeous male who had invaded her dream.
But the fantasy had ended the moment she’d kissed him.
Apparently, she had as much luck with dream suitors as she did with real ones.
She’d been pulled from the dream the moment her brothers had pounded on her door to wake her. Although she was supposed to have the day off, those plans had changed the moment a group of Alliance officers arrived on Evo demanding the release of Carla Wexler and Arnold Meeks.
They had gotten there too fast for it to have been a coincidence, though they claimed they had been en route to one of the space stations close by. It was clear someone was trying to pull some strings, but it wouldn’t do them any good.
While Charm had been planning to stay home and nurse her hangover, she wouldn’t have missed watching the spectacle that had ensued for worlds. Only the High Commander and two of her subordinates were allowed to land on Evo while the rest of their crew had been forced to wait on their vessel.
During the meeting, the Artanes and Zenix Li shut down every request made by the Alliance officers. Since the planetoid existed outside the scope of Alliance governance, they needed permission to remain on the planetoid. However, even if they had somehow managed to get permission to stay on Evo, they would still have to ask Wonderland to release their prisoners.
And there was no fucking way that was going to happen.
To save time, Raek, Fenris, and Charm had arrived at the security center to meet with the Alliance officers. They gleefully informed the High Commander about the charges against the individuals they were there to collect. It didn’t take long to figure out that whoever asked for the High Commander’s help had lied about why Carla Wexler and Arnold Meeks were in custody.
The High Commander graciously thanked them for their time, then she and her officers had left. Once they were gone, the Barras and Artanes held a meeting regarding how they wanted to deal with their prisoners. Wexler Tech was bound to send someone else to pick up Carla, but that wasn’t so simple now that they had proof she and her cohorts had planted listening devices and minibots in several different locations around Evo.
Charm wasn’t sure exactly what information they had been after, but they had enough evidence to prove Carla and her associates were guilty of spying. And that was on top of trying to steal from the casino. To summarize the current situation, they were totally fucked.
She and her brothers had taken a transporter directly back to the sanctuary after the meeting concluded. Raek and Fenris planned on interrogating the prisoners before handing them over to the Artanes to deal with. Since they were no longer her problem, Charm decided to let them handle it without her.
Spending the night getting drunk had been good for her. It reminded her that she needed some sort of work-life balance to remain sane. Because of that, she was trying to listen to her friends’ advice to start delegating more and trusting her brothers to take care of their share of the work.
Raek and Fenris swore they would send her updates later if she promised to take the next few days off. She didn’t bother pointing out that they had come knocking on her door at the first sign of trouble that morning, but she didn’t really mind since that had been one meeting worth attending.
It was nice to know her brothers were taking everything she had said the night before seriously. She had agreed to their terms to take the next few days off, though she planned to do a little work from home on the female-only expansion plan.
But first, she needed to get some more sleep.
As soon as she got home, she took a hangover blocker and drank a gallon of water. Programming her security system to bypass her blocks only for emergencies, she threw on an oversized shirt and lowered all of the shade shields on the windows in her bedroom. With only the faint glow coming from the clock on her nightstand, she crawled into the cocoon of pillows on her bed and was out as soon as she closed her eyes.
She just never expected to find herself in the same dream again.
Charm never dreamed about the same thing twice. At least, not that she could recall. Actually, the more she thought about it, she realized she barely remembered any of her dreams. They were like wisps of smoke that were forgotten once they disappeared.
However, this dream felt familiar.
Despite the strange surroundings, she was comfortable and relaxed. The light breeze blowing through her hair felt good, as did the soft grass beneath her bare feet. She sat at the edge of the lagoon and slid her feet into the warm water. The dream pool wasn’t as thick as it was in reality, though it wasn’t the same as Earth water either.
Deciding to enjoy her dream world to the fullest, she stripped off her shirt and slid into the water. She wished the lagoon was real since it would have soothed all of her aches and pains away. It would also heal the injury on her arm. She would have to make a few more trips down to the lake to soak it again so it healed all the way and didn’t leave a scar.
Closing her eyes, she tilted her head back and rested it against a smooth stone. The water was heated to the perfect temperature. The next time a Dragon Warrior visited Evo, she would have to ask them to build her a private little lagoon just like this one. Perhaps that was why she was dreaming of this place.
It had to be wishful thinking.
“You’re here.”
The sound of the deep voice made her slowly open her eyes. Joy and a little fear surged through her at seeing her dream male standing in the center of the lagoon right in front of her. She remembered being impressed the last time she saw him, but those memories were nothing compared to seeing him in the flesh again.
He was a fantasy come to life.
Charm had been around a lot of strong males before, but she had never seen one so beautiful before. He had dark magenta hair and glowing silvery purple eyes that seemed to pierce straight through her. The lower half of his body was submerged in the water, but his glorious chest and well-defined abs were bare to her admiring gaze.
Thin lines of glowing purple light were tattooed on his arms and the sides of his torso. She hadn’t noticed those marks last time. Then again, he had been wearing a shirt during her last dream. She wanted to reach out and trace her fingertips along those glowing lines on his golden skin, but without the liquid courage flowing through her bloodstream, it was difficult to be so forward.
Acutely aware she was naked, she moved her arms in front of her and lowered herself into the water until she was covered up to her neck. She wasn’t embarrassed or overly modest, but she felt vulnerable to his penetrating gaze, which made her a little nervous.
As if sensing that, he didn’t come any closer. Instead, he slowly moved to the side of the lagoon and took a seat a safe distance away from her.
It took her a moment to notice his arrival had brought about several changes. Everything was crystal clear now and no longer covered in that light layer of fog. Added to that, the barrier of clouds had dissipated, and she now saw a massive palace in the background that looked like it had come straight out of a storybook.
“Greetings, Charm. I am very pleased to see you again.”
“Ah…you, too.”
His lips quirked into a smile. “You still think this is a dream, don’t you?”
“Isn’t it?”
“No, it isn’t a dream. At least, not a normal one.”
Her brows furrowed in confusion. “What exactly does that mean?”
“It means this is part dream, part real.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“That may be so, but it’s true. Somehow, you were able to astral project into my dream state while I was meditating. I am as real as you are.”
“What the…” She started laughing since the very notion of that was totally absurd. She sobered again when she realized he was completely serious. “You aren’t joking, are you?”
He shook his head slowly.
“But I can’t do that! I don’t have magic, and I certainly can’t send myself into someone else’s dream. Astral projection? That’s just crazy. Nope. There is absolutely no way I did that.”
“But you did.”
Kyryl felt an unfamiliar surge of frustration swept through him, but he tried not to show it. No matter how much she denied it, it was still true. He might have created the location in his dream state, but she was the one who had sought him out.
Everything in him wanted to go to her. He wanted to pull her into his arms and assure her that everything would be fine now that they had found one another, but he had to make her believe him first. Otherwise, he would scare her, and that was the last thing he wanted to do.
“You’re saying you are real and not just a figment of my imagination?”
“I am. Somehow, you found a way to reach out to me through time and space. I was on Earth when you entered my dream state the first time.”
She sputtered in disbelief. “But that’s crazy! How could I do that when I’m on Evo?”
He smiled. “So, you are Charm Barra, owner of Wonderland.”
She nodded, then cocked her head to the side. “Wait! How do you know who I am?”
“Because I am Kyryl Lux, your mate and the one who is destined to love you above all else.”
“Now, I know this is a dream,” she said, laughing again. “This has to be because of that silly wish I made down by the…oh shit.”
“What wish?”
“We had a Festival of Lights here on Evo, and we wrote down wishes on these paper lanterns. But that still doesn’t make sense. Dozens of people made wishes that night. How could mine be the only one that came true?”
“What did you wish for?”
She looked at him for a long moment in silence. “For a mate,” she said softly. “I made a wish to find my mate.”
His lips curved into a satisfied grin. “Your wish came true.”
“But how?” she asked, sounding completely stunned.
Taking the opportunity, he moved a little closer to her. He tried to ignore the sight of her bare body, but it was impossible since she was too damn beautiful.
“Can you tell me what happened when you made the wish?”
Remembering her wound, he gently lifted her arm out of the water to look down at the mark. His skin tingled where it made contact with hers, and his body immediately reacted. His cock began to swell and thicken, but he forced himself to focus on their conversation instead of the need surging through his bloodstream.
“Was it before or after you were injured?”
“It was after.”
As she told him about the Festival of Lights, things started to make sense. The Vyper brothers had created the lake using a combination of Ilius and Dragon Warrior magic. That in itself wasn’t that extraordinary, but Charm had somehow activated the magical wish she’d made when she had bled on the piece of paper.
Blood magic was not only powerful…it could also be unpredictable.
“Whatever brought you to me, I am grateful. I have searched for you for centuries, Charm Barra,” he said, stroking her cheek. “Perhaps it wasn’t the wish alone that connected us, but a combination of the blood magic at the lake, my magic, and fate.”
“I noticed your glowing eyes. Are you a Dragon Warrior? No, wait. You don’t have fangs.”
“I am Ilius. I believe you know my sister, Alestra, and my cousins, Jade, Zarik, Kayn, and Rycor Vyper.”
Her eyes went wide, and she gasped. “But…but that makes you a prince!”
He laughed lightly. “Why does that freak you out more than being able to astral project across the universe?”
“I’m ignoring that part of things because I have no idea how that is even possible,” she said dismissively. Reaching up, she grabbed hold of his wrist. “What if you’re wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, what if we’re not really mates? What if this is a blood magic astral projection misdial?”
She let out a squeak of surprise as he lifted her and shifted her onto his lap.
“I knew you were mine the moment we kissed, and I felt my soul reaching out to yours. Didn’t you feel it?”
“I don’t remember,” she said breathlessly. “Perhaps we should check again.”
Smiling, he leaned in and brushed his lips softly against hers. He felt that instant connection to her, but it wasn’t enough.
He wanted more.
Sliding a hand around the back of her neck, he growled as he pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. His tongue pushed past her lips, delving deep to stroke against hers. He groaned when she tilted her head to the side and fused their mouths together, meeting his passion with her own.
When he pulled back, they were both panting for air.
Resting his forehead against hers, he fought for control over the raging fire burning within him. He wanted her, desperately, endlessly. They might have been stuck in a dream, but his need for her was real.
He still wasn’t sure how it was possible, but it was true all the same.
One kiss was all it took to confirm it.
“You are mine,” he growled. “Do you feel it?”
“I do,” she whispered back. “So, show me, Kyryl. Show me exactly what it means to be your mate.”