Dark Waters Rising

Shadow

Wesley jerked awake abruptly, his heart beating erratically and sweat drenching his bare skin. The movement caused Valentine, who was curled up against his side, to wake up too. Valentine's eyes flung open, and after a brief scan of the room determined there were no immediate threats, he turned his full attention to his mate.

"Hey, hey," he said, sitting up and placing his palm on the merchant's heaving chest. "You're okay. Calm down. You're okay."

Wesley struggled to take a few deep breaths as he blinked rapidly into the dark room to try to clear the visions swarming in front of his eyes.

"What happened," Valentine asked, wide awake as he watched the panic in Wesley's eyes slowly dissipate.

Wesley swallowed the lump in his throat as he covered Valentine's hand with his own and held it tightly to his chest.

"Sorry," he managed to breathe the words. "It- it was a nightmare."

Valentine's eyes softened. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Wesley closed his eyes and took another deep breath. "I- uh. It's stupid, now that I think about it. I don't know why I freaked out so bad."

Valentine ran his hand soothingly over Wesley's skin, helping him calm down even more. "I'd still like to hear it."

Wesley blinked at him a few times.

"Um, there was this. . . shadow," he said before his eyebrows furrowed and he corrected himself, "Maybe that's not the right word. It was like this. . . entity. It was made of black smoke, or maybe ink. I couldn't tell."

A light frown marred Valentine's lips as his gaze flicked away from Wesley in thought.

"What was it doing?" he asked.

"It was. . . it was waiting. Watching, maybe. It was just in the corner, pulsating and swirling in on itself. I woke up when it started coming toward me."

"That's. . . odd," he said, his eyes still narrowed in thought. Something didn't feel right, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"There was something else too," Wesley said, causing Valentine's eyes to return to his face.

"What was it?"

Wesley looked hesitant. "What- what does your father look like?"

Valentine's face scrunched in confusion at the unexpected question. "Like his features?"

"Yeah," Wesley said, "Like does he have white hair?"

Valentine's body tensed.

"Yes," he said in barely a whisper, watching his mate with worried eyes.

"Does- does he have gold eyes?"

Valentine's anxiety rose. "Yes."

"An ivory tail that glints gold in the light?"

"What did you see in your dream, Wesley," Valentine asked in a dead serious tone. "Tell me exactly."

"Not much," he said, his nerves rising at Valentine's reaction. "Just a few glimpses here and there. It was mostly about the shadow. The only reason I asked about your father was because he was wearing a crown the few times I saw him."

"What was he doing?" Valentine pushed.

"Smirking," Wesley said. "He said some stuff too, but the words were muffled."

Valentine reached out and wrapped his fingers around the obsidian amulet that still hung around Wesley's neck. "I think you should take this off."

"What? Why?" Wesley immediately became defensive.