Dream of Us
Chapter Twenty-Three

Denali’s POV.

How am I doing on this whole ‘friend’ thing?

I try not to look at her too long. I keep my tone light and demeanour friendly. I haven’t flirted or complimented her once, I’m trying to be supportive and not court her.

I watch as she eats her breakfast, she’s clearly hungry from the way she devours the food. I eat next to her, feeling the best I’ve felt in…well, a decade. Sleeping next to Ani last night has already allowed me to wake feeling more energised than normal.

“That was so good, thank you,” she says, pushing her empty plate away. “Please, let me wash up as a thank-you.”

I try to refuse but she insists. I let her do the washing-up as I go for a quick shower, using the cold spray to calm down my overeager body. Seeing my mate in my house, eating food I made here, while wearing my clothes is too much, it makes me ache to mark her.

I find my mate in the kitchen, humming as she finds the right cupboards to put everything away in. I come up behind her, gently taking the bowl from her hand. She tenses up, surprised by my close proximity.

“I’ll take that,” I murmur close to her ear.

I put the bowl away. She turns to face me, looking very cute in my clothes that are too big for her. Her little toes are poking out from the long legs of my joggers.

“Last night was fun,” she says.

“Yes, it was,” I reply casually.

“Would you want to do it again sometime?”

“Go out drinking with you?” I ask, grinning. “Not sure my liver can take it.”

She grins back. “Oh, come on, you were keeping pace quite nicely.”

“And my head paid for it this morning,” I remind her.

She pulls a face. “That’s a point, so did mine to be fair. Okay, maybe we don’t get as drunk.”

“That would probably be smart.”

“But you would do it again?”

“What, just the two of us?” I check, making sure to keep my voice even.

I don’t want her to know how excited I am by the prospect of this. I am supposed to be her friend, nothing more.

Her smile turns coy. “Yes, just the two of us. Although, we could invite Gwen and Daphne if we want some entertainment.”

I laugh at the memory of her friends dancing last night. “They were entertaining, weren’t they?”

“Very,” she comments amusedly. She looks me up and down, practically undressing me with her eyes. I struggle to keep a straight face. “You’re right, us drinking that much together is not a good idea. I wasn’t very good at keeping my hands off you last night.”

How am I supposed to act like her friend when she is blatantly flirting with me?

“Really? I thought you were relatively well-behaved.”

Her lips twitch as she resists a smile. “I don’t remember it that way, I remember being a little too touch-feely with you.”

I can’t hold myself back anymore. I take a few steps towards her, matching her flirtatious smile with one of my own.

“Funny, I remember liking it.”

“So do I.”

Silence falls between us. It’s natural, not uncomfortable in the slightest. Ani suddenly sighs heavily and drops my gaze.

“I’ve only been single a week, Adrian.”

I stay quiet, wondering where she is going from this. That sigh doesn’t seem like a good sign.

“The break-up with Jaymie…it’s still very raw for me.” She chews on her bottom lip and struggles to find the right words. “I like you, a lot. I like you enough to know you’re more than a rebound. If you’re willing to give me some time, I’d love to get to know you better when I’ve healed from this.”

Her maturity shines through in her words. I find myself mentally cursing Jaymie for the millionth time. If he had never come into her life, she wouldn’t need time and space to heal. He wasn’t hers to treat like this, he should have stayed away.

“I understand it’s a lot to ask of you, to wait for me. You’re a catch, I know you must have a lot of women interested.”

I’m about to jump in and correct her, but she continues, “Something has been building between us for weeks now. I don’t know what it is, and I can’t explain it, but I think you feel it, too.”

“I do,” I cut in, reassuring her.

She smiles gratefully. “So I’d like to see where this goes.”

“So would I,” I respond sincerely. “And there’s no other women, only you. I’ll wait as long as you need, Ani.”

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Ani’s POV.

Adrian Summerhill might be the most perfect man I have ever met. Having met my fair share of men, and found most of them quite unappealing, I feel that I can say that with good confidence.

For the whole week, he doesn’t come into the restaurant. I understand that I asked him to give me space, but this wasn’t quite what I meant. I thought he would still come, and we’d still see each other. I enjoyed asking him about what’s he’s been up to, and without Jaymie at home, there is no one to tell about my day, apart from my foster mum. Even she can tell that something is up because I call her four times in one week, and I never do that.

By the following Monday, I’m desperate to see him again. I even swallow my pride and ask Sian if she has heard from him. She tells me that he is away, travelling. I want to text him, God knows how many times I pick up my phone and start to type a message, but I resist. If he’s travelling, I’m probably the last thing he’s thinking of.

My mind tortures me by coming up with all these scenarios of him meeting exotic, interesting women abroad and coming back all loved-up from a holiday romance.

On Wednesday evening, I get a text from him. As soon as I see his name, I hold my breath, momentarily forgetting how to breathe as I read his message.

I’ve been travelling for the week, back tonight. Did you miss me? I’ll be in for breakfast tomorrow.

I grin to myself, ridiculously happy that he has messaged me. I’m glad that I didn’t cave and message him, hopefully he thinks I’d been playing it cool all week. I hope Sian hasn’t blabbed on me, either. I’m still smiling as I type my reply.

Glad to hear you’re back safe…as for missing you, I guess you’ll find out tomorrow, won’t you? I’ll save you your table.

He doesn’t reply for half an hour, and I start to feel nervous. Maybe I was too flirty? Perhaps I shouldn’t have said he’ll find out tomorrow…is he expecting some grand gesture? For me to run into his arms? Kiss him?

God, how I would love to kiss Adrian…

My phone buzzes again. I practically lunge on it to read the message.

I’m intrigued now, I’ll be there extra early to find out.

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Denali’s POV.

It makes sense that my brothers would be being held at complete opposite ends of the Earth than where I was held. The closer we are to each other, the stronger our connection is, therefore the stronger our powers are. King Inteus would want to put as much distance as possible between us.

After Ani told me that she needed time and space to heal, I decided that a week off would be good for both of us. I sat down with a map, found where I was being held and looked at the furthest away places as a result. With a couple of countries in mind, I booked five plane tickets over the week, ready to travel to them all to see if I could locate either of my brothers.

The first two countries were a bust. At the airports, I stepped out and closed my eyes, focussing on my connection with them in my core. My senses didn’t change at all, telling me that they were not nearby.

On the third flight, I knew as soon as I landed that I was closer to one of them. There was this tingling feeling at the base of my spine and the tips of my fingers. When I stood outside and concentrated, blocking out the passing cars and chatting humans, I could faintly but definitively pick up on a connection. I couldn’t tell which brother it was with, but it was good to know that one of them was close.

I immediately went back inside and booked an internal flight to the northern part of the country; I landed two hours later. The feeling was stronger there, telling me that one of them is being held in the north. When I have Ani on my side, we know where to come back to.

I paid the premiums to change my last two flights to countries of equal distance from the one I had just visited, and the place where I had been found. The fourth was a bust, so I moved onto the fifth. That’s when I got the second feeling and realised by other brother must be close by. It was only a faint sensation, and it took another internal flight to track him to the west of the island, but it was a definite answer. Knowing their rough locations, I could return home.

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