Chapter Six

Ridwan

“You’ve been feeling that too?”

Roshan’s words echoed in my head like a damn ghost.

I hated it

I hated that even hours later, as we sat in the control center, with our eyes fixed on the flashing screens, As we watched the codes running, files decrypting—I wasn’t really there. My fingers moved across the keyboard out of habit.

A habit that had been formed out of defense.

But no matter how much I tried to distract myself, my mind kept slipping. Back to his voice. Back to that damn question.

I didn’t bring it up again. Roshan didn’t either.

He buried himself in intel and command logs, sharp and precise like a weapon on a mission. Jaw clenched. Voice clipped. The usual cool detachment he wore when something was bothering him too much to say out loud.

He wasn’t just trying to find Lynda.

He was hunting her.

He wanted her cornered. Caged. Erased.

And I should’ve felt the same. Hell, I wanted to. But unease kept crawling beneath my skin like a warning I couldn’t name. Like something inside me wasn’t fully on board with the rage I was supposed to feel.

I told myself it was the pressure. The humiliation of letting her slip away. The insult of being outsmarted in our own damn territory.

But if I was honest?

It felt personal. Too personal.

I barely spoke as we wrapped up for the night. Roshan handed off command to our top guards, gave a few terse instructions, then left. I stayed back longer. Watched the feed again. Paused on the moment where she infiltrated pur systems, for 10 seconds and like flash, the money was gone. Replayed it over and over like it held answers I hadn’t seen the first time.

By the time I dragged myself to bed, I was restless. My body was tired, but my mind was wide awake. I shut my eyes. Opened them. Tried again.

And then sleep caught me—like a snare I didn’t see coming.

I was in the woods.

Running.

Faster than I’d ever moved before. My breath thundered in my ears. The cold air tasted like blood and moonlight. Trees blurred past on either side. The ground was soft beneath my feet—no, not feet. Paws. I was in my wolf form, and it didn’t scare me. It felt natural. Right.

The world pulsed around me with energy.

Then I saw her.

A lone figure ahead, barely lit by the moon. She stood perfectly still in the clearing, her back to me. Hair long and dark, silver strands catching the wind like smoke. She didn’t move. Didn’t turn.

But everything in me responded.

My heart kicked into overdrive. Muscles tensed. The air around her shimmered with something I couldn’t name—heat and danger and familiarity all at once.

I took a step forward.

And then—

I woke up.

Gasped like I was drowning.

My chest was soaked in sweat. My heart tried to tear its way out of my ribs. My head felt like it had been split in two.

I sat up, gripping the sheets.

What the hell was that?

It didn’t feel like just a dream. It felt alive. Like something had reached inside me and yanked the breath out.

Before I could process more, a knock hit the door.

“Ridwan?”

Roshan.

His voice was calm, but I could hear the tension laced beneath it.

I wiped a hand over my face, forced myself to my feet, and yanked a shirt over my head. “Come in.”

He stepped in, eyes scanning me like a weapon system.

“You look like crap,” he said simply.

“Feel worse,” I muttered, rubbing my temples. “My head’s been screaming since I opened my eyes.”

“You had a dream?”

I nodded slowly.

Wait a second, how did he—-

“You were in the woods, right?”

I paused, fixing my eyes on him, as I slowly answered “Ri…ght,” I slurred, still not understanding what he was driving at.

“There was a woman,” he interjected.

Whatever words I wanted uttering got stuck in my throat as u slowly tried to put together what was going on.

Roshan’s eyes sharpened. “What did she do?”

“Nothing. Just stood there.” I hesitated. “Her back was to me. She didn’t even look at me. But I—” My voice faltered. “I felt… something. Heat. Pain. Like something cracked open inside me.”

He studied me for a moment, then turned toward the window. “This isn’t just coincidence.”

“You think she’s doing it?” I asked.

“I don’t know. But she’s in your dreams. In mine too. Always the same setting. Always just out of reach.”

I exhaled sharply. “The Moon Goddess?”

Roshan turned back. “Maybe. Or maybe we’re losing our damn minds.”

“You really think the Goddess would be this cryptic?” I scoffed. “Why not just say what she wants?”

Roshan’s jaw ticked. “You know she’s a woman of games.”

“Well, her games are screwing with my head.” I shook mine. “And they’re interfering with the mission. That’s the part I don’t tolerate.”

Roshan nodded slowly. “Then we figure it out. No more guessing. No more letting dreams guide us like blind pups.”

“We see the pack doctor,” I said. “Run tests. Blood, magic traces, psychic disturbances—whatever it takes.”

“You think it’s something physical?” he asked.

“I think it’s something,” I muttered. “And I want it gone.”

A pause.

“You really think this is just random?” Roshan’s voice was quiet now. “Two of us having the same dreams about the same unknown woman? You don’t feel the pull?”

I looked him dead in the eye. “I feel rage. I feel confusion. I feel like I’m being pulled into something I never agreed to.”

Another silence stretched.

Then Roshan said, “What if we’re not being pulled in, Rid? What if we’re being prepared?”

I clenched my fists. “For what?”

He shrugged. “Guess that’s what the doctor’s for.”

I nodded sharply. “First light. We don’t delay.”

Roshan turned to leave, but paused at the door. “And if it’s something bigger than we think?”

I looked at the space where my dream had been. The echo still burned in my chest.

“Then we deal with it the only way we know how,” I said. “We fight.”