Barely able to breathe, the room felt hot around me, suffocating me.

Not daring to glance towards Victor, who was now standing beside me. He slid his warm hand into mine. Coming closer, he leaned in and whispered in my ear.

"I feel so lucky that you chose me, Sage," he said.

I swallowed, still not able to look at him, I could scarcely muster the will to hold his hand. Not able to respond, I instead tried to engage with my wolf, she'd been silent since the visit to the red room.

Nothing.

Silence.

Had he done something to her—the Dream-Walker?

A weird sensation shifted inside me, I hoped it might be my wolf, but this was something else. A coldness slithered down my spine, the feeling familiar and unwelcome. It was him. He was inside my head, listening to my thoughts.

Shivering, Victor mistook my shiver for coldness and moved his hand from mine, sliding it around my waist, and pulled me closer into his warmth.

Bile rose up my throat. This was wrong—so wrong. As I tried to move away, I heard his voice in my head, instructing me to relax.

It was the Dream-Walker, the link we shared allowed him access to every thought, every feeling.

I felt violated.

My stomach dropped. I shouldn't have done this, never permitted him to have control. My eyes glanced up to see he was in the corner hidden behind a screen, his eyes on me, watching and listening.

My grandfather cleared his throat, stealing my attention.

"Reigning Alphas, Betas and ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you to my home and today is a special day. Not only do I have a family announcement to deliver, but I also want to welcome you to a future that will usher in a new era for wolves."

My heart hammered in my chest. Was I going to go through with this, agree to marry a man I felt nothing for? But what choice did I have? Shutting myself off from my thoughts, I returned my attention to my grandfather.

"Friends. For too long we have pandered to humans. They have treated us as second-class citizens—but no more. Today that ends. Today I offer you an alternative."

He paused as his attentive audience whispered. I didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

He continued. "But firstly, we have two uninvited guests with us tonight, that have been systematically bringing us down from the inside. You trusted them and gave them your loyalty and they in return have weakened you... us, to where they have killed to hide their secrets."

The room fell into a deathly silence.

My grandfather continued his speech. "You have lost loved ones and I know you need answers. Well, tonight I have those... I offer you those answers." He stopped and raised his hand pointing. "The heads of Wolfe Industries— here to answer for their crimes against us."

What?

My head shot up. No, surely not. He couldn't be talking about Hunter?

Looking to the crowd, freezing, I was rooted to the spot.

The crowd parted, allowing him a clear path through. I tried to move away from Victor, but his fingers curled into my waist, holding me tighter.

Mon Dieu.

What would he think? I should have told him. My racing heart caused my chest to ache.

I couldn't believe he was here. A moment of craziness filled my head, I wanted to run and let him swallow me up in his arms. He looked as breathtaking as ever. Fierce, muscular and powerful. But there was something else today—something I'd never seen before. He looked dangerous. My stomach flipped.

I attempted for a third time to free myself from Victor as mine and Hunter's eyes met. My breaths were shallow yet audible.

As I wriggled against Victor, the Dream-Walker thoughts spoke to me. 'No Sage, I cannot let you go to him.'

How dare he! I needed to stop this—I needed him out of my head.

Pushing my blockers up, I felt their resistance, I pushed... harder.

He forced it down.

No!

I tried again, focusing harder this time.

Argh... It was impossible.

Releasing a frustrating sigh, he knew all my techniques—he was the one who had bloody taught them to me.

My eyes flicked to Hunters, hoping he could sense something was wrong, but all I saw was confusion in those beautiful brown eyes of his, followed by sadness and something else, anger perhaps?

He stopped where he was, and I assumed it was his brother who stood alongside him. His eyes left mine to glare at my grandfather.

My grandfather spoke again. "Alphas, I have proof that Hunter Stone was responsible for the recent deaths of your dearest pack members."

An eruption of combined muffled voices filled the marquee.

No, no. How could he blame Hunter for this?

And how many deaths were there?

Had I killed more than the one grandfather had shown me, although weirdly I still felt no emotion regarding his death—what the hell was wrong with me?

And now he would pin the blame on Hunter?

No, No, No.

I watched in horror as the Alphas, their Beta's and mates formed a circle around Hunter and his brother. Cursing and cries of 'punish them' could be heard.

I wanted to scream. I tried harder but this time something worse, much more frightening happened.

The Dream-Walker took full control of me.

Victor's hand fell away from my waist. I stepped forward; a huge surge of power rose within me. I had never experienced power like this before. My head shot up towards the ceiling and still, the power continued to rise within me. It forced my hands out to the side of me. A tingling like pins and needles shot through my fingertips, almost burning.

'Reach out, touch their minds.' I heard his voice in my head.

Holding my hands further out. My feelers moved without conscious effort, pulsing beams of light streaming outwards, prodding, poking every aura in the room. The room quietened, and only the sound of my heartbeat echoed inside my head.

More ripples of energy flowed freely from me, searching, sensing, and wrapping themselves around every living person. And as my feelers crept inside their heads, I could hear all the voices, feel their anger... fear.

'Sleep!' The voice instructed and everyone that wasn't a wolf collapsed to the floor. He allowed me to lower my head and I could see the control I had over everyone in the entire room, like a network of iridescent streams of light we were joined.

Everyone it seemed apart from Hunter and his brother. Neither looked affected by my control.

The Dream-Walker was using me to get inside everyone's heads—to control everyone.

'Change!' he instructed, and another burst of energy left me, touching everyone, his thoughts channelled through me, inside their heads.

I had no control to stop him. My ears pricked as I heard my grandfather's voice.

"Punish them. Take your revenge but they must not be killed today." He pointed towards Hunter and his brother.

I heard the shredding of clothing, and the cries of transformation and like mindless zombies, they began their change, each unleashing their wolves.

The circle around Hunter and his brother tightened, as snarling wolves stalked them like prey.

Hunter and his brother moved positions, now standing back to back as more wolves joined the growing number surrounding them.

Effectively I was nothing but a hostage in my own body, a puppet being used to control the wolves. I desperately tried to fight against him.

Distracted, a wolf screeched out in pain—trying to resist me, or rather the Dream-Walker. She let out a yelp as her legs buckled from beneath her, falling to the ground, withering in pain, just as the wolf did in the video from earlier.

She fell silent, but her eyes remained open wide. I looked back towards Hunter, the tears in my eyes barely letting me see him.

He would think I was doing this—hurting everyone, wanting to hurt him.

He would hate me.

Anger rose within me; I needed this monster out of my head. I pushed harder this time.

'Don't fight me, Sage,' he said inside my head.

'I will fight you!' I yelled my thoughts.

As my warm tears fell across my cheeks, I blinked. Crying wouldn't help.

Another wolf appeared in my line of sight. A much bigger wolf, it jumped clearing two wolves and planted himself in front of Hunter and his brother.

Even in wolf form, I knew it was Gunner.

The Dream-Walker forced me to get inside his head, but I pushed against it—Gunner would protect Hunter. But still, the three of them couldn't fight off at least thirty wolves.

It was useless.

No, I couldn't let that happen.

Closing my eyes, I heard something... something familiar. A voice that didn't belong to the Dream-Walker or my wolf

Sylar?

My eyes burst open as someone placed their hands on either side of my face, cupping my cheeks.

Mon Dieu.

He was here, he was real—in the flesh. Sylar.

I couldn't comprehend where he had appeared from—was this real? Was I hallucinating, had the Dream-Walker taken full control?

"Relax Sage," he said. His warm blue eyes, so familiar offered me hope.

He was real—this was real. I tried to talk but was still unable.

"Relax and I will help you," he said.

"Who the hell are you?" I heard my grandfather hiss. Sylar turned to face him but didn't release his hold on me. "Sleep."

My grandfather's eyelids drooped, becoming heavier.

"Sleep!" he repeated his instruction, his tone firm.

My grandfather slumped to the floor. He had subdued my grandfather. It shocked me.

He turned back to me, "Listen to me Sage, we can work together, get him out of your head—to cut this link and end his control. Do you trust me?"

I swallowed, blinking, managing a small nod of my head, hoping he understood my answer.

The Dream-Walker's fury ripped through me as he tried to control Sylar—but Sylar was stronger as his feelers wrapped around me. 'Fight with me Sage,' he said in my head.

Both voices were now in my head—it was getting crowded, but I solely focused on Sylar's.

And I did what he asked—I fought against the Dream-Walker and with every ounce of strength I pushed hard.

The Dream-Walker resisted.

But together, we were stronger.

I let out a breath, as I felt the Dream-Walkers control weaken and finally withdraw. My mind and my body was my own again. "We have to stop the wolves," I said breathlessly.

Sylar nodded, taking my hand. "We can do this together."

As our fingers entwined, I felt our energy combine and our minds join—but this was different to the link I had shared with the Dream-walker, this was a sharing of energy, joining of minds, not control.

"Sleep," we both said in unison. One by one each wolf dropped to the floor, changing back to their human form.

I turned to see the Dream-Walker had disappeared.

I looked to find Victor on the floor, asleep too, noticing bruising across his cheeks. Strange, but I didn't dwell on it.

Gunner howled before departing the marquee, leaving only Hunter and his brother conscious, both looking at me and Sylar as we stood holding hands.

His hand squeezed mine. "Sage, we need to leave," said Sylar.

"What?" I turned to look at him. He was real, and I was still having a hard time believing it.

"You're real," was what I said.

He smiled and ran his free hand down my cheek. "Yes, I'm real."

"H-how did you know?"

"I think you know," he said

Did I?

I looked towards Hunter who was making his way towards me, stepping up onto the stage. He ignored Sylar and pulled me into his warm arms. "Are you okay?" He pulled back, assessing me with his eyes.

I nodded. "I'm so sorry."

"Sage. We need to leave; I can't keep them under for much longer." Sylar looked at Hunter. "And you need to leave too. It's not safe—"

Hunter's eyes snapped towards Sylar, cutting him off. "And who the hell are you?"

Ignoring Hunter. Sylar spoke to me. "Sage, now."

Hunter's eyes flicked to mine; my heart sank under the weight of them. "I have to go Hunter. I can't stay. I'm —" Dangerous.

His mouth was reserved, and the look on his face was filled with uncertainty. "No Sage, please," he said. His eyes pleading with mine as he placed his hands on either side of my arms.

Wanting nothing more than to let him wrap me in his powerful arms, have him consume me. "I'm sorry, I don't have a choice. I can't stay here, you don't know what I've —" I wanted to tell him everything, but I knew he would hate me.

He shook his head. "No! I won't let you leave me; we can work through this. Let me help you. Please, Sage, give us a chance. I—" he stopped. The intensity of his stare tugged at my heart.

Sylar placed a hand on Hunter's shoulder and I watched Hunter's eyes glaze over. He didn't put him to sleep like the others, but he spaced out as if daydreaming. "Now Sage, we can't remain here. Hunter is strong and my influence will only last a minute or two."

I stepped forward, placing my hands on Hunter's chest, his heart beating wildly beneath my touch. Lightly kissing his lips, the taste of his lips warmed me, filling me with need. The smell of him flooded my nose. Leaving him would kill me. "I'm sorry, forgive me."

Dropping my hands, Sylar held his out for me to take. I stepped away from Hunter, sliding my hand in Sylar's.

As we stepped from the stage, Hunter's brother watched us. "Look after him and tell him I'm sorry."

He nodded once.