I can hear Cane yelling, banging at the door of my unconscious mind, desperate to get in, but I'm not letting him in. Not this time. It's the first time in weeks that I've even had a clear dream, even been able to recognize where I am. There's no way in hell I'm letting him in to taint it.

Especially not when I'm on the beach at Isle de Cachette. If there's anywhere I might run into Elias again...it's here. And I don't want Cane lurking around when I break it to Elias that his twin brother wants me, his mate, to murder him so that he can ascend the vampire throne and take me as his queen.

I shiver even as I think it and wonder how it's possible that the beach is so cold.

"Cora."

I spin around in the sand and nearly lose my footing when I see a tall, beautiful woman with flaming red curls flowing behind her, caught in the night air. She looks every bit the siren she is with the moon behind her and the glowy edges of my dream softening her features.

"Lorelai," I say, walking toward her, but keeping my arms to myself, even though all I want to do is wrap her in a hug. I'm not sure she wants anything to do with me after what I've done to Elias.

What I'm still doing to him.

"Well, what the hell are you doing over there?" she says, glaring at me, almost as if she's reading my mind. "Are you going to give me a hug or what?"

Relief floods through me and I nearly trip over my feet to get to her. She pulls me in and holds me close, and the tears I'd been holding back spill over instantly, soaking the front of her dress. "Fuck, I'm sorry, Lore," I sniffle, pulling back and wiping my eyes. "I'm just so happy to see you. I haven't been able to dream or use my power for weeks now."

"Why?" she asks as we begin to walk along the water, the tide lapping at our feet. She is the epitome of summer beauty in her cream dress, while I look ready for hot cocoa and fuzzy slippers.

I tell her everything, the snowball fight, the squirrel, right up until what Cane told me about Elias and his plan. I open my mouth to finish the story and no sound comes out.

"And what else, Cora?" she asks, as if she knows there is something else massive to tell her.

I shake my head, unable to say it. I can't. I have to tell Elias first. Instead, I blurt, "Why hasn't he come for me? Why hasn't he found me yet?"

Her face goes from curious to confused in half a second? "What?"

"Elias! Why hasn't he found me?"

"That's all he has done is look for you over the past months. Ever since that day in the woods, he has not stopped! What do you think we've been doing all this time? Sitting on our asses playing X-box?"

"I—but—"

"But what, Cordelia?"

"But the primal bond...he should just know where I am, right?"

She tilts her head and looks me over like I've sustained a major head injury. Slowly she asks, "Why do you think you and Elias have completed a primal bond?"

My brow dips and I meet her with a confused expression of my own. "What do you mean? While we had sex that night at the mausoleum before everything went to shit, he fed from me. And I've pulled him into dreams with me countless times. So the exchanging of powers was done...that's what makes a primal bond, right?"

"Yes, but you didn't exchange power at the same time while having sex. That's key. If it wasn't, supes would be bonding all over the place, Cora. You and Elias do not share a primal bond."

Those nine words send my world crashing down around me, and everything I thought I knew is completely upended. The entire reason I'm so angry at Elias, the only reason I wouldn't take him back if I had the chance...isn't even valid?

Fuck, what have I done?

"Wha—Lorelai, this can't—oh shit, I have fucked up." I'm not even going to question her because it's so clear what happened.

Cane is the one who explained the primal bond to me. It's obvious he left out key details of what the primal bond is and how to complete it in order to make me think Elias and I shared one...which in turn made me think Elias could find me if he wanted to. And since he hadn't...he must not care anymore.

"That fucking bastard," I growl under my breath, stopping in my tracks with my fists clenched at my sides.

Lorelai gives me a moment to blow off some steam, quietly watching as I curse myself. I suppose there isn't much to say to ease my frustration. I brought this on myself and let the king of manipulators do what he does best. And the thing that pisses me off even more is that Elias warned me not to trust Cane. I was so blinded by my hurt that I didn't listen. I discarded every gentle word of caution he gave me.

"I'm sorry you're going through this," she finally says. "I know Cane makes it hard to see the real him. He has always had one objective—to outwit his brother. I'm sorry you're his pawn in all of this."

I close my eyes and take a deep breath before I tell her the worst part.

"He wants me to use my power to kill Elias."

Lorelai shakes her head. "Say that again."

"He told me that he was training me to fend for myself since supes would want to use me for my powers." I scoff, realizing how stupid I was to fall for his lies. "I was able to reach him in daydreams, and I even killed a squirrel. That was really traumatic. I think I locked my power away so I wouldn't hurt anyone else. Of course, Cane won't let me rest until I can control it again."

"Shit," she hisses, twisting her hair around her hand. "And you said this is the first dream you've had since that happened?"

I nod. "Yes. And I acted like I was down with the plan because what else was I supposed to do? He'd go off the rails if I told him I wasn't going to do it!"

"Is he with you now? Do you think he knows you are dreamwalking?"

I let my sadness wash over me and nod. "After this dream, he is going to push me to do it. You have to tell Elias what is going on. Time's running out, and I don't know what I'm going to do if Cane makes me go through with this. Just...I just want Elias to know that I forgive him, and I love him."

She grabs my shoulders and gives me a firm shake. "You will tell him yourself. He will find you, Cora. Just hold on."

I'm not that strong. I think I've proven that I'm fucking useless when comes to doing right by Elias. I let Cane manipulate me just because I was heartbroken, I let him use the fact that we too share a bond to make me think it was okay to let go with him and play house and he played his way right into my fucking heart. Goddamnit, I hate what I've allowed him to turn me into.

A broken woman who turned her back on the man she really loves and the only life she ever knew or wanted.

"I'll try, Lorelai, but I—"

"Delia, pull me in with you."

Fuck. No, no, not yet. I'm not ready.

But it doesn't matter what I'm ready or not ready for. Everything melts away and I'm back in front of a roaring fire, being roughly shaken by my shoulders.

"Wake up, Cordelia, for fuck's sake!" Cane is practically shouting in my face as my eyes snap open.

"Goddamnit, Cane! Stop shaking me!" I exclaim, reaching up and shoving him off of me so I can sit upright against the couch cushions.

He bolts to his feet and digs his fingertips into his scalp as he walks the length of the room. "Where were you? Why didn't you pull me into the dream with you?"

I now see the worry written on his face for what it is...fear that I've gone behind his back. It terrifies him that there was a moment, one of my moments, that he wasn't in control of. It's hard to keep a tight leash on one's pet when they can slip right through and run amuck without them.

But I'm quick with my answer, even though he's really fucking intimidating now that I've completely figured out his game. "I finally saw my mom and dad. I didn't want the first time you met them to be in a dream where I was crying about killing a squirrel."

He studies me for a moment, like he is looking straight into my mind. I almost shy away from his scrutiny, but hold firm, for myself, for Elias, for a chance to make this all right again.

"I'm sure they were happy to see you," he says.

I fight not to release a relieved breath. "They were."

He hums, a pensive expression on his face. "Well, now we know you can dreamwalk again. That was a perfect practice run. Let's do something a little more difficult now, what do you think?" he asks, sitting down next to me and brushing my hair out of my face.

It takes everything in me not to recoil from his touch or roll my eyes at his condescending tone I might have once taken as sweet. "I don't know. I'm kind of spent."

"If you give me one more try, I'll make it worth your while."

My heart sinks into my stomach. He is bribing me with sexual favors. When did our relationship begin to amount to this? What did I do to make him think that getting off is all I care about? Everything between us is so cheap. Yet, I know there is a connection there that runs so deep. It feels frayed and weak, like at any minute it is going to snap.

I was ready with an answer before, but this...this hurts me in a way I didn't expect. Asking me to hurt Elias guts me for him, and it is heart-wrenching to think of the world without him in it, and the thought of not having a chance to make things up to him makes me truly sick, but this?

This is my soul-bonded mate (I now know the idea of Cane and I sharing a primal bond is laughable) using sex as a...a form of payment for doing his nefarious deeds.

It makes me feel so dirty and used. I don't know how to respond to such a suggestion.

The more I think about it, the more my hurt morphs into...anger.

I get to my feet, ignoring him when he tries to grasp my wrist. "Cane, I said I'm tired, okay? Is that hard to understand? Do I need to explain it a different way?"

"You have slept weeks away! How can you still be tired?"

I spin around and glare at him. "I don't know. Perhaps it's because I killed a living thing, and you're eager for me to do it again. I'm starting to get the feeling that it's all you want from me. Is that the only reason you brought me here to kill your brother?"

"No, Delia. I didn't—"

I keep my voice even, not giving him so much as the tiniest clue to my reasoning. "Then surely you can understand that I'm tired and respect that. We can try again tomorrow."

I spin on my heels and slowly blow out a puff of air.

"Okay. We can try again tomorrow," he mumbles behind me.

One night is not nearly enough time for Elias to find me, but it is a few more hours to come up with a plan to keep Cane at bay. In my gut, I know I will need to buy us more time. I just pray that I won't have to sell what is Elias's portion of my soul to do it.