Housebound with the Blackridge Heirs novel Chapter 73

**Change Begins With You — Jayden Collins**
**Chapter 73**

**Maya**

Even before I fully surrendered to sleep, the dream ensnared me.

It was as if an unseen force had seized my ankle, yanking me down into that haunting silver forest once more. The air shimmered with an ethereal glow, as if the moonlight had been meticulously unraveled into delicate threads, intricately woven through the swirling mist.

And this time, they were both there.

Aelara stood gracefully to my left, radiating warmth and light. Her curls danced gently, reminiscent of a soft breeze gliding over a serene lake. Her eyes held a familiarity that felt like home, yet the kindness within them pierced my heart with a bittersweet ache.

On my right stood Astrid.

Her brilliance was overwhelming, almost blinding. The intensity of her glow was sharp, hot enough that the trees surrounding her seemed to recoil, bending away from her fierce light. Her eyes, icy and commanding, held a power that sent shivers down my spine. When she smiled, it felt as though something ancient and formidable stirred behind her teeth, awakening a long-buried instinct within me.

“You came,” Aelara whispered, her voice flowing into my chest like a soothing lullaby, wrapping around my heart.

“Because she called,” Astrid interjected, her tone layered with an unsettling complexity. “Not you.”

In that moment, Aelara’s image flickered, glitching like an old video struggling to maintain its form.

“Aelara?” I instinctively stepped closer, reaching for her.

She reached out to me, but her hand splintered into static before it could connect, reforming only to fracture again. “Find me, Maya. They are close. Too close.”

“They cannot touch what belongs to me,” Astrid retorted sharply, her voice cutting through the tension like a knife.

Aelara flinched at Astrid’s words, a shadow of fear flashing across her face.

Astrid advanced, the ground beneath her darkening as if it were swallowing the light itself. “Choose correctly, little wolf, or you will choose wrong forever.”

The mist curled tightly around my legs, its grip suffocating. The air thrummed with a power I couldn’t comprehend, a force that resonated deep within me.

Aelara attempted to speak again, but her voice faltered, cutting off mid-sentence. “Maya… listen… you must find me… quickly. Before she—”

Astrid’s laughter shattered the stillness of the forest, a sound that echoed ominously.

And suddenly, everything twisted.

The world tore apart.

And I plummeted.

I jolted awake, gasping for air, my hands scrambling for something solid to hold onto as my heart raced, pounding so fiercely it felt as if it might burst free from my chest.

But the surface beneath my fingertips was wrong.

The room around me felt alien.

It was too vast, too shadowy, and a chilling cold seeped into my bones.

The sheets beneath me were not the soft gray ones that Caden favored. No, these were darker, heavier, and carried the distinct scent of pine smoke mingled with a clean musk.

Tylon.

My stomach dropped like a stone.

Panic surged through me as I scanned my surroundings, confusion swirling in my mind.

I was in Tylon’s room.

How on earth did I end up here? How? Why?

My feet were bare, my hair a chaotic mess, and I was clad in nothing but a tank top and panties that offered little coverage.

Oh God.

Just as I shot upright, the bathroom door swung open.

A cloud of steam rolled out first, enveloping the space in warmth.

Then Tylon stepped through the haze… shirtless.

A towel hung low around his hips, water cascading from his damp hair, tracing the hard contours of his chest and abdomen. Each movement he made sent ripples through his muscles, and the mere sight of him stole the breath from my lungs.

He froze the moment his gaze landed on me.

“Maya.”

His voice emerged, raspy and thick, as if it had scraped against his throat on the way out.

His eyes roamed over me, slow and bewildered, tracing the bare skin of my legs, moving up the curve of my thighs, and lingering on the thin fabric clinging to my chest.

A darkness crept into his gaze.

Completely.

He took a step closer.

I instinctively stepped back.

He was so close—too close. Close enough that I could see the outline of his desire through the towel, close enough that my breath mingled with his, creating an intoxicating haze.

Something deep within me stirred in response. A dangerous, instinctive pull, as if my body recognized him in ways my mind was not prepared to accept.

But it wasn’t me. I knew it wasn’t. It was Astrid. That same familiar sensation washed over me, echoing the feeling she instilled when she invaded my thoughts.

I thought of her and the way she had looked at me in the dream;

Did she orchestrate this?

Was she the one pulling me into these moments? First the magnetic draw to Tylon in the hallway, then the storm with Leo, and now this. I recalled reading about her having multiple mates. Was she manipulating me on purpose?

I didn’t want multiple mates. I wanted Caden. But Astrid’s will felt overpowering, echoing something Elise had mentioned that day. She could bend others to her will.

And I nearly leaned forward.

Almost.

My hands twitched, and his lips lowered another inch, tantalizingly close.

But then something snapped within me, and I surged past him so swiftly that he blinked in surprise. My bare feet slapped against the floor as I bolted out the door and raced down the hallway, my heart racing, lungs burning with exertion.

I didn’t stop until I reached Caden’s room.

He was still asleep, his chest rising and falling gently beneath the soft morning light. Thank goodness. The last thing I needed was another confrontation over breakfast.

I pressed a hand against my pounding heart, trying to calm the chaos within me.

But I wasn’t out of the woods yet. The possibility of sleepwalking into Tylon’s room again… or worse, Leo’s… loomed over me. I had to uncover the truth behind this.

No more turning a blind eye.

No more pretending that these dreams were mere figments of my imagination.

No more allowing Astrid or Aelara to manipulate me like a puppet on strings.

I needed the truth.

I needed to confront whatever future lay ahead, if I wanted to safeguard what I cherished… if I wanted to make any choice at all…

I had to find them.

Both of them.

Before one of them found me first. Or worse… made me do something I would regret.