It’s not him.
He growled to that part deep inside him that compared every omega to the snippets of his dream omega. It was ridiculous, but he couldn’t help himself, which made it hard for him to be around strange omegas because he hoped they were him.
His smile unwavering, Shiva waited for him to say something.
Talk, Hym told himself.
He searched his mind for something to say.
“My dreams... they make it hard to sleep,” he said. “And I want to sleep. I haven’t slept in a long time. If I could…”
“Do you want them to stop?”
There was a way to stop them.
“I…” he began.
For a second, Hym considered the possibility. But then he wouldn’t see his omega if the dreams stopped.
“You what?”
Hym bit his tongue.
“You don’t want them to stop,” Shiva declared. “Maybe the problem is not your dreams. Maybe it’s you. You’re holding on to them…to him.”
“You think he’s not real.”
Shiva shook his head without hesitation.
Fuck.
“There was no one with you when they found you. You were alone in the hole the naturalists kept you. There’s footage to prove it, Hym. I’m sure you’ve watched it.”
He did.
He was alone. There was no one there with him.
Hym rubbed the back of his neck, feeling like he was losing his mind all over again. All the evidence pointed to his dreams not being real. He was the one who was desperately holding on to them.
Fuck.
He had to stop.
“How do I stop the dreams?”
“Believing they’re not real is a start,” Shiva leaned forward, getting close. “Once you believe they’re not real, you’ll be able to see them for what they truly are.”
“What?”
“An escape. You were stuck in that hole, tortured for days. You had to find a way to cope with the situation or lose your mind. Having someone there, though not real, must have made it easier for you.”
Easier?
Hym shook his head and pushed to his feet. There was nothing easy about what he was going through.
He felt like he was losing his mind half of the time. And he was telling him he did that to himself.
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.